Let’s say you make $50,000/year and you’re just getting by. No savings, no retirement apart from pension at work. No luxuries apart from ice cream when it goes on sale, maybe a 12-pack of beer once a month, and a night out once a year. Vacation time is spent at home or on a low-budget adventure in the woods, but never anything plush. You have small children. You’re broke, and realistic prospects for promotion or significant income increases are minimal and come with unattractive duties. For a dull life and united family troubled by debt, you have a very secure job for $50k/ year.
Would you trade that for:
$120,000/year salary. Same benefits package. 12-hour days, 6-day weeks, travel so extensive that you’re at home 3 days a month apart from 3 weeks of vacation.
Aside from the fact that any family life you ever had would disintegrate and disappear if you were only home 3 days a month. On top of that, it’s like the old song says. “Work your fingers to the bone, what do you get? Boney fingers.” Money is not everything.
Up the salary, lose the family, and just leave it with the other things and I might think about it. you left out one important detail…do I like the job?
Nope. You would struggle with either situation, but at least in case 1 you would have your family/friends. It’s sad to see some people measure sucess by their salary and not their quality of life. I left a job that paid 30% more than what I now make. But in return I have so much more free time and actually see my friends/family now.
I was a young child who grew up with a parent who had a similar schedule. We saw him maybe twice a year. When he was there, he was exhausted, so I guess we really didn’t see him then, either.
Damaging. Very damaging. Kids need you to be there. They get used to a tight financial situation. Money was always, always tight. I don’t recall a single one of us feeling damaged by that.
MrSin actually did the opposite. It worked out well for us. Tight belts for several years…great kids…kids successful…now making $$ hand over fist…retirement in 2 years. Only problem, kind of scarey in the beginning.
I could see doing it for a year–IF my marriage was strong and my health was good. Travelling etc is very hard to do when you do it that much, so you would need major stamina.
After a year, I would get another job–one that let me be with my family.
It’s more than doubling your income–even with the additional expenses, I don’t see this as financially bad–the weak link here is marriage and kids.
It would be very hard. Any way to get the kids and spouse to come visit you or go on a trip or two with you? that might help things.
Lady Chance and I were making a ton of money, restoring an old house in the Blue Ridge, living the life of Riley. Woot.
But the kids came along and we began to see that, even with a ton of money, spending 2-3 hours commuting and working 10-12 hours per day beyond that (with more hours at home) seemed less than ideal.
So we ended up moving to a small town in SE Ohio, I make WAY less (she telecommutes) and we have no commute (we both work at home) and have loads of time with the kids and together.
It’s been a worthy trade off. Though I’d kill for a Barnes & Noble nearby.
After we were married for 2 years my husband took a job that required him to travel at least 3 weeks out of every month. He did this for 15 years. It ruined our marriage and made him a stranger to his children.
It wasn’t worth it.
I would have rather lived in a rented mobile home than have things like they are now. We didn’t know this would happen and we didn’t know it happened until the travel stopped.
It’s almost impossible to get any feeling of being close to him back, he’s a stranger to me and a stranger I’m not especially attracted to anymore. The time he could have had with the children; gone.
A nice cozy family is all well and good until somebody gets hurt and the family goes bankrupt because there was no savings to keep them afloat during the recovery period.
I say do it for a year and bank the extra money. If the family is really united then you can find a way to stay a part of the daily routine to make reintergration easier once you go back to normal.
Small kids will get over and quickly forget about a relatively short-term separation - and in the big scheme of things what’s a year? The spouse is a little harder, but if you’re both on the same page about this then you should come through ok.
The key is to not to get greedy. Do your year, bank the extra $70k and go home.
I’m with the do-it-for-a-year folks. A strong marriage and family life can survive one year-- much longer, though, and you’re likely to be on the road to a situation like SP2263’s. that’s a lot of extra money, and after the year’s up and you’re looking for a new job, you’ve got a 120k/year job on your resume… potential employers might start looking at you a little differently.
I agree with the one year or even two idea, but only if you’re sure you can quit and get another good job when you’re done. You could be stuck in the traveling job for longet than you think.
I think you (if this is more than a hypothetical situation) need to pare back on your expenses and adjust your lifestyle, or look for a better paying job (not the $120k one) The family doesn’t care if there’s a big screen TV in every room and new cars every year and designer clothes. The wife cares if you’re home to run errands with her on the weekends, and the kids care if you show up to the Little League games. That’s what important.
Except for the small children at home, you pretty much just described my life. I waited to become a 100%-travel consultant until after our daughter went away to college.
It’s only my personal belief, but I think that young children need both parents at home if at all possible.
Other thing is, as has been already mentioned, are you ready/capable of making such a radical lifestyle change? It sure ain’t easy. In this kind of a job, you are probably not going to be called in unless there’s serious need, and you are gonna wind up working 50+ hours a week, plus 10 or so hours traveling to and from (with all the crap associated with frequent air travel), plus another hour or so every night doing status reports, expense reports, other duties, etc. Add it all up and your typical work week is something like 65-75 hours.
But on the other hand, it is rewarding and challenging. But it has to be right for you; looking at the dollars is probably the last thing that should be on your list.
My thought also, since $50,000 where I live is pretty nice money. The best I have ever done here is just over $40,000, and that was working all the overtime offered and they offered a lot. OTOH, there are plenty of place in the country where COL is high enough that $50,000 is barely enough.
As for the OP, I would take it, because I love to travel and more importantly, I don’t have a family or much of a social life. If the reverse were true, no way.
Only problem, kind of scarey in the beginning.
If the reverse were true, no way.