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Date Posted: 13:42:28 05/10/05 Tue
Author: Lawshark
Subject: It's not that Laura needs to get a job...
In reply to: LB 's message, "Re: Well...here's a dilemna dropped in our lap!" on 22:48:09 05/09/05 Mon

>If Laura got a job in Maine wouldn't that help? Is
>there a big obligation to go help her brother out?
>What's Connecticut like?

so much as that this particular opportunity with her brother might be too good to pass up.

We'd both certainly prefer to have Laura stay home with the boys, especially while they're young. While we're emulating our fearless leader W in having deficit spending and don't want to run a deficit forever, it's something that we can do and are willing to do in the near term in order to have Laura home right now.

That being said...when Laura eventually returns to work up here in Maine we seriously doubt that she would be able to make anywhere even close to what she'd make working for her brother. In order to get a law job she would have to take the Maine Bar Exam...which would be a complete nightmare studying for it and taking it. Plus, she'd probably only work part time and would be lucky to make $25K...if she could even find part time law work. Even full time work as a lawyer wouldn't pay as much as she'd make working for her brother. The perception that lawyers make a ton of money isn't necessarily accurate...certain lawyers end up doing so but that's not the typical case...until you are a partner you can make good money...as a partner you can make very good money. If you're a succesful trial lawyer who hits it big on some huge cases (like John Edwards!) you can make a LOT of money. That's not the genereal rule.

To give you an idea of the pay scale here in Portland for attorneys, if you went to work for one of the "big" firms in town (who pay the highest starting salaries) you'd make $50K to $55K as a first year lawyer. If you went to work for a big firm in Boston that same lawyer would make in the $140K range. In Cincinnati you'd start out at about $75K.

The unfortunate thing is that our cost of living...especially in comparison to the wages...is really high. I'd say the cost of living here is roughly the same as it was in Cincinnati...but the payscale (as illustrated above) is about 25% less! Ahhh...Maine...The Way Life Should Be. You get a really beautiful little city, the ocean, mountains, etc....but you pay a financial cost for it.

So...while working for Rod would help him out...we would NOT do it just to help him out. We'd only do it if it made sense for us.

Connecticut is very nice state...the cities are kinda crap (Hartford, New Haven, etc.) but the suburbs are gorgeous. Cost of living would be higher...but so are wages. I'd probably end up with a half hour or better commute to work again (unless I got a job with a suburban law firm) as opposed to the 10 to 15 minute commute I have now. Laura's family would be in the area...which would be both good and bad. Family can always irritate the crap out of you at times, but they are also there to help out with the kids and things. We do get along with her family...although we ARE 200 miles away too! ;-)

I guess this is all a long winded way to say that if we stay in Maine, Laura would probably not make particularly much in the way of money when she went back to work and I'm still not sure of exactly where things are going to go for me financially....and while Maine is a great place...it is tough to make a go of it from a financial standpoint.

On the other hand, in Connecticut Laura would make significantly more right off the bat...more than double what she'd make here...maybe even triple. Plus, when/if she was working full time there it could increase even more.

If Laura went back to work part time in Maine we'd probably still be a bit in the red. If she went to work part time in Connecticut we'd immediately move into the black and probably go beyond that.

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