My wife’s friend makes $100,000 as a nanny

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I recently met a woman who was “retired” at 25. She was a nanny and the dads friend noticed and married her. Dads friend owns a petroleum drilling company. Not bad for a sweet college grad. Now she is “retired” and serves on not for profit boards.

A man is not a plan. It’s highly likely that he’ll leave her in ten years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You seem like you've had your head buried in the sand. Taking care of small children is hard.

OP here. No one's saying taking care of kids is easy. But if I recall correctly, the median income for PhD holders nationwide is also around $100K, so it's crazy to me that someone with no training or experience can just wake up one day and start earning that. DCUM seems to live in a bubble where everyone is a $300K/year lawyer and doesn't realize that $100K is actually a hell of a lot of money.

Most PhD holders, especially those in arts and humanities, are trust funders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You seem like you've had your head buried in the sand. Taking care of small children is hard.

OP here. No one's saying taking care of kids is easy. But if I recall correctly, the median income for PhD holders nationwide is also around $100K, so it's crazy to me that someone with no training or experience can just wake up one day and start earning that. DCUM seems to live in a bubble where everyone is a $300K/year lawyer and doesn't realize that $100K is actually a hell of a lot of money.

Some people can be incredibly talented with children. Building a strong foundation in early childhood is essential to lifelong success. Your critical components are stability, competence and love. Children need all three. Stability is the hardest to find, unless a parent or other family member is the primary caregiver. Too bad more parents don’t understand that.

[Anonymous]

I would never be a nanny, even for $100k, unless there was absolutely nothing else I could do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would never be a nanny, even for $100k, unless there was absolutely nothing else I could do.

Hopefully, you have other talents that allow you to afford excellent childcare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You seem like you've had your head buried in the sand. Taking care of small children is hard.

OP here. No one's saying taking care of kids is easy. But if I recall correctly, the median income for PhD holders nationwide is also around $100K, so it's crazy to me that someone with no training or experience can just wake up one day and start earning that. DCUM seems to live in a bubble where everyone is a $300K/year lawyer and doesn't realize that $100K is actually a hell of a lot of money.

You seem surprised about how supply and demand works. Also, median salary goes down in many fields from Masters to PhD, as the PhDs tend to end up in academia (lower pay) while the masters can't get hired there so they go into private industry (higher $$)

Our nanny (5 years ago) made $70k/year + benefits. It was her vocation. She did laundry and dishes, but only for the kids' items.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would never be a nanny, even for $100k, unless there was absolutely nothing else I could do.

Hopefully, you have other talents that allow you to afford excellent childcare.

If you’re implying that not wanting to be a nanny means you’re bad at raising your own kids, I totally disagree. I’m a pretty good mom and I even like kids but there is no way I want to go back to caring for little kids, even if they were my own!

[Anonymous]

If she's working 45 hours a week she should be earning overtime for 5 hours. Anything over 40 hours should be paid in overtime.

I doubt her vacation package is very generous. IME in the DMV nannies get 10 federal holidays and 2 weeks paid, one the family chooses, one the nanny chooses. Even if the nanny chooses both weeks that isn't a lot of choices. Yes the nanny gets time off when the family travels, but the nanny really can't count on that because if the family's plans change and the nanny bought a ticket somewhere the nanny is still expected to work.

Teachers work hard and should be paid more but I still think a teacher is in a better position than a nanny when you look at the whole year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If she's working 45 hours a week she should be earning overtime for 5 hours. Anything over 40 hours should be paid in overtime.

I doubt her vacation package is very generous. IME in the DMV nannies get 10 federal holidays and 2 weeks paid, one the family chooses, one the nanny chooses. Even if the nanny chooses both weeks that isn't a lot of choices. Yes the nanny gets time off when the family travels, but the nanny really can't count on that because if the family's plans change and the nanny bought a ticket somewhere the nanny is still expected to work.

Teachers work hard and should be paid more but I still think a teacher is in a better position than a nanny when you look at the whole year.

But teachers don’t get overtime pay. Many have to work during the summer anyway, so the long break is really a break from work. It’s just heading to another job.

I don’t know. Becoming a nanny is sounding a lot better than my current teaching job.

[Anonymous]

Yes, the very best nannies are well-compensated. Good for the people who are gifted in that way.

[Anonymous]

A teacher in a union isn’t at-will like a nanny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really want to see OP take this job and see how he’s feeling after a month.

I don't need the job, thanks. I make $180K after 20 years of experience. But if you'd told me that was an option in my 20s, when I was struggling to get a foothold, I would have done it in a heartbeat.

For a week.

No way the OP would last a week as a Nanny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If she's working 45 hours a week she should be earning overtime for 5 hours. Anything over 40 hours should be paid in overtime.

I doubt her vacation package is very generous. IME in the DMV nannies get 10 federal holidays and 2 weeks paid, one the family chooses, one the nanny chooses. Even if the nanny chooses both weeks that isn't a lot of choices. Yes the nanny gets time off when the family travels, but the nanny really can't count on that because if the family's plans change and the nanny bought a ticket somewhere the nanny is still expected to work.

Teachers work hard and should be paid more but I still think a teacher is in a better position than a nanny when you look at the whole year.

But teachers don’t get overtime pay. Many have to work during the summer anyway, so the long break is really a break from work. It’s just heading to another job.

I don’t know. Becoming a nanny is sounding a lot better than my current teaching job.

If you're going to look at it that way, you need to combine the salary and benefits of a teacher with the salary of the summer work, and compare that with a nanny's salary (and likely no benefits like health insurance). I still think the nanny is going to work more hours for less total compensation per hour and have a less flexible schedule, but you do you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If she's working 45 hours a week she should be earning overtime for 5 hours. Anything over 40 hours should be paid in overtime.

I doubt her vacation package is very generous. IME in the DMV nannies get 10 federal holidays and 2 weeks paid, one the family chooses, one the nanny chooses. Even if the nanny chooses both weeks that isn't a lot of choices. Yes the nanny gets time off when the family travels, but the nanny really can't count on that because if the family's plans change and the nanny bought a ticket somewhere the nanny is still expected to work.

Teachers work hard and should be paid more but I still think a teacher is in a better position than a nanny when you look at the whole year.

But teachers don’t get overtime pay. Many have to work during the summer anyway, so the long break is really a break from work. It’s just heading to another job.

I don’t know. Becoming a nanny is sounding a lot better than my current teaching job.

If you're going to look at it that way, you need to combine the salary and benefits of a teacher with the salary of the summer work, and compare that with a nanny's salary (and likely no benefits like health insurance). I still think the nanny is going to work more hours for less total compensation per hour and have a less flexible schedule, but you do you.

It looks like its pretty close from an hourly rate, with the following assumptions.
1) Teacher is in their 5th year teaching and has a master's degree. https://www.apsva.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Pay-Plan-22-23.pdf (see page 33)
2) Teacher is paid for 200 days but only works 190 (I'm 100% guessing a teacher might have 10 days of leave between vacation and sick leave, but it might be less).
3) Teacher works 9 hour days EVERY day. I know there are times teachers work more than this and times teachers work less. Teachers are only "supposed" to work 7 hours, but we all know they work more.
4) Nanny works 5 days a week every week, but has 10 federal holidays and 10 additional vacation days, for a total of 240 days.

I have NO idea what teachers might earn teaching summer school, so I've not factored that in. Based on all of this, teachers are paid less PER HOUR but the gap closes if the nanny works longer days than the below (an still for $100K). Also, the below does NOT factor in health insurance, retirement, or that a nanny works more days than a teacher.

Teacher Salary 68,656
Teacher Working Days 190
Hours Per Working Day 9
Hourly Rate 40.15 = 68,655/(190*9)


Nanny Salary 100,000
Nanny Working Days 240
Hours Per Working Day 9
Hourly Rate 46.30 = 100,000/(240*9)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You seem like you've had your head buried in the sand. Taking care of small children is hard.

OP here. No one's saying taking care of kids is easy. But if I recall correctly, the median income for PhD holders nationwide is also around $100K, so it's crazy to me that someone with no training or experience can just wake up one day and start earning that. DCUM seems to live in a bubble where everyone is a $300K/year lawyer and doesn't realize that $100K is actually a hell of a lot of money.

She is making more money than Civil, Structural and MEchanical Engineers make out of college. Good for her.

It is hard to prevent turnover of Nannies. Good pay will help prevent turnover.

I'm paying $31 per hour for adult caregivers for Mom. On top of that we give a $1000 Christmas bonus.