Can a teacher give up her lucrative side hustle?

[Anonymous]

Some background:

I'm a 33 year old single teacher in NOVA. I am trying to see if I can stop working at my fairly lucrative hide hustle and just rely on my school salary.

I currently make around $83,000 from my NOVA school district and after taxes take home another $50,000 from my side hustle of tutoring. I really like the side hustle's money, but am SO tired from the nights and weekends. Does DCUM fam think I have enough saved up so I don't have to keep my side hustle or can slow down?

Finances:


Cash: $30,000

Taxable Brokerage: $185,000

403b: $126,000

457: $63,000

Roth IRA: $90,000

My home is worth about $615,000 and I owe about $450,000 on it.

I currently max out my 403b, Roth IRA, and contribute $2,000 a month to my taxable brokerage account.

Future Plans


Not really into getting married but may become a Single Mom by Choice one day.

I plan on staying with my district and will get a pension paying about 70% of my salary when I retire in my mid 50s.

Does DCUM think I can pull the trigger and stop tutoring?

[Anonymous]

Why not cut tutoring hours?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why not cut tutoring hours?

+1 I'd cut tutoring hours by 50% and see how that feels mentally and financially.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not cut tutoring hours?

+1 I'd cut tutoring hours by 50% and see how that feels mentally and financially.

+1

[Anonymous]

You are doing so well! I agree with halving your hours first to see how that feels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some background:

I'm a 33 year old single teacher in NOVA. I am trying to see if I can stop working at my fairly lucrative hide hustle and just rely on my school salary.

I currently make around $83,000 from my NOVA school district and after taxes take home another $50,000 from my side hustle of tutoring. I really like the side hustle's money, but am SO tired from the nights and weekends. Does DCUM fam think I have enough saved up so I don't have to keep my side hustle or can slow down?

Finances:


Cash: $30,000

Taxable Brokerage: $185,000

403b: $126,000

457: $63,000

Roth IRA: $90,000

My home is worth about $615,000 and I owe about $450,000 on it.

I currently max out my 403b, Roth IRA, and contribute $2,000 a month to my taxable brokerage account.

Future Plans


Not really into getting married but may become a Single Mom by Choice one day.

I plan on staying with my district and will get a pension paying about 70% of my salary when I retire in my mid 50s.

Does DCUM think I can pull the trigger and stop tutoring?

Is this for real? Those pension numbers are SIGNIFICANTLY more generous than MoCo counterparts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some background:

I'm a 33 year old single teacher in NOVA. I am trying to see if I can stop working at my fairly lucrative hide hustle and just rely on my school salary.

I currently make around $83,000 from my NOVA school district and after taxes take home another $50,000 from my side hustle of tutoring. I really like the side hustle's money, but am SO tired from the nights and weekends. Does DCUM fam think I have enough saved up so I don't have to keep my side hustle or can slow down?

Finances:


Cash: $30,000

Taxable Brokerage: $185,000

403b: $126,000

457: $63,000

Roth IRA: $90,000

My home is worth about $615,000 and I owe about $450,000 on it.

I currently max out my 403b, Roth IRA, and contribute $2,000 a month to my taxable brokerage account.

Future Plans


Not really into getting married but may become a Single Mom by Choice one day.

I plan on staying with my district and will get a pension paying about 70% of my salary when I retire in my mid 50s.

Does DCUM think I can pull the trigger and stop tutoring?

Is this for real? Those pension numbers are SIGNIFICANTLY more generous than MoCo counterparts.

NP. Start your own thread and don't hijack OP's. Sheesh.

[Anonymous]

OP, congratulations! For a 33-year-old teacher, you are amazing!

I think you sound very set, but instead of stopping tutoring I recommend you increase your rates while slowing down. Stay in the business because what you are doing is obviously very in demand. Keep your contacts and skills current this way, so if down the road you want to take some time away from school (for example, to stay hoe with a baby) you can keep up some tutoring on your own schedule if you want.

[Anonymous]

also, OP .. can you share what your tutoring business is? How are you bringing in so much money?

[Anonymous]

I would definitely cut back on the tutoring, but also look into whether you can raise your rates or specialize in a particular type of tutoring for which you can charge more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:also, OP .. can you share what your tutoring business is? How are you bringing in so much money?

as a teacher myself I do not believe that number. Something is off here in many ways. Not going to bother to poke holes in this, but anyone who is teacher in moco can figure it out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some background:

I'm a 33 year old single teacher in NOVA. I am trying to see if I can stop working at my fairly lucrative hide hustle and just rely on my school salary.

I currently make around $83,000 from my NOVA school district and after taxes take home another $50,000 from my side hustle of tutoring. I really like the side hustle's money, but am SO tired from the nights and weekends. Does DCUM fam think I have enough saved up so I don't have to keep my side hustle or can slow down?

Finances:


Cash: $30,000

Taxable Brokerage: $185,000

403b: $126,000

457: $63,000

Roth IRA: $90,000

My home is worth about $615,000 and I owe about $450,000 on it.

I currently max out my 403b, Roth IRA, and contribute $2,000 a month to my taxable brokerage account.

Future Plans


Not really into getting married but may become a Single Mom by Choice one day.

I plan on staying with my district and will get a pension paying about 70% of my salary when I retire in my mid 50s.

Does DCUM think I can pull the trigger and stop tutoring?

Is this for real? Those pension numbers are SIGNIFICANTLY more generous than MoCo counterparts.

NP. Start your own thread and don't hijack OP's. Sheesh.

It's not a hijack. It's questioning the authenticity of the post when the numbers are nonsensical

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:also, OP .. can you share what your tutoring business is? How are you bringing in so much money?

as a teacher myself I do not believe that number. Something is off here in many ways. Not going to bother to poke holes in this, but anyone who is teacher in moco can figure it out.

If she works for Fairfax County, at 30 years retirement, the VRS retirement system will pay you 30 x .0165 x (your final salary average) and then the Supplemental System will pay you 30 x .008 x (your final salary average).

That boils down to 30 years x .0245 x (your final salary average) which if my math is correct would be 73.5% of your family salary.

So it's optimistic that a teacher will make it to 30 years, but if she does, that part of the pension computation seems correct.

That's assuming she started teaching before 2010, which was 12 years ago.. OP says she is currently 33 so if she started teaching right out of college it would be true.

I can't tell from the Fairfax County pay scale where a teacher with 12 years experience would fall within the different steps, but with a MA degree a salary of $83,000 isn't impossible, especially as it seems OP is a striver. Possibly OP also earned National Board Certification which brings an additional $2500 yearly I think.

https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/pdf/FY22-teacher-194-day.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why not cut tutoring hours?

+1 I'd cut tutoring hours by 50% and see how that feels mentally and financially.

OP here. I’ve thought about reducing hours. Thank you for the advice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, congratulations! For a 33-year-old teacher, you are amazing!

I think you sound very set, but instead of stopping tutoring I recommend you increase your rates while slowing down. Stay in the business because what you are doing is obviously very in demand. Keep your contacts and skills current this way, so if down the road you want to take some time away from school (for example, to stay hoe with a baby) you can keep up some tutoring on your own schedule if you want.

OP here. I had not thought about increasing rates. This is a great idea. Thank you!