It’s final, I’ve signed the contract with the new school and I’m moving on! I alluded to my job change when I talked about how I only spend $350 a month living in China. I didn’t mention the financial cost of that decision so let’s take a look at what made taking a pay cut worth it.
Why I’m taking a pay cut
Didn’t I like my current job? and what about the plan to retire in 10 years time? My current job pays amazingly well for a new-ish teacher and it’s with people I love, so why am I leaving?
Believe me, I asked myself the same question, usually with more four-lettered words thrown in. Here are the factors that went into my decision:
“Amazing” pay
If I stayed at my current school, my pay for next year would be $7,300 per month. My new school will pay $5,500. Three points ultimately won me over.
- The $1,800 different is because we are short-staffed and I’m teaching 33% more than I should.
- I can make up the difference though side gigs.
- Hey, maybe my free time and my mental health are worth more.
The base pay for both schools is the same next year so it’s not a ‘real’ pay cut. The workload this year has been manageable by cutting out other things in my life. I’ve significantly reduced the time I spent on hobbies, going out, exercising, and professional development. You can make a solid argument that this is a negative cost.
If I really want to make up the pay difference there’s a huge market for tutoring. Or I’ll take my own advice and put my mental well-being first.
Work with people I love
I love working with my colleagues this year. I feel truly lucky to have been part of this team. However, the team is breaking up for various reasons so it’ll be new next year either way. In addition, as much as I love my team this year, there are not enough similarly passionate math teachers here. The one I get along with very well is sadly returning to Canada.
The new school is also closer to my cousins in Beijing, and part of why I’m in China is to reconnect with my family.
A school with long-term vision
My current school spent hundreds of thousands on a new field this year but classrooms lack functioning technology. We’re using blackboards, tiny projectors, and computers PLAGUED with popups. My work desktop does not have working copies of Word or Powerpoint. There are perfectly good lab rooms available but the Canadians are not allowed to use them. Nobody uses them.
I can work with bad tech, I can make do without projectors, and I can even teach without handouts. I cannot stand the thought that I’m making money for people who don’t care about students. As an educator that’s my driving goal and the school has shown every sign our goals don’t align.
Pay cut but career gain
This school does not provide the best environment for me to grow the way I want to grow. I get I’m a bit of a weirdo when it comes to pushing myself as a teacher so I took the initiative to go looking. Self-improvement is super important to me and the new school is a step up career-wise.
If I had stayed the workload would be easier every year, I would get along with colleagues, and I would probably make a butt load of money. However, I would also stagnant as an educator because I can see a culture of complacency here.
The new school runs the IB program which I’m very interested in – it’s the IB framework with a Chinese curriculum so that’s very exciting. I plan on being an international teacher for a while and it’s definitely an asset to have IB under your belt.
How does this impact my financial goals
I did a rough calculation and this would increase my 10-year goal to, wait for it, 12 years. 12 years with the HUGE caveat that I never get another pay raise or get a side hustle.
2 extra years in the grand scheme of the modern human lifespan is nothing. It is especially nothing if you count my increased happiness in the intervening years. FI/RE blogs almost always highlight that you cannot forsake all present happiness for the future and either they’re all lying or it’s the truth. I can’t be miserable for 10 years hoping that I survive intact until the 11th year, that’s no way to live.
The pay cut in perspective
Let’s be real, when my monthly cost of living is $350, and I’m earning over $5,000 it’s not like I’m anywhere close to decreasing my quality of life. I still have my health, family, friends, and a mission that I believe in.
Even after taking the pay cut, if I go on cheaper vacations and contribute more to my RRSP I can still maintain an 80% savings rate. Nobody is forcing me to ski in Japan every year.
Writing this out has been very therapeutic. I kept on ruminating on the money aspect of it and I’m glad I had this chance to lay everything out.
Would you take a pay cut for any reason? How much of one would you take?
Maybe it is just because you are using this as blog post material but it sort of sounds like you are trying to rationalize this to yourself way too hard. Like you don’t trust your decision. I think you are over thinking it, you know it feels right. So be happy!
Definitely six of one and half-a-dozen of the other! You’re not the first to say I’m overthinking this decision haha.
It does feel right (and scary) so I’ll take your advice and focus on better things 🙂
Thanks for stopping by!
I admire your decision and wish more people would take initiative (including myself) to be happy.
This is my favorite quote:
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” ~Theodore Roosevelt
I’m printing this out and putting it in my classroom! THANK YOU for making this comment – failure is scary, but those who never try can also never succeed.
I’m very much jealous of people who are comfortable with risk, making choices that lead to happiness is much harder and way less obvious when you want to consider every angle and have backup plans B through Z.
Thanks for stopping by, and all the best in your pursuit of happiness 🙂
Your job probably means many diffident things to you; however the core purpose of our job is basically to earn enough money so we can do the things we most value and are important to us.
What’s important to you is like opening Pandora’s Box, however in short the academic community has concluded that happiness is attainable though a continuous combination of friendships, freedom, health, financial security, privacy, a life philosophy and a purpose.
“Is there a better way? And if so what are the activities we can do right now that will start to improve our life in a positive way?”
For myself this required what others may call a radical shift .
I expanded my business and relocated from Sydney to Cairns the doorstep of the Great Barrier Reef and Daintree Rain Forest.
Doing so has saved me $50,000 less per year in my “job”, as a result my income increased and I have more time to exercise, entertain, grow and help others. The very things that are important to me and my happiness.
Wow, that’s amazing! You’re in a dream location, sounds like you’ve got the puzzle pieces to happiness all coming together 🙂
I realized I’ve got enough in my new job for financial security so other factors came into play. It is very much like Pandora’s box haha.
Thanks for dropping by!
I love that you’re doing this for yourself. Your savings rate will still be massively impressive, but now you’re going to have more time to enjoy yourself! Great post.
Thank you!
It feels like the universe read our “life happens” comments and just kicked me in the arse haha
I’m looking forward to having the time back to work on my own life projects :))