How much do you make?

[Marcella]

I know this is a personal question, so I've made it a poll for those who want the privacy.

I'm curious as to how much you alone make, not taking into account your SO's salary.

If you are bold enough to post, I'd also love to hear what you do for a living. :)

[Marcella]

Since I'm the only one who voted so far, guess I'll go ahead and post! :lol:

I'm at the very top end of option #4. I'm a Nursing Home Administrator, currently running a facility dedicated to folks with Alzheimer's Disease and other forms of dementia.

Edited to add: But my real dream job is a SAHM!

[TtownAnne]

Well, I am a SAHM - the pay is non-existent, but the benefits aren't bad. ;) When I did work, I was a legal assistant to two attorneys specializing in labor and employment law, and I made the upper end of the third option.

[harmonielyn]

Im also a SAHM.

[B.Mace]

I'm a SAHM mom too. My job is now entering as many contests as I can find and saving as much $ as I can! I agree that the pay is lousy - and the benefits ROCK!

[SarahK]

I'm a SAHM now--but I was an Assistant Director of Admission at a highly selective New England college...and my pay would have been right in the middle of option three. Higher education doesn't pay very well unless you're a senior administrator...but I did get 20 days of vacation a year, plus a week for spring break, plus a week at Christmas. :)

[Mandi]

I'm a SAHM now, but prior to doing that I was a Director of Ticketing Operations for a AAA baseball team. At that time I was in the mid part of your third bracket.

[Cazzle]

I was on just over $30000 until I quit :lol:
Now I'm on significantly less as a SAHW.

[olcott]

another SAHM here :)

[B.Mace]

Wow! We're a lot of SAHMs!!

[Lette]

I'm not going to post what I make (because I'm weirded out by posting salaries on the net :crazy: or anywhere for that matter), but I bring home a pretty good top penny. :lol:

I'm an engineer in the plastics field and I've been working here for almost 15 years! :eek: I busted my butt for years including travel and those yearly increases really helped out! Fortunately I've moved into a position where I don't have to travel anymore, but our company is in such a state of influx, I have no idea how long I'll be here... 1 year? 2 years if lucky! So I've decided to make my money now and stay at home later! :)

[Bobbie]

I'm well below 25K, but it's not bad for working 20 hours/week. I work two 10-hour days and am a SAHM the rest of the time. My job title is Printing Coordinator and I job-share with another mom.

[Karri]

I am a SAHM, but before I quit, I was making in option #4 as the Director of Human Resources for a commercial real estate firm

[tori lynne]

I'm in the upper range of #3 and I am the Chief Operations Officer for a electrical contractor. I just started in Dec. after moving so I haven't been there very long yet. but I am hoping to start making more $$ soon.

[bunkie68]

I'm in the bottom end of option #4 - nowhere near what an attorney could make, but I opted to have a life instead of a big paycheck. :lol:

[Tina]

I am a SAHM mom & have been for about 4 years. I did decently getting my college fund check every month from the Navy while I was in school for 3 years. I also recieve a monthly check from the VA for my service related disability.

Tina

[Brooke]

I'm in the bottom end of option #4 - nowhere near what an attorney could make, but I opted to have a life instead of a big paycheck. :lol:
Same here but change "attorney" to "engineer".

[Bev]

It won't let me vote. I make $55K and change as an Acting Parole Officer before taxes in Canadian funds. In my substantive position as a Correctional Officer II, I made $53K and change not including Shift Differential and Overtime, before taxes in Canadian funds. Pretty good I think. The benefits of working for the Government are pretty good, except there is really no such thing as contract "negotiation" even though they call it that. The good old government can legislate our paltry wage increases so negotiations are a bit of a joke. The contract expired in 2002 and we're still trying to get a new one.

[Dawnie]

I'm an office manager for an electrical contractor and I make in the bottom third of option #3. I get paid good money to sit on my butt and play on the net all day since it's so boring here! :lol:

[bunybomb]

It amazes me how many SAHM there are here. :clap: I don't know any IRL. I make in the middle of option 4 and my DH and I wouldn't have the lifestyle we do if I didn't work. Since my DH makes as much as I do, we just couldn't afford to do anything on just one salary. Plus I love my career and I'm not SAHM material and I'm not afraid to admit it.

[Nichole]

I work part-time now (after having Jackson) and fit into option #2, but before I had Jackson I was in the middle of option #3.

[chefkath]

Before having kids I made $38,000 as an Executive Chef... not too bad for the restaurant industry. (But of course if you divide that by the 100 hours per week that I worked you get a pretty depressing per-hour wage. :lol: )

I got out of management once I had children, and now I work 3 different part-time cooking jobs (to avoid putting the kids in daycare.) All together I make about $25,000.

[jstauffer]

I make well under $25000 working as a part-time office assistant.

[Tricia]

Last year I made $32k as a customer account rep for a clothing manufacturer. Not too bad for someone with no college degree I think.

[Christina]

I make on the lower end of number for as a scientist for a pharmaceutical company. I have been working for 5 years. I am being layed off in April (company is relocating out of area) and unless a fabulous job comes up, I will become a SAHM.

[Nichole]

Oops, I forgot to say what my job is! :blush1: I work for a biotech/manufacturing company as a "senior product team assistant" (which just basically means I work in the lab making stuff :lol: ).

[Caurie]

I am a SAHM now. As a newspaper reporter I made about $20,000 a year - the pay in journalism (unless you are high up in a big market) is awful for the amount of work you do.

[CarrieC]

I'm a 4th year teacher and my salary falls in the middle of option 3.

[gulp!]

o.k., I'll fess up- I'm a V.P. at a small investment banking firm. When I work full time, I make six figures. Since Emma was born I've been working a part-time/reduced schedule, so my salary has been reduced, but we also get substantial bonuses based on the performance of my firm. Of course last year was the first year we didn't get a bonus in the 10 years I've worked there. :rolleyes:

[AmyJ]

I make a little over $58K as a third grade teacher. I am only on the 3rd column of a 5 column pay scale. I will get a $12K increase when I complete my masters. This is my 11th year of teaching.

Amy

[Karri]

I make a little over $58K as a third grade teacher. I am only on the 3rd column of a 5 column pay scale. I will get a $12K increase when I complete my masters. This is my 11th year of teaching.

Amy
That is amazing pay for a teacher! Of course, your COL is higher. I have two friends who are teachers WITH masters degrees and here in WI, they make UNDER $30,000/yr (one makes $24,000!!!)

[Carmen]

I am an elementary school teacher (with a master's degree.) I work part time under a federal grant, making less than 15K a year. The job market is really tight up here, and there is currently an excess supply of elementary certified teachers. I was lucky to get a job at all!!

It's interesting to me that the Boston area has the second highest cost of living in the country, next to San Francisco, yet our teacher salaries here are ridiculously low! People are still lining up for the jobs though!

[AmyJ]

That is amazing pay for a teacher! Of course, your COL is higher. I have two friends who are teachers WITH masters degrees and here in WI, they make UNDER $30,000/yr (one makes $24,000!!!)
It IS absolutely amazing!! :nod: However, my COL is VERY low, too!! I live about 90 miles east of Los Angeles, on the way to Las Vegas. My 2,000 sq. ft. house on a 1/2 acre was only $85K 5.5 years ago. Now you know why we are still here!! :lol:

[AmyJ]

I am an elementary school teacher (with a master's degree.) I work part time under a federal grant, making less than 15K a year. The job market is really tight up here, and there is currently an excess supply of elementary certified teachers. I was lucky to get a job at all!!

It's interesting to me that the Boston area has the second highest cost of living in the country, next to San Francisco, yet our teacher salaries here are ridiculously low! People are still lining up for the jobs though!
I am originally from the Boston area and this is PRECISELY why we can't move back any time soon!!!:dunno: :blue:

[JillMelissa]

I'm a SAHM. Before that, I was a mortgage underwriter and I averaged about $70,000 a year. Boy, do I miss that money! :lol:

[CarrieC]

That is amazing pay for a teacher! Of course, your COL is higher. I have two friends who are teachers WITH masters degrees and here in WI, they make UNDER $30,000/yr (one makes $24,000!!!)
Do they teach at private schools? :owow: I live in northern lower Michigan where the COL isn't much different from Wisconsin and I'm only on step 4/column 2 of our pay-scale. I don't even have a master's degree yet and I make $39,000. DH probably makes close to $20,000 as a substitute teacher. I know that some private schools pay lots less though, that's why I ask.

[Karri]

Do they teach at private schools? :owow: I live in northern lower Michigan where the COL isn't much different from Wisconsin and I'm only on step 4/column 2 of our pay-scale. I don't even have a master's degree yet and I make $39,000. DH probably makes close to $20,000 as a substitute teacher. I know that some private schools pay lots less though, that's why I ask.
No! One teaches in the Milwaukee Public School System and the other (lower paid one) works in a suburb that is supposedly "upper class" :eek:

[Kate]

I don't make anything now, but before I was a mother I was a recruiter and made the high end of option #3.

My SIL is a school pyschologist with two masters and she is only making $45K in MA.

[loam]

I am a SAHM now! When I worked it was less then $25K so it did not pay for me to continue to work. The only thing I can say I miss about it is adult contact and having my health insurance paid for now I pay a ton for my daughter and I to have insurance. :(

[Tamara26]

I'm a post-doctoral fellow in cancer genetics at a cancer institute.....and I only make 35k a year :disbelief....that's with a masters, Ph.D and two years of post-doctoral training (and >60 hours a week at work)....and people wonder why no one wants to be a scientist :complain: I'm thinking now I should've been a teacher (in California :supergrin )

[Brianne1114]

Under $25K...I'm working 2 part time jobs, substitute teaching (where I am paid the ridiculous sum of $65/day...its a small school district) and retail in a Hallmark store. I've applied to graduate school, and if I get in, it won't be much better the first year or so...I'll get a stipend, but its only $1500/month before taxes.

[HeatherT]

I fall into the option 2 category. I only work two and a half days a week though, and stay home with my son the rest of the week. I work for a university library as a supervisor. I'd much rather stay home, but my job provides our (excellent) health insurance, as well as tuition breaks (50%) while DH finishes his degree.

[palmgal]

Tamara, wow that is on the low end for an experienced post-doc, that really sucks. Good news is NIH is planning on raising the minimum salary for post-docs in 2006 :). I have a PhD as well in Immunology. I left the field and am currently in law school, I am pursuing a career in patent law. However, I was offered a post doc at around 40k a year, but it was for a one year period contigent on grant funding (when is it not :)).
Currently I am making no money as I am in school and I am racking up more debt :)
-Courtney

[Eileen]

I teach second grade and make 43K - I run our after school tutoring program and get an extra 5K doing that. This is my seventh year teaching - if I had a masters I'd be making close to 60K!:wow: I'm also in a low paying district - I'd probably make 48-50 K in another a better area.

[CarrieC]

I always thought that teachers were really underpaid compared to other "professions." It's kind of comforting to know that there are other professions out there that work hard doing meaninful work for very little also. :nod:

[Nanley]

I'm a technical editor in the telecommunications industry, and with the promotion I got right before my maternity leave, I went from the upper end of #4 to the lower end of $5.

Kate

[Missy&Maggie]

I'm a 4th year neurology resident, and after 4 years of college, 4 years of med school and 3 years of residency, I make $40K. That amounts to about $10/hr for the number of hours I work!

[Alyssa]

Like Lette, I'm not comfortable posting details, but I'm somewhere in option 5 as a marketing manager for a technology company. My DH is a SAHD, however, who works PT.

[AmyP]

I work as a technical support specialist in a call center, and I'm in the third option. When we have a baby, I will be a SAHM.

[ksp117]

I'm an office mananger and make 30K.

[Lora]

I fall under the second option. I only work 2 1/2 days a week as a credit analyst for a wholesale bank. Prior to going part-time I was in the mid-point of the third option.

Lora

[jkl]

I'm a sahm now but before my girls, I worked full-time as a tv morning news anchor in ma. and I made the high end of option 3.

[mama2jackson]

I work as a full-time paralegal/legal assistant and make the top end of option #3. The good thing is I get every Wednesday off to be a SAHM with my little dude!

[Kerri]

I'm a SAHM, and while I occasionally have some income from babysitting or attending a birth (I usually don't get paid for stuff like that), I don't consider myself to be contributing financially to our household. My husband works on a farm, and our income last year was $30K Canadian. Which for us is the biggest income year since having kids. But we have practically no debt, are good at budgeting, and know how to live on nothing. So it sounds lousy, but I have friends who make $75K a year who are in worse financial shape than we are.

Kerri

[Katrina]

When I was a police dispatcher (in San Diego) I was making $40k, and I was at the most under paying agency in the county. With my experience at ANY other agency I would/should have made much more than that. But I digress.
I am now working as a legal assistant in a small law firm making $10/hour. This is what I get for a partially completed law degree! Its only temporary though!

[TxTeacher]

When I start teaching, I'll be making about $32,000 a year, with a Bachelor's degree.

[Toni]

I work 30 hours/week and my salary is around $32k.

[Lady E]

I am in the middle to high range of option 4 working as an Employee Benefits Manager.

[MtBikeLover]

I am a marketing manager and am in the last category. Husband is a full-time SAHD.

[Alyssa]

I am a marketing manager and am in the last category. Husband is a full-time SAHD.
You sound just like me! ;)

[AahRee]

I'm a SAHM. :) We really do have a lot of SAHMs here! :)

[Alysia]

I work for an insurance company doing customer service. No degree or insurance license and make between 25K and 35K a year.

If I get my license, I would make a little more. And I am currently working on finishing my bachelor's degree.

[Joan]

Another teacher here, Public school, 4th grade, Honolulu, $41,000. My husband is also a teacher, for a private school and makes almost double what I make!

[Kimmy0712]

I am an Office Manager and currently make $46K a year. I am on the high end of the scale for OM's because at one time I also supported 2 Regional VP's until they were canned. :(

I want to be a SAHM!

[Kaybee711]

The middle part of option 3 but I should and will be making more money when the economy gets better. Technology is the first place where they cut back.

[MtBikeLover]

You sound just like me! ;)
Cool - I wondered how many other SAHD/working moms were on this board. My husband just loves his "job" and tells me so at least once a week. Sometimes it makes me really jealous!!

[Nocona]

Cool - I wondered how many other SAHD/working moms were on this board.
I am too :)

[TraumaNurse]

I am a registered nurse working in the ER, I make the higher end of option #3. But my dream would be to only work 1-2 days/week and be a SAHM.

~Christina~

[jenr812]

I'm in nursing school right now but once I graduate in May 2007, I'll be mid - high end of option 3.

[Susan]

I'm a SAHM right now, but before I had the baby I was a VP in a Fortune 500 Financial Services firm making 6 figures. I'm happy to say we survive just fine without my income. I thought it would be a bit traumatic, but we barely notice its gone. :)