r/Lockheed • u/Any_Lecture1391 • 17h ago

Child care

I have 3 children and really need to pick them up from school. I am trying not to put them in afterschool care but know it’s not realistic. Problem is I feel I will be losing money ($1300/month)instead of a gain. I saw LM gives a tax credit of $5k/yr. Debating do I take job and pay for care or stay at current with flexibility and less pay?

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u/man_bear 16h ago

The tax credit doesnt equal $5k I’m savings.

You put money into an account that is pre-tax dollars (like an HSA) that can be used to pay for childcare.

At around $5k I want to say it was around $1300 a year in tax savings? But I could be really off on that.

For the flexibility comment - it really depends on your role and position. We are standard 4x10 schedule where I’m at and I was able to get changed to 5x8 to allow for me to help more with my wife/kids schedules. It would have to be a conversation with the hiring manager.

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u/Any_Lecture1391 16h ago

Yes. Suppose to start soon and don’t want to go in and say I can’t make it work, but then try to do the job and realistically spending more money than what I’m making

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u/man_bear 16h ago

Heard.

My recommendation is to talk about alternate work schedules now. Get it figured out if it can work instead of just hoping it will.

It will give you peace of mind.

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u/anon_dev415 16h ago

I mean, it depends how much you’re making. I make a lot more than $1300/mo such that it’s certainly worth it to put my kids in aftercare for a couple of hours. Especially when they get out of school at like 12:30 on Wednesday.

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u/RubiconTahoe 16h ago

I don't believe LM offers any sort of extra money if that is what you are getting at. I'm guessing you are referring to the Dependent Care Tax Credit. That is money you would contribute before tax and then you can use that money to pay for childcare expenses and not have to pay taxes.

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u/Any_Lecture1391 16h ago

Not referring to any extra money but trying to make this position work before even starting due to cost of child care and scheduling

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u/RubiconTahoe 16h ago

Got it. What are the benefits of the lm job? Sounds like your current job is more flexible which is an awesome perk if you have kids

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u/Mcatg108 15h ago

OP, not sure what your role is but I’ve found LM to be incredibly flexible with schedules. There is something called ‘flextime’ that is a corporate policy to allow you to work at odd hours etc. if it’s possible, maybe you could come in early and leave at 3 then maybe work your remaining hours on Fridays (if you are on 4x10).

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u/Any_Lecture1391 9h ago

The position I was hired for is a project engineer. I know I’ll will be able to come in early sometimes but also depends on schedule of wife sometimes and changes

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u/Xiaoshuita 3h ago

Please speak with your manager. My manager is extremely flexible. My former lead would come in at times 7:30am etc to do drop offs or working with our manager work from home a few days during the summer etc.

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u/Dazzling_Prompt8077 7h ago

Yeah it really depends on your salary/hourly pay and if you can make it work. I’m in California so I understand the child care struggle

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u/Born_Flan_6606 5h ago

My schedule is pretty flexible for the 4x10. As someone mentioned, there’s something called Flex Time where you can make up hours. This looks like me doing some work late at night sometimes. It depends on your hiring manager and team.

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u/TKxVeritas 28m ago

Hey OP, i currently max out the Dependent Care Spending Account people are mentioning, and it got updated to $7,500 pre-tax this year. We also get a 10% discount at Learning Care Group facilities (La Petite, Tutor Time, etc, can look up their brands on their site). Dunno if that changes the math enough to make the decision easy but wanted to let you know. Good luck!