Is there any hope for SAHMs over 50?

[Anonymous]

If you like English and teaching and are good at it, I would explore tutoring as PP suggested. There is a lot of demand for providing feedback and editing on college application essays and in tutoring kids in reading and writing, even grammar and spelling as many schools not longer teach them. If you are also good at math, you could consider as well SAT tutoring.

This is something you could try out now with a child or two of friends--even for free--to see if it suits you.

[Anonymous]

If you make an extra 50k the universities will just raise your estimated family contribution. They penalize work and reward those who dont.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What childcare costs? Your child is in elementary school. How expensive is aftercare or to hire somebody to watch the kid til you get home?

A high school or college aged babysitter in my area is currently 13/hour. I would need about 3 hours a day, so that's almost 200 a week. It's not chump change. Then of course there's summer. It add up to over 10K a year.

[Anonymous]

Online tutoring can be done from home as a side gig.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you like English and teaching and are good at it, I would explore tutoring as PP suggested. There is a lot of demand for providing feedback and editing on college application essays and in tutoring kids in reading and writing, even grammar and spelling as many schools not longer teach them. If you are also good at math, you could consider as well SAT tutoring.

This is something you could try out now with a child or two of friends--even for free--to see if it suits you.

I have tutored and edited for years already. It's part of my part-time income. But it's just not that profitable (I don't know math). If I were to go back full time working, it would be something reliable and regular, with benefits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread bugs me. I've worked full-time since I finished grad school--12 years--and have been promoted several times along the way. I have a job that many people would want. And yet I make just over 60k a year. My kids are both in elementary school and my income--even after health insurance, taxes, and retirement are taken out--is WAY more than what we pay for aftercare and summer camps.

I'm sorry, I only meant the additional compared to what I make now. Not the total. I agree that 60K is nothing to sneer at - and yet, that's the attitude I've gotten about it, especially from my husband (who is an engineer) and our financial advisor. They seem to think the world is loaded up with jobs that pay 80K if only one wants one.

[Anonymous]

I'm about to go back full time for 40k, after being out of the workforce a long time, and I'm close to your age. I guess I'm fortunate in the sense that I don't find it "pathetic", and my friends and family have been nothing but supportive. Life is too short to worry about what someone else thinks about my salary. My field isn't lucrative but the work is very meaningful to me and I love it. At almost 50 you have to let go of those negative voices - life is too short for that crap.