If you needed to earn net of tax £2k a month what would you do?

[easylifewanted]

I’m a chartered accountant and need to earn £2.2k a month after tax. I have a massively stressful home lift which means I can’t cope with my stressful job anymore.

Happy to do anything so long as there’s job security and I earn what I need to. What would you do? It needs to be as stress free as possible.

Home “life”, can’t seem to edit

can you not just do finance officer type role?

Credit Controller, Business Manager in a charity, practice manager in GP surgery, bid writer.

I think the reality is you will not be able to find such a job unless you re-train.

It would probably be easier to cut your outgoings (hard if you are used to getting a certain salary) than find a well paid, stress-free job.

NHS, admin worker doing shifts should get you more than this

From one CA to another… what role are you currently doing and how many years PQE do you have? 2.2k is around 36kpa so I’m guessing you’re fairly newly qualified. If so, I found first 2 years PQE the worse in terms of feeling over-promoted and constantly out of my depth so maybe just try to battle through it and then you can settle into a role that you’re basically overqualified for but where the hardest thing you have to do is get up in the morning.

I earn £75k currently and work in big4.

The £2.2k is what I need after making lifestyle changes which I’m happy to do. I have to reduce my work related stress as my personal life stress is only going to increase but can’t afford to cut earnings down further.

Can you work part time or at a lower level in your current profession? Maybe combined with buying in help at home? Maybe in public/charity sector?

That might work better than a complete career change where you'll probably have to completely start over again.

Look for a finance role outside of the big4. I have worked in finance my whole career and you can find flexible/ low stress roles but it needs to be in a more relaxed culture. The big4 is v career orientated and therefore can be v stressful.

Move to a smaller practice

Yep second the move into industry advice. My colleagues have done successful lower stress moves into universities, national grid, railways etc and you'd get more than £2200 a month.

Or look at central compliance roles in your big four where you can do home working? Most firms have huge teams producing guidance/ keeping firms safe from the regulator and those roles tend to be lower stress

I mean... this is easy given your qualifications and experience.

Move in-house somewhere.

Look for recruiters who can help advise.

Public sector finance. Around 60k for a non-stressful finance role.

Would in house / public sector really be that much less stress comparatively speaking? I didn’t think so without taking a massive step down in income, hence me working out what I need as a minimum.

Will have a look and see what’s around, less options where I am as not South East.

I don't have the stress I had in the private sector. I do see stressful roles in my area of the public sector but all in higher salaries 75k plus x

Government Finance Function? Vacancies here: https://financecareers.civilservice.gov.uk/job-search/?Department=&Salary=0&ClosingDate=0

Do the same job in a less stressful workplace for fewer hours.

The first time I worked in a functional workplace it blew my mind. I'd worked for 20 years since qualification and had no idea that this was what work was meant to be like.

Public sector wouldn't be less stressful. Thats a myth.

In house finance team roles will be a lot less stress. Or internal audit.

Speak to a recruitment consultant that specialises in accounting careers

You need to earn £32k before tax, so it shouldn't be that hard to find a suitable job.

@easylifewanted yes I think in house is generally less stressful as you’re not dealing with clients at the most stressful time of their year ( assume you’re in audit). I’d avoid internal audit if you value popularity but just get some nice divisional controller job somewhere. That’s what I did. Just avoid PLC group finance ( global consolidation) as that can suck as you’ve got the pressure of the results announcement.

Just be aware that any job can be stressful, not so much the work but the culture and colleagues. I have had one job that should have been amazing but had to share an office space with one of the worst humans I have met in my entire life.

Why are you so low paid as a chartered accountant?

Lots to think about, thanks.

Without sounding arrogant, I know I could get another job relatively easily with my qualifications and experience but my only focus is that the job is stress free and it’s that part I don’t know how to quantify.

Obviously I know there are no guarantees because work culture, colleagues……will all have an impact. But I can control what I look for in a role to make sure the job itself is as stress free as possible and I guess that’s the part I’m struggling with.

I would move to public or charity sector. Or in-house. You could probably earn similar with a lot less stress.