My best investment is not the traditional sort of realized gain, but rather, the investment of time, love, and attention.

The investment was the decision that my spouse and I made before we started a family that one of us would stay home with the child until he was old enough for school.  Dana and I were each raised in families with stay-at-home moms, and that was what we both wanted for our child.  The problem, of course, was we both had careers, and since we started our family rather late in life, each of us had climbed halfway up the proverbial ladder.  Who would jump off?

And how would we live on just one income?  We had always had two, roughly equal, incomes.  Having one of us stay at home would mean a significant change in our lifestyle.  From “2 incomes for 2 people” to “1 income for 3 people.”  Hmmm… Not favorable math.  Continue Reading »