Hi Chris, thanks for giving the layman a place to turn. My problem is that I'm employed at Fedex & stuck on second & third shift, making 30 dollars an hour as a mechanic, and I see my lovely wife & 7 year old child only on weekends for this 6 months,(then they change me to another grave yard shift hour,every 6 months) missing them extremely & watching my 7 year old boy grow up without me is driving me mad. I've been with Fedex for 2 years now & thinking of going back to my former job at an International airport to work 7am to 330pm so I can repair my home life, but this job only pays 24 dollars an hour. Heres where my confusion comes in, tring to weigh the pros & cons of income. At Fedex the hourly rate is better and the working conditions are worse & this job is depressing. At the airport i don't pay social security seeing how its a goverment job & that allows me to bring home more money to offset to scale but what will this do to my retirement earnings from SS. I have payed SS for 27 years at other previous jobs. Also the Airport allows me to keep the same premium for insurance after retirement where as Fedex goes up extremely. Can you give me your ideas on this subject please? THANKS