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Posted at May 19, 2006, 12:37 pm: Some quick facts: My wife and I have an 8 week old daughter. Both my wife and I work, so at 5 months (possibly less) we’ll have no choice but to stick our daughter in day care (no family close enough to watch her and we can’t afford a nanny). My wife doesn’t want to be a stay at home mom, but I’m not a “career man” so I don’t particularly care if I’m a stay at home dad, and she makes twice my salary anyway. With her salary alone, it would be tight, but we could pay all the bills (she did the math, being the smarter one, and she’s the one who said the numbers work) and even save a little for emergencies (but not enough to save for a house). I am already covered on her medical insurance but I’d lose my retirement benefits if I quit my job. But working at home I’d have time to figure out how to actually invest (I mean if the business major retards I went to college with can do it I have to be able to figure it out too). My current job is the best I’ve ever had. I don’t get paid a lot in my profession (librarian), but I am paid well for the area I’m in. I only work 10 months a year, 35 hours a week, I get at least a 4% raise each year (some times 10%) due to a strong union contract, and I can get promoted 4 times over 12 years with a significant bump in salary without changing jobs or assuming significantly more duties. If I quit my job, I’m not likely to be able to go back for this job later though I could find another job with similar pay but worse benefits if I needed to. Though my wife only goes in twice a week to teach classes (college prof) she can’t get research done at home when she’s also watching the baby and her research is what gets her tenure and promotion (and no promotion means we’d have to leave the area and I’d be out of my current job anyway). I’m not wild about being a house husband, but I like cooking, can tolerate cleaning, and would much rather take care of my kid myself than have a stranger do it (and if, BIG IF, we want to have a second kid, this is the only way we could handle a toddler AND another baby). Anything I make playing poker is gravy (though what I'd win would go to a house down payment or pay for the things we WANT but not NEED so their is SOME pressure) and I’m pretty sure I can match my current salary with my winnings (and bonuses) unadjusted and even with a terrible year at poker I’m certain I can get damn close if we consider how much childcare, transportation, extra food costs (having to get take out a lot), a cheap maid costs against my salary. Filing as a poker pro is a pain in the ass, not that taxes are easy anyway. I’d never have to put on a shirt and tie again, I’d still have to get up at 6:00 to feed my kid but I can go back to sleep if she’ll let me. I won’t have to burn two hours of my life each day in traffic. So I can’t decide if I’ve fallen into the mother lode of playing a game for a living or if I’m royally screwing myself by dumping a good job and thinking I can do ok as a poker pro (meaning only that I would have no other means of support, not that I’d make millions). I’ve been a winning player for three years straight at the cash games (though I’ve had some bumps), I’m even starting to win some small buy in tournaments. Despite the fact that everything seems ok I’m slightly terrified. I can handle telling my in-laws and my folks that I’m going to be a stay at home dad and maybe even play poker for a living, and I think I’m ok with telling my kid I play a game for a living where I prey upon weak and stupid people. I guess I’m just a little nervous at the prospect of failing at all this, having blown a good job in the process, and being forced to take a much shittier job later. The good news is that in a month I’ll have a nine week PAID vacation where I can have a trial run at doing all this and can simply go back to my job at the end of it (though we’d lose the relatively cheap, close child care option we have now) if I can’t stand it. Since I’m part of the union I might even be able to take a one year leave of absence though I think I’m not eligible to do so yet. I’m honestly not sure if I’m looking for advice, comments, congrats, scorn, or what here but I obviously don’t want to chat about this with my coworkers, my wife is ok with all of this but is slightly nuts from taking care of our kid and might be desperately looking for any way out, and my kid and my cats don’t offer much in the way of conversion (feed me, pay attention to me, look at the poopy I made! Works for both). What would you all do? I like poker (I've been sort of absorbed by games all my life, especially thinking games) but having to play as my job might kill the buzz. [edit] Oh yeah, and some prick in Congress might criminalize everything we do right now and the poker boom might go bust.I am the paw that strikes from the darkness!!! Original of the message was taken from http://www.bonuswhores.com/phpBB2/ Replies:Congrats Invest what, exactly? Your wife's salary won't even ...what is your current winrate and at what stakes over how many hands? ... Good Luck with whatever you decide. I'm guessing you don't have young kids. I'm guessing you don't have young kids. Throw in some casino bonuses and you'll be fine. I'd spend the next month working out how you think you can fit poker a... Unless you're capable of leaving your daughter in a playpen and ignori... 1st congrats on the baby I'm a poker playing stay at home dad ... I've spent the last ten years running my business out of the house. I'm neither a pro nor a parent, so take what I say with a grain of sal... IMO, the kid issue is the biggest thing. Just to be clear, I'm not suggesting that you not stay home. Jay is hitting on a LOT of solid points (amongst some other good point... is getting a babysitter for a few hours a day out of the question? yo... Alphaunit1 makes a good point with daycare. one of the best and most useful posts I've read on BW. So let me throw in some of the positive stuff -- Once the kid gets ol... I used to work at an after school program in a rich suburb, and it was... my opinion: stay with a kid if you really like being a father (and n... I'd like to thank all of you for your thoughtful replies. http://www. long post but always worth bumping if youre gonna make the leap. You bumped a post five minutes after the previous post? no, this is a current post, so not technically bumping. I've also done the work-from-home dad thing, and Jay is right that, de... She actually doesn't nap much during the day (30 min here and there af... A few things worry me about your posts: 1) you went bust a few MO... By the way, not to be insulting, but I'm not sure you have enough data... I went bust for the first time in more than 3 years playing with a ban... Before saying anything else, I'd like to say congratulations. I think my daughter is 13 lbs now, could be more, but I've got 100 lbs... Getting a bjorn to work right is definitely an art form. I bet you could make-do with creative use of ducktape. Truer words were never spoken. Other Topics of Bonus Whores:Do you still get morning wood?Interpoker or Intercasino? Avatars - love them or Loathe them? need help with torrent files... Kirby Puckett Party skin 8 tabling question Holdempoker now has a club and something to do with points Spam Farewell Poker room points deal bodog stratedgy LineBreaker NFL ATS 60% over 13 years!! 1st week Rounders spoof (European release) delete |