Monsoon, becoming a career instructor doesn't necessarily mean that you'll never earn a living wage- just make sure you keep raising your own standards. I instructed for almost 5 years, and for the last year (as a CAP509 instructor at a commercial school) I earnt almost as much as I do as a jet FO. However, the advent of JAA has hurt salaries. This may be only a temporary glitch, but the lower approval requirements for JAA than for CAA CAP509 mean that schools feel they can hire cheaper staff. Until the forecast shortage of instructors starts to bite at the Oxford/Cabair end of the market, this is bad news for anyone trying to be a career (ie, 12 months a year) instructor.
An example of this was the large UK commercial school who offered me a job several times. The first time, as a purely 509 organisation, they offered me 26k. A year later, as a CAA/JAA hybrid, they offered 23k, but with a bonus scheme allegedly worth 5-10k. After I accepted the job, this dropped to 20k plus the bonus!
Having said that, it can be a very rewarding job- but I like being a jet driver even more. Have fun with it- I did.