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[quote=Anonymous]I feel like the big thing missing here is the history. Is this spouse right out of graduate school or something, and picking a career track fresh? Or have they been on "easy street" since you met, but you just know they could be doing more if they wanted? Or have they been making bank, and now want to take a big pay cut? It matters a lot.

If they've been on easy street since you met, then what they make is what they make, it's not going to change, even if it's $30k, and you need to back off and stop trying to change your spouse.

If they've been making bank, it's going to depend a LOT on your household financial priorities. People who are used to making $400k or or something all of a sudden dropping to even $300k may mean some tough decisions. Can you still afford your mortgage, childcare, cars, day to day life? Where is that cut going to come from the budget? Maybe it makes sense to slowly start cutting spending and saving more with a goal of getting expenses down so your spouse can change careers in a few years? Or maybe moving makes sense? This is much more complex, but I could objecting to a big cut in this situation, even if they're total income was still super high.

If you're picking a career track fresh... it depends how much I make, how much spouse's flexibility will help the family (will he/she be able to do all the drop offs/pick ups/sick days coverage while I focus on my career? Maybe that might be worth it) and what your goals are. I think I would struggle here with less than $50-$75k, that's where you really need to have a discussion on how you're going to live on that, especially with kids. Maybe working together on a couple sample budgets, figuring out what your live will look like at different salaries would help. [/quote]

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