Advantages to Having a Career Different from Your Spouse

I know many couples that work for the same company or the same industries because they either studied the same thing in school or met each other through their jobs. There is nothing wrong with working in the same industry as your significant other, but there are advantages to do something completely different.

Insurance against Industry Recessions — With the latest real estate boom, there have been couples that jumped into the real estate industry together as real estate agents and loan officers. Now with the housing bubble quickly deflating, many of these double income real estate families have degraded into zero or half income families. If one spouse was doing something else, it wouldn’t be so bad. The same applies to all other industries since there are peaks and troughs in any business, and when one spouse’s professional industry is in a rut, it is great to have a back up income.

Wider Professional Network — It’s very likely that two people in the same field know a demographic of people with similar expertise. It is generally advantageous to know people in different areas of the business world to secure further opportunities, or even just to get some expert advice on a variety of subjects.

Less Job Related Competition — If you have the same career as your spouse, there may come a time when you both compete for the same job. That could put strain on the relationship. Additionally, it’s possible that spouses work for competing firms in the same field. In that case, conflicts of interest may arise that could endanger one person’s job.

Less Work Related Disagreements — A couple with the same job may have disagreements on how work should be completed in their own professional opinions. For example, a former classmate of mine had two child psychologists as parents, and she remembers that they would just argue all the time about her psychological state. She found it incredibly funny, but if they didn’t have the same job, they wouldn’t have had those arguments.

Of course, there are advantages to being in the same industry as your spouse, too. Most notably, you will be able to understand your mate’s work related frustrations and offer usable advice. Sometimes competition can also be healthy and drive you to advance in your careers. Anyway, the most important and most difficult thing is still to pick someone who can deal with the good and bad times with you.

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