My Dilemma is whether to go back to school to get my Masters to become a principal at a high school, which would start in about a month. Our current principal is retiring in two years so the chances of sliding into that job would be pretty good if I wanted to. I would imagine that I would make about $60,000. Right now I am a teacher and Athletic Director at this school making $37,500. This is a small Catholic school in Iowa so the pay is not very good compared to your public schools.
I am 26 years old (turn 27 in Nov.) I would really like to be a stay at home Dad when we have kids which would be about when I am 30-31. With my current job I know that I wouldn't have a lot of time to spend with them, especially in the fall and winter which are the busiest of times working 60+ hrs a week. As a principal my hours would be shorter because I wouldn't need to be at every activity. My wife is 25 (26 in Oct.) she works as branch manager at a credit union and loves her jobs and thinks I am kinda crazy for thinking of being a stay at home Dad.
We have always been good savers but didn't start being good investors until this past March when we educated ourselves on it. I have read over 15 books in the past 6 months on investing, financial independence, happiness as well as reading a bunch of blogs.
My Roth IRA has about $8500 in Total International Stock Index Fund at Vanguard (maxed out 2014 and will max out 2015)
Her Roth IRA has about $8500 in Small Cap Value Index Fund at Vanguard (maxed out 2014 and will max out 2015)
My 401k has about $3,000 in it and not contributing to it anymore because the funds are terrible (were costing to much) and I don't receive a match anyway
Her 401k has about $18000 in 500 index fund at Vanguard (started contributing 18% of her salary in July (it was at 5% and she said do 15% and I said do 20% so we settled on 18% for now) and her employer doubles it up to her 5%. Her salary is $38,000 plus she gets incentives throughout year so I would guess she will make $43,000-$45,000 by the end of it.
We have a short term bond index fund at Vanguard for our savings with $34,500 in there.
We bought a house in Aug. 2014 for $201,500 and remaining balance is $159,500 about. Our mortgage payment per month is $1125 and we put $1200 towards it because she likes round numbers.
Reading all of these investing and personal finance books and blogs has turned into a passion of mine and have recently started to write a few blog posts (5 now) that I have saved on my computer with many other ideas saved. Thought this could provide additional income now and hoping one day to be stay at home Dad and be able to provide some income as well.
I guess what I am asking is it a smart or stupid move to go back and get my masters which will take two years to complete and cost about $18,000. What option if any gives me the best chance of being a stay at home Dad. If being a stay at home Dad won't work right away would it be wise to get my Masters so I can make more money and save and invest more so I can be financially independent early and do what I want.
