Is it better to work 50/50?

[notnagging]

I went to an employment seminar years ago that said the best thing for women was to find a part time job with a pension then do your own thing for a couple of days a week. Now I have 5 Im torn between working & staying at home. Working full time would drive me bonkers but so would being at home. Is 50/50 a good solution? Has it worked for anyone else?

I have my own business that I run from home. I work pt around my 15 month old and it's absolutely perfect for us - I feel very fortunate that i have the opportunity to do both. All families/women are differently, so there's no one-size-fits-all for this one.

But, I for one, couldn't imagine not working at all. Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with my dd. However, I need a creative outlet, the challenge of working towards tangible goals, and being able to earn money too. Working's a good thing.

But, you know, we are all different.

How do you find time to dedicate to it all? Do you have childcare for your 15mnth old?

I work approx 20-30 hrs per wk. Have 6-9 hrs childcare from my mum and dh takes her on Sunday morning. Rest of it I do around naps and evenings. I send a lot of short emails throughout the day too. I'm constantly planning and thinking of new ideas too - it never stops tbh!

Obviously it doesn't leave too much time for hobbies. But I absolutely love what I do so it's not a huge sacrifice. Besides, it's not forever.

I should also mention that I employ someone who handles the customer contact etc. it only all works because of this.

did they mean that's the best thing for women with children who also wished to free up a large % of time to be at home to provide childcare? Because that's a bonkers statement otherwise!

The best thing for me is to make as much money as possible. Good luck finding any job with a pension nowadays an' all...

What she meant was that if you want to go self employed it is best to do so on a part time basis so that you get the security of a pension scheme & regular income from an outside job.

Nah, I don't buy that really. You then lose the flexibility of being self-employed, which is the best bit imo. I do take the point about pension but having become self-employed after ten years in a gold-plated final salary scheme which is apparently going to pay me something like 37p a week at retirement age... saving from more lucrative work which I can dial up or down depending on me/my family's needs is a much better way to go. (for me, obvs. Other opinions are available ). And even if I went back into that industry FT I wouldn't get the same pension capability as most final salary schemes are now closed to new entrants.

I also make 90% of my repeat business from the fact I'm incredibly flexible and responsive. Not picking up the phone to my clients on a Tuesday because I'm sitting in someone else's office would not sit well. And you'd also have to work in two very separate fields as presumably you wouldn't be able to compete with your employer in your own business?

Some good points Wilson thank you.

Yes, think that you would get the worst of both worlds, possibly, by being both employed and self-employed - esp with children in the mix. Don't think you could fully invest in either situation meaning earning potential is reduced.

I work from home 3 days a week 9-3 doing marketing and sales for a startup company and then 2 days a week I work on my own online wedding business.

It works for me but I am not as flexible as I once was when I only had my own business. But it is nice to have other co-workers to chat to! And I am still able to pick the kids up from school.

However there is no final salary pension! Haven't had one of those for 7 years, think mine is worth less than WilsonFrickett's 37p

Good luck finding what works for you, this is where I found my home based job ihubbub.com/jobs

Thank you ra

I have combined contract/retained roles with freelancing/consulting. So no pension, but fairly secure.

I started because I couldn't face having no income lined up. It suits me to mix that with one off projects.

However, I have down graded roles and now have a more junior role which is well paid considering how little stress there is. I found full on senior roles + freelancing was just too much.

I have found in the freelance world that having a pt role is actually fairly common if you dig a bit.

I went to a motivational entreprenrial day thing. Somebody stood up and talked about their million pound property business they'd built aged 25 etc. It was only during questions did he confirm that he'd worked whilst doing it etc.

I work part-time for a company (no pension though) then freelance around that. The upside is the regular money and security, the downside is that like Wilson said, clients expect you to be available 24/7 when you're freelance and if you have to fit them into a particular day or set hours they're not always happy. There's also very little chance to network or build the business up and I do have to be careful that the freelancing doesn't conflict with my employed work. In some ways it is worst of both worlds I guess but it works OK for me for now.

I think if its in similar industries its okay unless there are conflict in interests involved. But you do have to watch that work/work balance