S/O of be prepared: Education/Career

[fraidycat]

What is your education background and major if college graduate?

 

Are you marketable?

 

Would you be able to step into the role of sole wage earner within a short period of time (1 year or less) and earn "enough" - whatever enough is for your family's needs?

 

 

 

 

 

[regentrude]

I have  a PhD in physics. After a few years as a SAHM when the kids were little, I went back to work as a college instructor and have been working ever since.

If I had to, I could support my family as the sole earner. Because I took the break and then only taught, instead of continuing a research career, my income is substantially lower than DH's, and our standard of living would be much lower - but we would be OK.

[DawnM]

M.A. TESOL

M.A. School Counseling

Teaching Credentials in English, ESL, History, and School Counseling

 

I keep all my credentials up to date and have 17 years of experience in public education.  I hope to get a job again at some point, probably to pay for the kids' college. 

 

If I can't find Counseling, History, or English positions, I can always find ESL.  Just like math and science, it is in demand.  

 

Yes, I could support us, I don't make as much as DH so our level of living would not be as high, but we could survive.  If DH died, we would get enough to pay off the house, but if he were just incapacitated, we would have to move.

 

Just one year?  Not a problem.  We have savings.

[Laura Corin]

I have a BA in French and Drama and an MBA.  I fell pregnant just as I finished my MBA and didn't use it professionally.

 

When I started looking for work, I started back in at the bottom - very part time as a sub-postmistress whilst taking a basic Microsoft certificate, then in an office administrator role.  I've just taken a full-time secretarial position.

 

It's taken about five years to get this far, but I could probably have pushed it faster.  We have a rental property - with that and my salary I could now support the family frugally.

[poppy]

The degrees that are very marketable with just a BS are engineering and computer science.

All those have a starting salary of about $60K, give or take.

From a very good school, finance and economics (but not "business") are equally lucrative.

[Tap]

I have half of a bachelors in business.  The credits are too old to transfer to another degree so my education is just about worthless.

 

I am a pharmacy technician and currently work.  It is a certificate program now, but I learned on the job back in the day.  I pay for  and maintain my licence with continuing education credits. 

[creekland]

I have bachelors degrees in Physics and Psych and a minor in Math, but those are all quite old now, so I doubt I could truly use any of them.

 

However, I've been working part time in our local high school for 15 (going on 16) years now and have a standing offer there if I ever wanted to go full time in math or science.  I need the degrees I have to get the job - and I'd even need to get a masters in education because I don't have the "right" degree to teach, but they've assured me I could easily get that while on the job if I wanted one.

 

I don't want a full time job.  I'm too lazy for one.  I love my flexibility, free time, and being able to "teach" without all the blasted paperwork they make teachers do now (NOT counting grading and true class prep).

 

If something happened to hubby, I'd be thinking long and hard about what I wanted to do with my life.  I suspect I'd sell pretty much everything and more or less volunteer somewhere - perhaps third world.  It would depend upon what my boys and mom were doing.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I have a BA in Psychology, a certificate in Medical Assisting, and a certificate in Culinary Arts.  Probably culinary would be the easiest in terms of finding something easily/quickly.  I worked in a couple of insurance companies and have some courses in underwriting.  I'd probably try to get back into that.  It's not that hard to get into something like claims if you have a basic degree and even sometimes without.  The pay and benefits with that are usually decent.

 

I am seriously thinking about going for a master's.  I am not entirely sure what I'd study though.  Something that I think would open up some opportunities.  I'm at a point where I am more interested in what is practical if I'm going to spend money on it.  

 

 

 

 

[SparklyUnicorn]

 

 

I don't want a full time job.  I'm too lazy for one.

 

 

Me too.  Not "lazy" exactly, but yes I enjoy the flexibility and free time. 

[poppy]

I think it's safe to say many, many, many people who work full time wish they didn't have to!

[Wheres Toto]

I have a Bachelor's in Business Administration, Marketing and an AAS in Biology with enough credits that I could finish a BS in Biology pretty quickly.  I work as an executive assistant for a healthcare marketing company so my degrees are somewhat relevant. I believe they now require a degree for my position, but my main marketability is that I'm extremely proficient in Word, Powerpoint and Excel.   Strong skills in Powerpoint and Excel are very sought after and a lot less common than I would expect at this point.   I could transfer to a higher level position within my company with the degree and skills I have but I'm waiting to see if they make me an offer in my department (I believe they are going to).

 

I can support a family on what I make now even in our high COL area.  I have done it before when it was just dd and I, and I could do it again if I had to.  If there was absolutely no other money coming in - no life insurance, no child support, no disability, no anything (I'm not sure what scenario we are looking at) - we wouldn't be able to keep our current house but could get a rental big enough, and the kids would probably have to go to school unless dh was home with them.   In that scenario I would probably give up on waiting for the promotion in my department and apply for a higher paying position in another department at the same company I work for now.

[Audrey]

My PhD is useless, but the experience and other credentials I've picked up since leaving academia are highly marketable.  I currently have a gov job, and we own a farm.  I could not work the farm on my own.  But, I could support the family on my current employment and renting out the farmland. 

[Frances]

M.S. in Statistics from an Ivy. I was the primary supporter for my family when my husband went back to school for a professional doctorate. My work was somewhat flexible and I used vacation time and leave without pay to continue homeschooling and outside activities. Prior to that, I had never worked full-time since my son was born. After my husband finished his degree, I reduced my hours until my son went to college. I now work full-time, but will cut back my hours again when my manager allows it. I was promoted once after I first started working and later turned down a promotion to the highest position available in my section because I didn't want to lose any flexibility or the option of working less than full-time.

 

I've never actually worked as a Statistician, but the analytical, data handling, and programming skills from my degree and work experience are fairly marketable. While I make about half the salary of my husband, for the majority of our married life we lived on less than what I make now. We are used to living well below our means and I abhor stuff, so barring major unforeseen medical expenses, we could easily live on my wages. We are still in the first house we bought when my husband was making half my current salary, so our living expenses are quite low.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I think it's safe to say many, many, many people who work full time wish they didn't have to!

 

I'm sure.  I did not mind quitting because I was bored.  Very...very...bored.  I was working towards something less boring, but I think it would have killed me to keep doing that forever.

[Jenny in Florida]

I have a bachelor's degree in English. Pre-kids, I worked for about 10 years as an editor and technical writer. During my 18-ish years of full-time mommying and homeschooling, I worked part-time jobs on and off (mostly off), mostly in retail. I don't really know how marketable I would be trying to go back to editing/tech writing, because I hated it a lot and would move heaven and earth to avoid taking such a job again.

 

I did start tutoring online very part-time the year before my son graduated and then re-wrote my resume around that experience to get a second part-time job at a strip-mall-type tutoring center. For the last year, as we've been in transition from "family with teens" to empty nest, I've been content to work part-time and have valued the flexible schedule. As long as I make enough to cover our portion of my son's college tuition, that's enough for now.

 

If I'm willing to work odd hours and be really diligent about grabbing available hours as they come up, I can work 30-ish hours a week between the two jobs. It would not be "enough" to support a family in comfort, but I could scrape by as a single person as long as I was willing to make big lifestyle changes and really scrape. (That assumes, of course, that I didn't also need to pay my son's tuition out of that amount. In the hypothetical situation in which I needed to take over as primary wage earner, I begin with the presumption that my son would either qualify for enough financial aid to make up the gap due to our sudden decrease in income or that he might need to either work, himself, or take a year off until we could regroup.)

 

However, I just finished a month-long (temp) full-time job scoring standardized test essays, which connected me with the staffing agency that handles substitute teachers in our county. Those of us who did the summer scoring thing supposedly get preferred status applying to be subs during the year, and I plan to follow up on that. It's still not big money, but I'm hoping that between the three jobs, I can consistently average 35-40 hours a week.

 

Obviously, in a catastrophic situation in which I needed to support two or three of us ASAP, I would get much less selective about the kinds of jobs I would take. (Knocking on wood . . .) I've never actually had much trouble finding a job when I needed or wanted one. And, although I often start out in fairly low-level or temporary positions, I've generally managed to move up and improve my situation steadily. So, I would hope that, with a degree, a couple of years of recent employment experience on my resume and positive recommendations, I would be able to get myself into a decent, although not luxurious, situation within a year or so, yes.

[Arcadia]

Civil engineering degree followed by computer engineering. If I have to work immediately, I'll find work as a tutor. We'll be ok if I can bring in $1.5k after tax per month since almost all our debts are gone.

 

If I re-cert and manage to get a full time job, we'll be comfortable on my income.

 

My parents are able to help out financially with kids outside classes.

[umsami]

I have an MBA from a good school, major was marketing/electronic commerce, but I've been out of the workforce 12 years.  That makes me pretty much unemployable in my field.  Age is also an issue in marketing, but I transitioned to competitive intelligence/strategy which is slightly more forgiving.  

 

Somebody just out of MBA school with zero experience is 1000x more likely to be hired than me.  

 

To get back into the workforce, I'd have to network like crazy, pray, and really hope that somebody was willing to give me a shot.  I'd most likely start far below my old salary, and would be lucky to get that job.  With four kids, it would be hard for me to handle the travel required in my field.

 

Best bet would be to incur more debt and do another master's.  That would probably put me ahead of the game long-term.  

[SparklyUnicorn]

My PhD is useless, but the experience and other credentials I've picked up since leaving academia are highly marketable.  I currently have a gov job, and we own a farm.  I could not work the farm on my own.  But, I could support the family on my current employment and renting out the farmland. 

 

I'll call you Dr. Audrey from now on.  :D

[Mimm]

My degree is in graphic design and I've never used it professionally. I haven't worked since high school. I'm not at all marketable and would never be able to earn as much as my husband. If he left me or died, my quality of life would suffer greatly, probably permanently. I see everyone saying to keep up your skills, and be able to get a job... I don't even know where I'd begin with that. I don't even have time to volunteer or get something part time. My whole life revolves around my kids. I never wanted to be one of those people. I worry about my emotional state when I'm facing an empty nest, but that delayed big time when baby #3 came along. Maybe once my first two have left the home and it's just the youngest, I'll have more time to think of myself.

[texasmama]

What is your education background and major if college graduate?

 

Are you marketable?

 

Would you be able to step into the role of sole wage earner within a short period of time (1 year or less) and earn "enough" - whatever enough is for your family's needs?

I have a graduate degree in clinical social work, and an advanced clinical license.

 

I am very marketable.

 

I would be able to support our family in a very modest lifestyle, which would mean selling our current home, driving older cars, limited to no vacations, etc.

 

I was able to quickly get a full time job as a single parent when my first marriage ended, but the job was low paying, and I was only able to support myself and my daughter because I had a newish car which was paid off.  Otherwise, I recall thinking I would have been in trouble.  

 

ETA:  When dh's small business went south about five years back, I was quickly able to find an acceptable but low paying full time job (even for my field) which was low stress, flexible with hours, and had good benefits.

 

If I never worked full time again, I would be very happy.  One year at a time here, and I am currently very busy with homeschooling and unemployed.  

[Garga]

I am completely unmarketable.

 

UGH.

 

My parents said, when I was 15, "We'll pay for a car for you or for some college." And left it in my immature and stupid hands. I chose the car.

 

I CHOSE THE CAR! AHHHH!

 

I got a job out of high school and worked my way up into a nice job as a corporate trainer. No college. This was in the olden days of the early 90s when you could still work your way up.

 

And then I quit 13 years ago to raise the kids.

 

If DH dies, I'll have to sell everything, work retail, and get a degree online if possible (because my hours will probably stink and I won't be able to make classes) He has ok life insurance, so if I work super hard, we'll survive for the years it'll take to get a degree.

 

Of course, after the degree, there's no guarantee anyone will hire an old lady at their company.

[gardenmom5]

The degrees that are very marketable with just a BS are engineering and computer science.

All those have a starting salary of about $60K, give or take.

From a very good school, finance and economics (but not "business") are equally lucrative.

 

around here - engineers with just a b.s. average start is quite a bit higher than that.   

[creekland]

I am completely unmarketable.

 

UGH.

 

My parents said, when I was 15, "We'll pay for a car for you or for some college." And left it in my immature and stupid hands. I chose the car.

 

I CHOSE THE CAR! AHHHH!

 

I got a job out of high school and worked my way up into a nice job as a corporate trainer. No college. This was in the olden days of the early 90s when you could still work your way up.

 

And then I quit 13 years ago to raise the kids.

 

If DH dies, I'll have to sell everything, work retail, and get a degree online if possible (because my hours will probably stink and I won't be able to make classes) He has ok life insurance, so if I work super hard, we'll survive for the years it'll take to get a degree.

 

Of course, after the degree, there's no guarantee anyone will hire an old lady at their company.

 

Your better bet would be to find a trade you felt you could do and go through the course at HACC.  Plenty of people do this and find suitable jobs afterward paying far more than retail.  Most are in medical types of fields, but not necessarily nursing as that field takes a special "type" of person.

 

You could get financial aid and the debt would be worth it AS LONG AS you put forth the effort to do well and pick a profession with a very high job placement rate.  Or... if the life insurance is high enough, you could skip the debt part.  Personally, if the death of a spouse were part of it, I'd want to make sure the kids didn't have to cut back much as a way of helping them adjust to the new normal.

[luuknam]

My degree isn't finished, I'm not marketable, and I've never had a white collar job in my life. That's why we have life insurance. I'll have a lot more than a year to figure out how to support myself and the kids.

[HSmomof2]

What is your education background and major if college graduate?

 

Are you marketable?

 

Would you be able to step into the role of sole wage earner within a short period of time (1 year or less) and earn "enough" - whatever enough is for your family's needs?

I have a BA in psychology. I haven't found it to be marketable, even when I got it 20 years ago. 😉

 

I have a lot of administrative/medical office/insurance experience, and I've been working part-time for our local library for a few years. I think I could find a full-time job that would support myself and dc---not how we're accustomed to living now, but we could get by. If dh were disabled, there would be insurance to help cover part of that income loss as well. In the case of my husband's death, we would have some life insurance and his pension, so we'd be ok with that combined with me working.

 

But to answer the question, I think my work experience makes me more marketable than my degree.

[G5052]

I had kids after 15 years in scientific research and government policy and program management. I went on extended, unpaid maternity leave, and my job was eliminated. I had other options, but chose to bag the high-pressure, long-hours career at that point.

 

Thankfully a mentor of mine years before pointed out that academia was family-friendly.

 

So I've taught part-time at the college level ever since my high school graduate was 18 months old, and I added in work as an independent contractor with teaching, website development, and writing. Basically I've added more work as they've gotten older and will continue to do the same as they graduate.  I make about what a beginning teacher does but with no benefits, which is the downside of piecing together work. The upsides are that my work is mostly from home, and I can pick-and-choose.  It's been dry at times, but I currently turn down more work than I take.

 

I couldn't replace DH's income, but we could get by with what I make. He's eligible for early retirement this year, and we'd be fine if he took it because we've scrimped and thankfully have excellent colleges nearby that the DC will attend.

 

I don't anticipate changing to full-time work away from home after my youngest graduates in two years unless I find working at home too lonely.

[Audrey]

I'll call you Dr. Audrey from now on.  :D

 

I used to ask my students to call me that because I hated my difficult to spell and pronounce maiden name.

[Maela]

I never finished a degree.  I've never had the same job for more than a couple of years.  I've been completely out of the workforce for eight years now.  I have no idea what I'd do.  We have life insurance, but I wouldn't be okay forever.  (ETA:  and if we're just talking about a disabled/unemployed dh, we'd be in even bigger trouble.  Although dh has some skills that, depending on the disability, he could use to work from home.  And that along with my meager income might get us by.)  My inlaws have money, and I know they'd be more than willing to help, but I wouldn't like it at all.  I really enjoyed working as an aide to children with autism.  I could probably do that again, but I wouldn't be making enough because I don't have a degree.  

 

I want to work for myself.  I really don't like having to answer to anyone.  I'm very good at it, but it sucks the life out of me.  Being a homeschooling mom is awesome because I get to make so many of my own decisions.  My dream job would be to be a photographer, but I'm not nearly skilled enough.  I just want to take pretty pictures and sell them... :-)   I know how realistic that is!  

 

 

 

[LucyStoner]

Yes. My education is in business economics and I have two certificates from a well regarded business school in non-profit and fundraising management. I am slowly working on becoming a CPA. I worked in management and fundraising until my older son was 8. I work very PT doing accounting and management related tasks as a self employed contractor for non-profits. If I did this FT as a self employed contractor I would gross close to six figures without continuing my education. Also, if I needed health insurance or just didn't want to work for myself, I am reasonably confident could find FT work either in fundraising, nonprofit management or similar within a short job search (say 3 months). I would expect to earn more than we live on now in such a position. I've kept my references and contacts fresh while being home these last (almost) 4 years. Once my CPA education is complete, there are many large non-profits and foundations in the area that hire CFO or COO types for excellent salaries or I could bill quite a bit self employed doing nonprofit audits and such. I feel like I have a good plan A, B, C etc.

[The Girls' Mom]

As it stands, I could keep us fed, but could not keep up with our current standard of living.  I have admin skills and that is about it.

 

I don't have a degree in anything, but for this very reason, I'm currently in school full time, majoring in accounting.  There is a pretty good chance dh will need to retire early.  I'm using the next 4-5 years to prepare myself to take over as main breadwinner.  All our kids will be in their 20s by then too, so I won't need to make quite as much as he does now (hopefully).

[Chris in VA]

My degree is in Early and Middle Childhood Ed. My experience could get me into a director's job at a preschool, but I'd hate it.

I'm just very grateful our retirement thru our church is excellent. That and life insurance would mean I could take a part time job as a preschool teacher for kicks and have enough to live on for the rest of my life. The problem would be if dh and I left our church. Bye bye retirement.

[lllll]

nm

[SamanthaCarter]

I am a CPA with 7 years experience. Currently a SAHM but I've put some effort into keeping my skills semi-current. If anything happened to DH, I believe we'd be okay financially. 

[Bluegoat]

I have a BA in classical philosophy and a diploma in library and information technology.  I haven't kept up much with the technology side of that though and haven't had a job for about 10 years other than army reserves.  I'm too old to go back to that now though some of the experience might be valuable.

 

If dh died the insurance would pay off our house plus a bit more, and the kids would be eligible for some money through Canada Pension - when I was in university it was close to $150 a month so it might be a bit more than that now.  I'm not sure what I might get from my dh's pension on a monthly basis - I should ask him about that.

 

I think my plan in that kind of situation would be to sell our house - I am not keen on doing the upkeep and also working - and seeing if I could get a flat in the co-op my uncle is in.  It would be a similar monthly payment but less upkeep and no maintenance costs, and within three blocks of my parents and two sets of uncles/aunts.  I might be able to get by with a part time job, maybe in the library but TBH I would even manage ok with something like working at grocery check-out on a part time basis. I might look at going back to school once I felt settled but I don't know doing what.  I think I would still be eligible for dh's medical plan but I could get blue cross for about $70 a month for a good plan at a similar level.

 

Thinking about it, if I can get by without a "serious" job, that might actually be preferable while the kids were still at home.

[AngieW in Texas]

I have a BS and MS in Physics. It was going to be just a BS, but the defense industry crashed just a few months before dh and I graduated (BS in physics for him too). There were tons of out of work engineers and scientists with years of experience. Most of the job fairs wouldn't even let you walk in the door without 5 years of experience already. We both went back to school to get MS in the hope that there would be jobs by the time we finished. There weren't.

 

Dh got a job as a programmer. That's how he worked his way through college. He is still programming today, 25 years later.

 

I got a job teaching physics at the local cc, but as an adjunct professor. I really needed full-time pay and couldn't get it. I ended up working as temp for Kelly Services and finally found a position as a technician one year later. I worked at that job for three years. At that point, I had had our second child and my after-childcare income was going to be less than $75/week. I quit to take care of the kids.

 

I am semi-marketable now.  I started teaching high school science and math classes in my home 5 years ago.

 

Two years ago, there were some issues that caused me to reevaluate and make sure that I had some financial options. I spent 6 months as a contract author for Sapling Learning writing physics problems and also doing science and math tutoring with a tutoring firm while simultaneously working through an alternative teaching certificate program. I got certified in 7-12 math and special education.  I've completed my probationary year, but the charter school where I was teaching closed and the new one is opening even farther away. The closer old location was already a bad commute.  I'm looking for a teaching position closer to home. I've added another certification (7-12 science), but haven't gotten a new job yet. I have had three interviews.

 

All of my certifications are listed as critical need areas, but I still haven't gotten hired yet. I'm sure it will happen, but I want it to happen soon.

 

We would be in serious financial difficulties if dh ended up on disability (at least until payments kicked in and I don't know how much that would be or how long that would last). My income last year was 1/3 of his. Starting pay for teachers in my area ranges from $38,000-$46,000, depending on the district or charter or individual school. I only have one year of experience, so I'm pretty much at the starting pay level and the charter where I taught was not at the very bottom of the pay range, but was definitely below the middle.

 

We have one in college right now and another one that will be starting college in another year.

 

One of our friends was in a serious bike accident a week ago and is still in ICU. They've been keeping him unconscious because it's safer that way. They need to perform multiple surgeries, but don't know yet exactly what they should do.  This kind of thing can happen at any time. He's going to be in the hospital for a long time and those bills are going to pile up. 

[FairProspects]

Nm.

 

[texasmama]

This went from a discussion about whether or not you could support your family financially to would you be okay if your spouse died.  These are two different discussions, IMO.  I was answering the OP's question as if my dh was disabled, unemployed, etc but still living.  Life insurance would change things for the better financially in the case of dh's death.  Also, we would get SS for the kids.  It is an entirely different question.

[texasmama]

I was answering based on if my spouse was not working outside of the home. I hadn't even thought of disability money or anything. Just my income standing on its own.

This is how I answered.  Disability income is not guaranteed and can take awhile to obtain so I was just counting what I could personally make to support our family.

[dirty ethel rackham]

What is your education background and major if college graduate?

 

Are you marketable?

 

Would you be able to step into the role of sole wage earner within a short period of time (1 year or less) and earn "enough" - whatever enough is for your family's needs?

 

BS in Mathematics with a minor in Spanish.  I worked for about 10 years after college as a computer analyst and made really good money working for a consulting company.  But, I have not worked in that field for nearly 20 years, which means I am not marketable in that field at all.  Even if I went back and got some certificates, it is highly unlikely that I'd be able to get a job even entry level.  In the meantime, I have had a couple of part-time business, but they have always had to take the back seat to family obligations.  

 

I have friends who are thoroughly convinced that I would have no trouble finding a decent paying full-time job if I had to, but I think they have drunk the motivational seminar Koolaid.  If dh were to die, I would be able to take my time to build up to a full-time income.  However, if he were to become disabled, we would have to spend down our retirement and other assets and would not be able to finish helping to pay for college.  Within a couple of years, we would be struggling.  (Thinking of that thread about taking care of elderly infirm parents.)   

[Bluegoat]

As far as being marketable with dh still alive - I'm not sure.  This is something I have been thinking about, maybe if I should begin thinking about taking some courses.  I'm just not sure what would make sense financially that I would be ok at and not totally hate.  The public library here unfortunately has their employment arrangements in strange ways - all kinds of jobs with very few hours.  I guess I might try for the bookstore down the road.  I really like teaching but have no qualifications.  I can't do army work any more, I'm too introverted for a job that means dealing with a lot of new people all the time like retail, and I'm not great at office work because I don't have that kind of organizational mind.

 

That being said, I do rather like working with mentally ill people and seem to be able to talk to people easily in that kind of context, and I might consider looking at something along those lines - not at a high level, even something like orderly work.

[Mom22ns]

My BS was pre-vet. It is not marketable. My job experience was all in computer support. My last job was as a network analyst. I'm too out of date in the world of technology to be marketable there. Although when my kids were younger and this would have been an issue, I could have gone back. If I really wanted to, they would probably hire me in support even now, but I'd have to be really desperate to go there.

 

If something happened to dh, we have a lot of life insurance for just this reason. I'd have to start over, although only if something happened soon. We are debt free and have solid retirement savings. It wouldn't take much for me to live on once the kids are out of college. 

[Sara in AZ]

Bachelors/masters in piano performance and pedagogy. I'm confident I could build up a decent studio in a years time (25-35) students) semi-confident I have enough contacts to possibly get a community college position teaching applied piano (which I would hate), certain I could do training in some kind of early music program like Kindermusic or Let's Play Music and build that up over a few years, would love to cobble this all together with some accompanying. Positive I could never come close to pulling in Dh's salary as a software engineer, but with some, serious life style changes we probably wouldn't starve! I'm not opposed to moving back in with my parents, either, should worst come to worst.

[Greta]

I have a B.S. in Zoology, which is almost 20 years old now, and has never been put to use. I've never worked in my field, and I haven't worked at all in 20 years. So no, I'm not marketable. And that worries me. If by some miracle I could get a job, I could only earn a very small fraction of what my dh is currently earning.

 

I want to go back to work when my daughter goes to college, because otherwise I think I would be really depressed and miserable. And I want to work in something biology related, because I worked hard for that degree! But why would they hire a 40-something woman who studied that stuff two decades ago rather than some bright, energetic, 22 year old who studied the latest information just last week??? :(

[EmilyGF]

I have a BS in physics from a top 5 physics university.

 

I had no problem finding a good job immediately out of college. I did programming so solve scientific problems.

 

I don't think I am easily employable now. If I needed to become so quickly, I would probably do a become-a-programmer boot camp program while living with my parents and sending my kids to the neighborhood school (because their neighborhood school kicks the a** off ours). They would probably make me pay rent, which would be OK. I would also network with people I know and have worked for in the past.

 

Emily

[Penguin]

I have a BS in mechanical engineering and an MBA. Once upon a time, I had a very good job. However, I have been out of the workforce for almost 20 years now.

 

It is possible that I will start another career once the youngest graduates from high school, but I expect to completely start over.

[Amira]

I'd be fine if dh died. Out of the three big D's, death is the easiest one to prepare for since there's life insurance. Disability insurance is helpful, but not quite as convenient as life insurance. And there is, of course, no divorce insurance.

 

I have a BA in International Relations. If I needed to support the family on my own, I'd apply with dh's current employer and even though the hiring process would be long, I think I'd get a job. We'd be fine financially in that case.

[Crimson Wife]

What is your education background and major if college graduate?

 

Are you marketable?

 

Would you be able to step into the role of sole wage earner within a short period of time (1 year or less) and earn "enough" - whatever enough is for your family's needs?

 

My 1st bachelor's degree was in psychology with a minor in human biology. I'm currently in a 2nd bachelor's degree in communicative disorders. I may or may not finish it depending on whether I can get accepted to grad school in speech & language pathology as an "out-of-field" applicant this upcoming application cycle. Apparently there is less competition for out-of-field applicants. I do need a couple of current academic recommendations since my 1st degree was so long ago, but most of the grad schools I'm targeting don't need me to finish out the entire sequence.

 

I think that I would have difficulty going back to my pre-kids business career but I have no interest in that. I do have skills that could get me a job in an education or disability services related field. I would need to get a master's to advance in that career but I wouldn't need it to start.

 

I couldn't afford to support our family here in the insanely-high COL S.F. Bay Area but we've built up enough equity in our home to sell it and buy a home for cash in a low COL area.

 

If I am able to become a certified speech & language pathologist, there's a fairly high probability that I'd be the main breadwinner for a while and my DH would become an entrepreneur. He's been wanting to start a business for a while but we've needed his salary and employer-sponsored health insurance coverage. If I can bring in a decent salary and benefits, that frees him up to try his hand at launching a startup.

[Rosie_0801]

My degree is worthless. My Tafe diploma is worthless on it's own, but if I had two years to get another, the two combined would put me in good stead.

[abba12]

I'm essentially unemployable, so I haven't even tried to keep to 'keep my foot in the door'. Visually impaired persons have one of the lowest rates of employment of any disability group because of the more complicated needs to work around it and health and safety issues. I know plenty of blind people who work, but they either work within blind organizations, or they have studied very hard in professional fields. But, just going out and finding a common job? I'd never be employed. I never went to university (less of a big deal in Australia, lots of people don't go and many jobs only require 6-12 months in a trade certificate) so I have no professional qualifications to overcome my disability. (I do have a certificate in IT but it wasn't good enough to make employers look past my visual impairment). I wish I had gone, and I do intend to study when my children are grown, but the life I led as a teenager, and my family situation, meant that it was never even possible to consider at the time. 

 

However, I was running a hobby business selling my family's second hand clothes on ebay last year, a fairly small thing. And then my husband was laid off and had his licence taken away for 9 months due to a medical condition. I am also unable to drive, so applying for any job was basically out of the question, we had no way to get to one. Thankfully in our country we have a lot more in the way of social security, so while things were very tight, we weren't in danger of homelessness or anything. We decided I would ramp up my ebay business, I began buying stock,  and putting real hours into it. I now work about 10-15 hours a week, and sell about 20-30 items a week (at an average of $10 an item).

 

It's not full time work, and I'm skeptical that I could build it any further due to the platform of ebay (many users, myself included, have taken our listed stock from 300 items up to 800+ items and noticed NO increase in sales, it is commonly believed that ebay has certain limits to 'share sales around' which they don't talk about, as I am definitely not the first person to go through it. So, I don't invest any more time in it than my 10-15 hours. But, I digress...

 

The point is, even for someone with no official qualifications and no employability, there are still opportunities. I also began babysitting and my husband did piano lessons and mowed lawns, none of it was glamorous, and our standard of living dropped, but, there's opportunities out there. Don't think you have no hope without a degree in something and up to date contacts. 

 

Husband is now working again, part time (his medical condition means he will never work full time again) and I have kept up my ebay business, and between us we make about a full time income. I never imagined I would end up working for part of the main income after having come to accept I'd missed my chance for a degree good enough to negate my disability, and could never get a normal job. But that's the situation we found ourselves in.

[Guest]

I didn't finish college and didn't work for any substantial income from the time we married. I do own several businesses individually and jointly and could make those grow if I needed to. But if my husband dies we factored in the cost of paying off the mortgage and setting up accounts to take care of utilities while I continued homeschooling, then covering a fair bit or all of my own education to gain a degree and set out on my own while still staying at home. That's how we settled on our life insurance number.

 

If my husband just became disabled, provided he was still cognitively functional we would be fine thanks to some of those business ventures he could still do. If he had a stroke or brain damage things would be tighter but still manageable for me to go back to school and bills would be covered in the meantime.

 

I have lots of marketable skills but no degrees. Hopefully I can continue working for fun and staying home