The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: Bytowner on May 21, 2015, 07:09:59 AM
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Hey everyone,
I work for megacorp. It wasn't always megacorp. It used to be a well regarded private company. It was purchased by a mediumsizedcorp back in 2007, but they pretty much left us alone to do our thing. Then it was purchased by megacorp a little over a year ago. They are not big believers in letting their acquisitions go the 'business as usual' route.
The end result is I went from being a decent sized fish in a small pond to a very tiny fish in an ocean, but with increased expectations so as to satisfy the faceless shareholders. What once was fun is now very stressful. I'm working long hours, travelling more, and dealing with demanding clients, which prevents me from doing the sort of BD work the overlords want.
On the plus side, there is a certain level of satisfaction in my work when done well, and I work with a fantastic group of people. I have some pull in the office and can see some opportunities to do some interesting things in the future.
I'll be making $70,000 a year pre-tax in June. Benefits are decent, including a pension match on 6% of earnings saved.
Within the next couple weeks I expect I will be getting an offer from the Government of Canada, with all the usual upsides and downsides of government work. There will be a pay cut of almost $20,000 at first, but will make up the difference in about 3 years (and potentially come out ahead in 10 years).
My wife currently makes ~$70,000 a year pre-tax. We have $85,000 in our various accounts and a $280,000 mortgage (yeah, I know). Our savings rate is about 50%. We're both 30 years old, and my first goal is to have enough cash to cancel out the mortgage in the next 6 years, 5 years optimistically. Once I know I can pay off the house, I will set the ER date.
So what would you do? Stick it out at megacorp with the (potentially imaginary) future opportunities and current relatively high earnings, or take the "safe" route of the public service and say adios to shareholders and clients forever?
Is this a case of "the grass is always greener"?
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Things may be different in Canada, but my perception of government vs private sector, is that government jobs offer: absolute job security, platinum benefits plan, a super fantastic guaranteed retirement/pension, and a better work/life balance. Private sector offers: better potential upside/higher wage growth, more opportunity for advancement.
If you're planning FIRE, you may not have enough time in the government role to benefit from the pension, which is a huge part of the appeal. A third option you possibly haven't explored is to interview with other companies with cultures more suited to your style. It's not just a choice between Megacorp or government, you have some other options with potentially higher upside to them.
If this role fell in your lap and you haven't actively interviewed, consider doing that to see what else might be out there.