I have gathered the argument that there is risk in a wife being a homemaker if the husband dies and she has almost no way of getting a job and no retirement on which to live in the future. It would be said that that is a foolish risk and that God gave us a mind and wisdom to use by preparing just in case. So it is concluded that a wife should have a degree and a job.
It could be also argued though it can already be a risk to marry a husband who is bad with money, whether or not the wife already has a job.
There is so much impetus against marrying a woman and have her as a homemaker for the rest of her life that what is a Catholic man to do? It seems too rampant even among Catholics. I have come across cases of it among clients at work, and it gives at least a little ray of hope. 

If everyone had this attitude, Catholics would have gone the way of the Shakers!  Life involves risk.  If a man doesn’t plan for the continuing support of his wife and children in case of his demise, he has no business having a wife and children!  

I have gathered the argument that there is risk in a wife being a homemaker if the husband dies and she has almost no way of getting a job and no retirement on which to live in the future. It would be said that that is a foolish risk and that God gave us a mind and wisdom to use by preparing just in case. So it is concluded that a wife should have a degree and a job.
It could be also argued though it can already be a risk to marry a husband who is bad with money, whether or not the wife already has a job.

I would take this argument to its logical conclusion. The woman not only needs a "degree" and a "job", but a career, something she could easily slip into in late middle to old age, and make a *comfortable* living, be able to pay all the bills and have a middle-class lifestyle, not have to clip coupons (the female equivalent of men collecting and selling scrap metal). She might even need her own BUSINESS, since it's notoriously hard to get a job in your 50's or 60's. And if you're in certain fields (like software development) your effective age is 15 years older than your actual age!

So yeah, you obviously can't go down that route.

Show me all the Trad Catholic widows homeless on the street, dying of starvation. I wasn't aware of any, to be honest, much less an epidemic of such.

Besides Social Security and other welfare safety nets, there is also the Church, friends, family, and let's not forget CHILDREN. If the woman doesn't have a good sized number of children, what is she DOING with all her free time? Yes, if she is childless (not by choice) or with a low number of children (again, not by choice) she should de-facto have plenty of time to develop various skill(s) which could be not only hobbies, but ways of making money. If she spends all her free time watching TV or equivalent (again, this assumes no-child or low-child wasn't her fault) -- that is to say, wasting her time -- that is HER fault and HER problem.

Long story short, I don't see the issue. A homemaker or Stay-at-Home-Mom is a busy, industrious woman. And with most natural-sized families you should be able to have enough children to ensure you won't starve to death and/or be homeless. It's the way God designed it. Add to that the modern Welfare State, and you should be extra secure.

AND the fact that in America, you have the richest "poor" in the world. Just living IN such a wealthy country, there is an over-abundance of stuff/clothing/food/furniture/etc. all over the place. If you have any level of gumption, will to survive, it should be easy in such an objectively rich society as modern-day America. Have you seen how overweight the average poor American is? Go to any Wal-mart. You don't get 300 lbs overweight by not having enough to eat.

You can never make life 100% risk-free, whatever you do, that's true.
But God gave us brains to use them. And it is good for a woman to have something to fall back on if the worst happens. A trade, or a degree. 
And not all women marry at 18, so what are they supposed to do in the meantime? Live at home and just wait and keep looking for someone to marry? That could lead to bad marriages in my opinion. Also, not ALL women are meant to marry or be religious. The single life is an option.
 

James 1:27
Religion clean and undefiled before God and the Father, is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their tribulation: and to keep one's self unspotted from this world.

I guess you should live below your means and have assets in case that happens so you can sell them off. 

Families can help raise the children or pitch in financially. The widow can move in with her parents or in-laws.

And you can go on social assistance as well.

If you’re a young widow, you have the option to remarry. If you have older children, they can help out financially. 

A degree is 4-5 years of your life and you’re pressured to use it. Let’s say you get married after your degree and have kids. And then you lose your husband when you’re 45, is your degree actually going to help? Degrees can become outdated too. A minimum wage job or babysitting, nanny, domestic, work from home jobs would probably be better.

A working wife would bring problems to the marriage since she has to be the man as well which is gender dysfunction. And who would homeschool/stay home with the kids? Will meals be cooked from scratch? A wife that stays at home will be more pleasant to be around and has more time to spend with the husband and for chores. Women working was being pushed to get more taxes out of men and women, and it also reduces the job supply and wages. HR was created because of women in the workplace and to address sɛҳuąƖ harassment. Also, men will be better at the jobs that women do, for the most part.