| Congrats! It really depends on your current situation, so to be more helpful please answer these: 1) how much savings do you have? 2) assuming a spouse, will the spouse continue to work? Do you have parents nearby who can help with childcare? 3) can you clarify your earnings, maybe with yearly breakdown of the past 5 years? 4) where are you located (country at least)? Option 1) Get a regular job with health benefits. If you're a programmer in the US with some experience, $65-80K should be readily attainable. Certainly much more depending on location and abilities. Likely the least stressful but more boring option. Option 2) diversify the income as vorpalhex said. This will be more stressful. You do need to figure out your "minimum expenses" and budget for that. You can't afford to go 1 year without making anything unless you've got significant money banked. One datapoint: in a US midwestern city, a conservative baby/toddler budget is running me about $4-6K not including increased medical. Set a budget just assuming you're going to max your out-of-pocket every year. 1 birth + 1 ER visit will usually get you there. |