So, ironically, Andrew was offered a new job at a private company in Brighton. It paid £3,354 more than his current role and we were pretty excited. However, we sat down and did the actual math. Because this job is 40 hours/week (instead of 37.5 as his current one is) and only gave him 22 days off per year (instead of the 28 he currently gets) in terms of his hourly rate it would only be an improvement of 50p per hour.
“But 50p per hour isn’t something to sneeze at! I mean £3,354 would be a big help!”  I hear you say…
No, we would actually be financially worse off.
First of all, we would be spending more in petrol (and with current fuel prices at £1.33 per litre that quickly adds up). Plus, we would have to put the kids in day care one day a week since Andrew wouldn’t be able to work from home on Wednesdays and that would be over £4,000 per year. So if he took the job we would actually be poorer.
Thank goodness we actually sat down and crunched the numbers!
It does open us up to the idea of Andrew leaving the University, however. It’s not something we’ve considered before but Andrew feels he is stagnating there so in the long run I think he either needs to find a change at the University or leave. I honestly hope it stays. He’s very happy there and loves his colleagues… and that’s so important.
Watch this space.
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