Accept £35K London job or 25k remote job?

[StrawberryCreamCake]

What would you do if you had these two job offers:

1. £35,000 but must be within commuting distance of Gravesend Kent, as required to be in the office 2 days per week
2. £25,000 but entirely and permanently remote

And yes, I realize Gravesend is not in London! I say London because we live in London now within commuting distance of Gravesend so would stay here for that job because DD could stay at her school. All my family is also in London.

We were hoping to move out of London (thinking of Shropshire) because we can't afford it - our rent is £1650/month for a 2 bedroom flat.

We figure that with one salary of £25,000, a freelance income of £15,000-40,000 (half-day rate of £180 which is in no way guaranteed), and child support of £10,000/year for DD we could afford to live outside of London.

However, £35,000 as the only guaranteed source of income to live in London just isn't enough for a family of 4 (with plans for a third child), as in literally not enough to pass the vetting requirements to rent or buy.

From a quick look on RightMove it doesn't seem that much cheaper to rent/buy in Kent than in London.

But then would it be silly to accept a salary of £10,000 less?

I was going to answer it depends on what family you have, what ties to an area and where you would be moving to.

When I started reading your post and saw you were already in London, I thought that would clinch it, but then when I saw you were hoping to move out anyway, then I'm back to the cheaper one.

So, in conclusion - if the jobs are similarly interesting / challenging / career progress / fulfilling / similar hours and other T&Cs etc, then my choice would be to take the totally remote one and live in a lovely house somewhere without ridiculous rent prices.

Home working.

Your free to do what you want.

If you're getting child support then are you restricted because of children seeing their dad?

If you move out of London, would you lose any freelance income?

If it's £15-40k, it's still a decent chunk even if not guaranteed.

I'd also think about whether you would miss close ties more than you think. How about your DD - would she end up not seeing her father very much if you moved further away, and would that bother her now or even if not, would it bother her in future?

If the answers to all of the above are no, then I'd take remote and move.

All leaning towards remote then - me too. Freedom, fresh air and a more spacious flat/house are really important to me. Plus my parents might move in with us.

I’d really like to be able to buy as well, and we have enough for a deposit but not enough income to buy in London.

The freelance doesn’t tie us to London because the company is based in another country. DD’s dad lives in that country too so we need to stay close to an airport. At the moment in London it takes us 1-2 hours to get to the London airports.

The remote job is permanent but has a 6-month probationary period so I guess best to wait that out before moving. At least London has significantly more job opportunities.

I've left a decent earning job to move to the country at 2/3 of the salary and its fabulous. That lesser figure goes a long way, further that the higher figure closer to London, and in top of that as you say, more open space, slower pace of life. And the unexpected bonus is small town life where you meet people and are closer to them. I choose to drive home across a wild bit of countryside, 16 miles in total. When I finished late and it was dark and the weather was heavy, it felt sorry for the little houses isolated and cowering under the wind. I felt relieved and happy to reach the town. But I also loved the opportunity to feel that way, by living in the country and being so close to it. Now of course its skipping baby lambs, herons over mysterious waterways and waving daffodil heads.

Which gives you better long-term prospects?

You're working n your Great Escape plan, so low king at where each post can take you is important. Which has greater capacity for promotion, lower likelihood of pay freeze, better on future CV, just more interesting and what you want to be doing?

And as a note of caution, I wouldn't uproot the family until sure of the move (so I agree with your view that's either probation passed, or move - like your planned Great Escape - will be permanent come want may)

Lovely to hear about your experience @something2say - sounds fantastic.

Very good points @EdithWeston The London job is with a small but well established company in a good, stable financial position. However, there's pretty much no room for promotion. The remote job is with an NGO that hasn't been around long and is more financially risky as it relies on funding, but it is rapidly growing and there's definitely potential for promotion. From looking at CVs of people who work there, several have gone from intern in X to senior X in just a few years. It also seems more interesting and would look better on CV

A salary of £35k gives you a take home of £2,288 per month (assuming you get standard tax-free allowances etc).

A salary of £25k gives you a take home of £1,721 per month.

So the remote job will mean £567 less per month.

But, if it allows you to move out of London and Kent then that means you won't be paying £1,650 a month for a 2 bed flat any more.

So 1,650 - 567 = £1,083

I live about an hours train journey north of London and driving to Heathrow takes about an hour and a half. Here, £1,000 - £1,100 will get you a nice 3 or 4 bed detached house with a reasonable sized garden to rent.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/96554429#/