Salary drop - new career

GinG · 4 Apr 2018 at 14:50

Current: £46k last year, working from home, company car & phone

New (Hopefully 16th July Start as a Police Officer): £19,773 and after 7 years staying as a PC £38k.

So yeah quite a drop!! Money isn't everything though

Thought I best add on that we moved into our forever home 3 years ago now so we don't have any plans on moving, no debts apart from mortgage and small car payment and a few K in savings.

dowie · 4 Apr 2018 at 15:05

The_One said:
Yeah AFO

are you a police officer already? Or is this a completely new career change as per the poster above?

The_One · 4 Apr 2018 at 15:35

dowie said:
are you a police officer already? Or is this a completely new career change as per the poster above?

no I'm a gas engineer

was a pc for 3 years nearly 14 - 15 years ago

This is an armed police role

Randomface74 · 4 Apr 2018 at 15:49

Sounds like a really bad move IMO.

Uther · 4 Apr 2018 at 20:09

I suppose if it doesn't work out you can always be a gas engineer again?

Manbatius · 4 Apr 2018 at 21:24

GinG said:
Current: £46k last year, working from home, company car & phone

New (Hopefully 16th July Start as a Police Officer): £19,773 and after 7 years staying as a PC £38k.
SNIP.

That's base wage though right? Will there will be shift allowances on top of that?

Personally if I made that move I would be looking/moving for promotion within the 7 years, there are usually lot's of opportunities for this annually depending on what force it is.

GinG · 5 Apr 2018 at 09:03

Manbatius said:
That's base wage though right? Will there will be shift allowances on top of that?

Personally if I made that move I would be looking/moving for promotion within the 7 years, there are usually lot's of opportunities for this annually depending on what force it is.

£19,773 is the initial wage whilst training, I imagine after the 15 - 18 weeks it jumps to around £21 - £22k and then you get the shift allowance, reading around this can add around 10 - 15% to the wage...you then need to consider the 12-13% pension contributions.

I am budgeting a wage of around £1300 per month take home to start with +/- £50. (including pension payment).

As I said its not about the money so the shift allowances will be a bonus as and when, also I plan on promotion but even staying as a PC after 7 years working even on the 1% pa payrise basic will be over £40k so with shift allowances you could be seeing £45k, the federation is pushing for closer to 3% payrises so who knows the wage could be between £45-£50k with enhancements.

bJN · 6 Apr 2018 at 13:17

I roughly halved my salary six years ago from ~£35k to ~£16k (jumped from IT contracting to an apprenticeship), four years on I hit about £36k, the year just gone I ended up on £43k and this year coming I should see £65-70k. It can work. Can't say it hasn't been without its stress in many forms - emotional, mental, relationship etc. Hopefully worth it by this time next year though

A2Z · 8 Apr 2018 at 02:14

Don't think I would ever change jobs for a drop in salary. Unless it was for a much better style of living, but that can only be achieved by moving abroad.

GinG · 30 Jan 2019 at 22:04

GinG said:
Current: £46k last year, working from home, company car & phone

New (Hopefully 16th July Start as a Police Officer): £19,773 and after 7 years staying as a PC £38k.

So yeah quite a drop!! Money isn't everything though

Thought I best add on that we moved into our forever home 3 years ago now so we don't have any plans on moving, no debts apart from mortgage and small car payment and a few K in savings.

Appreciate this is a massive bump however would just like to say been in the role since July 2018 and have not regretted it one bit. Yes we have had to tighten the belt on some things but overall is has been such a relief and now I enjoy my work it is epic.

Still managed to buy some Rayban sunglasses today so not all bad!

flibbage0 · 31 Jan 2019 at 00:05

GinG said:
Appreciate this is a massive bump however would just like to say been in the role since July 2018 and have not regretted it one bit. Yes we have had to tighten the belt on some things but overall is has been such a relief and now I enjoy my work it is epic.

Still managed to buy some Rayban sunglasses today so not all bad!

That's great to here. I'm currently in a situation where I want to change career and have no responsibilities so I can take the plunge, the future of my current career doesn't look brilliant so I'm looking into something else

JustBen · 31 Jan 2019 at 14:59

I've taken a 6k pay drop to go to my current job but now i earn nearly double what i did prior to the career change 3 and a bit years ago. For me i needed a change and an oppertunity came up. If i had stayed i might of get a little pay rise over the time.

tintin82 · 28 Feb 2019 at 16:48

Yep. I am about to leave a £105k job for a £45K job. Rises after 1 year to £52k and has about £20k additional pension benefits, but still big big drop.

Why am I mad you ask! I have been doing my job of 6 years and its so dull I cannot think of doing it for another 6 years let alone the rest of my career! New job should hopefully be much more interesting and have more legs in it.

flibbage0 · 28 Feb 2019 at 17:25

tintin82 said:
Yep. I am about to leave a £105k job for a £45K job. Rises after 1 year to £52k and has about £20k additional pension benefits, but still big big drop.

Why am I mad you ask! I have been doing my job of 6 years and its so dull I cannot think of doing it for another 6 years let alone the rest of my career! New job should hopefully be much more interesting and have more legs in it.

Massive drop, that's my aim in life to be honest to be on a 6 figure salary so I don't have to worry about bills and I can get a good mortgage.

Just out of interest what was your previous job?

tintin82 · 28 Feb 2019 at 18:19

flibbage0 said:
Massive drop, that's my aim in life to be honest to be on a 6 figure salary so I don't have to worry about bills and I can get a good mortgage.

Just out of interest what was your previous job?

Oil and gas industry.

TBH 100k is not the be all and end all, and I appreciate that that is very easy for me to say being in such a fortunate position to have a wage like this.

I came from earning £42k in my previous job before the big one. Although my wage ramped up massively, my lifestyle didn't. Sure I had a few splurges, but I didn't take on a big mortgage or buy anything ridic expensive.
I still live in a 3 bed semi and my car is 10 yrs old

Just not the high maintenance type

All my excess earnings went into building up a nice pension so I have the option of retiring early / mortgage over payments / savings.

I had a clear option of staying where I was, (and whilst not being miserable I am certainly not enjoying myself or find the work that interesting), or moving on to something more interesting.
I found myself over the years concentrating on escaping my job by early retirement, but then had a light bulb moment of why not aim for a job that I don't actually mind doing and that I enjoy (that still pays a good wage).

Now I am pretty much unfazed about the wage dropping down again. Again, I am under no illusion about how privileged I am to have such an option.

413x · 6 Mar 2019 at 11:46

Considering a salary cut to move location but no where near as much as that.
That's a significant drop unless you're moving to a cheaper place

Money isn't everything, but if I dropped. Below 30 I'd notice it with lack. Of. Recreational funds

Narj · 18 Mar 2019 at 11:05

I'm looking to relocate and possibly take up to a 30K pay cut for the right role (although in reality it shouldn't be that harsh). Money isn't the be all and end all. I've hit a point where the work/life balance is too far out of whack and quality of life is now my driving factor.

Ahleckz · 18 Mar 2019 at 19:18

I went from £50k to £30k, and working a 6 day week (9-8 twice a week, 4 days 9 - 5.30) to a Monday - Friday (8.30 - 5). Great decision. I'm much happier, I enjoy going to work, and whilst the money is a fair drop, I've not really had to sacrifice my life very much. I do spend less now (however, that's a lot from simply meal planning and only eating meat once a week and I've stopped drinking during the week). I'm not really saving any money, but I have decent amounts of savings already so can dip into them if I need to do anything extravagant/any emergencies.

I'm very happy I made the move, and was concerned at first but the hours and work/life balance is much better than the money. Work to live.

toshj · 18 Mar 2019 at 21:46

As a wise character from Labyrinth once said "The way forward is sometimes the way back".

I once went from a £75k base to £12.5k. I only received one month of salary at the £75k level before I quit. Couldn't hack it. Went from £17.5k to £75k in two years with the same firm. The £12.5k opportunity offered significant potential upside, I enjoyed the challenge and learned an awful lot from it. Even knowing how things ultimately played out at my first firm, I believe I made the right choice.

Three quarters of my colleagues who were also on the £75k base alongside me also quit that year. Those that stuck around ultimately made out like bandits...