Easier job or higher salary?

motorguy

amandacat wrote: »

I do enjoy my current job and my current salary is far greater than my expenditure.

Its a tough one then.

I tend to always strive to move onwards and upwards and thats just in my nature - as it is with my wife.

Likewise if your otherwise comfortable, why risk jumping in to a role you might always find stressful and might not like?

Sorry... i know that doesnt help.

coffeehound

amandacat wrote: »

But what I can't decide is do I want the lack of challenge in favour of an easy life or the thrill of a new role with more money, where the novelty of the extra cash may soon wear off and I'll be wishing I never took it!

Would you be able to go back and get the same kind of work as your old job again if you decided the new job wasn't for you? If so, no harm in giving the challenging role a try.

jellie

amandacat wrote: »

It's 13k a year extra so that minus deductions for tax etc will go nicely into my savings account each month.

Put as much of it as you can into a pension and then retire early.

xapprenticex

If you dont mind your job not ending at 5pm then go for the stress and money. I think I'd take the easier job and comfy life, I challenge myself out of work so I dont need my day job to feel fulfilled, I only need it to make money.

Or go self employed, then you can push yourself 100% and all thats earned/achieved is yours.

martinthebandit

amandacat wrote: »

I do enjoy my current job and my current salary is far greater than my expenditure.

Then, unless you really need to be the richest person in the graveyard, why change?

lush_walrus

I would always go for the more challenging role as I couldn't bare to be bored or unchallenged. As that isn't a concern of yours and you have no requirement or want for the additional money maybe stay as you are. What are the roles, do they have a real difference or is it a perceived one. For example is one role a cashier and the other a store manager where both roles are actually quite different or is one a cashier and the other a cashier supervisor where actually they are the same role with an extra responsibility.

WibblyGirly

As I have many hobbies outside of work that challenge me I'd stick with the easier one. I don't mind a bit of stress but I never want a job that takes over my life. Live to work or work to live?

FBaby

There are so many unknowns. How will you feel in 10 years time in your bored job? I've experience both being mentally bored to death at a job and being totally stressed, and between the two, the latter was definitely more bearable, probably because I felt I had more control over how I could handle the stress than how I could handle the boredom, ie. it's easier to do less or different than to do more when there is no more to take on.

Also, what might be stressful at the start is likely to become routine at some point. That was the case with my last promotion. Quite full on for the first 6 months, even 12, but after that, as I had settled into the role, it became no more stressful than the previous one.

What you need to consider is the difference in the role, ie. will you enjoy your new responsibilities more, as much or maybe less.

Last time I had to make a decision between staying and going, I asked myself what I would regret more, taking the job and wishing I'd remain, or regret I'd turned down a great opportunity. The latter won and I have no regrets at all.

paddyrg

There are no rules, you don't get extra points on your deathbed for having a miserable life, and if you're stressed, you'll spend the extra money on treats you "deserve" for doing such a stressful job.

I've done both extremes, and beyond, and can comfortably say that each has benefits and downsides. Now I do a job that's laughably easy most of the year, and truly stressful for the other bit, and each phase i wish for the other to come around again. Variety keeps me fresh

ThemeOne

It depends where the stress comes from. Good stress for me would be being challenged in a creative way i.e. pushing my abilities more. Bad stress, which is the kind I usually encounter in my field, is having to deal more with stupid, annoying people and office politics.