To stay or go?

naggelmacker

Hi all
Ii have less than 2 weeks to decide whether or not to take VR from a very secure job.
The problem with my job is that it's been relocated 200 miles away and for various reasons, I can't move.
At the moment I am commuting and staying in cheap accommodation which is incredibly expensive.
I'm so confused about whether to risk leaving a secure job, with a regular income and pension for a tax free lump sum (6 months pay) but an uncertain future?

Arrghhhhhh!

moneyistooshorttomention

What are the pros and cons of the two respective locations?

- What do you like/dislike about Here?
- What do you like/dislike about There?

- Define what you mean by your job being "very secure"? How secure is that? Even Civil Service jobs aren't that secure these days and the CS knows every trick in the book about How to Make Life Very Unpleasant Indeed if they want someone to "decide of their own free will to resign" (Machiavelli eat your heart out they could probably teach you a thing or two....).

- What are those reasons you can't move? Family/friends/a Life generally Here on the one hand or There is a much dearer location and you couldn't trade in your present house for an equivalent one and there's no way to "trade down" as you're already only on the bottom rung of the housing ladder?

Six months money is peanuts (unless you're on a VERY good salary indeed) and will soon vanish and then there's that blimmin' DWP benefit restriction about only being allowed to have a total of £6,000 in savings (and they include every bit of money you have as being savings...even if its money in the bank account to live on for the rest of the month and not savings at all).

I would say THE main question is what you feel about There? Do you like that location and think it would suit you personally as a type of location to live in?

I've felt I had no option but to move across country because of all the unwelcome changes to Back Home coupled with not being able to afford a Forever Home back there and I was too old to wait any longer for my Forever Home and would have been throwing bricks through the windows of my Starter House if I had had to put up with it any longer I felt. Having decided it didn't look like a viable option to stay Back Home, I moved BUT BUT the key difference with me was I was the one choosing my Next Location (and therefore was focusing on what sort of location would suit my temperament/tastes) and I was too old to be trying to continue living in a house that didn't "fit me" any longer. That house never did "fit" me and was only tolerated for the first few years because of being my Starter House and I expected to "move on", but when that didn't happen I came to hate that house/immediate area with a passion. I had just retired and the thought of having to spend any of my retirement in that house as well was proving way too much to contemplate..

So, your employer might like this new location...but do YOU?

The one thing that is absolutely certain is you cant keep throwing away your time and money being "neither fish nor fowl" and commuting.

naggelmacker

Thanks Money

To clarify..i own property HERE and my life is here, i tried living there but was lonely and miserable. i managed to get a placement back here but cos of red tape and bureaucracy my job moved back there, hence my commute.

I do NOT earn tonnes, it's an OK salary, im certainly not the worst off but it still doesnt leave much leftover at the end of the month, and with commuting it leaves nothing leftover.

BUT if i stayed, i keep my secure job (it is pretty secure, i've never heard of anyone losing their job apart from thru VR), pension (no longer final salary but ok) and hope i can get another placement internally or give it all up for some cash and the hope i find other work??

Others who have taken the cash and gone all say they dont regret it, problem is, a lot of them have a partner's income to also rely on, i am single, and enjoy my job and the company and its prospects, just cant stand the geography. But i will prob never have the opportunity to get so much cash...

I'm going round in circles in my own head!

moneyistooshorttomention

But YOU won't be the one that gets that cash. Leastways...not unless you found A.N. Other Job pretty quickly. If you didn't, then the DWP would be the ones that got that cash (well everything over and above that £6,000 INCLUDING whatever savings you have already), as they deducted from your benefit accordingly whilst you waited/looked for A.N.Other Job.

£6,000 (including whatever savings you have already) really isn't very much and that's what you need to bear in mind.

I could write one (or at most two) cheques for work on current house and there it would be ...GONE.

If YOU personally are going to be able to keep that cash (even if you don't find that replacement job quickly) that might be a factor to take into account. Are you pretty darn certain you'd get another job fast enough that YOU would be the one that would keep that payoff?

If you DO manage to get another job fast enough that you would be keeping your payoff yourself....then what would you do with it? What way do you have in mind to spend it or save it?

Hope you make the right decision. Time for a few LONG walks I guess...well I personally find they help me when trying to think things through. So...hiking boots on and notebook and biros in bag and head off for those walks and be ready to jot thoughts down in that notebook as you go as to which is the best way to proceed for you now.

How long did you try living There for? What sort of area There were you living in? (Its surprising just how much difference the exact area can make...as someone said to me about my recent move "It's half the battle to be living in the right area" and I do feel that my neighbours here are pretty sympatique...if, in the main, old enough to be my parents..yikes....but we seem to have similar values".

Would there be another area There where you feel the neighbours etc might have similar values to yourself or is the whole location A Dead Loss as far as you are concerned? Has There got enough groups/activities/etc of a type you would like and think could be a good way to meet likeminded people? If it has...then it might take a while...but you should be able to Make A Life For Yourself after a while with a bit of patience and perseverance. If those likeminded groups/activities aren't there in the first place....then it could be too hard going to make it. I know if I were plonked down in the middle of a Big City, then I would be running for the exit screaming personally. In a tiny village, on the other hand, I'd probably die of boredom. Its the point that to you personally is the Happy Medium that is the thing. Like Goldilocks and the porridge you know what is going to be "just right" for you personally.

Personally...I'm taking a very long term view of whether Here will work out for me. I can see the downsides on the one hand...but, on the other hand, I've already seen a Major Societal Bad Change has now been announced as due to hit my Home Area (just as I anticipated it would) but won't hit Here (ditto ...as anticipated). How long term are you thinking here? How much Life To Come do you have to bear in mind (ie the lifespan expected by someone in your agegrouup)? All factors to take into account...

Now I'm in a different area myself...I can see more clearly just how big the "culture differences" are between different areas though and it does depend on you whether you will welcome this or reject it.

getmore4less

Commute is a pain I was away for a few month this year(major city) and found a place in a HMO for £8pn not great but good enough and I went out to avoid isolation found cheap free things to do and was starting to make accuantances. I decided to stay over the weekends rather than commute(OH came up a couple of times) .

I knew it as short term so could put up with a less than ideal place to stay

You could always get a lodger in your place to help with the costs.

more expensive were house shares or as a lodger £70-£120pw depending on quality.

If you really can't make a go of it or find other work in the company then do a budget and see how long the money will last,

You will get contributions JSA for 6 months.

if you cut costs it should be possible to stretch 6 months gross to around a year.
there is also likely to be a tax rebate if you go soon.

gradi

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

What are the pros and cons of the two respective locations?

- What do you like/dislike about Here?
- What do you like/dislike about There?

- Define what you mean by your job being "very secure"? How secure is that? Even Civil Service jobs aren't that secure these days and the CS knows every trick in the book about How to Make Life Very Unpleasant Indeed if they want someone to "decide of their own free will to resign" (Machiavelli eat your heart out they could probably teach you a thing or two....).

- What are those reasons you can't move? Family/friends/a Life generally Here on the one hand or There is a much dearer location and you couldn't trade in your present house for an equivalent one and there's no way to "trade down" as you're already only on the bottom rung of the housing ladder?

Six months money is peanuts (unless you're on a VERY good salary indeed) and will soon vanish and then there's that blimmin' DWP benefit restriction about only being allowed to have a total of £6,000 in savings (and they include every bit of money you have as being savings...even if its money in the bank account to live on for the rest of the month and not savings at all).

I would say THE main question is what you feel about There? Do you like that location and think it would suit you personally as a type of location to live in?

I've felt I had no option but to move across country because of all the unwelcome changes to Back Home coupled with not being able to afford a Forever Home back there and I was too old to wait any longer for my Forever Home and would have been throwing bricks through the windows of my Starter House if I had had to put up with it any longer I felt. Having decided it didn't look like a viable option to stay Back Home, I moved BUT BUT the key difference with me was I was the one choosing my Next Location (and therefore was focusing on what sort of location would suit my temperament/tastes) and I was too old to be trying to continue living in a house that didn't "fit me" any longer. That house never did "fit" me and was only tolerated for the first few years because of being my Starter House and I expected to "move on", but when that didn't happen I came to hate that house/immediate area with a passion. I had just retired and the thought of having to spend any of my retirement in that house as well was proving way too much to contemplate..

So, your employer might like this new location...but do YOU?

The one thing that is absolutely certain is you cant keep throwing away your time and money being "neither fish nor fowl" and commuting.

Well said.

mikiesbuk

how long have you given it a go 200 miles away?
See if they will extend the v.r offer period so long as you carry on working 200 miles away..
not being nosey but has your job moved from the north to the south = more expensive

or south to north = cheaper ??

if you don't like where u are staying 200 miles away, change location to somewhere you like better - if it costs a little more pay it.

always easier to find a job when in a job, and easier on interview..

also see if there's chance for promotion in the future if you move 200 miles away, sometimes you have to compromise in order to progress your career or even secure your future earnings..