Hail To Pitt!

With the recent announcement that Pfizer would be shutting down it's Ann Arbor facility and us looking at short, medium and long-term finances, I thought I'd look into getting a job again. In case you don't know, I have been a full-time stay at home dad for 5.5 years now. I love the job. Where else can I take a bath while watching the mid-day Sports Center and fielding calls from old friends from New Jersey? (yes, while the kids were taking a nap)

We believe that having a parent raise their own child both immeasurable financially as well as the best thing for that child. We also believe more people could "afford" it if they thought about it and planned accordingly.

In any case, I dusted off my last resume (from '01) and polished it up a bit, adding a section "Where have I been?" which attempted to explain my absence from the job market. I found 2 positions at Google in Ann Arbor and was working on my cover letter as we investigated child care in town.

We checked out 3 places we had heard of - the mid-point of the costs for child care came to $1,500 per month. This included after-school care for Josh who is in half-day Kindergarten and full-day care for my 2 year old Sam. These numbers were a shock to me, but I'm not complaining - just in shock.

So with that number in hand - and knowing that the first $18,000 of my salary would be going to some stranger to take care of my son, I thought I'd continue my investigation of returning to work in a spreadsheet.

Our marginal federal tax rate is 28%, the state of Michigan taxes at 3% flat, Medicare is 1.44%, and Social Security 6.15%. Wow - this is adding up. No retirement contributions [i.e. 401(k)] or befits added in either.

We are also a full gospel believing 10% tithing family, so take another 10% off the top.

Without stating what I used to earn, I figured being out of work for 5 years, I figured I'd be fine with a $50,000 annual salary to start until I got up to speed and felt more confident about my abilities and fit in with the workplace. Besides, for generalization, a "second job" paying $50,000 is above the norm - the average income in this country is only $24,000, so I'd even claim that a 2nd salary of $30,000 is well above average.

So I ran the numbers - $50,000 annual income, minus taxes, minus tithe, minus childcare expenses - that $50,000 dwindled into only $7,705 - a measly $29.86 per day, not counting travel expenses, wardrobe upgrade & upkeep or increased lunch outlays. Eat lunch one day for $10 at the local burger joint and you just lost a full third of your take home pay! The hourly rate came to only $3.73!

Now lets go back to the decision to take the 2nd job versus staying home with the kid. That person would probably say, "We need the money. I make $50,000, that's nothing to sneeze at, we gotta pay the mortgage somehow." Do you think that person would even think of going to work for only $7,000 a year? For $3.75 an hour? Not for a minute. I don't think the 2nd earner, male or female, seriously examines the numbers to see what they would be taking home. For me, I'm not going to work for under $4 an hour!

So let's say I could command $75k in today's market - running the numbers got me an annual take home of $20,000 - not too bad - nothing to retire on, but nothing to sneeze at either. But the daily pay came to only $80 though - an hourly rate of $10. I pay my baby sitter, cash, $10/hour to watch my kids on Friday nights. Heck if I'm going to go to work, with a college degree and 10+ years industry experience, leaving my kids with someone else to take care of, for only $10 an hour!

Yeah, $20k over the year is enough money to buy a new car annually, or even pay the full mortgage on a nice home, but is it worth leaving the primary caregiver role for? Or better, is it so much that you can't re-structure your life to not need?

A friend asked me to run the numbers to see where the break-even point was for even going to work in the first place. Using the assumptions above, the break even point is $35,000. Meaning you need to make $10,000 more than the national average for salaries in this second job just to break even on your expenses of going to work - meaning you make nothing. Wow! I bet most people don't think about it that way.

So before I posted this, I wanted to change my assumptions. I know someone will post a comment "only idiots tithe, everyone in the church is corrupt." So I'll change the tithing line to 0%. And I'll drop the marginal tax rate for this job to 25% which is more in line to what the average American family is at.

Now this $50,000 job, for this hypothetical family, would yield $14,000 annually or $55/day (again, before travel, wardrobe or other business expenses). The pay rate - $6.88. Most of us who earn $50,000 and above wouldn't dream of working for only $6.88 an hour - heck, minimum wage will be more than that in a year or two!

In any case - if you're considering putting the kids in daycare and going to work on that second job - seriously run the numbers and see what you would really be making. My guess is you won't be taking home much more than you would be if you stayed home and build lego castles, hot wheels demolition derby's and watched your umpteenth episode of Oobi on the TiVo this week. Stay home - your kids will thank you for it in the end!