Job Decision - Stay or go

PDCAT

Hi Folks

I've a decision to make in the next few days and i'm struggling to make it. I'm normally good at making rational decisions but not on this occasion.

Basically i've been offered another job. i have a bit of a dilemma and was wondering what people thought.

I'm 43 years old, married with two girls.
My current job is that of an Engineer, permanent position, well paid, big company, fairly stressful, not enjoying it, Monday to Friday. Commute to work is 50 minutes each way (1 hour 40 per day travelling time).

New Job is an Operator (ok money, big company,). Will be taking about 200 euro a week drop in wages and it is only a seasonal role (8/9 months a year). Signing on for the other 3/4 months. Also have to pay my own health insurance.
Plus of the new job is that it is only 5 minutes commute from my house. Will save about 7 hours commuting time per week. Also 12 hour shifts which means i'll have 3/4 full days off per week.

My wife works part time 2/3 days per week.

I have twin girls aged 3 years and would love to spend more time with them as they grow up and do things as a family. Also, i have lots of hobbies and interests which i will have more time to do with this new job.

Financially i can afford this. My house is completed and have no mortgage. No loans for anything, everything paid for. Have approx 300K in savings for the future and missus will inherit a small farm holding down the line.

From a Quality of life perspective it's a great move, from a financial perspective it goes against everything i've ever done before in my life. I've always worked for decent wages in good positions.

This is something slightly new for me. Another plus with the new company is that in the next 5/6 years, their will be opportunities for a permanent position and for progression upwards in the company.

Just wondering what people think as i seem to be too close and i'm afraid maybe i'm letting my heart rule my head.
Part of me is saying ' life is too short, enjoy yourself a bit more if you can afford it'.

Thinking that somebody standing not as close to the situation could help me see this more clearly.

bee06

To me it sounds like a no brainer if you won't be putting yourself under financial pressure.

LegacyUser

You have no mortgage, are obviously good with managing money so why stay in the current job? Is there a possibility that the new job might become a bit boring if you are used to more challenging role? Would there be opportunities for promotions in the new company?

Commuting wears you down after a while and if you can afford not to do it you will have a better quality of life. I work with a lady whose commute between getting to work and home is 3.5 hours each day. At the minute she's out on sick leave which I think is down to the commute. One of my friends tried a long commute for a while and moved back to the city to be closer to his work, he now cycles to work and his overall physical and mental health has much improved. He has two kids as well so gets to see and spend a lot more time with them. What does your wife think? At the end of the day your health is your wealth.

Lavinia

I'd sign what bee06 said. Your girls will only be this little once in a life time and never again. If you can afford this (and looks you well can) then why not.

Also a change in career may do good for you, psychologically and intellectually.

Good luck either way.

Ryan Mac Sweeney

Hi
I have read your post. Yes I believe you should take the job as you will be working less hours and it is only a 5 minute commute from your house. As your hours will be more flexible that means that you will be able to take more time off for holidays and you will also be off 3-4 days a week it also means that you will be able to spend more time with your daughters and especially as they are only young for such a short amount of time it is crucial that you make the most of it with them as the years will fly and before you know it they will be grown up. So if I were you I would definitely take the job.
Best of Luck with everything

pew

I'd go for it in a heartbeat.

So many pros for it, it's a no brainer for me.

Best of luck with what you choose

SATSUMA

Go for it. Your children are the most precious thing in your life right now you won't get that time back. You will always get a well paid engineering job. Don't think of it as a life time decision. It's the best decision for now. So liberating! Go for it!

Shelga

Hi OP, there don't seem to be any financial implications really- what's 200euro a week when you have 300k saved? Especially with the much shorter commuting time.

My only concern would be that this new role sounds dull- I work in an engineering firm too and have worked on the production line as an operator for work experience- it's mind-numbingly boring, repetitive work. Especially 12 hour shifts, yeuch.

Will there be an opportunity to expand your role at all as time goes on?

ivytwine

Commuting costs money too, so that 200 drop will be prob be made up in not having to spend as much on petrol/transport fares.

zl1whqvjs75cdy

ivytwine wrote: »

Commuting costs money too, so that 200 drop will be prob be made up in not having to spend as much on petrol/transport fares.

This. You'll be saving at least 40 quid a week in fuel or public transport costs I'd imagine.

Mr. Incognito

This really is a no brainer.

If you have the financial cushion and an opportunity to spend more time with your kids take it.

Ursus Horribilis

With your financial position, going for a job that pays less and is nearer to home is worth considering. What would make me think twice is the sort of job that you are describing. Correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't it be a very repetitive job? I worked in jobs like that when I was a student and the only thing that kept me sane was the knowledge that it was a temporary thing.

dixiefly

I would agree with others, a commute is difficult and a stressful job is also difficult. Each difficult enough on their own but combining the two means that Mondays to Fridays are not your own.

Considering the lack of loans and the excellent savings you have it really is a no brainer.

As an aside saving €300 and you are still relatively young and in a PAYE type job then I say fair play to you.

Only advice I would give you is to try and set aside some money for when your girls go to college, I am unsure if a formal policy would be best or just some wise investment of about €100k of your savings but, believe me, 3rd level costs are a money pit.

I'd give it more thought than some of the other posters. 50 mins commute is not that big a commute really, if it was say 1 hour 30 mins each way or something then that would give dropping the commute more of a say in the decision.

At 43 even with that level of savings I'd be slow to take a big drop in wages and job position. There are lot of expensive years ahead with secondary school, college, accommodation for college, learning to drive etc etc and I'm sure you wouldn't like to eat into that savings too fast. Also physiologically a big pay could would be very difficult for me personally, we spend so long striving for increases.

As it stands on good money and with no mortgage you are in a strong position to save good amounts of money or pay more into a pension or AVC. The fact the job is permanent is also a big thing, the last thing you want is the new job to end and suddenly you are back looking for something and may end up commuting further for a worse paying job.

In 10 years time your girls will still be young and you could be in much stronger again financial position, early retirement may even be on the cards if you maintain a high pension contribution.

To summarise it would be far from the no brainer for me than some posters think.

PDCAT

Thanks guys for all your posts.... i really appreciate your feedback.

Regarding the new job offer - its an operator role which is seasonal work (8/9 months per year). I will sign on the other 3/4 months. My wife works 2/3 days per week so their will be some money coming in. Also i will be able to save on childcare (150 euro per week) during those four months as i will be at home.
For the 8/9 months i will be working the weekly take home wage will be about 600 euro maybe slightly less, plus coupled with my wifes wages, should see me through. I'm hoping not to have to dip into my savings too much at all if i'm honest (maybe slightly in the winter).

After three years in the new job, i can apply for full time permanent work. With my qualifications & experience, i think i would be in a good position to get a full time permanent role in the future. A lot of the workers there would be there for a long time and would not have the qualifications or backround that i would have in manufacturing.

Also, it is an ageing workforce with lots of people coming close to retirement meaning that their will be promotional opportunities in the next few years. The managers spoke about this during the interviews i done.

With regard to the boring nature of the work ' this may well be true'. however in contrast to that it won't be half as stressful as my current role. Also i have alot of interests (Have ran 7 marathons, planning to some ultra events in the future (ironman, etc) and the extra time off will enable me to dedicate time to this training. My goals, acheivements and self esteem are boosted more by achieving these goals that i've ever got from a work role.

Also, the time with my kids is paramount. It's the most important job i'll ever have. I want to be able to bring them on day trips (zoo, parks, matches etc...). At the moment as a family we only have Sunday's off and quite a lot of those its raining and limits our activities.

Thanks again for your feedback.

Lavinia

PDCAT wrote: »

Thanks guys for all your posts.... i really appreciate your feedback.
...
Thanks again for your feedback.

Well I almost "envy" you how well you managed to arrange your life, I really see no issue for you to take a new job and am wondering why are you asking about it at all :pac:

When is the deadline that you will have to decide?

To be honest, for me that new role (and what comes with it life-quality-wise) sounds like heaven.

amdublin

I don't know.

It sounds like the old job is no longer for you and you want a change.

But is the new job for you either? What if you are in this job for three months and begin to hate it???

I'd be thinking you need to go from the first job alright but I'd be making sure the second job is the right one for you....

On a separate note how the heck did you save 300k?!! any advice (seriously) for the rest of us?

PDCAT

Lavinia wrote: »

Well I almost "envy" you how well you managed to arrange your life, I really see no issue for you to take a new job and am wondering why are you asking about it at all :pac:

When is the deadline that you will have to decide?

To be honest, for me that new role (and what comes with it life-quality-wise) sounds like heaven.

Thanks Lavinia.

Yeah i suppose from the outside it probably seems like a slam dunk decision.
For me - i've always moved forwards with regards to career/money etc..
I've never contemplated taking a step backwards.

I've also being very lucky. Fell into good jobs at the right time. Good redundancy from a previous job. Father in law gave site to us to build our house as well as some money. Set up wife in small business for 10 years which was pretty successful for most of that time.

Growing up, our family didnt have alot of money, leading to some issues that occurred at home. For example when i was 18 my mother attempted suicide as she couldnt afford to buy food for Xmas day and i spent xmas day home alone with no food while my family went to my aunts for dinner.

So i suppose i've always being afraid to go back to those days and have always being very good with managing my financial affairs.

With regard to the new job, i'm recieved the letter of offer but i am waiting to get written confirmation of the financial package before handing my notice into my current employer. Then i'll have to give four weeks notice.

If the package is what i'm thinking, then i'll probably take it.

Thanks again.

PDCAT

amdublin wrote: »

I don't know.

It sounds like the old job is no longer for you and you want a change.

But is the new job for you either? What if you are in this job for three months and begin to hate it???

I'd be thinking you need to go from the first job alright but I'd be making sure the second job is the right one for you....

On a separate note how the heck did you save 300k?!! any advice (seriously) for the rest of us?

Again lots of luck, hard work i suppose and making pretty sensible decisions.
House site for free, some money from Father in law towards house, 100k redundancy from previous jobs. Put all bonus'es and 10% salary from last two companies into company share schemes which meant no tax required to be paid on those earnings.
Worked pretty hard for a few years and progressed through previous company with good wage increases.

Regarding the new job - i'm thinking it may well be boring and repetitive. But my plan is within 5/6 years, to have a permanent role and get a promotion to the next level. Their are good salaries in the level above this role.
i suppose i'm taking the job on the basis that their is room for progression and full time position in the future.
So at least i have something to work towards.

sozbox

Will you be allowed sign on with that much in savings? I've no idea of the rules but it may be an issue

PDCAT

sozbox wrote: »

Will you be allowed sign on with that much in savings? I've no idea of the rules but it may be an issue

Yeah, i asked a couple of the workers there that i know and also my brother who works for the company.
I think it's related to the fact that your a seasonal worker, and the stamps/prsi payments that you have made over the past few years. I'm not sure the above is correct, but it's something like that....
But i don't believe it is related to what savings you have.

power pants

you wont get much social welfare as it is means tested

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/irish_social_welfare_system/means_test_for_social_welfare_payments/means_test_for_jobseekers_allowance.html

Im incorrect, didnt realise it was job benefit

irishgirl19

power pants wrote:

you wont get much social welfare as it is means tested

correct me if im wrong, but the OP would be going for jobseekers benefit not allowance and I thought this wasn't means tested as based on stamps he has earned?

PDCAT

irishgirl19 wrote: »

correct me if im wrong, but the OP would be going for jobseekers benefit not allowance and I thought this wasn't means tested as based on stamps he has earned?

Thanks Irishgirl19, that was my understanding too.
From speaking to a number of workers there, some who own land and are part time farmers in the off season, they are recieving payment due to stamps they have earned.

seamus

Nobody ever lay on their deathbed and wished they'd spent more time earning money and less time with their family.

Commuting schmuting. If you don't need loads more money, why kill yourself earning it? As someone who's 33 with a brand new mortgage and not a bean in savings, I'm incredibly envious of your position.

One aspect you may or may not have considered is that the extra time off gives you the opportunity to work on work-like hobbies, which may turn into a small source of income in future. Doing enjoyable sh*t in your garage 6 hours a week and bringing in an extra €400. With that in mind you might also appreciate the boring repetitive "day job" as a little bit of downtime - time to have a think about the cool things you're going to do when you get home.

PDCAT

seamus wrote: »

Nobody ever lay on their deathbed and wished they'd spent more time earning money and less time with their family.

Commuting schmuting. If you don't need loads more money, why kill yourself earning it? As someone who's 33 with a brand new mortgage and not a bean in savings, I'm incredibly envious of your position.

One aspect you may or may not have considered is that the extra time off gives you the opportunity to work on work-like hobbies, which may turn into a small source of income in future. Doing enjoyable sh*t in your garage 6 hours a week and bringing in an extra €400. With that in mind you might also appreciate the boring repetitive "day job" as a little bit of downtime - time to have a think about the cool things you're going to do when you get home.

My thoughts exactly. Just wasn't sure if i was letting the heart overrule the head. Hobbies and interest involve fitness (cycling, running, swimming). Hope now to have time to dedicate to achieving some goals related to these.
Your first line is very true. i don't want to be looking back in 20/30 years time having regrets....

LegacyUser

If I was in your position I would take this new job even if you are earning less money. The reality is you have no mortage or loans and you also have a large amount of savings.

The reality is your children will be small for such a short period of time. As children get older and go to school they want to get involved in sport, dancing ect. It is nice for a parent to be able to bring them to things. Also the commute to you present job is costing you money.
Your present job is stressful and you have to consider the cost of childcare when you and your wife are working.
From what you have told us within a few years you could move up in this new company and at that stage your children will be older.

I have a relative who had a great job for a number of years. A few years ago they changed to a job like yours working 5 days a week but only for 8 months a year. They are married with a growing family and find they have an income they can live on comfortably along with a lifestyle that suits there family.

I have seen other couples who both work full time and in some cases both work long hours. At a certain stage they realise that with a family this is not the best from a family or lifestyle point of view. Many couples have to put up with this due financial commitments but if you asked them would one of them like to give up work or change jobs to a less stressful one they would say yes.

In your situation I would change jobs and have a life as well as a job.