Making a job change possibly...what would you do?

[cgasner1]

Without kids it will be WAY easier imo.

Better keep it without kids or either ways your screwed with what daycare cost. You may be better off just being a trophy husband and taking care of the kids

 

[Keep'er Movin]

Stop signing that contract and renogotiate! How does anyone with 22 years in a job have only two days PTO?

When Scott Walker was our almighty governor years ago, he enacted Act 10 which took WI collective bargaining unions away. That is how anyone with 22 years experience gets 2 days of PTO. There is no such thing as renegotiating anymore here.

 

[Keep'er Movin]

Better keep it without kids or either ways your screwed with what daycare cost. You may be better off just being a trophy husband and taking care of the kids

There won't be any kids...just dogs.

 

[44hunter45]

Don't you get three months of the year off and like 25 national holidays as an "Educator"?

You came to the wrong place looking for shoulders to cry on....lol

For my wife it comes out to about 6 weeks. None of them while anything interesting is in season.

As for 4 day/week schools - Districts still need to get the number of classroom days per year. If you look you will probably see that classes are now starting earlier in August and ending in June.

The "three months off" that educators (or students) get has been etched away while we weren't looking.

 

[geetar]

Are there any areas you'd like to to bird hunt around the world that have seasons when your school is out. I know my taxidermist gets swamped with deer in November here in NC so he usually goes spring bear trips or early elk trips when he isn't busiest. Is there a way you could stay at your job and leverage your time off during summer that way or maybe even when spring break is happening there is a late bird season somewhere?

 

[44hunter45]

When Scott Walker was our almighty governor years ago, he enacted Act 10 which took WI collective bargaining unions away. That is how anyone with 22 years experience gets 2 days of PTO. There is no such thing as renegotiating anymore here.

Time to become a Superintendent. Six figure salary and plenty of PTO. Travel to "Conferences" and "Educational Summits" included.

 

[Keep'er Movin]

Are there any areas you'd like to to bird hunt around the world that have seasons when your school is out. I know my taxidermist gets swamped with deer in November here in NC so he usually goes spring bear trips or early elk trips when he isn't busiest. Is there a way you could stay at your job and leverage your time off during summer that way?

I really enjoy my limited experiences out in South Dakota pheasant hunting and WI has some of the best grouse hunting in the country. I live in SE WI which makes grouse hunting a bit difficult because of the drive if you can only do it on the weekends and you can forget SD with only 2 PTO days. We used to get to take "unpaid" leave for things like hunting trips, but the privilege got abused and was eventually taken away.

 

[Redmt]

If you're not happy, walk. Money and security is overrated. (or not)

 

[Keep'er Movin]

Time to become a Superintendent. Six figure salary and plenty of PTO. Travel to "Conferences" and "Educational Summits" included.

HELL NO!!! If I am leaving education, it's for good!

 

[Keep'er Movin]

If you're not happy, walk. Money and security is overrated. (or not)

so is your mental health (or not)

 

[Treeshark]

You’re looking at this as if it’s a binary decision. It isn’t.

Option 3, which seems to me to be the obvious winner: find another job that pays more than $40k AND provides reasonable time off.

I think you are undervaluing yourself.

 

[Keep'er Movin]

You’re looking at this as if it’s a binary decision. It isn’t.

Option 3, which seems to me to be the obvious winner: find another job that pays more than $40k AND provides reasonable time off.

I think you are undervaluing yourself.

That is what my wife says as well.

 

[SAJ-99]

I've been an educator for the past 22 years and only get 2 personal days the whole entire year.

You have been a teacher for 22 years and make $70k? And you are thinking of taking a new job that pays practically a poverty wage of $40k? I don't even know where to start. You can hike, kayak, and fish in the summer. You chose your path. Hopefully you did it because you enjoy teaching. School districts are trying a lot of different scheduling things- 4days per week, balanced scheduled with shorter summers and weeks off in fall and winter. Maybe bring that up at the next meeting.

 

[Treeshark]

You chose your path.

Things change, people change. There is always an opportunity to choose another path.

 

[Redmt]

At 70k a year be damned thankful you don't live on the West coast. You could make double that here and still be at poverty level.

 

[Khunter]

Hard to fathom a need to settle for 30k per year with a college degree and 20+ years of work experience..

Don’t set such a low bar and settle. Find a BETTER new job that pays a lot more than 30k.

Settling for such a low new salary will hamstring your finances and opportunities for life if you stick with it for the long term.

 

[Keep'er Movin]

You have been a teacher for 22 years and make $70k? And you are thinking of taking a new job that pays practically a poverty wage of $40k? I don't even know where to start. You can hike, kayak, and fish in the summer. You chose your path. Hopefully you did it because you enjoy teaching. School districts are trying a lot of different scheduling things- 4days per week, balanced scheduled with shorter summers and weeks off in fall and winter. Maybe bring that up at the next meeting.

What if I said I do it for summers off and a pension. Unless you grow up taking over your parents business because you started working for them as a teen, you have no idea what a job entails until your first day of work. My training as a teacher never prepared me for an active shooter, giving Narcan to an opioid overdose victim, what to do when a student tells you that their parents are using them for sexual entertainment at dinner parties, and that another set of brothers are living in a tent in the middle of a camp ground illegally during a Wisconsin winter...all of which I have had training for or experienced first hand. I didn't choose this. Believe me, had I known what I was getting into, this is the last thing I would be doing.

 

[Treeshark]

I live in SE WI

So the bad news is you’re a ways from good bird hunting. The good news is there are thousands of jobs for which you are qualified within a reasonable commute.

Think outside the box, you’re qualified for more than you realize. One example is sales- you could do that for sure, and do well financially.

*And you don’t have to apologize to anyone for becoming a teacher. Or for wanting a change to improve your life. Those are both things to be proud of in my opinion.

 

[Dan O]

What's your wife's opinion on you changing jobs. Can she move and maintain her job or obtain a new job with the same compensation. How long until you can retire?
Lots of questions to answer but I think with proper planning you can get to where you want.

 

[SAJ-99]

What if I said I do it for summers off and a pension. Unless you grow up taking over your parents business because you started working for them as a teen, you have no idea what a job entails until your first day of work. My training as a teacher never prepared me for an active shooter, giving Narcan to an opioid overdose victim, what to do when a student tells you that their parents are using them for sexual entertainment at dinner parties, and that another set of brothers are living in a tent in the middle of a camp ground illegally during a Wisconsin winter...all of which I have had training for or experienced first hand. I didn't chose this. Believe me, had I known what I was getting into, this is the last thing I would be doing.

Sounds like you knew enough about teaching to go into it and stay there for 22 years. Societal changes seem to have made you want to check out of the whole thing and retire. If you can do it financially, do it. You don't need random opinions from others on the internet.

Things change, people change. There is always an opportunity to choose another path.

Yeah, everyone changes, everything changes, the only constant is change, blah, blah. I agree. Only the OP knows if he can do it. I don't want to hear in 20yrs about how a bunch of people on the internet encouraged him to do something and now he's broke. We have conversations about teaching financial literacy in HS. I think I know where we can start.