Before I get into it, this is a throw away account. I'm also completely aware that this is a first world problem, but I'm looking to balance personal financial goals with what's best for my career.
Almost a year ago, I left a job making $90k because I was doing work well above my pay/title and my boss became difficult to work with after I expressed my concerns. I often had people with higher titles working under me on projects, and I was working with several partners on business development.
I scored a job at another firm making $135k, working on a 5-year contract with a prestigious client with the possibility of leveraging that relationship to go after other similar clients and build my own team. It's been almost a year and I already see that I will never be able to grow a team at this firm. My upper management has mishandled this client account so terribly that we are under constant threat of "getting fired." It can't really happen that way because of the nature of the contract, but they are really unhappy and they let us know every chance they get. I have been thrown in front of the client to get yelled at for things that were done by a former employee of my company who was fired, and for things that are generally out of my control and my managers refuse to deal with.
The problem is, at this job I hit the pay ceiling for my job at my level. I know I can't get paid anything close to this anywhere else. My current job is filled with constant frustration, both internally and with the client. I have to keep reminding myself that the money is really good.
I now have a job offer on the table of $105k at a much smaller company than I'm used to. They do really good work, they have great clients, and they are growing fast. This would be a partner-track position where I could eventually gain equity in the company. This job would also take 20-30 minutes off my current 90 minute commute each way. Although at my current job, I can occasionally work from home.
On the personal side, my spouse and I would like to retire before 60 if possible. We are currently in our mid-30s. He makes about $140k which will likely go up after a promotion this year. We have combined about $180k in 401k, $50k in stocks, $120k in cash, our house is worth about $300k, and our only debt is our mortgage of $67k which will be paid off by the end of next year. We live very well below our means with the occasional splurge within reason. My spouse pays child support for a 13 y.o. child and we don't want any kids together. We are planning on buying up real estate to rent out as a plan for long term residual income. Obviously the more money we make, the faster we can do this.
So is it worth taking a $30k pay cut? Realistically, once this 5-year contract is up at my current job, I'd be forced to look for a new job anyway because there's no way I can actually build a team there given the way things are going.
I am potentially giving up $30k each year for 4 more years assuming no raises. Is this type of pay cut worth it? My spouse grew up really poor and I grew up modestly, so I feel this is coloring my opinion a bit. I feel like I am leaving shitloads of money on the table, like an entire person's salary worth of money annually. But then again, $105k is still $15k more than I was just making about a year ago.
Submitted June 16, 2018 at 07:41AM by ThrowEmInDaBathroom https://ift.tt/2teRXUN
