Before we had children, my wife and I both worked. I had a very good career and she had a good career. But when our children were born, I suggested to her that if she wanted to stay home and raise the children, she could. I had become the CFO and COO of a public company and so we no longer needed the second income. But if she preferred working, that was fine with me. She chose to stay home.

But as our children reach middle school and high school, it became clear to me she was becoming bored, but she was a bit scared of going back into the workforce. She had been an Asst. Controller of a public company and felt like her accounting skills were rusty and she would have to start all over again.

She always love houses and so when she was on vacation with her girlfriends (an annual thing they do), I went on to Monster.com and began applying for jobs as a real estate agent in her name. When she got back from vacation, I casually told her not to be surprised if she got calls for a job interview. I told what I had done and that since she loved to go to “open houses” anyway, she might as well “meet some people” and bring them along. She went on a few interviews and got several offers. Honestly, she did not earn a lot the first two years, but that was not the point. The point was to get her into a career doing things she loved (she never really like accounting).

Today, she is still a real estate agent, but her main work is running a property management services company that manages single family properties (with a few multi-family properties) for investors. She learned she is gifted at doing this and her tenants and investors love her. Most of the time she loves what she is doing (as with all jobs she has bad days but they are far outnumbered by the good ones) and because she can do a lot of the work from home, she has a lot of flexibility and today she is earning a six figure income!

So where am I going with this… since you are getting by without your husband working, challenge him to do something he really loves to do. The job market is really tight and many employers are willing to be pretty flexible for a good worker. The goal is not the money… the money will come if he loves what he does… most people never get the chance to pursue a career because it is “fun”… instead their financial responsibilities limit their choices… If the first job does not work out, try another. Anyway, make sure he knows you don’t care about how much he earns or he will feel like a failure if he does not do well at first, but only that he finds a job he really enjoys…

I know a couple, both doctors and recently retired. The wife always wanted a “coffee/breakfast” cafe. She is amazing at running it. The place is always busy and I think the key is her energy… I think she was burnt out being a physician and now she is doing an amazing job as a small business owner. She is doing something she always dreamed about doing and I think she is even surprising herself at how good she is at it. Food for thought… pardon the pun…