479 days between paychecks

I’ve got some personal news to celebrate today, because the Thoresons are once again a two-income household! 🎉

In March last year, my wife left her job to pursue a master’s degree. She graduated a few weeks ago and today, she starts a new job.

Why am I sharing this (beyond being proud of her incredible hard work and excited for this next chapter)? Because one of the most common concerns I hear from people considering a career move is how to make the financials work.

As I’ve spent the past 479 days (not that I was counting) confronting exactly this issue, I wanted to share what worked for us, along with some helpful resources I’ve found.

I’ll be honest: This was tough, on all of us. She doubled up her courses while also completing internship hours in order to finish sooner, which meant I was often managing our three kids (and dog and guinea pigs, it’s a full house) while she completed assignments. And while I landed a better-paying job within a few months of her start, it was still quite a stretch for us financially. I had a spreadsheet showing exactly when we would be able to stop affording child care, and we were two months away from that point. In fact, the day she got her job offer I had just canceled an outpatient procedure my doctor recommended because of the price.

💬 Share your tips, resources or questions on making the money side of things work for career transitions in the comments!

So why go through the stress, the uncertainty, the slowly growing credit card debt? I knew it was worth it when, after her first visit to her new workplace, my wife got in her car, pumped her fist and yelled “Yes!” She had found a job at the type of place she wanted. It all came down to a fairly straightforward equation.