Serious Question about Money

My wife has not worked outside the home in many years, since her early 20's when she worked for her mother. I have occasionally picked up a dollar teaching a class, selling some music gear, etc. but view that as an extension of my "business" and run it through my business for tax purposes and that such a miniscule amount as not to mean much.

Surveying has been pretty much our sole income for the past 25 years.

My wife has never worked outside. She does keep books for the surveying business. I've been a small town country surveyor for 34 years.

I made a deal with my wife, I'll pay the bills, you stay home to raise our daughter full time. She didn't spend one day in any kind of "day care".

Surveying has been our only income since our daughter was born.
Yes, we are poorer than most. Money wise.

But we know that we made the right choice, as our daughter turned out to be a well adjusted, secure and caring person, who contributes to society.
She helps children with autism, she helps with the "Special Olympics", and she helps deaf people, amongst other endeavors. We never had one problem with her, no "terrible twos", nothing.

Thank God we had surveying, or things might not have turned out as well as they did for us.

Surveying is the sole source of income in my home. My wife left a job paying 60k a year to stay at home and make babies. We have a 3 year old and a 6 month old.

> Is there anyone contributing here whose entire family income is only what they make doing survey work?

From 2005 to 2009, but not now

>...I have 800 acres of farmland that I operate...

I guess the first annual beer leg pheasant hunt is at your place this fall 🙂

For about 5 years it was our sole source of income. Then my wife got a job with the Census for 18 months and now works part time for the town.

But Surveying has been my sole source for the past 31 years...

Surveying is my sole source of income!

"then my dad got a job"

> For about 5 years it was our sole source of income. Then my wife got a job with the Census for 18 months and now works part time for the town.
>
> But Surveying has been my sole source for the past 31 years...

Our little survey company is not only the sole source of my family’s income, but is also the only source of income for two of my son’s and their families. It is also the sole source of income for one of my partner’s family.

My wife would go through all of our money if she didn't have a job. She's a shop-a-holic. She stayed home the first year with our son (I wasn't licensed yet) and that was tough. For the next 4 years, her job paid for child care and insurance. No money left over. I told her we were still ahead because of the insurance.

Then we bought a house back in my home town when I got licensed. She still worked and child care was much less. I'm not knocking anyone who's wife works in the home. It's a tough a$$ job rearing kids all day long. However, my wife (who now makes a pretty good salary for around here) will tell you that she feels like more of a productive member of the household than she did before when she just stayed home with the kids.

It seems like every time she got a raise, we put it into the house at some point. To date, her pay checks make the mortgage on the farm and it pays for the insurance. For 14 years, my pay checks have been what we lived on as far as groceries and such went.

We did have two months after we paid off our house where we had NO BILLS, then we bought the 67 acres outside of town. We still live in the paid off house, and we rent out the small house at the farm. It pays the taxes and insurance for my house and the farm and allows me to purchase a finite amount of gear every year at the farm.

Had I not purchased the farm three years ago, I had a plan to save mad cash since we weren't used to spending it. I would be much more insulated had we gone that route, but I also wouldn't have our property and house site for the near future.

My point is, yes, we could have lived on my salary alone, but the synergy created from her working has brought us much much closer to our overall goals as a family. Now, it should be noted, we got married at 19, had kids at 20, and I turn 34 in 6 days so child care is not necessary since I got snipped and my kids can make their own breakfast and dial 911. 🙂 The 14-year old is out turning angles as I sit here and type. 🙂

My survey business has been our only income source since my wife retired about 5 years ago. She had gone from a salaried job to a sole-proprietorship consultancy, and the stress of her business was making life miserable for all 3 of us. I asked her to hang it up for the sake of the family, and fortunately she agreed!

"I guess the first annual beer leg pheasant hunt is at your place this fall"

Sorry! I don't live in pheasant country. Quail, turkey and a rare few prairie chicken. Have to go about another 150 miles west or 200 northwest to get into pheasant country.

The responses so far have been enlightening. Having grown up in an area known for 'general farming' according to my Fourth Grade geography book, even our farm families are not dependent on a single crop for the vast majority of their income. Of all my classmates in school, very few actually lived in a household where all income came from a single source. Most of the mothers were not in the normal workforce, yet many had ways to make/save the family a significant sum of money. The fathers almost all had more than one income source. Factory jobs were few and far between. People did not live for the weekend. They spent their weekends working their second or third source of income. Not because they felt terribly poor, but, because the prevalent work ethic drove them to do it. Most of our parents lived through the Depression years, World War II and the Korean War. They had seen what can happen to those who do not perform at a high level.

I have relied on it for 2.5 decades and have done very well but I dont see this horse crossing the finish line for me financial wise.

After 25 yrs I am going throught the motions, it is starting to feel like factory work minus the factory. I got into this business for the adventure and fun, financial matters were secondary, the premise has now reversed.

My ultimate goal is that when someone asks what I do for a living my reply will be "nothing", I have no intention of relying primarily on surveying in the future.

Very similar to Holy Cow here.

We've moved back to the country. You could work full time surveying here but you couldn't make an honest living at it (get fairly paid for legitimate survey work). I do a few survey's but honestly only get about 1/3 of what would be a fair fee and don't even attempt to compete with the hackers. So really I can't afford the time to do that much surveying (work for about nothing). So I do lot's of different things, have property, putting most of our resources into starting another business.

The business of surveying and the professionalism of land surveying are two different things. I've learned that making money is a different thing than doing professional work, at least in the environment I'm in. I refuse to do cheap substandard work and thus can't compete in this rural area. Folks around here have never been able to afford quality land survey work. At this point it's the biggest mess you can imagine (title records and such). It's just growing bigger every year. Unless the value of property increases (going south at an ever increasing rate) surveying is never going to be a way to make real living here.

My spouse and I are both licensed surveyors, does that count?

Haven't made any cake to speak of yet. Low hourly wage here and there and a lot of volunteer work or personal research and digging. Survey field work has never paid the bills, but it has mostly paid for the meetings and dinners and conferences and books.

As I get closer to licensure, in the current economy, I don't really foresee that being any different.

As I see it, surveyors are currently stuck between being utterly necessary (for the public peace in the long run) and an annoying bureaucratic requirement (to an individual mortgage holder who wants to build or remodel). Not sure how to fix that. Educate the public. Educate ourselves. Easy to say, but what do we need to teach, or be taught, to change this perception?

So if a potential client just wants a sign-off and doesn't value the knowledge and standards of care that I bring to the job, I may politely decline. But if my services can help improve life, health, safety, harmony, or community for a neighborhood or a church or a school, I might just do it for roughly the cost of the E&O plus the recording fees and the crew. And keep delivering pizza, or playing guitar in bars, or gardening, or whatever it takes to not trade too little money for too much stress and liability.

Surveying business only for 13 years . Wife stayed home with the kids . Last year she worked a little but found having her away from the business cost me more than the job she brang in. She does the books, payroll and research . She worked as a title searcher one summer and has a minor in paralegal . I cannot even come close to what she can do . Every job I get , she hands me a folder an inch thick of research . I am spoiled .

Since 1976, with the exception of 1982 through 1989 (marital non-bliss era), 100% of my household income was derived by only myself, working in the surveying profession. It's been rocky at times, but don't think I'd want to do anything else.

It has been frustrating, especially lately, trying to "compete" with moonlighters and those who just survey more as a hobby than a career, but I figure the dust settles where it should. I actually get many referrals from such people, so I can't really complain.

But the serious question about money is how to jump start things, not the origination of family funds.

> Is there anyone contributing here whose entire family income is only what they make doing survey work?

My wife took a job when our youngest turned 2. That was 22 years ago. Since then my income from surveying has provided about 60% of the household income.

This latest downturn made me very anxious to diversify our income in some way. To this end we have recently purchased a Subway Sandwich Shop and are planning to purchase another soon. The income from 3 such shops would more than replace both our current incomes.

same here, wife has no job with a paycheck and hasn't since 1987.

currently surveying is it. I have delivered a paper route, mowed lawns, flight instruction and some engineering support but right now the only job I have is surveying which is fine with me.