Author Topic: A job that pays more, or one that is more livable?  (Read 2835 times)

Milizard

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A job that pays more, or one that is more livable?
« on: November 03, 2018, 10:45:54 PM »
Which job would you choose? Part time, perfect hours, hourly pay rate about 60% of another job.
Other job, full time, same 45 minute commute as PT job as other job, but FT hours makes it harder to live with.
(This is all hypothetical for me at this point. Just wondered what the collective feelings were about this here in MMM land.)

beer-man

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Re: A job that pays more, or one that is more livable?
« Reply #1 on: November 04, 2018, 01:33:22 AM »
I ask myself this all the time. Currently in the higher pay, more hours, more stress job that allows me to save 50k yr towards retirement....but sometimes I wonder if I want to cut back and just work the minimum.
 


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mrmoonymartian

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Re: A job that pays more, or one that is more livable?
« Reply #2 on: November 04, 2018, 02:01:40 AM »
I'm doing the one that pays more for now. Make hay while the sun shines. There are billions of people in the world that can only dream of such money, and there will be plenty of time for taking it easy after the breakdown.

Freedomin5

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Re: A job that pays more, or one that is more livable?
« Reply #3 on: November 04, 2018, 03:44:05 AM »
For me, it would depend on how close to FIRE I was. If it’s early in my career and I’m trying to pad the stash, I would take the FT job and tough it out for a few years. However, if I was only a few years from FIRE and I was feeling burnt out, I’d take the PT job and coast to FIRE.

SKL-HOU

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Re: A job that pays more, or one that is more livable?
« Reply #4 on: November 04, 2018, 07:17:17 AM »
it depends on how close you are to FIRE and what the actual $ are. 120k vs 200k is different than 30k vs 50k.

Viking Thor

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Re: A job that pays more, or one that is more livable?
« Reply #5 on: November 04, 2018, 07:47:39 AM »
Part time with long commute and low hourly pay rate doesn't sound like a good option.

For me personally, my plan is full-time job trying to earn good pay until stache is sufficient, then would consider part-time. But part-time would have to be easy/enjoyable. I would probably not tolerate a long commute for part-time unless it was really special job and commute was infrequent (much less than every weekday).

LightStache

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Re: A job that pays more, or one that is more livable?
« Reply #6 on: November 04, 2018, 08:22:05 AM »
I chose a FT, 45 hrs per week job, versus a 40% higher salary 60 hrs per week job.

In your hypothetical I would pick the FT position. Commuting 45 mins should make the FT position more palatable vs part time since you're getting more bang for the commute investment.

Zikoris

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Re: A job that pays more, or one that is more livable?
« Reply #7 on: November 04, 2018, 10:10:08 AM »
For me it would be pay-focused, but depend on the specific amounts rather than comparison between the two. If the lower paying one crossed the threshold amount where I'm still bout to save 60%+ (~40,000), I would definitely do that. I wouldn't do it for like $20,000/year.

Milizard

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Re: A job that pays more, or one that is more livable?
« Reply #8 on: November 04, 2018, 02:32:26 PM »
Thank you for all of the replies.  I kept the details vague because I wanted to focus on the general thought process.  I do agree about the commute being much more problematic for a part-time job.  It would be only 4 days/week, but it definitely cuts into the income.

Some more details, to answer some questions:

Stash about $400k. (Edit: checked a few things, right around $500k all in.) Still owe about $50k on house.  Not sure how much my DH has saved in addition to this, but < $50k. We are both 44-46 yo.
This is a LCOLA, so the pay we're talking about is about $20k for 1/2 time work, or $50-60k for full time.
I have 2 young children in elementary school.  Part of the perfect hours involves minimizing after school care for them.  With the FT job, they would have to be in before and after school care, making for a very long day for a 6 and 8 year old, plus adding much more to that expense during the school year.  Plus, if there are any issues with travel conditions, it would be problematic having both parents working so far away.
I am not a high energy person and tend to get insomnia.  The long days could make me absolutely miserable.
The full-time job is something I've done for a very long time, and I am so over the industry and job duties, though this potential new job would have much more varied responsibilities, which would be nice.  The part-time option just sounds like an easy change, and could possibly come with discounts for services that I'm very interested in.
I do like the idea of really adding to the stash and funding college, vs., just skating by like we have been these last 4 years while I've been a SAHM and taking care of my mother. 
I would also like live in a bigger and nicer house for a couple decades.  It may sound shallow, but I have had a love of architecture and homes since childhood.  We could still do that with the PT job, but would probably not be RE in that case.  At this point, my DH doesn't feel comfortable RE unless we get to $2M anyway.

I know what makes more sense on paper, but worry that it may make me want to stab my eye out with a fork or something.  Plus, the PT job is something I could see doing in a partial retirement sort of way.  Not sure if that would be fair to my DH, though, as I'm not terribly domestic in regards to holding up the homefront.
« Last Edit: November 04, 2018, 06:43:21 PM by Milizard »

Milizard

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Re: A job that pays more, or one that is more livable? Now a 3rd option
« Reply #9 on: November 06, 2018, 08:27:52 AM »
Well, perhaps this was all a moot point.  The more livable job is the only one showing interest so far.  What do I do if the other one is just being too slow on the uptake?  I'll probably tell them, you snooze, you lose (in a nicer way, of course).


ETA:  spoke to soon.  I checked my email, and a 3rd prospect has now entered the picture.  Full-time, county gov't job, hourly pay rate range slightly less than PT gig to $3 more.  15 minutes from home, job sounds okay to pain in the ass annoyance, but it is certainly different from what I did before.
« Last Edit: November 06, 2018, 09:11:15 AM by Milizard »

Rosy

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Re: A job that pays more, or one that is more livable?
« Reply #10 on: November 06, 2018, 10:27:35 AM »
It still all depends on a number of factors.
What is most important to you? More time or more money?
How close are you to FI and how will it impact RE financially and timewise?

I'd do the more money/stress one until I had more than enough FI - not just barebones. Unless there is a health issue, FI is the most important to me personally.
The rest depends on if you're fine working a bit longer toward RE, but I would keep in mind that part-time work and contracts are often temporary. I'd probably take the govt job if I was ready to scale back somewhat.

Nice choices to have - good luck!

Milizard

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Re: A job that pays more, or one that is more livable?
« Reply #11 on: November 06, 2018, 11:58:13 AM »
It still all depends on a number of factors.
What is most important to you? More time or more money?
How close are you to FI and how will it impact RE financially and timewise?

I'd do the more money/stress one until I had more than enough FI - not just barebones. Unless there is a health issue, FI is the most important to me personally.
The rest depends on if you're fine working a bit longer toward RE, but I would keep in mind that part-time work and contracts are often temporary. I'd probably take the govt job if I was ready to scale back somewhat.

Nice choices to have - good luck!

Thanks.
I think time is more important to me, or it was at my last job.  Not that close to FIRE, but not that far off either, but still a good chance that my DH will never feel comfortable retiring before medicare eligibility age.
The part-time gig is a 6 month assignment that would be permanent if they like me enough.

Milizard

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Re: A job that pays more, or one that is more livable?
« Reply #12 on: November 06, 2018, 12:00:43 PM »
Is that 45 minute commute OW or RT?  No way I would commute 1.5 hours a day for a low-paying PT gig that required me to be there every day....
All of the stated commutes are one-way.  PT is 4 days/week.  The others are 5 days, but I was a little off on times.  The one is 40 minutes, according to Google, and the other 19 minutes (much, much closer, but less highway).

Freedomin5

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Re: A job that pays more, or one that is more livable?
« Reply #13 on: November 06, 2018, 03:53:03 PM »
Well, that changes everything. I’d take the 19 minute commute over the 40 minute commute any day. If I needed to destress, I’d probably consider biking to and from work (not dealing with traffic is surprisingly calming, as is getting some built-in exercise each day.

When you work out the hours spent on the job (including commute times), I suspect the part time job may actually be quite close to the full time job. For example, if the full time job is 8 hours + 40 min commute = 8 hrs 40 min per day. The PT job is 5 hrs + 1.5 hr commute = 6.5 hrs per day. (I’m making these numbers up, you will need to calculate using your actual numbers). So the PT job may actually soon start feeling like the FT job, except you make a lot less money.

Milizard

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Re: A job that pays more, or one that is more livable?
« Reply #14 on: November 06, 2018, 05:09:26 PM »
Well, that changes everything. I’d take the 19 minute commute over the 40 minute commute any day. If I needed to destress, I’d probably consider biking to and from work (not dealing with traffic is surprisingly calming, as is getting some built-in exercise each day.

When you work out the hours spent on the job (including commute times), I suspect the part time job may actually be quite close to the full time job. For example, if the full time job is 8 hours + 40 min commute = 8 hrs 40 min per day. The PT job is 5 hrs + 1.5 hr commute = 6.5 hrs per day. (I’m making these numbers up, you will need to calculate using your actual numbers). So the PT job may actually soon start feeling like the FT job, except you make a lot less money.

Since there is daycare involved, it's very much non-linear.  There is a minimum of 1 hour before school, which begins at 8:30, as well as a 1 hour min. after school is out (after school not being a problem here.)  This makes the local government job the overall loser when comparing net hourly pay. (I have not factored in benefits to any of this yet, as I do not have enough information to compare those.)  I also used Google mid-day to check travel times.  The 40 minute drive job is likely to extend beyond 45 minutes during rush hours.  (And that is 45+ before, 1 hour lunch, 45+ after work, 10.5 hour day.) The part-time job avoids rush hours completely.  The 19 minute commute is also likely to be extended during rush hours, at least during the summer as it is in a very touristy area, and even a little in the off-season, as there is a traffic bottleneck to contend with.

SO, we have,
PT commute, 7.75 hour day x 4
FT commute, 10.5 hour day x 5
shorter commute, 9.75 hour day x 5

Having the younger children just makes the longer days a bigger challenge, for them, for dinner, and for my sanity.

beer-man

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Re: A job that pays more, or one that is more livable?
« Reply #15 on: November 06, 2018, 07:04:49 PM »
To me it would depend on the job and the value you get from it. I had a job that was 7min away but was a toxic environment that I often wanted to call in sick too.
 Now I have a 35-50 min commute that is a great culture with good people. Sometimes I forgot I’m at work, feels like I’m just hanging out with friends. Much more to consider than just money or distance.


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Dee

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Re: A job that pays more, or one that is more livable?
« Reply #16 on: November 06, 2018, 07:23:47 PM »
The P/T one would be of most interest to me. An extra day with no commute at all? Yes, please!