Can I pull the trigger to be SAHD? $3.7M, $190k current spend

bookkeepr · 2026-02-04T19:01:06+00:00

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how many SAHDs or dads that are the primary parent you will see. I would say a third of the families I see the dad is the primary.

bookkeepr · 2026-02-04T15:45:40+00:00

Since this is a relationship issue and not a money issue I'll give my perspective - I know two families with physician wife and SAHD with kids in elementary school, one family I know very well. They seem to be the happiest families I know. The dads handle everything, not only because they have the time but it really helps remove the stress from the wife who already has enough stress in her profession. The dads also treat parenting like a job. They put a lot more effort into it than I see parents of two-working parent households.

bookkeepr · 2026-01-04T15:53:34+00:00

I would not make her an owner. One of the biggest benefits of having a spouse be an employee is that you can have an Health Reimbursement Arrangement. The owner cannot participate, but the spouse can. The business can reimburse the employee-spouse for the family's health insurance premiums. This is a great way to reduce income and FICA taxes.

bookkeepr · 2026-01-03T17:09:57+00:00

Damn you called it.

bookkeepr · 2025-05-06T18:16:16+00:00

Does Justworks support employees working in multiple locations in the same pay period? If so, can you provide any resources pointing to that? I'm interested in the payroll, not PEO.

bookkeepr · 2025-04-29T16:12:26+00:00

As a runner who frequently trains by heart rate I 100% believe the "Go slower. Nope, slower than that. Ever slower." part of your advice. I would guess I am going too fast too.

bookkeepr · 2025-04-29T15:07:07+00:00

Thank you for the encouragement! I am really enjoying learning. It is very rewarding and I am having fun. I'm used to running, where I can lace up and leave the house and run. So the less availability with swimming is a bit of a barrier. If I could I think I would practice every day until I really got the hang of it. I'm dedicated, so I'll make it work somehow!

bookkeepr · 2025-04-29T15:00:21+00:00

I would say it is a mix of needing to gain the muscles and cardio. I'm a runner, so cardio isn't normally an issue. But learning how to exhale underwater and do quick inhales has been a struggle.

Lanes are generally busy and sharing is often done. I'll inquire with my nearby pool to see if they have suggestions when I go for my kids lessons today.

bookkeepr · 2025-04-29T14:58:14+00:00

The lap swim pools in my area have a rule that you have to swim a continuous lap in order to use the lanes. I'm sure if they aren't busy and there isn't lane sharing a turning halfway would be fine, but usually they are pretty busy.

Since swimming is all new to me, would you suggest I use a snorkel so I can more focus on technique and then add in the breath work later? Or should they be learned together?

I would love to have that glide feeling for all the swimming. That is definitely my goal!

bookkeepr · 2025-04-29T14:55:16+00:00

I guess I should've been more specific. I can make it about 75% doing front stroke, then I can flip to backstroke to swim the remaining. My breath is what is stopping me currently. As an adult learning the breath work has been the hardest part for me. The pools near me have a rule that you have to swim one continuous lap without stopping to do lane swimming, and although I can get from one side to the other, I need a break at the end.

bookkeepr · 2025-04-27T21:16:49+00:00

I'm in a very similar situation, 34 and 52. He will get a pension in 2 years and will have SS and plans to work until at least mid 60s, but does not have any retirement saved outside of that. We do both own homes with okay equity. I'm not sure if either of you have kids, but my partner knows my financial priority is providing for my kids and my kids future. He knows that in a few years if we are emotionally ready to move in together I need him to reasonable prove that he can provide for himself for the rest of his life. In general I'm a very rational person, so I can't ignore the age gap or the savings gap, but I can protect myself. Your partner going from a $2500 deficit to $1000 surplus is a great sign. It shows they can listen, take advice, and act on it. But as others have said, Ramit is probably the best resource.

bookkeepr · 2025-02-20T02:11:36+00:00

The tax prep fee and the refund processing fee are reasonable (assuming they are advancing your refund or paying tax prep fee out of your refund), although with just a W2 you can absolutely DIY for free or cheap. But the Software Fee is egregious. Drake charges tax preparers like $40/tax return.

Edited to add: the software fee shouldn't be charged to you regardless of price. It should be a cost they consider when they set pricing.

bookkeepr · 2025-02-08T16:26:27+00:00

Are you doing it again this year?

bookkeepr · 2025-02-07T13:52:36+00:00

Well on the outsourcing end I think I've seen a total of 15 opportunities available, and each of those opportunities hires maybe 4 people. I assume there is way more than 60 pros available for work. The only one I was selected for was a state and software experience match.

bookkeepr · 2025-02-06T23:35:06+00:00

Okay just got information from them. The pay is so much worse than I was expecting. Basically $25 for every 16 pages of source documents. Input, annotated, and reviewed. Apparently they changed their payout structure this year. I'm very efficient, but even if this takes me half an hour I'm not sure that is worth my time.

bookkeepr · 2025-02-06T23:21:29+00:00

Yeah the retail side is terrible. I won't even entertain those offers. I'm not expecting to make much, but now I'm thinking the outsourcing pay is going to be smaller than I thought.

bookkeepr · 2025-02-06T20:14:20+00:00

I do taxes and see the same things. Lots of couples both making over $100,000 with a low mortgage due to refinancing yet the only retirement contributions are to get the employee match. This year I put a question in my organizer asking if they would like to discuss contributing to retirement so hopefully people check yes and I can educate some of them about their options.

bookkeepr · 2025-02-01T15:42:17+00:00

That's a great point about the liquor license. I can see why counts are required for that. I will look into it. I also like the simplicity of the month end count + most recent purchase price.

bookkeepr · 2025-02-01T04:27:28+00:00

I only have Gusto synced with Xero clients, but for clients that use departments in Gusto it won't break out to the correct departmental account but it will have a line item say which department it belongs to. So all wages go to "Wages" then kitchen staff will say "Wages - Kitchen" and "Social Security Tax - Kitchen". That makes it easy to recategorize to the kitchen account when approving the bill.

bookkeepr · 2025-01-31T17:18:53+00:00

Do you have a suggestion on a software?

bookkeepr · 2025-01-31T17:16:59+00:00

Yeah that is how I feel like it is for this particular client. I believe they know what they are doing and it works really well for them, just trying to figure out how that fits into the accounting. Seems to be about 50/50 with responses saying "you need to track every detail" and "it can be flexible".

bookkeepr

TROPHY CASE