Need your advice

[citrine]

I have been working on the weekends as a Mother's Helper for about a month and a half now....great gig $15/hr to play with 2.5 yr old twins.
I was shopping with the mom this past weekend and she said that if I ever changed my mind to becoming a full time nanny, that they would hire me in a heartbeat.
I currently live in central NJ and work at a pharma company as an executive assistant. Here is a list of my current expenses:

Rent $1010
PSE&G avg $125
Cell phone $47
Land line $18
Cable/Internet $48
Car Ins/Renter's Ins $107
CC $600 (paying off vet bills)

I put 25% of my salary into my 401K, 4000 into my Roth, and $50 into my savings. I have a NW of $156K as of today.

If I were to take the FT Live in nanny positon, I would only have the following expenses:

Cell Phone $47, but I would definitely look into a pre-paid one.
Car Insurance $95 (minus renter's ins.)
CC $600 and should be paid off by March 2008 (original balance $5000)

Basically, I would be able to bank quite a bit of money into my Roth, MF's, and the 401K for people who are in business for themselves. I am really thinking about it....they would put me under their own healthcare, I would have my own separate living area with room for my art, and I would be able to bring my cat.

What do you think I should do?

 

[youbet]

Since you have a highly sought after skill set as an executive assistant and apparently a solid job now......

I'd think long and hard about giving up a M - F day shift gig with benefits for the live-in nanny gig. 24/7 live-in jobs, if they ever become onerous for whatever reason, are a lot harder to tolerate than pita M - F jobs!

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

What do you think I should do?

Health insurance?

Edit: Oops - missed that they would put you "on their health care," but if you are not a dependent how could that be done? Are they small business owners who would add you as an employee? Just an item to be very cautious about.

 

[igsoy]

Do you know exactly how they would pay you? I am guessing it will be salary rather than hourly, and you will be expected to be "on duty" whenever they need you, all 16 hours a day? It may also be common to pay less salary in exchange for the room and board provided. I'm sure you've already thought those things through to get to this point. For me, my biggest concern would be the blurring of your independence, having to live in your employers' household is a lot different than doing it for limited hours on weekends and then going home to relax at the end of the day.

 

[ziggy29]

they would put me under their own healthcare

How would they do that, short of giving you something in writing that says they will pay for your individual health policy as long as you are in this full-time arrangement?

Keep in mind also that jobs that include "room and board" likely pay less to account for the value of room and board.

Also, this sounds like something which could have you potentially on-call 24/7, or at least during all your waking hours. If you are serious about this, you need to agree on working hours and conditions.

 

[citrine]

Health Insurance: The husband is a big IT guy at Nasdaq and gets a compensation package for Live in Nanny which includes providing health care to the person. Currently, there is one woman who lives with them during the week.
The compensation would be the same. As for the hours, it would be a few at a time....getting the kids ready for school, after school, and bed time (7pm).

The one thing that would cause a hitch for me is that I love my space....but it is getting quite expensive in NJ. I might have to move down south by 2009 in any case.

As for job secuity in bigpharma....there is none. My company will be having major layoffs next year into 2009.

 

[haha]

Think about the loss of privacy. If you are worried about your job security at your current job, have you looked for other jobs using the same skills?

Also have you though about the power relationships that can get going with a live-in helper? In college I knew young women who took this type of job for the summer. Very few of these gigs ended happily. What if the guy gets a hankering for you? Even if you are perfect, the wife will want you skinned.

Maybe this is just another messy reality that doesn't affect the ER board people, but this and similar things have affected many others. What if the kids start liking you too much, or God forbid they slip and call you Mommy?

Lots of land mines there, and you will likely be SOL if any of them blow up.

Ha

 

[citrine]

Hmm....good point Haha....I had not taken that into consideration.
I would not want to be part of that mess at all.

Thank you for all of your feedback.....I am going to just do this on the weekends and see what happens with big pharma.
At least I have another venue in the future to make some extra cash.

 

[Walt34]

Thank you for all of your feedback.....I am going to just do this on the weekends and see what happens with big pharma.
At least I have another venue in the future to make some extra cash.

That's probably a better plan - stick your toe in the water and see what happens. Even if you get laid off from bigpharma, "Executive Assistant" on your resumé will probably open more doors for you than "Nanny".

 

[SecondCor521]

My ex was a nanny for a while. The thing that got to her most was that she didn't agree with how the parents were raising their children, but she had to go along with and enforce the parents' rules and styles.

2Cor521

 

[dex]

From your post it appears you are focusing on your expense saving potential instead of your revenue generating potential.
What would your gross salary be in 5 or 10 years under both scenarios?

 

[citrine]

I am sure that my salary at big pharma in 5-10 years should be up to $75,000....if there are no buy-outs, my current boss does not leave, and my division is still intact. I doubt that I will be there in the next 5-10 years; however, I would definitely be able to get another position in another company doing the same thing.
I am sure that the Nanny thing will not get to that amount....unless I start working for a celebrity couple, which I highly doubt.

I think I need to go back to my original plan....cut out any expenses that I can, pay off the credit card bill, and save like heck....then move to North Carolina in the next year or two....I am totally priced out of the NJ market even with the declining home sales.

 

[dex]

It is good to focus on expense but you can only cut them so much. But if you focus on the income side you have greater potential for a net income increase.
Good luck

 

[citrine]

Dex:

I have three venues at this moment: 40 hrs regular job, 15 hrs on the weekend job, and about 10 hours with my painting. I am working on having two more shows this year and a goal of selling 15 paintings....

 

[A854321]

This creates a huge black hole in your resume. People will wonder what on earth you did that you had to end up as a nanny. They will assume you were fired for embezzlement or something like that. I would have a very negative reaction if I saw this on someone's CV.