Introduction

As a work at home mom you may be enjoying the freedom of a flying bird. You may decide the amount of time you work, come to work at any time or leave at any time since your work station is at home.

But there is just one problem which happens to stay forever in your mind. No health insurance, no 401K plans, no dental insurance. In one word NO BENEFITS.

Is the fear of NO BENEFITS keeps you away from working at home? Do you give up your dreams of doing what you really want in life since you feel you cannot afford your own health or disability insurance only to regret later in life that you should have followed your dreams?

The answer is "you should not be". Let us now look at some of the insurance, tax and retirement issues you would be facing as a work at home mom.

Insurance

Some believe getting your own health insurance as a work at home mom is onerous. They argue even though there are a lot of plans, if you have one thing wrong with you, they will turn you down. So most of them tend to rely on the spouse for their health insurance. Obviously this isn't possible for everyone of you and even if it does it could be expensive.

On the other hand some believe otherwise. According to them the average work-at-home moms can find good insurance that isn't $400-$600 a month. So it just a matter of effort you put in to it.

Although many of you agree on the benefits foregone of your health insurance, disability insurance probably isn't something which pops into your mind when you are thinking about the benefits you are going to be missing out on when you decide to go solo. However, should you hurt yourself and are unable to work, I'm sure you'll regret, why you didn't sign up for disability insurance.

Tax

When you work at home, tax time isn't about waiting for W-2s to arrive, but about getting receipts in order. Work at home taxes are difficult, and often it's not a process that many of us can learn quickly. In most cases, you find you are better off having a professional that can help you. In addition, working at home usually means taxes aren't taken out until the year's all been said and done. So when you finally finish paying off the holiday spending, it's time to start paying off your tax.

However working at home means enjoying certain tax deductions. For self employed professionals who work at home, there are all kinds of discounts to take advantage of. Electricity, phone bills, professional dues and fees, supplies, vehicle expenses, office space rent or home office expenses, insurance related to your self-employment business tax-preparation fees, a percentage of travel, meal and entertainment costs related to your business and even money you spend on stamps might be tax deductible. Your home is considered to be your office, and it comes with tax breaks.

Retirement

Saving is hard enough, but being self-employed and saving for retirement is even trickier. But since there is no other way you must make amends to save for your retirement.

First, if you are an individual who is on the verge of becoming a work at home mom and if you had a 401K, 403B or other retirement savings plan with your employer, you must immediately arrange to have those funds transferred to an IRA rollover account upon leaving the company. This is manly due to unlimited investment choices offered by the IRA account which are totally in your control. Although relatively rare, some people can lose large portions of their retirement savings when companies run into major fiscal difficulties.

Next, when you begin your self-employment, consider setting up a self-employment retirement plan. If you are already self employed and you do not have a plan set up one at least now. In most cases, a SEP IRA will likely be your best bet. It is a great way to save pre-tax dollars and is based on the amount of business you do, not your income like a regular IRA. So, you can put away quite a bit every year if you want to.

Further credit card companies like American Express offer savings/retirement programs where they charge you monthly on your credit card and you can contribute the amount you want to save. You can't withdraw any for at least eight years without a penalty. The interest rate is fairly good and you can increase your contribution at any time

Conclusion

Following your dreams is never the easy choice. But don't discount the self employed life simply because you feel you can't afford it. Research and talk with other self-employed individuals and never forget the saying "if there's a will there is a way".