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Your grandmother is the exception, not the rule. It is quite possible that you will retain your fertility longer than average based on your family history. It's also quite possible that you won't.
Are you wanted to try to have a kid because you actually want a kid, or just because you feel as if it's "now or maybe not ever" and you feel external pressure from others?
Don't take this as being rude if you really want one, I'm just trying to propose the idea. I know a lot of women feel that their time is running out age-wise around 30-35 and they get freaked.
Yes, I've always wanted a family. In fact, my dream was to have 3 kids. Now I think I'll be lucky to get one.
I don't know how fertility is in my family because everyone has had them before 30. I've been getting family pressure since I was 28. And I was single.
OP All I can say is that I feel you 100%. I really thought I'd be making a lot more than what I am right now. My friends all make a lot more than I do but all I can do is stay positive and take steps to get a better paying career. I am from NYC and it's ridiculous that some of the companies here pay very low salaries and never give raises considering the cost of living here.
Anyway, like others said you should wait until you have more money saved and/or a better job before you have a baby.
its not as much what your salary is as much as what you do with it.
i have been a worker all my life, marilyn is a pre-school teacher and barely makes 20k a year. we live in nyc , one of the most expensive places on the planet to raise a family. we dont live in manhattan though,we live in queens which is a borough outside manhattan.
but i started investing at the age of 18. im 58 now. through the decades i just kept investing that money and adding whatever we could when we could. no market timing,no ever thinking if its a good time or bad time to invest.
i bought my first rental property 2 weeks before the greatest market crash in history in 1987.
well today most years we earn more on our investments then even our salaries.
fidelity investment magazine and money magazine both did feature stories on us.
while at first i was a little embarassed as to the combined total of our incomes to be in print for millions to read but then we said what the heck. we did great and should be proud of our accomplishments.
the fact our salaries werent 150k plus as most of those they write about was a bummer. but overall our income with investments was higher then that easily each year.
we never lived a lifestyle that was above our income , have 7 figures in a nest egg and had nothing to hide about living a lie and so we said why not let them print it.. a few years ago we did get a share in a family business we were not expecting so that certainly improved our position but now we have to work the family real estate business as well as our jobs . luck always plays a big part too and we were lucky how things fell into place..
Last edited by mathjak107; 04-03-2011 at 07:52 AM..
I am not claiming I did "everything right" but planned in a way that I thought was smart...
In the interest of planning, let me share with you a couple details of my own situation in hopes it might be useful to you.
About 19 and a half years ago, our daughter was born. Later that day, I drove home to shower & change. I picked up the mail from the mailbox & tossed it on the kitchen table as I always do (I'm not the neatest guy on the block).
It just so happens that Consumer Reports arrived that day, and by tossing the mail on the counter, the CU magazine flopped open. The headline caught my attention: Saving for College. There was a table in the article that said in effect:
"If your child is born today, here's how much you'll need to save each month to pay for college."
It took my breath away.
Here is a link to one college savings calculator, and I'm sure there are many others:
It just so happened, I switched jobs for more money, got laid off the same year, spent 9 months unemployed and when finally offered jobs, they were for far less than what I was making. The marketing field discouraged me so I'm trying to parlay my new position into a new career move of proposal/technical writing. But I've had to start at entry level and judging by the job ads I see for the money I'd like to get, it could take 5 years to get there.
I've also worked part-time jobs and am focusing on building a solid portfolio so I can become a part-time freelance writer as well.
I'm not sure what more I could have/should have done.
In terms of career, I think you're making some really smart choices. Marketing is tough. It's viewed as a glamour job, so everyone and their mother wants to get in. Technical writing, though, is NOT something everyone wants to do, and most people lack the skill, as well. You might be taking a pay cut now, but your earning potential in 5 years could very likely be in the 70-90K range. I myself would take a temporary paycut now to get into a more stable field with higher earnings potential later, no question.
If you freelance as a technical writer now, you may be able to ratchet up to a higher salary faster. You might also want to think about certifications and language skillsets that will raise your value. Your MBA is a great start. Have you thought about a PMP certification, Spanish classes, or learning some programming such as Java? Each of these new skills would obviously take your career in a different direction, but they're all valuable in their own right.
The final thing I would suggest is to get a financial planner. I have one that my dad set me up with years ago. This person helps me maximize my investments in mutual funds and stocks. I'm personally lousy with investing, though, so my guy takes care of it all, and I don't have to fret about it. I wound up making 11K during the downturn when many of my friends were losing money. It's no joke...a good financial planner is worth his weight in gold!
Don't fret so much. You're young yet, and you are in so much better shape than many Americans in this economy. Yes, it may take you some time to recoup your financial losses, but a few years is just a drop in the bucket.
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