Changing Jobs?

[Tuckervill]

Ask how much other people in the position make in bonuses and other compensation. Sometimes the whole package can beat the salary at the old place.

For instance, my husband took a job making almost $30k less in salary than he was making at his other job (same field), but he knew he could make more with the profit share that they were offering. Further, he found the idea that he could control the amount of money he made by working harder and smarter very motivating.

One thing he did that you might try. He told his prospective employer that he wanted to make at least x amount a year, and that the salary reduction would be tough. So, they negotiated a deal for the first profit share cycle, during which he made more than the usual salary, and they guaranteed a certain percentage of the location's profit for that year.

This helped ease our cash flow transition. We relocated for this job, so we arranged our life (mortgage, etc.) so we could live on just the lower salary. It has worked out well, because the profit shares have been twice what his salary was, and therefore about half-again what he was making before. They are like icing on the cake. I get new furniture, vacations and bike stuff every March!

So look at the whole package. If they won't give you the salary, ask for a guaranteed bonus for a period of time to make up for the loss in pay.

Karen

[CycleChic06]

Ask how much other people in the position make in bonuses and other compensation. Sometimes the whole package can beat the salary at the old place.

For instance, my husband took a job making almost $30k less in salary than he was making at his other job (same field), but he knew he could make more with the profit share that they were offering. Further, he found the idea that he could control the amount of money he made by working harder and smarter very motivating.

One thing he did that you might try. He told his prospective employer that he wanted to make at least x amount a year, and that the salary reduction would be tough. So, they negotiated a deal for the first profit share cycle, during which he made more than the usual salary, and they guaranteed a certain percentage of the location's profit for that year.

This helped ease our cash flow transition. We relocated for this job, so we arranged our life (mortgage, etc.) so we could live on just the lower salary. It has worked out well, because the profit shares have been twice what his salary was, and therefore about half-again what he was making before. They are like icing on the cake. I get new furniture, vacations and bike stuff every March!

So look at the whole package. If they won't give you the salary, ask for a guaranteed bonus for a period of time to make up for the loss in pay.

Karen

You hit the nail right on the head. These are some of the scenarios being offered to me. I was offered something that would be a 20% reduction in base salary, but a signifcant 'signing bonus' after 6 months and then profit share at the end of the year. I could end up making out really really well in this situation, but the huge reduction in base salary is nearly impossible for me to live on! As was said before, I'm a single girl with no other source of income and I need a high enough base salary to pay my bills...It's really unfortunate because the job was really really interesting.

[LBTC]

CycleChic because this sounds like you are quite interested in the change, explore some options before you let the opportunity go.

For instance, can you negotiate like Tuckervill's DH did for a higher salary that will mean a lower signing bonus/profit share in the first year or two?

Or, can you restructure any of your debt to lower your monthly costs, even for a temporary period.

If the change in your career is something you want, sometimes you have to be creative to get there...

DH and I made significant changes to move to my new job. Yes, there are two sources of income, but there's also a lot of debt we've had to manage. Yesterday I just managed to transfer the last of my slightly higher interest rate credit card debt (10% or so) on a balance transfer deal at 2.9%. This will help us pay it down that much faster. We're still paying old debt off using our savings, but our current income covers our current expenses....just! My income did not decrease with this job, but the increase was minor. Our expenses went up - $100,000 more for the house we bought here than the house we sold! And DH went on EI (he could do that because he followed me to another city for a job) so he's bringing in less than 1/2 of what he used to. He's almost finished plumber pre-apprenticeship training and has one job offer already. We're not sure if the job will net us any more per month than EI. We hope it's not less!! In the long run, he'll make way more when he's a journeyman plumber, but for now we have to be very careful with our funds!

Now, with only one income I know this is different for you. And if you're already super smart with your money, have no consumer debt, and are just getting by on what you make now, then this advice is not very helpful. It's like the times I see a news report about someone who has lost 100 pounds and they reveal the way it was done was by cutting donut intake from 4 to 1 each day, eating less deep fried food, and not having a second dinner at midnight. That advice isn't going to help me lose 15 pounds, either!

Now, if you're interested in trying to run the numbers and see if you can do it...I bet all of the girls here have some excellent suggestions for reducing your monthly expenses. You might already know everything we come up with, but you never know who has the gem that will help out that little bit extra that you need....

Sorry for the long-winded advice.

What I know is that the regrest in life are always about the things we could have done, but didn't. I wouldn't want you to regret the decision!

Good luck!

Hugs and butterflies,
~T~