Selling vacation time, WWMMD?

als1982 · November 2014

So my employer offers the benefit of PTO buy back of up to 80 hours a year. I've been at the company for nearly a decade and get about 30 days off a year (we do get additional sick time, but you have to first take 2 PTO days in order to then tap into those).

Family all lives relatively local so major holidays don't require much travel, and I rarely take days like 4th of July, Labor/Memorial Day off (we have to use PTO for those). But we do take about 15 days of vacation a year. (Two weeks abroad plus several long domestic weekend trips.)

It would be a no-brainier for me to sell the 80 hours, except we plan on TTC in May. With this in mind, what would MM do? Keep it for before/after baby is born or sell it to pay off debts now?

In terms of maternity leave, I can use the accumulated sick days mentioned before (I have about 10 weeks saved of that). Plus, I'll have short term disability, which I'm guessing/hoping would cover the rest of the 3 months off?

jjbmstinco · November 2014

My question would be how much do they pay you per day that they buy? For my, if I accumulate more than 60 days, they will buy me down to exactly 60 days. It is only $25.00 a day. Compared to what I make per day, that is nothing. It is better for me to just take the time off and get paid my normal daily amount.

hoffse · November 2014

Eh I would keep it until after baby is born and then see how much you have left. I'm not sure about the short-term disability, but that's definitely something to ask your HR contact about.

My work offers 10 weeks paid maternity leave. We also get 3 weeks of PTO per year, so a lot of women string them together. Or rather, they intend to string it together. In fact, many end up returning to work early (because they're going stir crazy) and then they don't use that vacation time. But it's nice to have later on in the year if baby gets sick or around the holidays, etc.

So yeah, I would probably bank it. You can always sell it back if you find you don't need it later, can't you?

als1982 · November 2014

jjbmstinco said:
My question would be how much do they pay you per day that they buy? For my, if I accumulate more than 60 days, they will buy me down to exactly 60 days. It is only $25.00 a day. Compared to what I make per day, that is nothing. It is better for me to just take the time off and get paid my normal daily amount.

Oh wow, what a raw deal! Mine would be at my standard rate of pay, totalling about $3,000 for the 80 hours.

jjbmstinco · November 2014

I would save them till after baby. You never know what can happen.

Xstatic3333 · November 2014

I'm with PPs. Since you're TTC, I'd hold onto it in case (heaven forbid!) you needed to take any medical time off while pregnant. Hopefully you won't need it and you can cash it out as a great post-baby bonus.

hoffse · November 2014

Xstatic3333 said:

I'm with PPs. Since you're TTC, I'd hold onto it in case (heaven forbid!) you needed to take any medical time off while pregnant. Hopefully you won't need it and you can cash it out as a great post-baby bonus.

**STUCK IN THE BOX**

This is a good idea. You might also consider using whatever is left to jump-start a 529 for baby. The earlier you contribute, the more valuable that money is. H and I are probably 2 years away from TTC, but our plan (for now) is to save more than we think we need, but enough to cover the essentials, extra medical time off if I need it, etc. Hopefully we won't be out of pocket much, but you never know. Then anything we don't spend getting ready for baby goes to a 529 as soon as s/he has a SSN and we can get one set up.

Selling vacation time, WWMMD?

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