Hi all!
Apologize for the backstory here, but I think it may help in getting advice back. This one is part financial, part job advice. Thanks in advance!
I was recruited by a nonprofit to join their team last year. The job was sold to me by the Exec. Director (ED) has having complete control over the marketing/brand/communications. This part especially really appealed to me since in MegaCorp, I've found marketing is rarely in charge of making marketing decisions.
Fast forward and I'm really frustrated with the work situation. My opinions aren't valued. I'm seen as being negative and a naysayer when I ask follow up questions or for more details on strategy or question why we do things the way we do ("We've always done it that way!"). The ED doesn't see the results she expected, and now I've been given a revised 'goals' list to complete by the end of July. I feel like I'm unofficially on probation and being reprimanded for trying to do what they hired me for - give my expertise in my field. Even so, I feel some sort of weird obligation to try to stay and fix this office, which I know is an exercise in futility. It's also a 45 minute commute ($1,500 a year in gas, est.).
SO, here's where you all come in. I have the opportunity to take a pay cut (est. 15-20% cut) and work for a former boss. The clients are a bit boring, but I would be working from home and the second full time employee for a small (but financially stable and growing) PR firm, so I'd get to be involved in the strategy creation with clients. I'm still waiting to see the health insurance options to make sure they are comparable.
The bad part: Retirement. My current job has a SIMPLE IRA I can't start participating in until later this year (it was implied this began immediately upon hire when they recruited me), but the new place is small and while my former boss is working on it, they don't have a SIMPLE IRA in place yet. I'm already maxing my ROTH IRA, so I'd be losing a nice tax shelter, at least for some period of time.
They pay cut wouldn't really be a huge problem other than to decrease my current 35ish% savings rate. My fiance (getting married in the fall) has a very stable well paying government job, so the loss wouldn't result in us worrying about bills.
For those of you who moved from office jobs to work from home, did you like it? What did you miss? Would you do it again?
Any advice is appreciated. Thanks Mustachians!