Submitted by Better_Economist8205 t3_zq01of in personalfinance
TLDR; Deciding whether or not to leave my "comfy" $90K job for a $145K job. New job comes with much more responsibility (and therefore I assume time spent working) and less PTO. Wife and I have our first baby due in a few months. HH income is currently $160K in L-M COL midwest city. We are by no means swimming in money currently, but pay all bills with $2,000 leftover at end of month. Would you take the new job or prioritize having more time off?
Hey PF. I'm hoping to capture some input of others here of what they would do if faced with my current situation. I'll start by saying I recognize I am very fortunate that this is a problem I am facing. My wife and I have our first baby due in a few months and I am deciding whether or not to leave the comfy job I know and love, which allows me a great W/L balance and time off, for a huge raise and much more responsibility.
Here is a quick comparison of Job 1 (current) and Job 2 (new offer)
- Compensation: J1 is $90K + 10% target bonus; J2 is $145K + 15% target bonus
- PTO: J1 is a total of 7 weeks between vacation and sick, J2 is 3.5 weeks total.
- Pat Leave: J1 is 6 weeks paid, J2 is 4 weeks paid but I would not be able to start until ~ month after baby is born due to policy on length of service before eligible.
- Both jobs are WFH but J2 requires me to travel for a few days 3-4 times per year
- J1 is definitely more in line with my long term career aspirations, but J2 offers more rapid growth opportunities. I expect it would take me ~5+ years at my current job to hit level of comp J2 is offering
- From my conversations I expect that J2 would require heavy hours, especially early on. I expect after hours calls, a few weekend hours, and generally less free time comes along with the increase in responsibility of J2.
My wife works ($70K), putting us at a current HHI of $160K. Outside of our mortgage ($250K) total debt is $10K in student loans. We live in a L-M COL Midwest city. I won't dive into the details of our household budget, but my wife and I have discussed that extensively and what we landed on was that taking into account things like daycare, buying a used SUV, etc... this new job would definitely add a few thousand in cash "leftover" at the end of the month, but we don't feel it is make or break to being able to afford our current life + the baby. I expect that the large majority (if not all) of the difference in take home pay would go straight to our brokerage account, cash savings, or a 529.
My heart is telling me that the time off & flexibility my current role allows is invaluable when the baby arrives (especially for my first baby). But with such a large increase being offered, my head just cannot come to terms to saying no.
What would you do? TIA!