Author Topic: Back to work or not back to work  (Read 4118 times)

Maya

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Back to work or not back to work
« on: November 22, 2014, 07:42:23 PM »
At what point is it not worth going back to work?

Our daycare costs were supposed to be about 20% of my salary, but the government has decided to put an end to the subsidies we've had and tie it to income, so it'll likely go up to 40-50% of my salary when it's time for me to go back to work in a couple months.

When would you decide the time and energy would be better off spent with the kids and making costs cuts elsewhere? Well it'll likely be our savings that'll take a hit.

In our case my DH makes a bit more than 2x what I do, so me working will only bring us 3 years closer to FI than if I stopped.

We have two kids, 3.5 and 10 months.

mxt0133

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Re: Back to work or not back to work
« Reply #1 on: November 22, 2014, 08:22:30 PM »
Purely from a financial stand point, don't forget to take into account wage potential, meaning that if you leave the workforce what is the probability that you will be able to command your old salary and also the missed increases.  Also take into account any government benefits that you could have build up, in the US SS credits.

But if you don't plan on working for much longer then it wouldn't be much of a concern but if you have a 10-15 year horizon then you would still have a good 5-10 years in the workforce at the possible lower wage rate.

In my family we personally choose the route of one SAHP because we planned to have 2-3 kids and value spending time with them more than reaching FI sooner.  A pleasant circumstance with one SAHP has been significantly reduced expenses, food and activities in particular, but more importantly our lives are just more relaxed.  We don't feel the need to pack our weekend or holidays to give the kids experiences because they are able to have those experiences on a daily basis.

bogart

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Re: Back to work or not back to work
« Reply #2 on: November 22, 2014, 08:42:15 PM »
Do you want to be out of the workforce/home with your kids?  If so, based on what you describe I'd probably choose to do it. 

kiwi

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Re: Back to work or not back to work
« Reply #3 on: November 28, 2014, 04:46:31 AM »
Check out the book The Feminine Mistake (http://www.amazon.com/Feminine-Mistake-Are-Giving-Much/dp/B000YFEDKO/).

It's definitely biased towards working over staying at home with kids, but has some very interesting and often ignored arguments.

Kmp2

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Re: Back to work or not back to work
« Reply #4 on: November 28, 2014, 03:19:52 PM »
IMO... it makes sense to stay at home when you resent going to work for what little money you get out of it. It makes sense when you would rather stay at home, then work full time or part time for 10, 20, 50, 75% of your salary. That number is differently for everyone. Depending on how much they like being a stay at home parent and how much they like their job or job potential... and whether you get interesting roles at work after they are a parent. I think we are lucky in Canada, we get to try out being a stay at home parent with our 1-yr maternity leave. You can always try out being a working parent too before you make your decision. Just remember it takes time to adjust the roles and responsibilities when you go back to work. We have just settled into a good routine at about 6 months after I'm back at work. It would have been really easy to quit after 4-6 weeks because it was hard.

Here's what we have done since we have equal earning potential, although my husband makes more now (he's older, and has chosen to contract, whereas I keep my salaried position for our benefits). We have chosen to both reduce our working hours to around 80% of full time. If I went to 50%, I wouldn't get interesting work to do at work, but at 80% I get home in time to make dinner, and have a whole day each week to spend with my daughter, and get errands done - and so does he, this makes our weekends relaxing family days :)  While having more kids changes the equation, even if 100% of my salary went to child care for 4-5 years, my raises and full time earning potential once they are all in school means we would catch up fairly quickly in the following 5 years.  But I recognize that a lot of people would resent working for free and not being with their children - so crunching the numbers doesn't mean anything if you want to stay home with your kids.





Maya

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Re: Back to work or not back to work
« Reply #5 on: November 28, 2014, 05:45:05 PM »
@kiwi i think I heard that author in interview once and that is what is really making me struggle. Main problem is I don't like my job.

I'm hoping to ask for an extra 6 month leave and go back with my dd is 18 months old. That will make work life balance so much easier.

tracylayton

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Re: Back to work or not back to work
« Reply #6 on: November 29, 2014, 05:27:04 PM »
You would probably save more than just daycare expenses. You'll be home to cook for dinner, won't have gasoline expense to commute to work, and the kids will be less likely to get sick. I'm sure I'm missing some other expenses that you might be spared.

mm1970

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Re: Back to work or not back to work
« Reply #7 on: November 29, 2014, 08:49:40 PM »
You would probably save a lot more than daycare by being home.  Though some things would go up - like electricity, gas, and water.

Anyway, can you do the math?  Figure out how much you would be bringing home, and figure out your hourly wage, and ask yourself if you really want to work for that much at the job that  you have.

Another option may be part time work?  It's the worst of both worlds and the best at the same time.  On one hand, I found that I had to pay the same amount of daycare, but I made less money.  On the other, life was a bit less stressful and there's no "gap" on my resume.

Maya

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Re: Back to work or not back to work
« Reply #8 on: December 10, 2014, 06:57:14 PM »
Work is going to allow me to go part time so that is great. Thanks for the responses!

 

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