Would you work away from home for double your salary?
BettyBoof
Posts: 258 Forumite
My DH has the opportunity of a job with interesting work, great benefits and double his current salary - the downside is that he'd be working away from home four to five days a week. There would be some occasions where he wasn't away and would be working from home instead, but it looks like the four to five days away is the norm (hence the salary). He wouldn't be working in one place so we don't have the option of relocating.
Our first reaction was "no way" as we have young kids but having talked some more we are wondering if we see it as a short-term thing (one to two years max) in order to get us to a point of financial stability if it's something we could cope with. We are currently doing okay financially - but just okay - and still have some debts and almost no savings. Our pensions are a bit iffy too so although that's a while off yet, it is something we'd like to save for now.
No decision has been made (and we are still leaning towards the no side) but I'd love to hear some opinions/experiences please to help us consider all the options.
Our first reaction was "no way" as we have young kids but having talked some more we are wondering if we see it as a short-term thing (one to two years max) in order to get us to a point of financial stability if it's something we could cope with. We are currently doing okay financially - but just okay - and still have some debts and almost no savings. Our pensions are a bit iffy too so although that's a while off yet, it is something we'd like to save for now.
No decision has been made (and we are still leaning towards the no side) but I'd love to hear some opinions/experiences please to help us consider all the options.
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Comments
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Would he be able to find another job fairly easily if being away so much didn't work out for you? If so, I think I'd probably be inclined to give it a go, even if he viewed it as a short term thing (1 year or so), to help sort your finances.
Although he would be doubling his basic salary, does he have to take his accommodation, meals and any other costs out of that new figure. If so, it might not look so great once the sums are done.0 -
If it's such a wonderful opportunity, wouldn't you think of relocating the whole family?0
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His travel, accommodation and reasonable expenses would be covered by the company so we wouldn't be out of pocket for that.
I think he would be able to find a short-term contract role relatively easily if it didn't work out, a permanent role would be harder. Most likely what would happen is that he'd contract for a bit and then go back to a permanent role on a salary similar to his current one. So we'd have to make sure we saved hard during the new job and didn't increase our expenditure too much so that dropping back would be easy - would hate for him to feel he was in 'golden handcuffs' and couldn't leave if he didn't like it.0 -
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My friend was offered a 9 month contract in Afghanistan, they have 2 small kids. He took and and now their mortgage is paid off, leaving them in a great place. Kids are resilient provided they have a stable home, my friend was only able to do it as his wife didn't work and had grandparents etc around.0
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I'd snap their hand off. My ex did this, except he would be away for 6 months at a time (without coming home). Took a bit of getting used to, but it worked for us.
You need to both be committed to making it work if you decide to do it. It is hard, but it is really worth it.0 -
My husband done it for 9 years
We don't have young children though
He worked 3 weeks away, 1 week home
The money was fantastic but it nearly broke us as a couple
If it's a short term thing, then go for it. Just don't start living to the money so it becomes hard to give it up DH was only supposed to have done it for a year. Ok so the recession came so he had to keep at it. But seriously we are happier now he's home all the time, even if we are broke0 -
Depends on the current salary and whether doubling it results in a significant salary. If it's £10K doubling to £20K probably not, but £30K doubling to £60K definitely worth considering (after taking into account higher rate tax and any impact on benefits such as tax credits).0
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That's okay - it was quite a long post!I'm sorry, I missed that.:o
We don't have grandparents very close so it would fall to me to manage the home and kids and life's little dramas. I only work part-time so that helps. I do worry about this as I'd struggle if I got ill for example.
We'd definitely only want to do it short-term and totally agree re not living off the new salary.0
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