Changing Jobs?

bellzisu

Well-Known Member
Apr 15, 2006
6,942
615
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Norwalk
I'd take the new job...

Chasing money will leave you burned out and bitter at some point. You will also miss out on all the important things in life. Especially if you have kids or a wife.

I've been told by several people in my industry that I could make more money if I worked for someone else. Probably won't happen. My job gives me flexibility of working at the office or home. I don't really have set hours. Money is alright. People I work with are great. I get plenty of time off when needed and have never missed anything important because of work.

I don't think I could get all this if I chased the money.
 

MeanDean

Well-Known Member
SuperFanatic
Jan 5, 2009
14,668
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Blue Grass IA-Jensen Beach FL
I would take it. It just depends on what you value. I would hate being on call and having to come it at a moment's notice with other plans being cancelled.

Plus, I could live with very little money and still be happy if I still had time to do what I wanted and live where I wanted. Money-beyond enough to live on, is over-rated.
 

Rabbuk

Well-Known Member
Mar 1, 2011
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I think the Dalai Lama said something like "we spend all our health chasing money and later all our money chasing health."
 

dtISU

Well-Known Member
Nov 17, 2010
2,603
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A suburb of Ames
It also depends on where you are in life. It's much easier to change jobs/states/work environments when you are in your 20s and 30s. If you're an old codger like me, moving can be rough.

Still, I might consider moving because I'm getting tired of telling the kids in my neighborhood to GET OFF MY LAWN!
 

RubyClone

Active Member
Mar 21, 2014
3,110
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38
As someone who recently took a decent pay cut to take another job....

Happiness, security, etc >>> money
 

cyclonesurveyor

Well-Known Member
Jan 26, 2009
1,297
264
83
Fort Collins, CO
We moved our family in 2006 from the Twin Cities to DSM to be closer to family while just starting our own family.

Took a 13% paycut, but was only working 40 hour weeks and then the economy tanked. Took 6 years to get salary back to same point but never noticed (cost of living difference helped).

never regretted the choice and ended up with a pretty good employer who lets me now work remotely from the KC area (wife's job was transferred to KC in June).
 

CloneinWDSM

Well-Known Member
Aug 9, 2013
16,778
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I'm kinda in the opposite boat. Live in dsm, single, with a 40 hour per week Job. 3-8% raise after every year, but not a huge salary when I compare it to others. Job security is there and I actually like what I do.

The thought has crossed my mind however about trying to find a different job with a better salary even it the hours/job security/enjoyment aren't as good as my current place of work.

As I'm 26, I feel like it's probably just greediness on my part and the thought of the grass isn't always greener on the other side should apply.
 

JY07

Well-Known Member
Aug 20, 2009
1,615
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DSM
Another thing to consider is how your tax situation will be impacted...after a promotion, my annual salary went from around $65k to $91k, but the difference in my take home pay was negligible because it put me into a higher income bracket and increased my tax liability. Definitely check that out.

I'm more impressed someone with this understanding of finance/tax brackets convinced someone they deserved a 26k merit increase
 

besserheimerphat

Well-Known Member
Apr 11, 2006
11,493
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Mount Vernon, WA
I'm kinda in the opposite boat. Live in dsm, single, with a 40 hour per week Job. 3-8% raise after every year, but not a huge salary when I compare it to others. Job security is there and I actually like what I do.

The thought has crossed my mind however about trying to find a different job with a better salary even it the hours/job security/enjoyment aren't as good as my current place of work.

As I'm 26, I feel like it's probably just greediness on my part and the thought of the grass isn't always greener on the other side should apply.

That kind of yearly raise is rare, and may pay off in the long haul. Many people (most???) get something inline with inflation, like 1.5 - 3%, per year. Do the math and see how long it takes you to overtake someone currently making the industry average with smaller raises.

That being said, I've always heard that if you want to make money and aren't necessarily concerned about what industry, region, etc. you work in it's best to change jobs every 5 - 10 years. But this assumes a cost-of-living type of raise, not consistent 4%+ raises.
 

nhclone

Well-Known Member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Nov 20, 2008
3,635
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Major bump here, just wanted to thank everyone for the input.

After a little consideration, I accepted the new job. Money has never been very important to me, and settling in will finally give me and my SO a chance to start a family (We're starting with a dog, suppose we should figure out if we can handle that first :jimlad: ). Plus, I won't be moving around so we are considering making he investment into buying a house. Appreciate all of the input people gave.

RE: Take home pay as mentioned. Don't know how the tax bracket will effect this, but since I'm switching fields, my take home pay rate will increase based on retirement contributions. Essentially, my previous job I was taking home similar money to what I would be making 69-70k at this new one. Yes, that means my retirement from that will not be as good, but I've been doing a lot on my own to plan for that, so I'm not worried.
 

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