Wanting to leave work

rvjgd

Hi

I hope that I can get some advice from you people if you could please.

I have worked for the major retailer that I work for 18 years working my way up to store manager. I have been in that role for 8 years now. I earn above the national average wage. I used to like it but now hate my job and want out. The company is struggling and promotion prospects are non-existent (redundancies and role merging at levels above me). I am married with 3 young children (not disabled) and my wife does not work. We home-school my eldest child and the other 2 are pre-school age. I live outside London, but somewhere where I still have to claim some housing benefit.

My wife is keen to start working and would like to sell products via network marketing and we are confident that the earning potential is very large. But she would need the time to dedicate to it which we struggle to find right now. We do not use childcare.

According to entitledto if my wife earnt £8000 a year and I didn't work we would have the same net income as I have now. (Tax credits/housing benefit etc). Is this right? It seems a bit odd.

I want to stress the aim is to earn a lot more in the long term than we are now, but to rely more on tax credits etc in the short term. Are the calculations correct? Am I missing something? Please advise?

Thank you in advance.

rvjgd

I private rent by the way

tomtontom

rvjgd wrote: »

My wife is keen to start working and would like to sell products via network marketing and we are confident that the earning potential is very large.

Then you need to do more research. Network marketing is the new pyramid selling, which very few people do well from.

As for giving up work, that would be very foolish before at least one of just has a guaranteed income from other employment.

philfuller

You may well fall foul of DWP and not gat JSA for 6 months if you just resign. if your employer is looking to reduce numbers, they should ask for volunteers. reundancies often work there way down an organisation. I suspect you are mid to late 40s and you would get a reasonable redundancy payment. your firm may well have a specific policy but check this link for an idea of the statutory amount you would get.
https://www.gov.uk/calculate-your-redundancy-pay

you would also get at least 12 weeks notice of termination (more if your contract allows for it)

I would strongly urge you not to jump the grass is rarely greener on the other side.

Poppie68

Benefits should be for people who fall on hard times and/or have no other option. You have no other option than to work and earn an income from gainful employment as you have a family to provide for, you are lucky you have a job that is paying you above the minimum wage and an obligation to stay in employment to provide for the family you have created and not expect tax payers money to fund a midlife crisis.
Sorry to be harsh but people are crying out for jobs and you just want to walk away from one and expect someone else to put food on your table and a roof over your head.

dktreesea

A couple of things to keep in mind. If you have savings of more than £16k, including in an isa, you would need to get this below £16k before you could claim means tested benefits like WTC and HB.

Also, for the self employed, the minimum income floor is coming. That will mean, regardless of what you earn from your new venture, for benefit calculation purposes, you will be deemed to have earned at least the NMW for one of you (currently expected to be calculated at 35 hours * the NMW) + however many hours the other parent would be expected to work, given the age of the children. After 5 years old, the 2nd parent , for the purposes of this calculation, would likely have some hours attributed to them.

My suggestion would be for your wife to try out the business, maybe you taking on the children for a couple of nights a week, or one day over the weekend, if that involves her being out of the house to demonstrate the products, etc, and see how she goes.

Some people do extremely well out of network marketing. I wouldn't dismiss it out of hand. In my experience though, selling products that may be good quality but which people can do without isn't easy on the tail end of a recession.

rvjgd

Thank you for the frank advice.

A couple of further clarification points:

I'm 34 and we would not be after Jsa as my wife would be earning.

My job is safe but progression is impossible. So redundancy is not an option.

Ideally I'd return to work part time in a new field once my wife is established and successful round her hours.

I am actually trialling right now giving her as much time to try it (currently on a week off my job paid leave where she is working at it full time)..

Again aiming to be earning a lot more (paying more tax and receiving much less benefits asap).

We realise network marketing is a risk.

Even with my income it seems money is very tight hence why we need to change something.

Thank you again

rvjgd

Have no savings...

northerntwo1

You only have one question. Is this right ?


No one can answer as we don't know what your figures are or what you put in. It's unusual indeed to have the same income full time as a store manager compared to a new business. I'd suggest you went wrong somewhere but I don't know your figures.

makeyourdaddyproud

It seems that your are engineering an environment where you don't want to work. I would strongly advise not jacking in your job as network marketing opportunities seldom pay out at the bottom level and usually exist only to harvest an entry fee to the programme.

Using the Herbalife system as an example (I don't know what scheme your OH is party to), there is an initial "Business Pack" fee, but unfortunately all the verbal prattle and marketing endeavour designed to lure people into it only results in empty pockets - no earnings.

Yes, people made money out of network schemes, but they are usually the early adopters and proof-of-concept afficionados.

prowla

You spend probably half of your waking hours at work (including getting to/from and captive breaks).

The real question is: is it worth it?