To take the money or not?

Scottland

Scottland

Scottland

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
15,713
Location
North Wales
So my job has been pretty lame for the last 2-3 years. Opportunities are disappearing, and I rarely get the chance to develop any skills, or even use them. I much prefer to be in an environment where I can develop and learn, I'm an asp.net web developer by trade - but I'm not doing that at the moment which is even more frustrating.

I've been thinking about leaving for a while, but I'm on good money and taking a new job would involve a pay cut.
There's an offer on the table at the moment to take 50% of my annual salary as a lump sum tax free, which would effectively give me 9-10 months take home pay.

On paper it would seem an easy decision given that I want to leave anyway, but I'm getting serious cold feet about making the decision.

So I'm putting it to OcUK to make the decision for me ;)

(Ok I'm not actually leaving it up to you lot, but I would like your opinion :))
 
Redundancy payouts are tax free up to £30,000.

I'd take the money, travel for ~3-6 months, then come back fresh and find a new job.
 
10 months should be long enough to find a job, how easy do you think finding a job would be?
As a above I would take it and find another job straight away. That much money is a huge amount, just don't squander it.
 
Last edited:
Glaucus said:
10monypths should be long enough to find a job, how easy do you think finding a job would be?
As a bone I would take it and find another job straight away. That much money is a huge amount, just don't squander it.
Click to expand...

This is what I'm thinking, although it would be great to travel or blow it on a car or something - that's not what I'd do.

In terms of finding another job, I think I could manage to get another job in my field - but I could end up with taking a 20-30% pay cut in doing so.
 
It's just a job. Yes they're scarce these days but a job that makes one miserable is only worth sticking to for money for so long. Take the money and run.

Just try and be cunning, find a new job like you have no money but that you really want and spend that hand out frugally. If you get work quicker than expected, wahey! Lots of money to spend on christmas/january sales. If not then you can fall back on the money.

Another thing to keep in mind though, a negative aspect is you'll be competing with others that think "I'll wait until christmas is over and start looking in January" So maybe the few months travel as suggested above is a thought...

I don't know, I just always see people not just un-happy in their jobs but miserable too. Not worth it. I'm sure you'll work it out.
 
Take money.

Look for job.

When you get one, make sure they are happy with you starting in a couple of months.

Travel for a couple of months.

Start new job.
 
Having been in this position recently with £10k on the table, think about the chances of you getting a new job and what the impact of the lump sum would be on your finances. Can you pay off debts that are draining you income, pay off a lump of the mortgage meaning any reduced slary in another job would be offset? I'd say it's better to have a job with reduced pay & use the redendancy to negate that reduction.
 
I'd personally take the cash since you're so unhappy.

If you're really nervous, start looking for a job immediately while you're thinking about it - at least you can get a really good idea of what the prospects are like in your area.
 
How long is the offer on the table for? I'd start looking for another job now. If I find one before the offer expires, then I'd leave. If I didn't, I'd have to think very carefully about taking the risk of not being able to find anything better.

People are right to say you shouldn't do something that makes you unhappy, but on the other hand how unhappy will you be if you can't find another job for two years.
 
There seem to be plenty of programmers roles about at the moment. I usually get 2-4 offers a week for jobs in Norwich and lets be honest, we are not a technology mecca here.
 
Thanks for all the responses, I have until the 10th January to make up my mind - my leaving date will be the end of Jan so I would effectively have 6 weeks to apply for jobs before I finished.
 
I'm a .NET developer and was made redundant in mid-November. Was given 9-10 months take home in payout.

Within 2 weeks of starting the job hunt I'd had 3 interviews and had 3 offers.

I start work next week.


My only regret is not changing jobs 2 years ago when I realised things started going naff. Always change the box :)
 
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