My wife and I recently had our first child 2 weeks ago. We are discussing how to proceed in the next few years in regards to our careers and our finances.
She is currently a school teacher making 50k annually. I am a fire Medic, my base salary is around 75k, with quite a bit of overtime opportunity. Both before tax
I estimated that we need roughly 90k after tax a year to maintain our standard of living. We live fairly frugal. I was also blessed enough to be able to purchase my first home at 20 YO. Which I sold several years ago for a decent profit. This has enabled us to have good mortgage payment on a nice home . 1900 a month. (Great in this market)
I brought a decent amount of money into this marriage, still have about 100k still in savings.(Like I said I'm frugal)
We owe 260k on our 600k home. Own our cars outright. No debt. That is our complete financial status.
However, she believes it would he a good move now that our kid is born to take a year off work. Maybe longer if we have a 2nd.
This makes me uneasy for several reasons.
We would not be able to sustain our expenses on my salary alone. Unless I start crushing the overtime. I currently love my job and enjoy going to work everyday. That being said I don't know if that will still be the case if I start tacking on the overtime.
I am not afraid of hard work or long hours. However, I've seen what it does to guys. The stress of the job builds slowly when you don't have the time to decompress that you need. I don't want something I love to turn into something I despise. And I've seen the way medics treat patients when they don't want to be there. I don't want to be that guy.
We have discussed her getting a part time job, and maybe me just working a little overtime. Or her starting a furniture flip business to bring in a little extra money. But the amount I make on overtime is really just a lot more than she would make on a part time gig. I'm just concerned that it could turn into me working an extra 72 hours a month. How will that effect my mental health? How will that effect our family?
I know if push came to shove. I would do whatever I had to do to provide. I am just concerned about deliberately chosing this path.
All that being said. Child care itself is crazy expensive and I would love for her to he the one to raise our kids, not a stranger.
I don't know if this is the right place to post this but input is appreciated. Thanks.
Submitted May 05, 2024 at 01:52AM by _thisisthe_way https://ift.tt/Y7cvNtj
