Financial vs. Family | Just For Military Blog

Do you ever just sit back and think about the oppurtunites you are given?? Being a spouse, or dependent, it is often hard to find a carrer path.? It often leaves spouses feeling a bit like a ?non contributing factor?, or maybe a little resentment because this life that we chose makes us pick up and start over every time those wonderful set of orders come.

PCSing is never fun, and for me it has been a nerve racking experience.? Not the move in itself, but the anticipation of finding a job.? Having to sell myself at interviews, just having to start over at another ?dead end job?.? Back in 2007 when my husband was given orders to leave Alaska and come to Las Vegas, we only had 1 child and I was working, selling insurance.? We all have that phobia, I think, ?I need to get settled in and find a job as soon as I get there.? Well fortunately for me, my boss was able to do some of that for me.? I was a good producer, and dedicated worker for my boss, so I think it made it easier for her to sell me to an agent here in Las Vegas.? The agent in Vegas, hired me over the phone.? I let her down because I could not find day care for my son when I first got here.? I tried for over a month and then just gave up all together.? I decided to be a stay at home mom!? A wk. later I found out that I was pregnant with baby #2.? So going back to work, just really was not going to be in my picture at all.? I never really dreamed of being a SAHM, I never thought that I would have the tolerance or the financial means for that matter!

We now have 3 children, and I really don?t have much time to do much of anything.? However I think this next school year, some things will be changing.? I will tell you about that later. but in brief, all of my children will be going to school for a 1/2 day.? This will give me a couple of hours of ME TIME?? you read me right!? I?m kind of upset by this because the baby will just be turning 3 and the middle will be 4, I thought being a SAHM, meant staying at home with the babies, but am finding out that God?s plans might be just a bit BIGGER than me.

So, the financial vs. family, is this.? I have always been the one to go into our insurance office.? I have a realationship with the staff person, and the agent.? A couple of years ago, when meeting the agent, we had begun speaking on and off about me working for him part time.? However I let my license lapse, and with being a SAHM I really haven?t worried about getting my license reinstated (there was a lot of work involved the first time, not to sure that I want to do it again).? So when I went to the office the other day to get the girls life policies, and pay for my own policy, I spoke with the agent again.? He mentioned working? part time, and that the potential was totally there for me to work with.? I would not be stuck to a routine schedule, and I could work around what was convient for me and my family.

The schedule that I have to work with may be a bit tight right now, but when the girls start school would be perfect.? I know that people complain about oppurtunites just not being there financially, that the job market is just not there.? I think that sometimes, not all the time, we have a tendency to overlook everything that is not the normal for us.? We get so anxious about not going out of our comfort zones, that we forget that there are so many other oppurtunites to explore.

In Ohio, right out of high school, I became a shift manager at a restraunt (big name).??When I got married and moved to North Dakota, I went back and started at the bottom at (big name) and worked my way back into a shift manager possistion.? I then took on another job, leading me into a store manager at pet store (which I loved!).? When we moved to Alaska, I really wanted to get into a house before working, so I volunteered at the hospital on base so that I would not be committed to a schedule.? Then when we were buying our house the owner was a chief pilot and offered me a job at the airport, so I took it!? And then I applied for at a insurance company, and was hired as receptionist and a few months later moved over to the servicing and sales side.? I developed an immediate love for this industry, and fell completely in love with life insurance.

Well life insurance is where my oppurtunity is falling.? I would have to get licensed again.? I really haven?t had the chance to look into what all I will have to do.? I know that it would give me a few different oppurtunities, but this is what is going through my mind right now.

1.? income for my family (retirement is just around the corner)

2.? a chance at some adult interaction!

3.? selling life insurance which I love the concept of helping others to have the knowledge of protecting their loved ones, should they not come home tomorrow!

4. flexible schedule (this is a great oppurtunity that MOST people do not get a chance at)

5.? I still get to be a SAHM, and work at my own select time.

6.? I need to test for my licensing ( it was a lot to do the first time around)

7.? I would feel obligated to give a 110% at a job, I?m afraid I might be sacrificing my family.

8.?? So many people would give anything for a job right now, and this fell in my lap again.

9.? This would get my foot back in the door, for when we retire from the USAF.? I would have a job, it would make for a much easier transition~

I actually started this blog the other day, and then reading on another page yesterday, was reading how hard it is for military spouses and families.? Also how hard it is financially for military families these days, with all of the deployments.? For us, financially the deployments never made it worse, there was always the extra pays involved, that helped out and actually put us ahead of the game.??Before anyone gets upset by that comment, please know that my husband has been on 14 deployments, this is actual deployments NOT including TDY?s. ?However, I thought about the statistics they were showing and have now been thinking even harder about the opportunity of going back to work.? It would put us ahead of the game, as far as our savings account goes (which is for our retirement home, here in the next year or so we need to purchase).

I know that I have been fortunate to have the job oppurtunities I have had, I just want to make sure that I am making the right choices for the right reasons.? I also would like to really help others see that just going for the ?normal? everyday job, while following their spouses around the world, is NOT their only option.? The insurance industry is not the only one out there that can open these doors, however for me? it kept me in sells, and gave me something to look forward to learning more about everyday.? I did not have to have a college education, I just had to be willing to do the tests to get licensed, and be willing to learn!? I?m thankful for the opportunity I have right now, with the job offer in this economy!

If you don?t mind sharing? let me know what has helped you to make your decisions on being a working parent, or what made you know without a doubt that you wanted to be a SAH parent.

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