[quote=CA renter][quote=FlyerInHi]The concept of working for negative income bothers me.
How about just saying expenses exceed income? That’s not just specific to child rearing.[/quote]
No, because the purpose of taking that second job is supposedly to earn more income, and the additional expenses are directly tied to working the second job. It’s literally working for negative income.
The sad thing is that so many people are financially illiterate, so they aren’t even aware that they’re doing it. You have no idea how many people I’ve known who never run numbers for things, not for housing, jobs, moving, investments, etc. All of their financial decisions seem to be based on emotions or they just follow trends and do what they’re told. It’s very scary when you think about how many people out there are doing this because their decisions affect the rest of us, like when housing (and other) prices are driven up by the biggest risk-takers who have the least to lose.[/quote]
I have to agree with this. Lots of folks don’t do any financial analysis.
When I had my first kid, we had a well trusted babysitter (good friend with a daughter a few months older than my son who was looking for some extra income so she could stay home with her child.). The math was simple – even with part time nature of my return to work.
When I had my second kid it was less straight forward. We looked at all the childcare solutions and their costs. 2 kids ARE more expensive than one – especially if they’re both in diapers (pricier daycare). What the *net* income would be. Since I’m pretty well paid – it still worked out to make it worthwhile to go back to work. But for friends who had less lucrative careers (social workers, teachers, office managers, etc.) it didn’t always make sense.
Folks need to do the math AND weigh whether either parent has the temperment and patience to be a stay at home parent. I knew I’d be miserable at home full time- so was glad to find that a balance of 4 days a week work (80% salary) and 3 days a week as caregiver worked for our family. A friends family came to the opposite conclusion – the dad started staying home with the kids when the youngest was 18 months old. He’s one of the most awesome dad’s I’ve met. He coaches FLL, plays minecraft with his kids, coaches the school math club, and dotes on his kids like crazy. His wife freely admits she enjoys leaving the chaos at home and going to an orderly workplace. They did the math and figured out this worked for them.
