Should I go back to work??

[Eliza100]

I'm due to go back to work in January after having my second child. I went back to work after having my first but I am on the fence about going back.
I only work 2 days a week and my son is in nursery. I don't love my job but don't hate it either. It does offer flexibility in the hours I work and the team are lovely. But I'm not sure I want to go back. We can afford it financially but the only thing I am concerned about is giving up a role which I know and it does offer flexible working which I think will benefit me more when kids are in primary school as we don't have any other support with drop off and pick up etc.
My fear is I leave and not be able to get a similar role when I am ready to go back to work again.

I wondered if anyone else has been in this situation and what you did? I have already been in touch with my employer and know what I would have to pay back too.

Any advice welcome 🙂

It’s only 2 days a week. Why would you quit. It’s important to maintain your independence and employability. You never know what the future holds. Death, divorce etc.

Do not give up on your earning capability and your skill set. The future is not certain, it is important to keep up your own pension contributions and maintain your ability to earn money.

There is so much genuine hardship today and some of it is down to life decisions in the past. I am now in my 50s, I continued working when I had my DC, as did many of my friends from university days. Looking back it was really hard at times not to mention costly due to nursery fees. However, working enabled me to keep contributing to my pension and invest modest amounts in a stocks and shares ISA. Two did not, they married lovely men, but life doesn’t always go to plan. Now they find themselves in the position of having to work full time right up until retirement age as they have little pension provision. Both are struggling with menopause symptoms and being the sandwich generation managing older parents and young adult children who are still at home.
Prioritise your future self.

I would like to add further to my earlier post, when I first took the job it actually costing us more for me to work as didn’t have set days and no childcare funding for under 3s at the time but I really wanted to take the opportunity. Now 5 years later despite another baby with set days and the childcare funding and now at the top of my banding we are a lot better off with me working. Whereas we could afford me not working before with the rising cost of living, huge hike in mortgage interest rates plus frozen tax thresholds mean that despite DH earning significantly more we do really need what I’m earning too. They’ve made the tax system so skewed against single earner supporting a family, he gets almost 60% deducted for every £1 he earns and even if he took every promotion and worked every waking hour he’d then hit the 100k bracket and we’d be even worse off, I’ve calculated it is virtually impossible for him to make up for my part time earnings even if he earned 3 times what I do as extra. 2 days really is the absolute ideal, definitely feel best of both worlds as all the benefits of working but then have 5 days off a week and 12 days off whenever I have a week’s annual leave (8 week’s so 8 months of the year kind of get half the month off)

Keep your role. The job market is dire and even worse for women 40+.

Keep the job, it is two days. For me it worked out beautifully being a long term sahm with a solid marriage. But I knew I was never going to return to work as I was medically retired in my early 30s. That option was off the table. Once you are out of work it is incredibly hard to get back in. You can always increase your days/hours later on as your life changes.

If you can afford to live off your Dh's salary then because the 2 days pension contribution will be shit but better than nothing I would look at maxing out your work pension as they will be paying into it too. Also look into getting savings going in your name, so an ISA. You could also look into a SIPP as well. This gives you both instant access money and long term investment. I am going to leave this video here because you can always move lump sums from your ISA into your pension later on.

I know people will always say pension but having both my Mum and MIL die within a year of retiring and never unlocking all that money a private or work pension might not be something you get to access anyway. If you want or need to retire at 53 then having money in your ISA means you can access it then.

So difficult to find a part time, flexible hours role that you enjoy and like the people.
I went back to work after my second because of this, despite not totally needing to. My first started school a few months later and I had asked to reduce hours to fit around pickup/drop off.
I had looked for another job, more due to certain stresses with my work role and found nothing that fitted what I needed.
I feel the same as you, not totally needing the money/stress of work but reluctant to give up my job because its hard to find something suitable.

You didn't say why you want to be unemployed?
The job market is utter hell, it's only 2 days a week.

Going against the grain here.

If you truly don’t need to work for financial reasons, then I wouldn’t. I don’t. My daughter is 5.

— “but I need it for my sanity!” Well I have sanity. And in those two exact days there’s plenty to do: cook dinner (and a dessert) from scratch, do an extra long gym session, play the piano, read a book, have a nap. Yes, having a nap in the day is amazing and makes me look and feel so refreshed.

—“but what if your husband leaves you?” This is where my question ‘do you truly not need financially to work?’ comes in. If husband leaves, we have 2 homes to sell, one of them is worth $3 million (Aus dollars). Plus shares. We can split the assets and I’ll be fine.

-“But you won’t be able to jump back into work if you change your mind”. This is also important, would you be able to? Because I worked as a private tutor in a niche area so if needed, I can always pick up a few new students for some extra income. In this field (private tutoring), the older I am, the better it can actually be (work wise 😀).

I just wanted to put it out there that it’s not always the case of “cling onto your job” because it can also be wonderful not to work. I am always busy and my week is tightly planned; I don't even have time to catch up for a coffee with a friend.

There is school drop off and pick up, then I usually do a workout. Grocery shop, and something always needs to be sorted for the house. We also travel a fair bit for my husband’s work, and our daughter comes with us, so that definitely keeps me busy.

I really love being so present for my daughter. It all goes so fast. So if you truly don’t need to work, I wouldn’t.