[Spur]

So, I’m in this situation where my wife and I both work. Her job is very engaging and requires a lot of attention, while mine does only when I’m in the office and I never work more than 40hr/week. I will get a call or email here an there when I’m at home, but nothing unmanageable. On another note she also makes more than I do by a large margin.

I’m at an entry level position and when/if I move up in the ranks that will equate to working more hours. We want to make sure our kids don’t get the short end of the stick and not see us until the weekend rolls around.

So, for those of you that have experienced this, what did you do? Someone has to make sacrifice their career, at least temporarily. Any thoughts?

FAR - Bad Fail '11, Fail '12, Fail '13, PASS It's a miracle!
AUD - Fail, PASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BEC - PASS!!!!!!!!
REG - PASS!!!!!!!! And I'm done!

[Anonymous]

I think that's something that each couple will have to decide themselves. There are some non-entry-level accounting jobs which are 40 hrs/wk or less (there's actually a whole thread talking about that right now!), and you might decide you want to look for one of those. Otherwise, if it's a decision of who gives up their preferred career…I don't think it's something that any of us can help with much. 😐 You'll have to figure out what your priorities are as a couple, and then decide which career goals best suit those. Like, if your goal is to maximize your income, then whoever has the greatest earnings potential would have their career pushed ahead of the other. If your goal is to have reduce stress while maintaining a certain level of income, then you'd make choices based on that (like, if you'd leave your job at the office still but work 60 hrs/wk, and she'd only officially work 50 but then be taking calls all night, you guys might decide the stress of work invading home is worth a pay cut). I don't mean to be unhelpful…just know there's soooo many considerations that go into that, and ultimately it comes down to the unique preferences of each couple.

[Wendy]

Spur-

My husband is a Marine, so his job always comes first… We move a lot and luckily I have found a Marine Corps affiliated organization to work for. We balance our world by putting his job first, this is hard on my career and on our family, but the point of all of this is to tell you that kids are resilient. My daughter is 6 and has lived in 3 different places (Japan, North Carolina, and now California). She has gone thru 2 deployments with my husband (9 months and 1 year) and I have been working through all of it. Your kids will feel loved and supported no matter what if you want them to. I can't always take off for every school event, but I make it to the ones I can as does my hubby when he's able to. We make sure to take at least one family vacation a year where we unplug and bond. In short, no one has the ideal situation, but you make the best of what you can and always remember to tell your kids how much you love them and that your working hours are spent with them in your heart and mind. The fact that you posted this question at all means that your already trying to do the best you can, which is all we can really do for our children. Best of luck!!

Hopeful this time around.... Back after a 2 year break!!

BEC - Feb 2013 78!!
FAR - May 2013 76!!
REG - 70! 71! 80!!
AUD - Oct 2013 79!!

FINALLY DONE!!

[mla1169]

In my own circumstance (so this is not an across the board generalization) I, the momma, am better at managing our kids activities, homework, appointments etc.My husband is a GREAT dad, don't get me wrong, but momma is the mover and shaker of all things kid-related. Therefore I am expected to be available for such things, and I make sure I am.

Here's the bottom line, if you look at your kids life as if it were one hour,the amount of time they need your attention and want to be anywhere in your presence equates to 5 minutes. Make the sacrifices, both parents….you will never regret the effect on your career but many parents regret the time they didn't spend with their kiddos.

FAR- 77
AUD -49, 71, 84
REG -56,75!
BEC -75

Massachusetts CPA (non reporting) since 3/12.

[Anonymous]

My husband and I do not have any children yet, but we have already talked about this. I'm the accountant in our family and my husband does residential construction. We are hoping that I will eventually make enough money for him to work part-time and be home with the kids the rest of the time. So my career will come first as I have a higher earning potential and it's the better option for our future family. But that is the decision we made, after spending a lot of time talking about it. It may not be the best option for everyone. You just need to talk to your spouse and make the decision together.

[Spur]

I know where I need to go with the decision. Most likely my wife will be the one who will focus on her career while I try to maintain an ideal work/life balance, i.e. under 40/hrs a week and lots of vacation time. I just wanted to see how other people studying for their CPA and accountants in general handle this issue as it does not apply until that bundle of joy becomes part of your life.

FAR - Bad Fail '11, Fail '12, Fail '13, PASS It's a miracle!
AUD - Fail, PASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BEC - PASS!!!!!!!!
REG - PASS!!!!!!!! And I'm done!

[Author]

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