Hellobee Boards

@winniebee: I agree with you that I am a better mom working than I would be stay at home. That said...right now (well when #2 arrives) I am making Daycare + $3500. I think anything less than $1500 more than daycare and I would question it? Although...daycare with 2 at the highest rates is the most expensive it will ever be!

I'm similar to MRS D, there is no question tho that I'd be working b/c I'm the bread winner so my income goes towards much much more. Where as DH also can't SAH b/c his work is more his calling in life than just a job.

Honestly, about $50,000 a year after taxes if I was working full time out of the home. M does well and I am able to mostly SAH, it's not unusual for him to be gone 8 nights a month and he frequently works 60+ hour weeks. Paying off our mortgage or buying a vacation home might motivate me. I'm sure I will work PT when T is in preschool. For now what we are doing is working well for everyone.

Good question. One of the main reasons why I will work when we have kids is to maximize the time value of retirement savings. Very consertively, I'd want to cover daycare costs roughly $14,500 + put the minimum 401k matching contribution (although I contribute more now) + use the rest to max out my IRA continuation at $5,500.

ETA: I don't think life would be all that enjoyable if my earnings and our household income was sliced that drastically to just cover those line items.

We're switching daycares/preschool with our upcoming move. Right now, I'm about 1k ahead of the expenses. We'll see how that changes with the daycare switch.

I mentally prepared for a time where my salary would mainly be devoted to childcare expenses. My brother and SIL had a time when they had multiple daycare expenses before my nephews started school. They're experienced lawyers and still felt the pinch of it.

For me, from a straight financial standpoint as long as you break even, I think that’s “worth it”. It’s about the long-term game, where you build seniority, experience, can receive merit raises/annual raises, promotions, etc. So, I would keep working as long as I broke even. I’d probably even keep working even if I took a bit of a hit on the cost of infant care, because again, that’s short term. But, I also don’t want to stay home. If I did, I’m sure I could come up with a different figure.

@winniebee: I left my corporate job 3 1/2 years ago to pursue photography "full time" which means 6 super busy months, and about 6 moths of working 5-10 hours a week. The work is flexible enough that I would not need much daycare. But even that with Ms travel schedule was not really worth it. Now that I've had a really flexible schedule for a few years it would be challenging for me to punch a clock M-F, I'd do it if I needed to support my family. I was in a unique position with leaving photography this year, my professional fees and insurance are significant so I have to make several thousand dollars before I get the privilege of paying 50% taxes. When I go back to work PT I will work for someone else, likely pouring wine in a tasting room.

I actually just took on a part time minimum wage job so I can go back to school. It is not "financially worth it" but it has other merits, obviously!

I think even if it gives you only an extra $500 per month, it's worth it to keep working. $500 doesn't sound like a lot but it is when you don't even have that extra cushion monthly.

I'd like to break even after childcare and retirement savings. I'd like to work so all of our future financial goals doesn't fall on my husband's shoulders. Eventually childcare expenses will go down and I'll get raises so it will be important to look past right now when I'm feeling overwhelmed.

I'm currently operating at a loss by working part time, but all of my paycheck and more goes to my parents, who provide childcare the 3 days I week I go to work and who have no other source of income. But its a government job that has cheap benefits and I have the ability to work this part-time schedule and I can still use my expensive law degree, which I'm still paying off, and I get some adult interaction during the week. I've just made peace that professionally, I'm not going to progress or make much money the next few years, but once our kids are in school I should be able to put my foot back on the gas.

If your career is one that is built upon seniority/experience and its hard to return to (and it's something you want to continue with), I think even being in the red after infant care is worth it if its something your family can afford.

Some other ladies have mentioned being a better mom because they work, and that is absolutely valuable too and so hard to put a price tag on.

@Mrs. Pickle: yes, exactly. I don't want my husband, or me, for that matter, to have to shoulder the entire burden. I am way too anxious and a pessimist.

Take-home pay is only one factor in the equation for me. There are a lot of benefits like 401(k) matching, health care coverage, disability/life insurance, etc. that I don't see in my bank account week to week but that certainly add up. Those along with raises, the "cost" of taking a break and losing seniority, etc. make it so that I would not only have to break even but make a good amount less than childcare costs to consider not working at all.

@lawbee11: Yes, excellent points. Take-home pay certainly isn't the end-all of the equation, even just looking at it from a financial standpoint only.

@lawbee11: I think it depends what you do, full time, part time, contractor, etc. I'm a contractor so I don't have those benefits.

I agree with @lawbee11: - there are a lot of other benefits to working besides just my paycheck and even the "formal" benefits like 401(k) matching or health insurance. I don't work in a particularly lucrative field (academia) and my husband does (corporate law), but taking the long view in terms of future college expenses, retirement, and having a record of employment/current CV (really important in my field), it makes sense for me to work even though my current direct financial contribution to our household is fairly small. As we have more kids I may consider a reduced schedule which, at my institution, would allow me to retain most of the benefits of working I mentioned above for slightly less money.

We are actually trying to figure this out now. I am planning to do part-time seasonal work in the winter/spring but we need to decide if it's worth it. My estimate now is that I'll bring in about $350/week after taxes and nanny. I just want enough to contribute some to retirement and beef up my personal account for the rest of the year. It'll maybe be about $3k for the amount of time I would work which doesn't really seem like enough.