Bracknell to the city commute -been offered double my salary
Discussion
Hey,
I currently work in public sector role which I enjoy and I really like the people. I've been for a job interview recently just to see what was out there. They ended up offering me the job and the pay effectively will double my current salary, with a 10% bonus on top. I'm not sure about travelling from Martins Heron -> Liverpool Street 4 times a week.... 1 day WFH. I think the commute is 1hr to Waterloo... then about 15 minutes to bank area.
Current Situation
+ It's really easy hours 7am-3pm
+ No stress
+ No real pressure
+ Public sector pension (11% matched)
+ I get a work car and it takes me 45 minutes to get to work
+ Nice team that I get on well with nice
+ Never any reason to stay late
+ Can sometimes work from home
+ Very flexible in terms of I can come in a little later if I had an appointment or something
+ Extremely secure, basically 0% chance of redundancy or losing my job
Although, I'm not going to develop much more in the role probably .... although maybe I should just accept that and enjoy life rather than sat on a train for 1.5 hrs each day.
My salary which is £40k will never increase (other than inflation if I'm lucky)
I don't have kids, but we are planning on it in 2-3 years and also want to move to bigger house.
New Job Situation
+ Salary offered is £75k
+ Annual bonus of 10% (£7500)
+ Agreement that I can work from home one day a week.... they say as the team develops they could allow 2 days WFH (I don't know whether that's true or not ... just what they say)
+ 25 days holiday
+ 4% pension (not good)
The job role is within a new team they're setting up.
The major thought for me is the commute. It will take around 1hr 20-30 minutes to get to work and around the same coming home. I would get back a little before 7pm if I finished at 5pm.
I'm guessing more stress, a bit more pressure.
But could be opportunities, maybe go abroad, maybe better training too. No guarantees, but with it being a new team they're investing heavily and have money to get things off the ground.
......
....
Any thoughts on this???
Particularly from those that have commuted in the past? I'm thinking doing:
Monday, Tuesday = commute
Wednesday at home
Thursday, Friday = commute
Isn't too bad, watch films, read a book, etc...
Any thoughts?
I currently work in public sector role which I enjoy and I really like the people. I've been for a job interview recently just to see what was out there. They ended up offering me the job and the pay effectively will double my current salary, with a 10% bonus on top. I'm not sure about travelling from Martins Heron -> Liverpool Street 4 times a week.... 1 day WFH. I think the commute is 1hr to Waterloo... then about 15 minutes to bank area.
Current Situation
+ It's really easy hours 7am-3pm
+ No stress
+ No real pressure
+ Public sector pension (11% matched)
+ I get a work car and it takes me 45 minutes to get to work
+ Nice team that I get on well with nice
+ Never any reason to stay late
+ Can sometimes work from home
+ Very flexible in terms of I can come in a little later if I had an appointment or something
+ Extremely secure, basically 0% chance of redundancy or losing my job
Although, I'm not going to develop much more in the role probably .... although maybe I should just accept that and enjoy life rather than sat on a train for 1.5 hrs each day.
My salary which is £40k will never increase (other than inflation if I'm lucky)
I don't have kids, but we are planning on it in 2-3 years and also want to move to bigger house.
New Job Situation
+ Salary offered is £75k
+ Annual bonus of 10% (£7500)
+ Agreement that I can work from home one day a week.... they say as the team develops they could allow 2 days WFH (I don't know whether that's true or not ... just what they say)
+ 25 days holiday
+ 4% pension (not good)
The job role is within a new team they're setting up.
The major thought for me is the commute. It will take around 1hr 20-30 minutes to get to work and around the same coming home. I would get back a little before 7pm if I finished at 5pm.
I'm guessing more stress, a bit more pressure.
But could be opportunities, maybe go abroad, maybe better training too. No guarantees, but with it being a new team they're investing heavily and have money to get things off the ground.
......
....
Any thoughts on this???
Particularly from those that have commuted in the past? I'm thinking doing:
Monday, Tuesday = commute
Wednesday at home
Thursday, Friday = commute
Isn't too bad, watch films, read a book, etc...
Any thoughts?
Also just to say about commute:
I live about 10 minute walk from local station
Train takes exactly 60 minutes to Waterloo
Options then are:
Train to London Bridge (4 mins) then walk rest of way
Tube to bank and walk
...
Trains are every 15 minutes during the peak times
...
I've read tons on commuting. I can get a seat in the mornings and less likely in evenings.
Any thoughts?
I live about 10 minute walk from local station
Train takes exactly 60 minutes to Waterloo
Options then are:
Train to London Bridge (4 mins) then walk rest of way
Tube to bank and walk
...
Trains are every 15 minutes during the peak times
...
I've read tons on commuting. I can get a seat in the mornings and less likely in evenings.
Any thoughts?
Edited by redrabbit29 on Wednesday 23 May 23:05
The annual rail season ticket would probably wipe out your net bonus.
The current price from where I used to live (Hertfordshire) when commuting into London is over £4600.....and that's just cattle class. If you actaully want the chance of a seat and opt for first class - you can add 50% on top.
On the upside - it was kinda nice doing the whole city working thing. I quite like London's after work pub scene.
The current price from where I used to live (Hertfordshire) when commuting into London is over £4600.....and that's just cattle class. If you actaully want the chance of a seat and opt for first class - you can add 50% on top.
On the upside - it was kinda nice doing the whole city working thing. I quite like London's after work pub scene.
I guess the cash commuting costs will be significant? You'll also need to buy a car and much of the new salary will be higher rate income tax. The +£35k salary might become +£20k. Still significant but you seem to have things well organised in your current role, have security and good colleagues.
Temper any thoughts I have with the knowledge that no-one should be making decisions for you.
The role you currently have sounds very desirable. Being home by 4pm or so is valuable when you have children and could easily save £400-£500 per month in after school childcare. And losing 3 - 4 hours a day / 15 - 20 hours a week has a real cost on your quality of life.
Equally, you have a known role with a known environment. Adventure is good and all that, but it can easily turn out to be a bit of a bugger too.
Would you have to fund you commute? How much would that cost?
What's the cost of the loss of pension?
What are your options if the new role doesn't work out?
Based on the information you've provided, I'd be staying put.
The role you currently have sounds very desirable. Being home by 4pm or so is valuable when you have children and could easily save £400-£500 per month in after school childcare. And losing 3 - 4 hours a day / 15 - 20 hours a week has a real cost on your quality of life.
Equally, you have a known role with a known environment. Adventure is good and all that, but it can easily turn out to be a bit of a bugger too.
Would you have to fund you commute? How much would that cost?
What's the cost of the loss of pension?
What are your options if the new role doesn't work out?
Based on the information you've provided, I'd be staying put.
Mojooo said:
If you are being paid 75k will you really be going home at 5 everyday?
Erm yes there is that......The only time I have worked anything like 9-5 in the private sector over the past 20 years was when I was on a consultant day rate.
You need to factor in the fact that the private sector work ethic is substantially different from the public sector.
Doing more than your contracted hours (with no time in lieu) is pretty much standard in many private sector companies. In fact it’s likely to be written into your contract at that level (something along the lines of - “contracted hours are x but you will be expected to work whatever hours are necessary to perform the role” - which translated means “forget working 9-5”).
Edited by Moonhawk on Wednesday 23 May 23:54
My net salary currently is £2200
The new net salary would be £4300
Travel costs is £430 for season ticket per month
Pension I need to look into but the sheer increase in salary makes me think that financially it's always going to better off. People say how good the public sector/police pension scheme is ... but it's gone through a lot of reform recently and is likely to go through more.
The time lost on travel is a concern. But WFH one day a week is a bonus.
18-24 months i could be moving on wth better skills, connections and qualifications
The new net salary would be £4300
Travel costs is £430 for season ticket per month
Pension I need to look into but the sheer increase in salary makes me think that financially it's always going to better off. People say how good the public sector/police pension scheme is ... but it's gone through a lot of reform recently and is likely to go through more.
The time lost on travel is a concern. But WFH one day a week is a bonus.
18-24 months i could be moving on wth better skills, connections and qualifications
Moonhawk said:
Mojooo said:
If you are being paid 75k will you really be going home at 5 everyday?
Erm yes there is that......The only time I have worked anything like 9-5 in the private sector over the past 20 years was when I was on a consultant day rate.
redrabbit29 said:
What sort of hours were you doing on average?
Depended on the role - but even in junior roles, i’d probably average 30 minutes to 1 hour over each day.The thing is - your hours arent neccesarily dictated by your workload - but by others.
Your boss books a 5:30pm meeting - at that level, you will be expected to attend.....and youcan bet it’ll happen more often than you think.
In the past week alone my wife has had to attend meetings at 11:30pm (telecall) and 7am (in the office). She’s on a comparable salary.
redrabbit29 said:
My net salary currently is £2200
The new net salary would be £4300
Travel costs is £430 for season ticket per month
Pension I need to look into but the sheer increase in salary makes me think that financially it's always going to better off. People say how good the public sector/police pension scheme is ... but it's gone through a lot of reform recently and is likely to go through more.
The time lost on travel is a concern. But WFH one day a week is a bonus.
18-24 months i could be moving on wth better skills, connections and qualifications
I think from the above that you have probably already made your mind up to go for the new position. For what its worth, I think you should grab it with both hands and not look back!!The new net salary would be £4300
Travel costs is £430 for season ticket per month
Pension I need to look into but the sheer increase in salary makes me think that financially it's always going to better off. People say how good the public sector/police pension scheme is ... but it's gone through a lot of reform recently and is likely to go through more.
The time lost on travel is a concern. But WFH one day a week is a bonus.
18-24 months i could be moving on wth better skills, connections and qualifications
You are 33 and earning a decent salary but as you said; it's "£40K which will never increase (other than inflation if I'm lucky)".
You could have 20-30+ years of work ahead. I don't for a minute think that you are happy to sit back and accept that sort of salary limitation for the next few decades. If you were, you wouldn't have been looking to see what was out there in the first place!
As you don't have kids at the moment, the commute might be a pain but its not as if you have to get home to read a bedtime story. This might change in a couple of years which makes this opportunity all the more timely.
Go for it for a couple of years at least, it's very rare that you get the chance to genuinely double your salary when moving jobs.
Even if you end up not liking the new place, you can re-evaluate in a couple of years with a new CV, more experience, more contacts and a salary expectation of £70K+.
And you'll still only be 35!!
It's a no brainer, you'll regret it if you don't.
I did very similar 10 years ago. No regrets as it opened up a whole new world of opportunities but it was hard (I went from working 10mins drive away to a a 2 hour commute each way for an extra 15k a year).
Key fact: a great work/life balance doesn’t pay the bills or get you the better house you want.
You will need to work harder, trains can and often do go wrong and you will find it tough to adjust. BUT I would still do it, provided you have support at home and understand that for the first 6 months you’ll doubt yourself.
Take a day off, do the train journey at the time you would need to if you were doing the job, and see how it is. If you can handle the commute, it’ll be easy from there.
Final piece of advice: when in London, try and stay above ground as much as possible so walk as much as you can. Often no slower than getting the Tube.
Good luck.
Key fact: a great work/life balance doesn’t pay the bills or get you the better house you want.
You will need to work harder, trains can and often do go wrong and you will find it tough to adjust. BUT I would still do it, provided you have support at home and understand that for the first 6 months you’ll doubt yourself.
Take a day off, do the train journey at the time you would need to if you were doing the job, and see how it is. If you can handle the commute, it’ll be easy from there.
Final piece of advice: when in London, try and stay above ground as much as possible so walk as much as you can. Often no slower than getting the Tube.
Good luck.
Thanks everyone, Some brilliant advice here and it's really helped - been a stressful week where I've gone back and forth about 100 times and had some sleepless nights.
The reason it's such a hard decision is because I'm a police officer - have been for 11 years. Like the military I think, you very quickly become institutionalised (not neccesarily in a bad way). Leaving is a huge decision and feels like stepping away from a culture and everything I'm familiar with.
Will try to do a test commute although recruiter said they want a decision by Friday ... tomorrow.
After my interview i left at 5:15 and the commute was fine ... walked to London Bridge, to Waterloo and got off at my local station at 645. Still feels quite long though between finishing work and getting home, like a mad dash that you can't really control.
The reason it's such a hard decision is because I'm a police officer - have been for 11 years. Like the military I think, you very quickly become institutionalised (not neccesarily in a bad way). Leaving is a huge decision and feels like stepping away from a culture and everything I'm familiar with.
Will try to do a test commute although recruiter said they want a decision by Friday ... tomorrow.
After my interview i left at 5:15 and the commute was fine ... walked to London Bridge, to Waterloo and got off at my local station at 645. Still feels quite long though between finishing work and getting home, like a mad dash that you can't really control.
Extra costs
1. annual train ticket
2. Annual train station parking cost
3. You mention you have kids so you currently get full child benefit as you earn over £60k you will get zero/have to pay it all back in your self assessment return.
Savings
1. You will not be driving 40mins each way.
Calculate that difference as a net cost to you, then put into the salary calculators what your new net take home will be see the difference.
Pension you say 11% currently I assume you mean that’s what the public sector pay in (how much do you?). And the new offer is 4% employer payment - again you can calculate the extra cost for you to mirror the same %. Was it a final salary or Career average or defined contribution in current job? New one is clearly defined contribution.
Next
train and tube
I work probably a week to two weeks a month in London Town .... the trains are hot the tubes unbearably hot. Some peak summer days it’s so hot on the transport you need a new shirt to change into in the office. Horrible.
Culture
In London there really is a culture of beers frequently after work - mainly it’s because no one drives so it’s easy to do. I get really fed up with that.
Also young kids you leave the house before they are up and get home after hey are in bed.
It depends on your age what are you life goals how soon can you really afford to retire?
Only you can decide.
Note “Most” people above a certain grease who long commute into London don’t go into Town on Friday (hence see the remarkably empty trains).
1. annual train ticket
2. Annual train station parking cost
3. You mention you have kids so you currently get full child benefit as you earn over £60k you will get zero/have to pay it all back in your self assessment return.
Savings
1. You will not be driving 40mins each way.
Calculate that difference as a net cost to you, then put into the salary calculators what your new net take home will be see the difference.
Pension you say 11% currently I assume you mean that’s what the public sector pay in (how much do you?). And the new offer is 4% employer payment - again you can calculate the extra cost for you to mirror the same %. Was it a final salary or Career average or defined contribution in current job? New one is clearly defined contribution.
Next
train and tube
I work probably a week to two weeks a month in London Town .... the trains are hot the tubes unbearably hot. Some peak summer days it’s so hot on the transport you need a new shirt to change into in the office. Horrible.
Culture
In London there really is a culture of beers frequently after work - mainly it’s because no one drives so it’s easy to do. I get really fed up with that.
Also young kids you leave the house before they are up and get home after hey are in bed.
It depends on your age what are you life goals how soon can you really afford to retire?
Only you can decide.
Note “Most” people above a certain grease who long commute into London don’t go into Town on Friday (hence see the remarkably empty trains).
Leonard Stanley said:
Probably won’t gain you any time, but worth factoring Crossrail in too.
I did look at that. I could drive to Twyford which is around 15 minutes away and get on there. That gets me into the city in 60 minutes. Another option I guess... I did look at housing but at present it doesn't quite suit my GF's work. Also a bit more expensive than where we are now. We are hopefully moving soon so will continue to look and explore other options.Welshbeef said:
Extra costs
1. annual train ticket
2. Annual train station parking cost
3. You mention you have kids so you currently get full child benefit as you earn over £60k you will get zero/have to pay it all back in your self assessment return.
Savings
1. You will not be driving 40mins each way.
Calculate that difference as a net cost to you, then put into the salary calculators what your new net take home will be see the difference.
Pension you say 11% currently I assume you mean that’s what the public sector pay in (how much do you?). And the new offer is 4% employer payment - again you can calculate the extra cost for you to mirror the same %. Was it a final salary or Career average or defined contribution in current job? New one is clearly defined contribution.
Next
train and tube
I work probably a week to two weeks a month in London Town .... the trains are hot the tubes unbearably hot. Some peak summer days it’s so hot on the transport you need a new shirt to change into in the office. Horrible.
Culture
In London there really is a culture of beers frequently after work - mainly it’s because no one drives so it’s easy to do. I get really fed up with that.
Also young kids you leave the house before they are up and get home after hey are in bed.
It depends on your age what are you life goals how soon can you really afford to retire?
Only you can decide.
Note “Most” people above a certain grease who long commute into London don’t go into Town on Friday (hence see the remarkably empty trains).
Hi Welshbeef (Great name btw),1. annual train ticket
2. Annual train station parking cost
3. You mention you have kids so you currently get full child benefit as you earn over £60k you will get zero/have to pay it all back in your self assessment return.
Savings
1. You will not be driving 40mins each way.
Calculate that difference as a net cost to you, then put into the salary calculators what your new net take home will be see the difference.
Pension you say 11% currently I assume you mean that’s what the public sector pay in (how much do you?). And the new offer is 4% employer payment - again you can calculate the extra cost for you to mirror the same %. Was it a final salary or Career average or defined contribution in current job? New one is clearly defined contribution.
Next
train and tube
I work probably a week to two weeks a month in London Town .... the trains are hot the tubes unbearably hot. Some peak summer days it’s so hot on the transport you need a new shirt to change into in the office. Horrible.
Culture
In London there really is a culture of beers frequently after work - mainly it’s because no one drives so it’s easy to do. I get really fed up with that.
Also young kids you leave the house before they are up and get home after hey are in bed.
It depends on your age what are you life goals how soon can you really afford to retire?
Only you can decide.
Note “Most” people above a certain grease who long commute into London don’t go into Town on Friday (hence see the remarkably empty trains).
Think you may have misread ... I don't have any kids, but my and GF are likely to have them in around 2 years, maybe 3 at a push. By that stage I'd hope to either be settled in that job (if I take it...) or have moved to one nearer home having gained new skills and better CV material. Or maybe go self employed or free lance.
There is no car parking costs for the train station as I live only around an 8-10 minute walk away... and it's an out of town one, so you can park in loads of places for free, but I would walk.
The driving at present is 40 minutes, but I have a work car so it's in effect free.
PENSION
It's a Police pension. I believe employer pays 12% and so do I each month. My new pension is 4%, and I guess it's on the same basis, we both pay that. My plan was to look into private pension and put £400-500 into it each month.
In terms of beers, it sounds nice once a month maybe, but I'd probably avoid it on a constant weekly basis.
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