From Pensions to Parenthood: Working at Home

July 25, 2007 — -- The daily drudge and drag of work can be tough on even the most motivated, but throw in a howling toddler, trips to ballet class and a never-ending stack of dirty dishes on top of the workload, and the challenge goes from difficult to nearly impossible.

Welcome to the world of working from home. A constant juggling act in which the lines between your working life and your personal life blur into an insurmountable grocery list of tonight's dinner ingredients and that 3 p.m. conference call.

Many Americans call their offices home, or the other way around, and the responsibilities and financial concerns that come with the territory in many ways rival the trials and tribulations of commuting to and working in a traditional office environment.

Mellody Hobson, a "Good Morning America" contributor and president of Ariel Capital Management, is here to help. In an interview with ABC News Now, Hobson offers tips, tricks and solutions to the many problems facing the home-business owner.

One daunting question hanging above the heads of most Americans is that of retirement.

Though old age seems light years away, Hobson warns, "This is really important because a lot of people, especially those who start their business, put the business first. They reinvest all of their profits into the business and they think that in the end they will be OK, it will all work out, and they neglect preparing for their retirement."

Instead, Hobson recommends that individuals plan ahead and make an effort to contribute to a retirement fund early on. In fact, new government initiatives have made this preparation easier than ever.

"First of all you have a Sep-IRA. It's really simple. It's like going to set up an IRA, a regular IRA, but it's specifically for small-business owners," Hobson said.

The Simplified Employee Pension Individual Retirement Account was created especially for those business owners who don't have any employees other than themselves, and provides a simplified plan to help ensure financial stability later in life.