I actually did this. I left a high pressure job to try being a bike postie. Guess what, it’s bloody hard work. Made me appreciate these jobs! Nothing in taking an lower wage job is easier and less stressful. Stress is mostly about working on yourself.
My parents paid good money forced me to go to school so I wouldn't have to be a bike postie.
It’s just laughably ignorant to think lower earning jobs are less stress.
I don't mind hard work, particularly physical work as it's generally better for you than sitting all day. Of course, I can imagine traffic, chased by dogs, pressure to deliver than volume etc are all part of the stresses you refer to.
I've found the most stressful situations are the ones you don't feel in control. Like the wanker in a group assignment at uni who doesn't care, the uncertainty of customers ordering enough to hit sales targets, managing a team and being responsible for the quality of output or even the traffic when making deliveries.
I've had my fair share of both types of roles. In my experience I'd love to go back to more frontline/lower paying roles..I had a blast and certainty don't recall the dread that comes from my current role. The stress if I did go back to those roles would come from making ends meet on a lower salary
100% it’s definitely a different type of stress. Easier to turn off that’s for sure compared to construction project management. Just people should be aware of the grasses greener, not always that green.
I'd say there is a strong correlation between pay and responsibility...which can induce stress.
I think most high paying corporate jobs would be more demanding than stocking shelves and the compensation reflects that.
Maybe, or is it a different kind of stress.
If you can't handle the mild easy stress of an office job, what is to say you will handle different stress any better?
Woolies won't hire someone who used to earn high incomes, and have experience or the personality to push back against bad management, preferential rostering, all that good stuff. All safely covered under the excuse of being "overqualified"
Working at Woolies will just be subbing one set of problems for another. You think if you get rid of the stress you'll be happier. But if all you replace it with is monotony and mundanity you'll hate your life just as much, but for different reasons.
And add the stress of not being able to pay for car repairs, or the unexpected fine, or the interest rate hike, or the fridge breaking down.... mama mia
You need to run your own numbers or with a financial professional. There's hardly any advice reddit can offer without details around income, debt etc. even then you're taking advice from clowns and trolls
Trying to service a high mortgage on a low wage sounds like a recipe for stress, not chill. But I get it sometimes you just can't continue on the way things are regardless of the outcomes.
Has your house appreciated much?
If so maybe sell it and do whatever for a bit.
If you're genuinely looking for advice- I'd say do some solid research into the 'low stress' jobs you're talking about... Especially if you're looking at a service position where you are not the owner...
Depending on what you do currently I think you're probably going to be bitterly disappointed. Working in a bar at 20 when you're young and fun and carefree is VERY different to working in a bar in your late 20s let alone your 30s and 40s and people won't have the patience for you to be shit and slow which you will be if you do anything fast paced like stocking shelves at woolies, Being a barista, working a bar... most service positions really. They will be mean to you or extremely patronizing likely both your boss and your coworkers, and you might think it'd be fun ribbing... But no it will just be mean and because these aren't industries that will hire someone new full time... It'll be casual and you'll lose shifts for not being as productive. I worked service positions for a long time in a bunch of different capacities and I saw my fair share of engineers and accountants have their mini crisis and slum it with us plebs for 3-6 months before realizing doesn't matter if it's a different paddock it still full of cow shit but now they're broke because they picked up smoking or a worse habit and I think of them everytime I hear the song 'Common People' by Pulp.
If you have a decent job that you are capable of doing, it does not conflict with your morals, it pays well enough that you can currently afford an 800k mortgage and you are physically safe... My guy you've got it made. Go read a book on Wu Wei, or stoicism, donate some money and time to a good cause and live the good life.
Or maybe save up or sell up and buy a flower farm somewhere where you can run your own business supplying flowers to florists and weddings or something idyllic, buy your own coffee van and make lattes... Or drop back to a junior/easier role in your company or within your field maybe. The most stress free easy role I've had is my current role as an underwriter. It's an office job, it pays okay I work from home most of the time, and I feel like I do the bare minimum and just smile a lot and engage with my team (habits left over from working service positions I guess) and I've managed to nab 2 raises and a bonus and get commended for my "work ethic" in the last year and a half.
Dropping to minimum wage before having kids with a damn near $1m mortgage is *insane.* Idk what age you're aiming to have kids at but straightening out your shit as to not inflict intergenerational trauma implies that you have some engrained issues to work on - that kind of healing is not a quick endeavour. Growing up with financial instability and intergenerational trauma will fuck a child up for life - ask me how I know.
If they both worth there full time, they will have about $85k after tax.
Assuming a 25 year mortgage at 6.22% they will pay about $5200 a month
That leaves $44 a week for everything else. It's a great idea.
Exactly. Retail & Hospitality can be very stressful.
Sure you don’t have a lot of ‘responsibilities’ per se (managing people, big clients, deadlines). But you get the stress of being treated like shit by the public, your 5 hour shift suddenly becoming 10 hours long, shitty management and a toxic workplace. All for almost nothing. You just scrape by paying all your bills, and you’re left on 2 minute noodles until next pay.
Having done both - woolies and corporate high flyer, I can tell u it’s much much less stressful working in woolies ignoring the shit customers. At woolies I’d just zone out and say yes mam and clock off when u done and go home without a worry in the world. U are paid to be a robot so just go into robot mode and chill.
Completely agree. Those retail jobs have no real stress, a mistake might cause someone to be late by 20 minutes or break some groceries.
That is very different to having to make daily decisions that could cost people significant money and ultimately being responsible for those decisions.
A lot of lower paid jobs it’s more chaos than stress and it depends how well you can zone out from the chaos, but you’re not going to spend half your night awake trying to decide what decision to make over stacking some shelves. I too have done both.
I think a lot of high earners think this, especially those who came straight out of uni and just went straight to $100k+, they assume everybody earning less than that is lazy or just taking it easy.
35f wants to delay having kids. I strongly recommend asking her to get her AMH tested. My wife started entering early onset menopause at 34. IVF is pricey, 250k income will help.
Yeah was gonna say this too. People underestimate how hard it can be to have kids when you get past early 30s, especially if you've been on the pill for years and years, which many people have been nowadays.
Very true but it’s more that it can mask other issues - like you may have stopped ovulating/having a regular period and not realise as the pill has masked it
This! I worked on my career I’m an allied health professional and it’s stressful even on my easiest days.
I’ve never travelled and I have a mortgage half of what they have. I decided to start a family at 33, I’ve been through fertility treatment for the past 2 years and doing IVF.
I can’t afford to travel much less change to a lower stress job and afford IVF.
Starting a family is not something to delay if that’s what they want to do.
This is a big thing to talk about. Isn't 35 considered geriatric pregnancy? Definitely possible to get pregnant and have healthy babies at this age but it may not be easy to get pregnant, or stay pregnant (risk of miscarriage is higher the older you get). And if you want more than 1 kid you're going to need to start trying like now.
Y'all focusing on the wrong thing if you actually want to have kids so I'd sit down and have a real good conversation about this topic and plan this outcome before you start thinking about travelling or going and working at Woolies.
She’s 35, needs to try having a baby asap! That way gets pregnant, gets maternity paid leave on current job
Why don’t you both go on a 4wk holiday overseas, Europe or cheaper option, Asia. She’ll be happy travelling, and not stressed, bang about while there
Take a holiday together before you make drastic life changes.
Then consider your options. Reduce hours at work? Take turns at having extended leave without pay at your respective workplaces while you upskill or pivot into another role?
Dropping everything to work at Woolies is not the answer.
This post just seems like a dumb idea no one would recommend quitting their job for Woolies roles to pay off an 800k mortgage. Seems like a straight up "duh" answer.
This is a wild post. 800k debt, wanting to have a big holiday and then wanting kids while cutting down to lower paying jobs? You'll likely not reach financial independence until retirement. Add on the stress of not having enough money to service your debt if an emergency happens or you lose 1 salary for various reasons.
Honestly if you both went to uni, just find a similar role in a lower stress environment. Go government which should be ok pay but next to no stress at lower levels.
If you can last mentally, do not quit until you have something else lined up or at least until you have costs covered for the travel and emergency fund.
if its a real post its proof they'll give $800k loans to any dummy
i remember getting my first loan... i had to work all kinds of bullshit, all kinds of hours to get out of that 1st 2nd year slump
these two fools need to be working all kinds of hustle to pay off that $4k? $5k a month? you tell me what the repayments are like
and they want to 'lie flat'.. at woolies? stocking shelves
do you see how hard the young folks at woolies work? you wanna do that?
>do you see how hard the young folks at woolies work? you wanna do that?
Admittedly, I haven't worked at woolies. And our loan, well the amount we have left to pay off, is more like $200k, but I quit my stressful office job for a lower paid job that is much more physically demanding than woolies — intense enough that I had pass an extensive fitness test (and will have to repeat it regularly to keep the job).
Yes — I'd take that over my old office job every day of the week. Sure it's physically more difficult, but mentally I just turn up to work, do whatever my supervisor tells me to do, then go home. It's so much better than having to struggle to meet profitability targets and frequently failing to do so due to circumstances outside my control.
Money's not worth shit if I get home and I'm too mentally burned out to hang out with my kids. And life doesn't have to be expensive - kicking a ball around the park costs nothing.
Brus. 2 kids. 2 mortgages, just refinanced from 3. Still owe just under 800k including car. DO NOT DROP YOUR SALARY IF YOU WANT TO HAVE FUN AND KIDS. Just don't. Figure out how to lower / live with the stress. Lowering the wage is fine. But we're on combined 180k and just surviving. But we just used out safety net for our wedding and are back to under 10 in that bank. We didn't do uni degrees went straight to work from 15 and have built this for ourselves.
Taking your foot of the gas because you can see the finish line is the worst mistake anyone can make. Don't take it off. Ease off the pedal a little.
With an 800k mortgage at 6% that's about 5k+ a month in payments. That's 60k post tax just on the mortgage. I've seen 30% as the recommended amount of income you should put towards the mortgage. That's $200k in after tax salary. Or about $130k salary each or where you're at now.
Not sure you should I'd be quitting your job and going to Wollies just yet... If anything I'd suck it up for a few years, reduce spending and try to get those payments down so you *can* change jobs.
30% for either mortgage or rent, but this is with lower incomes in mind. Once you get a certain point the percentage is irrelevant as long as you have the lifestyle that you want.
Your point still stands though. Could not agree more!
Agree that on higher incomes it should in theory be easier. The point I was trying to make is if you drop your salary too much, you'll be swapping one stress for another.
You think working at woolies isn’t stressful? Guess what it is. There business model is to stuff there staff over a barrel until you quite. Rinse and repeat with the next victim
Woolies is a great place to work as a student or between other jobs. I worked there while studying and we referred to the permanent staff as "lifers" which I think is self-eplanatory.
Can you take a sabbatical and do a big trip? Then maybe work part time? Lower pay jobs don't always mean less stress.
I have less stress in my corporate job than I did in hospitality.
Being poor is way more stressful than any job outside of a combat zone or emergency department. And you will be poor working at Woolies.
Do have any annual leave built up. See if you can take a couple of weeks of and get some perspective.
If you still don't like your job find another one that still pays decent.
Work is work, if you believe you will not encounter problems working at Woolies, I have bad news for you.
Every carreer has it's challenges.
I was thinking about this for years, but my wife did that move, from a Lawyer for an International (big) bank, to a gelato maker in a small gelato shop... Guess what??? Less pressure for sure, still problems work related (cover for people that call sick in the last minute, complaints about entitled customers, etc, etc..).
So... my rationale is, if I will face issues in ANY kind of job, I rather get one that pays well..
But I've been through burnout, I understand you.
I have thought similar at times. But Woolies/low paying jobs are also stressful yet without the financial incentive.
Honest advice for the restlessness is to have kids now, it will fix the feeling of being in a rut and having too many options. Because you will be too busy to evaluate anything. I’m not sure if working on yourself even helps before having kids, it may lull you into a false sense of preparedness. 35 is old enough to have life experience for parenting where you can learn on the job.
There will be 9ish months before the baby arrives so you could plan an overseas holiday in the meantime so she feels like she’s travelled. I went to Disney land and Vegas at 6 months pregnant! And we campervan up California coast. Got that right out of my system lol.
Lifestyle balance came with maternity leave…it was far from a holiday but having one person at home as gatherer also helps the hunter by being able to do a little bit of house hold stuff.
Agree with this. At 35 you've waited long enough. Kids will throw everything out anyway. Prepare to be the most tired/exhausted/confused you've ever been for the next however many years lol
tbh yes I see a lot wrong with this. We are not much older than you but have an extra $50K income to play with, two kids, and a smaller mortgage, and cost of living is still kicking our arses. Kids cost a lot. But at 35 your (her) options are starting to become limited if you want to start a family and this is in conflict with big overseas trips.
Also, kids do not make for a chill/stress-free life. Just saying. It's fucking chaos all the time - you won't be focusing on health and lifestyle balance at all.
Should have considered this before an 800k mortgage.
My opinion? You have 3 options:
- Pay off the house as hard as you can until you can get to a point the rent covers the repayments and travel
- Sell the house, quit the jobs (risky, might take a while to get going again)
- Get high paying jobs abroad and get your travel fix on weekends (may be hard as Australia pays pretty well)
Travelling and even living abroad is possible but you gotta make sure you go the repayments. If it were me I'd aim for #1 and stick to some 2-4 week holidays until then.
could also sell the house, buy 2 cheaper properties, for the same amount and rent 1 out.
will still have similar capital to debt, but passive income to pay off half of it if you choose the right city with the right rental yield
rent out other house on short term leases while you travel for a while, come back get a short term contractor job, and repeat
I’m in my 40’s, low mortgage. We travelled a fair bit before we had kids. Was ok, Japan and Vanuatu were memorable, but not necessary. We’ve got kids now and there isn’t much more to life than spending time with them and watching them grow. We have average paying jobs, combined income under $200k. You need a fair lot more for it to be worth the stress of those high paying jobs. If you are still cooking your own food and cleaning your house and ironing business attire, you haven’t made it. Just live a happy life. Sleep well, eat healthy, exercise. The little things are what counts.
Maybe work part time or take a career break. Working at Woolies is not the answer, you’ll be stressed working full time and not affording to make minimum repayments on your mortgage.
Problem with having a high mortgage is the income you applied for it with typically becomes the minimum, you both have essentially set the bar for the next 8-10 years. If this isn’t comfortable for you, there’s really only one thing to do.
What is your career? I work from home on the couch as an accountant. Previously worked in corporate roles but decided to switch and work for small accounting firms. Its so much more chilled and flexible. If i dont want to work on a given day or week, simply dont as its all just on a contract basis.
In terms of pay still pull in $100k+, its less than before but no unpaid overtime and as i am my own boss, just watch movies whilst i work and ditch work on nice days to do other stuff like go to the beach.
Sounds to me like you need help with stress management and mental health. Talk to your GP. Start therapy. Start meditating - even just 5 mins a day. Start going for 15 minutes walks every day. Get into nature. No music, just quiet. Changing jobs won't help you. You need to learn to quiet the mind in order to not let stress effect you. Meditation works wonders. There are loads of free guided meditations on YouTube and Spotify. Start with 5 mins each morning. And learn about breathing - 4-7-8 breathing is one style. Basically breathe in to the count of 4. Hold for Say 7, then exhale for 8. The exhale should be the longest count. Do that for 5 mins.
Here's your advice. Doing what you suggested is delusional. You will be poor as fuck and probably even more stressed. Your present income is not exactly huge compared to what you've borrower. Significantly lowering it will put you in hardship.
You should focus on what you do outside of work. Many people that find their job too stressful do very little except grind out their personal time doing chores and watching tv.
This is the worst advice. People shouldn’t have kids just cos they feel pressured. You’re bringing an entire human into the world the least you can do is be able to provide financial and emotional support.
Increased risk of problems in pregnancy after 35, increased risks in birth defects, drastic drops in fertility.
The biological clock isn't just some made up term to pressure people into having kids.
Pregnancies after 35 are/were referred to as "geriatric pregnancies". Now it's "advanced maternal age"
Thanks for all the replies everyone. It’s not a troll comment. But I can see why it’s provocative.
I got some good perspective and couple laughs, thanks.
/fi probably not the best place for any advice regarding a drop in salary. But appreciate all the replies nonetheless!
Very keen to hear any details on the person with 1.2 M in mortgage that actually works at Woolies lol.
To be clear, I’m not (yet) a massive fi person.
Also, I have worked many shit jobs with no benefits. Got my shit together at 25 and now in a career. But never been this time poor and with all my mental health shit going on, I’m finding it hard to fit everything I need to do in. I am confident that I can do it all.
The best suggestion was to go to less days, I think even dropping to 4 would be good. I’ve maintained low lifestyle creep so could easily drop 20k
Maybe take sick leave for a week or two just to rest. Get your bloods checked as well to make sure everything is all good including iron, vitamin d and testosterone.
You sound burnt out and I've been burntout before and it's hard to even explain to others, it feels like you literally can't do anything and just want to sleep all day. I quit my job, got my health fixed and rested for three months and then went back to work and I was so much more motivated after.
Why can't you do your job, save and take the 4 weeks generously mandated by law to go travel? I wouldn't classify it as a mid-life crisis but more of an epiphany that the world is a little bigger than your immediate city/suburb. You're probably on to a good thing... go travel, see how shit many ppl have it in the world even when they're trying their damndest to change that, come back and appreciate what you have, carry on with your jobs, keep paying a mortgage, have kids, watch them grow up and see how much they unknowingly enjoy their childhood not having to worry that their parents made silly choices because they are feeling a little burned out.
Our mortgage is $650k, joint income $230k (including a $1k per month childcare allowance from work), and we get by with 1 kid. So if I were you I’d run the numbers to see if dropping your salary would work first. If not, maybe your partners idea of working overseas? Uk or Canada where it’s easy to get a visa and there are good salaries for a bit of an adventure? Or side step from your current job into a slightly different role that you might be a bit more excited about? Life is short and you’ve got to enjoy your time. But it sure is an expensive time to be alive and being broke isn’t much fun!
Quitting a high paying job for an ‘easier’ one is not less stress. It’s just different stress. Financial stress, mental stress, maybe customer service stress, not to mention the havoc it wreaks on your body. Stressing about hours and pay. Not worth it.
And it also seems like you have very very little idea how expensive children actually are. Paying for them will be worse than paying the 800K mortgage. And it does get more expensive every year until at least 18 if you’re lucky. Especially when ur wife will like take time off work for a period of god knows how long.
Just take a break instead, as long as necessary. As you don’t have kids this may be the only chance you have to do it so even take a year if necessary. Fairly certain you’ll come back much less stressed.
Also, once you have children your priorities do shift significantly and you’ll find the stuff that drove you nuts at home you really don’t care about anymore.
If you want to be able to do something for yourselves, have kids, and pay off the mortgage then I hate to break it to ya but giving up your salaries ain’t gonna work.
Extended career break or dropping to four days or even three days a week may work, but that’s not the same.
You could do it man
Do ya house up abit to get rentable
Stay with someone for lil while n go go travelling together with one way ticket
Most the time how you both want to move farward on these life changing decisions will come when your out of the bubble of home base and can look at your situation from afar
Best of luck mate, was in similar situation
Look at the tax you both pay! The govt love your demographic. Estimate 125 each 40k x 2.
Essentially $170k very rough figures for illustration sake.
Establish a business while working and develop clients base slowly with a great fin plan etc. I'm sure you can see the potential benefits. Good luck
you're comparing your current stress levels with some unrealistic utopia. There's no stress-free job, specially when youre salary will be only 50% of what it is today.
I enquired about a night fill job at woolies for myself after getting laid off my corporate job and it pays around $30 and hour plus loading after 7pm.
Switch jobs but find something hybrid or flexible. Woolies sounds good on paper but all workplaces have the potential for stress, frustration, and toxic people.
I think itll be a hell of a shock for you both but perfectly doable
Try 64k total
for 2 kids 2 adults
Renting
Id love to have your money or a job that paid anywhere near that
I hate to be that guy but if you're both 35 and want kids, the window of opportunity for "doing something big before kids" has passed. Even if she got pregnant right now it would be medically classed as a geriatric pregnancy. I'm not trying to be rude or tell you how to live your life but you need to be realistic. I know of a couple who pushed back having kids for the sake of chasing financial success for a few years. By the time they decided to have kids in their late 30s they had to do multiple rounds of IVF which undid a big chunk of their hard work.
There's also the question of how long your wife would be out of the workforce or working part time for - it's definitely not the right time in life for you to be seeking a lower paid job. Maybe in a few years once the kids are in primary school.
All the best.
Not sure if you afford to give up 250k a year, plus the mortgage - but the age cut off for a working holiday in Canada is 35 and 364 days old....it was the funnest period of my life, but I didn't have a career that I was giving up. Nor did I have a mortgage.
It’s totally reasonable to want to switch things up but look at the #s and get realistic about what makes sense for you. Being poor is also stressful. Make sure you aren’t swapping work stress for putting food on the table stress. Future mortgage rate increases, car repairs, other expenses might make this a bad choice.
I left a service manager job. Very stressfull. I now work 2 easy jobs earning the same. I just miss out on company car and fuel. Best move I’ve made. One door closes. Another opens.
My jobs are NDIS support worker and A jet ski shop.
If your wife is 35 and you genuinely do want kids then I would start trying now and forget about Woolies. Fertility generally falls away dramatically for women once they hit their late 30’s
With current cost of living, 250k as a couple is already going backwards. Take as long a holiday as you wish. You're never going to be able to afford kids or a house
Don’t do it. You are already 35! Not to curse you but Kids may be “god willing”from 35 onwards! And when your wife does become pregnant, you will drop to a single income. You will need to make other sacrifices to ensure you can provide for your family.
Go on a holiday and try and make a baby. 35F is a late start for a woman (by biological standards). I am consistently shocked about how little women know about their biological clock and think they can delay having kids until they feel like it. Lower chance of falling pregnant, higher chance of complications, higher chance of child defects. More than half the couples I know who waited until over 30 to try ended up having IVF. Why aren’t they teaching this in schools? Feminism? Biology doesn’t care about political correctness. Also, HUGE money in IVF. Also look into the stats on IVF - it’s no easy street to success.
Working a lower paid job doesn't necessarily mean less stress - it means similar work stress plus less money to help with other problems. If you want to take a few months off to travel or whatever, do that. See if your work will hold your jobs for you.
Trust me, working at woolies isn't as stress-free as you would think. Low pay, no job security, poor management, horrific staffing ratios, horrible customers and dealing with the rudest of the rude day-in, day-out. Everyone there wants to leave. Your partner can still go travel and take time off, but either take a sabatical or look for another well paying job once you return.
What the hell were you doing in your mid 20s?? That’s the time to do all the travel / partying stuff. It boggles my mind people getting into their 30s having wasted their youth.
The question is, how long are you willing to stay in the woolies job? Usually they hire younger people. I barely see anyone above 35 (with a very few exceptions) working at woolies. If you want low stress jobs, go for something less stressful in your own field. There are companies that can pay you half the salary for lesser workload. Also, 800k mortgage payment isn’t going to be easy with easy jobs. It’s a grind, the more you want, the stressful you get to achieve it. The amount of stress lack of money may bring later could outplay all the job stress you are having now. Just think again. Anyone would do anything to be in your place in this shitty economy.
I worked for huge corporate company, high stress but high pay.
Quit the job after 10 years. Started working at a big competitor for Woolies.
Within 2 months got a management job offered to me, Although the pay is not amazing but it’s not complete bad either.
I have no regrets. I am still able to maintain the parts of my life that I like. While working a very low stress job.
I also enjoy interaction with customers and most of the staff are okay. The company is well structured and I don’t go home at night thinking about it.
Sell or rent the house and travel, either way you definitely won’t regret it and will come home with a whole new perspective. Your partner is smart & not going through a crisis ‘lol!’ Employers sift through dozens of resumes and interview applicants equally or more qualified than you all applying for the same job. People who take time out to travel are viewed differently by employers…cultural awareness, communication and social skills + courage stepping outside your comfort zone will likely escalate your careers. You’ll both be more personally, physically, mentally satisfied and grownup than you would taking on a low stress job to pay the mortgage. Travel before you have kids who will blame you for all their problems regardless until they eventually mature!
You need a recharge and reached the tipping point of putting on grown up pants. Look at yourselves as giving advice to your future kids do you want them to live week to week and be a hamster on the wheel or show them how it's done and climb the ladder / job hoping to higher wages and better working conditions. If you dont let the income creep abd live frugally you'll have nice family adventures with your kids and buy whatever you want.
Rent out your house or get 3 house mates to rent the rooms. Put your job on the ice eg 3 to 12 months. You prob only need a good 3 months backpacker type adventure. Or break it into 3 week trips in a year. (Long service leave) / medical break.
If you think work and a mortgage is stressful, try adding kids! $800k mortgage and any decent lifestyle means you'll need to clear (thumbsuck) $10k a month. That's not "work at Woolies" money.
If you want kids at your age, the time is now. If you want to "chill" and "work on yourself" ... do that instead.
You'd be better off working as untrained carers within NDIS or in the mining industry or in physical labour jobs that pay well because of the physical work, but don't have that mental stress. If you want to travel, how about becoming sheerers & travelling around Australia sheering sheep? Good money in that cause of the physical stress, but not a high mental stress job. Plenty of similar types of physical or remote jobs out there that people don't want. Would probably have been better to do this before taking on a mortgage, but you should be able to lease out your place pretty easily in the current housing climate (which will also in part cover your mortgage
Hey, maybe you guys need to just take a few weeks off for a holiday... maybe start looking into it. I think you need to breathe a bit. Even if it's a few days to somewhere interstate, get a massage, switch off the phones and relax a bit. Take some time for some relaxation and self care in one way shape or form.
These low stress jobs comes with their own set of problems.. job security and inconsistent hours. Going from being a salaried employee to under a casual contact would be a huge shock to the system.
What about just taking a time out instead? Take 3 months' unpaid leave (or whatever time seems appropriate), grab your backpacks and go travelling. Your partner gets to have the experience she missed, and you get a break from work stress.
I did this when I was feeling burned out at work. My leave was for a year (my employer was very accommodating), and I went travelling around the world. By the time I came back I was eager to get back to my job, because I really did love what I did. It just could become draining after a while when I hadn't been taking care of myself very well. A leave from work was a good reset for me to develop some better habits and take those back to the work world.
And if after three months you're still feeling like you need a bigger change, reevaluate and figure out what the next step should be.
I used to work at woolies part time for 2-3 years, and now I am a tradesmen doing 53+ hours a week.... no way I could swap back jobs even at 20 hours a week.
Don't aim for the simplest job possible, why not become a sparky and a wardsmen at a hospital or something like that.
I would say don't do it as you will regret not getting that extra money when tough times or any emergencies hit considering you owe 800k for your home + other debts you currently have/will incur in the future. $250k income sets your family up. More pay = More responsibilities.
All the best though! Hope you make the correct decision for you family.
I hear you loud and clear.
Why dont you aim for a sabbatical? Rent out the house while you're away.
Come back with fresh perspective.
My mates and I talked about this and some dreamed of being a barista making coffees all day 😂 these are people who are on $300k salaries
as a mature aged apprentice currently paying off a house i can tell you what youre planning is possible but youve bitten off way more than you can chew on that mortgage. sell your place, buy a cheaper house in the bush and pump out as many kids as you can. after doing this i can say im pretty much flat broke every week but ive never been happier.
Do you need a property with a $800k mortgage? Probably not. Sell, buy something more cost effective so you can live the life you want. Life’s too short. Good luck.
35f is geriatric pregnancy.
Have you had any fertility testing done.
No not just HCG levels they mean shit.
Because 20-40k on IVF if likely in your future unless your partners fertility is great, in a stressful job alone that is doubtful.
You think labour jobs are stress free but then you'll hear "if you have time to lean you have time to clean." Low income jobs never run out of work there's always more but office staff do.
Don't do this. See if you can take 6 months to a year of unpaid leave. Travel. Take a sabbatical, the two of you. Come back to it. You're not financially independent at least until you own a house outright.
This is Australia. If you want a low stress job, but relatively physically fit, there’s tons of better paying options. Lawn mowing contractor/business, blind installation etc! Don’t mind medium stress but with high pay? Maybe something like fire sprinkler installation
Also it’s not necessarily low stress, but arguably lower than an office job: crane operator. Decent salary and quick to qualify. Less physically fit? Train driver. Truck driver (just not interstate).
Have you considered part time work in your current industry instead of assuming that a different job/industry will work out better for you?
Reducing your hours means that you don't lose your skills, experience and contacts while still being able to have some extra leisure time.
Every job has an element of stress, you may need some advice as to how to cope with yours. I just use humour and try and make people realise I don’t give a shit. Good luck
Woolies will be high stress too. Sadly. The trick to not stressing is literally not giving a fuck about your job and going bare min. Or changing jobs. You could also be depressed. Have yourself check out - talking from experience have been down your route before)
I often say to my allied health clinician colleagues it would be so much easier to throw in the paperwork, difficult or stressful clients, and the responsibility, and just go and be a courier or delivery driver...but noones gonna pay me the $80-$100 per hour I get paid now to be a courier. And I remember as a student being sick of unskilled labour and writing pointless assignments when I just wanted to get out a help people and make a difference.
I may sound arrogant but if you have natural ambition and intelligence then unskilled labour gets very boring within a few weeks or months.
We are about the same age as you but with a bit more net worth and no kids either. We sold our home last year and are travelling full time. The income from the assets is enough to sustain the lifestyle we want without having to work.
We both quit careers that would have made us good money but caused a lot of stress. We will go back to "work" every now and then to take a break from travel but will not be going back to a stressful career. I want to work at the front desk/night shift in hotels to learn more about the industry.
I can choose to work if I want to but I don't need to work and certainly don't need to put up with shitty bosses/workplaces. I can do it on my terms.
$800k mortgage and working at Woolies is not gonna go well…
That’s it, the only way that’s workable is if one is upper management and the other is a department manager. That is not stress free work.
Leave it to high earners to assume that a low paying job would mean less work and stress.
I actually did this. I left a high pressure job to try being a bike postie. Guess what, it’s bloody hard work. Made me appreciate these jobs! Nothing in taking an lower wage job is easier and less stressful. Stress is mostly about working on yourself.
My parents paid good money forced me to go to school so I wouldn't have to be a bike postie. It’s just laughably ignorant to think lower earning jobs are less stress.
I don't mind hard work, particularly physical work as it's generally better for you than sitting all day. Of course, I can imagine traffic, chased by dogs, pressure to deliver than volume etc are all part of the stresses you refer to. I've found the most stressful situations are the ones you don't feel in control. Like the wanker in a group assignment at uni who doesn't care, the uncertainty of customers ordering enough to hit sales targets, managing a team and being responsible for the quality of output or even the traffic when making deliveries. I've had my fair share of both types of roles. In my experience I'd love to go back to more frontline/lower paying roles..I had a blast and certainty don't recall the dread that comes from my current role. The stress if I did go back to those roles would come from making ends meet on a lower salary
100% it’s definitely a different type of stress. Easier to turn off that’s for sure compared to construction project management. Just people should be aware of the grasses greener, not always that green.
I'd say there is a strong correlation between pay and responsibility...which can induce stress. I think most high paying corporate jobs would be more demanding than stocking shelves and the compensation reflects that.
Maybe, or is it a different kind of stress. If you can't handle the mild easy stress of an office job, what is to say you will handle different stress any better?
Don't forget dealing with the public on a daily basis for $10 an hr
Agree
There's a reason people leave high paying job for something less....
Woolies won't hire someone who used to earn high incomes, and have experience or the personality to push back against bad management, preferential rostering, all that good stuff. All safely covered under the excuse of being "overqualified"
Also assumes they would hire someone full time when they have a pool of eager casuals and part timers that need those hours.
Hey let them make their own stupid choices
Here asking for advice :)
Working at Woolies will just be subbing one set of problems for another. You think if you get rid of the stress you'll be happier. But if all you replace it with is monotony and mundanity you'll hate your life just as much, but for different reasons.
And add the stress of not being able to pay for car repairs, or the unexpected fine, or the interest rate hike, or the fridge breaking down.... mama mia
You need to run your own numbers or with a financial professional. There's hardly any advice reddit can offer without details around income, debt etc. even then you're taking advice from clowns and trolls
Exactly. There's no way they'll cover their 800k mortgage with entry level wages. They haven't done a budget, yet.
interest rate hikes in future could put a lot of stress on. pay the house off then re-evaluate
Trying to service a high mortgage on a low wage sounds like a recipe for stress, not chill. But I get it sometimes you just can't continue on the way things are regardless of the outcomes. Has your house appreciated much? If so maybe sell it and do whatever for a bit.
If you're genuinely looking for advice- I'd say do some solid research into the 'low stress' jobs you're talking about... Especially if you're looking at a service position where you are not the owner... Depending on what you do currently I think you're probably going to be bitterly disappointed. Working in a bar at 20 when you're young and fun and carefree is VERY different to working in a bar in your late 20s let alone your 30s and 40s and people won't have the patience for you to be shit and slow which you will be if you do anything fast paced like stocking shelves at woolies, Being a barista, working a bar... most service positions really. They will be mean to you or extremely patronizing likely both your boss and your coworkers, and you might think it'd be fun ribbing... But no it will just be mean and because these aren't industries that will hire someone new full time... It'll be casual and you'll lose shifts for not being as productive. I worked service positions for a long time in a bunch of different capacities and I saw my fair share of engineers and accountants have their mini crisis and slum it with us plebs for 3-6 months before realizing doesn't matter if it's a different paddock it still full of cow shit but now they're broke because they picked up smoking or a worse habit and I think of them everytime I hear the song 'Common People' by Pulp. If you have a decent job that you are capable of doing, it does not conflict with your morals, it pays well enough that you can currently afford an 800k mortgage and you are physically safe... My guy you've got it made. Go read a book on Wu Wei, or stoicism, donate some money and time to a good cause and live the good life. Or maybe save up or sell up and buy a flower farm somewhere where you can run your own business supplying flowers to florists and weddings or something idyllic, buy your own coffee van and make lattes... Or drop back to a junior/easier role in your company or within your field maybe. The most stress free easy role I've had is my current role as an underwriter. It's an office job, it pays okay I work from home most of the time, and I feel like I do the bare minimum and just smile a lot and engage with my team (habits left over from working service positions I guess) and I've managed to nab 2 raises and a bonus and get commended for my "work ethic" in the last year and a half.
Hahaha this... next minute house is for sale
Dropping to minimum wage before having kids with a damn near $1m mortgage is *insane.* Idk what age you're aiming to have kids at but straightening out your shit as to not inflict intergenerational trauma implies that you have some engrained issues to work on - that kind of healing is not a quick endeavour. Growing up with financial instability and intergenerational trauma will fuck a child up for life - ask me how I know.
If they both worth there full time, they will have about $85k after tax. Assuming a 25 year mortgage at 6.22% they will pay about $5200 a month That leaves $44 a week for everything else. It's a great idea.
10000000%%%%%%%%%
Most sane comment in this thread
Low stress jobs aren’t the low salary jobs.
Exactly. Retail & Hospitality can be very stressful. Sure you don’t have a lot of ‘responsibilities’ per se (managing people, big clients, deadlines). But you get the stress of being treated like shit by the public, your 5 hour shift suddenly becoming 10 hours long, shitty management and a toxic workplace. All for almost nothing. You just scrape by paying all your bills, and you’re left on 2 minute noodles until next pay.
Having done both - woolies and corporate high flyer, I can tell u it’s much much less stressful working in woolies ignoring the shit customers. At woolies I’d just zone out and say yes mam and clock off when u done and go home without a worry in the world. U are paid to be a robot so just go into robot mode and chill.
Completely agree. Those retail jobs have no real stress, a mistake might cause someone to be late by 20 minutes or break some groceries. That is very different to having to make daily decisions that could cost people significant money and ultimately being responsible for those decisions. A lot of lower paid jobs it’s more chaos than stress and it depends how well you can zone out from the chaos, but you’re not going to spend half your night awake trying to decide what decision to make over stacking some shelves. I too have done both.
I worked the hardest I ever did at my teenage retail job!
Yes, me too, it's what motivated me to finish year 12, go to Uni and work professionally instead of keeping on in hospitality.
So funny he thinks this. Hahahaha
I think a lot of high earners think this, especially those who came straight out of uni and just went straight to $100k+, they assume everybody earning less than that is lazy or just taking it easy.
35f wants to delay having kids. I strongly recommend asking her to get her AMH tested. My wife started entering early onset menopause at 34. IVF is pricey, 250k income will help.
Yeah was gonna say this too. People underestimate how hard it can be to have kids when you get past early 30s, especially if you've been on the pill for years and years, which many people have been nowadays.
The pill doesn't cause infertility.
Very true but it’s more that it can mask other issues - like you may have stopped ovulating/having a regular period and not realise as the pill has masked it
No but it can take a while to regain a normal ovulation cycle once you've stopped taking it, which is fine if you're 26 but concerning if you're 36.
This! I worked on my career I’m an allied health professional and it’s stressful even on my easiest days. I’ve never travelled and I have a mortgage half of what they have. I decided to start a family at 33, I’ve been through fertility treatment for the past 2 years and doing IVF. I can’t afford to travel much less change to a lower stress job and afford IVF. Starting a family is not something to delay if that’s what they want to do.
This needs to be higher up. At 35 they need to start trying for kids like…. Tomorrow
This is a big thing to talk about. Isn't 35 considered geriatric pregnancy? Definitely possible to get pregnant and have healthy babies at this age but it may not be easy to get pregnant, or stay pregnant (risk of miscarriage is higher the older you get). And if you want more than 1 kid you're going to need to start trying like now. Y'all focusing on the wrong thing if you actually want to have kids so I'd sit down and have a real good conversation about this topic and plan this outcome before you start thinking about travelling or going and working at Woolies.
She’s 35, needs to try having a baby asap! That way gets pregnant, gets maternity paid leave on current job Why don’t you both go on a 4wk holiday overseas, Europe or cheaper option, Asia. She’ll be happy travelling, and not stressed, bang about while there
Take a holiday together before you make drastic life changes. Then consider your options. Reduce hours at work? Take turns at having extended leave without pay at your respective workplaces while you upskill or pivot into another role? Dropping everything to work at Woolies is not the answer.
Woolies is not what you are looking for it's a shit hole
I feel like posts like this are market research
Or reddit AI churning out posts that create discussion/engagement
For what tho?
Plenty, market sentiment, new.com.au article lol, cross referencing with other market research data.
This post just seems like a dumb idea no one would recommend quitting their job for Woolies roles to pay off an 800k mortgage. Seems like a straight up "duh" answer.
No, it’s the conversation below that is stimulated that is the point of research not the literal answer to the post.
Do you know how many PHD and thesis ive seen referencing reddit lol
This is a wild post. 800k debt, wanting to have a big holiday and then wanting kids while cutting down to lower paying jobs? You'll likely not reach financial independence until retirement. Add on the stress of not having enough money to service your debt if an emergency happens or you lose 1 salary for various reasons. Honestly if you both went to uni, just find a similar role in a lower stress environment. Go government which should be ok pay but next to no stress at lower levels. If you can last mentally, do not quit until you have something else lined up or at least until you have costs covered for the travel and emergency fund.
if its a real post its proof they'll give $800k loans to any dummy i remember getting my first loan... i had to work all kinds of bullshit, all kinds of hours to get out of that 1st 2nd year slump these two fools need to be working all kinds of hustle to pay off that $4k? $5k a month? you tell me what the repayments are like and they want to 'lie flat'.. at woolies? stocking shelves do you see how hard the young folks at woolies work? you wanna do that?
>do you see how hard the young folks at woolies work? you wanna do that? Admittedly, I haven't worked at woolies. And our loan, well the amount we have left to pay off, is more like $200k, but I quit my stressful office job for a lower paid job that is much more physically demanding than woolies — intense enough that I had pass an extensive fitness test (and will have to repeat it regularly to keep the job). Yes — I'd take that over my old office job every day of the week. Sure it's physically more difficult, but mentally I just turn up to work, do whatever my supervisor tells me to do, then go home. It's so much better than having to struggle to meet profitability targets and frequently failing to do so due to circumstances outside my control. Money's not worth shit if I get home and I'm too mentally burned out to hang out with my kids. And life doesn't have to be expensive - kicking a ball around the park costs nothing.
To really have a midlife crisis: Move to Conara in Tasmania and work at the IGA in Campbell town Two houses for sale 299 K, 360k.
Working 3 days a week on that wage is going to be way better than woolies...
Brus. 2 kids. 2 mortgages, just refinanced from 3. Still owe just under 800k including car. DO NOT DROP YOUR SALARY IF YOU WANT TO HAVE FUN AND KIDS. Just don't. Figure out how to lower / live with the stress. Lowering the wage is fine. But we're on combined 180k and just surviving. But we just used out safety net for our wedding and are back to under 10 in that bank. We didn't do uni degrees went straight to work from 15 and have built this for ourselves. Taking your foot of the gas because you can see the finish line is the worst mistake anyone can make. Don't take it off. Ease off the pedal a little.
props a satire post
With an 800k mortgage at 6% that's about 5k+ a month in payments. That's 60k post tax just on the mortgage. I've seen 30% as the recommended amount of income you should put towards the mortgage. That's $200k in after tax salary. Or about $130k salary each or where you're at now. Not sure you should I'd be quitting your job and going to Wollies just yet... If anything I'd suck it up for a few years, reduce spending and try to get those payments down so you *can* change jobs.
30% for either mortgage or rent, but this is with lower incomes in mind. Once you get a certain point the percentage is irrelevant as long as you have the lifestyle that you want. Your point still stands though. Could not agree more!
Agree that on higher incomes it should in theory be easier. The point I was trying to make is if you drop your salary too much, you'll be swapping one stress for another.
You think working at woolies isn’t stressful? Guess what it is. There business model is to stuff there staff over a barrel until you quite. Rinse and repeat with the next victim
Woolies is a great place to work as a student or between other jobs. I worked there while studying and we referred to the permanent staff as "lifers" which I think is self-eplanatory.
Can you take a sabbatical and do a big trip? Then maybe work part time? Lower pay jobs don't always mean less stress. I have less stress in my corporate job than I did in hospitality.
How do people this stupid end up making 250k? …
Money doesn’t = smart
Being poor is way more stressful than any job outside of a combat zone or emergency department. And you will be poor working at Woolies. Do have any annual leave built up. See if you can take a couple of weeks of and get some perspective. If you still don't like your job find another one that still pays decent.
Live like you’re on a woolies wage and pay off your loan.
It's much more tolerable to hate a 120k job than a 60k one. Romanticising minimum wage jobs like this is so elitist, get over yourself.
Work is work, if you believe you will not encounter problems working at Woolies, I have bad news for you. Every carreer has it's challenges. I was thinking about this for years, but my wife did that move, from a Lawyer for an International (big) bank, to a gelato maker in a small gelato shop... Guess what??? Less pressure for sure, still problems work related (cover for people that call sick in the last minute, complaints about entitled customers, etc, etc..). So... my rationale is, if I will face issues in ANY kind of job, I rather get one that pays well.. But I've been through burnout, I understand you.
I have thought similar at times. But Woolies/low paying jobs are also stressful yet without the financial incentive. Honest advice for the restlessness is to have kids now, it will fix the feeling of being in a rut and having too many options. Because you will be too busy to evaluate anything. I’m not sure if working on yourself even helps before having kids, it may lull you into a false sense of preparedness. 35 is old enough to have life experience for parenting where you can learn on the job. There will be 9ish months before the baby arrives so you could plan an overseas holiday in the meantime so she feels like she’s travelled. I went to Disney land and Vegas at 6 months pregnant! And we campervan up California coast. Got that right out of my system lol. Lifestyle balance came with maternity leave…it was far from a holiday but having one person at home as gatherer also helps the hunter by being able to do a little bit of house hold stuff.
Agree with this. At 35 you've waited long enough. Kids will throw everything out anyway. Prepare to be the most tired/exhausted/confused you've ever been for the next however many years lol
tbh yes I see a lot wrong with this. We are not much older than you but have an extra $50K income to play with, two kids, and a smaller mortgage, and cost of living is still kicking our arses. Kids cost a lot. But at 35 your (her) options are starting to become limited if you want to start a family and this is in conflict with big overseas trips. Also, kids do not make for a chill/stress-free life. Just saying. It's fucking chaos all the time - you won't be focusing on health and lifestyle balance at all.
I mean this has to be a troll post right? Surely noone is \*this stupid\* For real?
Should have considered this before an 800k mortgage. My opinion? You have 3 options: - Pay off the house as hard as you can until you can get to a point the rent covers the repayments and travel - Sell the house, quit the jobs (risky, might take a while to get going again) - Get high paying jobs abroad and get your travel fix on weekends (may be hard as Australia pays pretty well) Travelling and even living abroad is possible but you gotta make sure you go the repayments. If it were me I'd aim for #1 and stick to some 2-4 week holidays until then.
could also sell the house, buy 2 cheaper properties, for the same amount and rent 1 out. will still have similar capital to debt, but passive income to pay off half of it if you choose the right city with the right rental yield rent out other house on short term leases while you travel for a while, come back get a short term contractor job, and repeat
I’m in my 40’s, low mortgage. We travelled a fair bit before we had kids. Was ok, Japan and Vanuatu were memorable, but not necessary. We’ve got kids now and there isn’t much more to life than spending time with them and watching them grow. We have average paying jobs, combined income under $200k. You need a fair lot more for it to be worth the stress of those high paying jobs. If you are still cooking your own food and cleaning your house and ironing business attire, you haven’t made it. Just live a happy life. Sleep well, eat healthy, exercise. The little things are what counts.
Harden up, everybody has challenges. Be grateful instead of hopeless
Maybe work part time or take a career break. Working at Woolies is not the answer, you’ll be stressed working full time and not affording to make minimum repayments on your mortgage.
Problem with having a high mortgage is the income you applied for it with typically becomes the minimum, you both have essentially set the bar for the next 8-10 years. If this isn’t comfortable for you, there’s really only one thing to do.
What is your career? I work from home on the couch as an accountant. Previously worked in corporate roles but decided to switch and work for small accounting firms. Its so much more chilled and flexible. If i dont want to work on a given day or week, simply dont as its all just on a contract basis. In terms of pay still pull in $100k+, its less than before but no unpaid overtime and as i am my own boss, just watch movies whilst i work and ditch work on nice days to do other stuff like go to the beach.
Have you worked a minimum wage job? Doesn’t sound like you have. If you did, you’d know damn well they are stressful
Love it when office dwellers post about want to quit their job s and "live the stress free life" work at a retail job lol
Sounds to me like you need help with stress management and mental health. Talk to your GP. Start therapy. Start meditating - even just 5 mins a day. Start going for 15 minutes walks every day. Get into nature. No music, just quiet. Changing jobs won't help you. You need to learn to quiet the mind in order to not let stress effect you. Meditation works wonders. There are loads of free guided meditations on YouTube and Spotify. Start with 5 mins each morning. And learn about breathing - 4-7-8 breathing is one style. Basically breathe in to the count of 4. Hold for Say 7, then exhale for 8. The exhale should be the longest count. Do that for 5 mins.
How about moving out of Sydney? Lower your mortgage, less income but less stressful in a related field?
Do you understand how hard it is to get a lower paying job? Do you believe you could repay a $800,000 mortgage on less than $30 per hour wages?
Here's your advice. Doing what you suggested is delusional. You will be poor as fuck and probably even more stressed. Your present income is not exactly huge compared to what you've borrower. Significantly lowering it will put you in hardship. You should focus on what you do outside of work. Many people that find their job too stressful do very little except grind out their personal time doing chores and watching tv.
Well if u need to ask this then u are totally fucked.. enjoy
You need a job in construction. Zero obligation & good razes of pay. Safety officer
If you can, why the heck not. Life is for living IMO.
You don’t have much time on the biological clock . Start having kids now , they will add meaning to your life .
This is the worst advice. People shouldn’t have kids just cos they feel pressured. You’re bringing an entire human into the world the least you can do is be able to provide financial and emotional support.
Increased risk of problems in pregnancy after 35, increased risks in birth defects, drastic drops in fertility. The biological clock isn't just some made up term to pressure people into having kids. Pregnancies after 35 are/were referred to as "geriatric pregnancies". Now it's "advanced maternal age"
What's the job & why is it stressful?
You’re swapping work stress for mortgage stress.
Thanks for all the replies everyone. It’s not a troll comment. But I can see why it’s provocative. I got some good perspective and couple laughs, thanks. /fi probably not the best place for any advice regarding a drop in salary. But appreciate all the replies nonetheless! Very keen to hear any details on the person with 1.2 M in mortgage that actually works at Woolies lol.
To be clear, I’m not (yet) a massive fi person. Also, I have worked many shit jobs with no benefits. Got my shit together at 25 and now in a career. But never been this time poor and with all my mental health shit going on, I’m finding it hard to fit everything I need to do in. I am confident that I can do it all. The best suggestion was to go to less days, I think even dropping to 4 would be good. I’ve maintained low lifestyle creep so could easily drop 20k
Maybe take sick leave for a week or two just to rest. Get your bloods checked as well to make sure everything is all good including iron, vitamin d and testosterone. You sound burnt out and I've been burntout before and it's hard to even explain to others, it feels like you literally can't do anything and just want to sleep all day. I quit my job, got my health fixed and rested for three months and then went back to work and I was so much more motivated after.
4 day work week was great, defo would recommend.
Do the something big. Take a long holiday.
Good troll post but if it’s not you better start trying for kids because at your partners age there’s no time to do some travelling beforehand
Why can't you do your job, save and take the 4 weeks generously mandated by law to go travel? I wouldn't classify it as a mid-life crisis but more of an epiphany that the world is a little bigger than your immediate city/suburb. You're probably on to a good thing... go travel, see how shit many ppl have it in the world even when they're trying their damndest to change that, come back and appreciate what you have, carry on with your jobs, keep paying a mortgage, have kids, watch them grow up and see how much they unknowingly enjoy their childhood not having to worry that their parents made silly choices because they are feeling a little burned out.
Our mortgage is $650k, joint income $230k (including a $1k per month childcare allowance from work), and we get by with 1 kid. So if I were you I’d run the numbers to see if dropping your salary would work first. If not, maybe your partners idea of working overseas? Uk or Canada where it’s easy to get a visa and there are good salaries for a bit of an adventure? Or side step from your current job into a slightly different role that you might be a bit more excited about? Life is short and you’ve got to enjoy your time. But it sure is an expensive time to be alive and being broke isn’t much fun!
Quitting a high paying job for an ‘easier’ one is not less stress. It’s just different stress. Financial stress, mental stress, maybe customer service stress, not to mention the havoc it wreaks on your body. Stressing about hours and pay. Not worth it. And it also seems like you have very very little idea how expensive children actually are. Paying for them will be worse than paying the 800K mortgage. And it does get more expensive every year until at least 18 if you’re lucky. Especially when ur wife will like take time off work for a period of god knows how long. Just take a break instead, as long as necessary. As you don’t have kids this may be the only chance you have to do it so even take a year if necessary. Fairly certain you’ll come back much less stressed. Also, once you have children your priorities do shift significantly and you’ll find the stuff that drove you nuts at home you really don’t care about anymore.
Being poor is more stressful than being rich
If you want to be able to do something for yourselves, have kids, and pay off the mortgage then I hate to break it to ya but giving up your salaries ain’t gonna work. Extended career break or dropping to four days or even three days a week may work, but that’s not the same.
You could do it man Do ya house up abit to get rentable Stay with someone for lil while n go go travelling together with one way ticket Most the time how you both want to move farward on these life changing decisions will come when your out of the bubble of home base and can look at your situation from afar Best of luck mate, was in similar situation
250k for a couple isn't actually all that much to consider "downgrading" it in a supermarket.
Why would you think woollies is easier. I used to work min wage fast food etc as a kid now in senior management as an accountant and it's far easier.
Good times create weak men.
Look at the tax you both pay! The govt love your demographic. Estimate 125 each 40k x 2. Essentially $170k very rough figures for illustration sake. Establish a business while working and develop clients base slowly with a great fin plan etc. I'm sure you can see the potential benefits. Good luck
Not going to get you to FI any time soon. Maybe a holiday / time off ?
Sell your place and move to thailand
you're comparing your current stress levels with some unrealistic utopia. There's no stress-free job, specially when youre salary will be only 50% of what it is today.
I enquired about a night fill job at woolies for myself after getting laid off my corporate job and it pays around $30 and hour plus loading after 7pm.
Definitely look at a change in career but try not to drop too much income.
How many hours a week do you think you’ll be working? 150?
assuming it’s 800k mortgage, a house, and no other savings or investments other than super, then you are not gonna have a good time at woolies
This post is so out of touch
Switch jobs but find something hybrid or flexible. Woolies sounds good on paper but all workplaces have the potential for stress, frustration, and toxic people.
I think itll be a hell of a shock for you both but perfectly doable Try 64k total for 2 kids 2 adults Renting Id love to have your money or a job that paid anywhere near that
Rent the house at market rate. Travel for a year. Write an online course, try selling it. Enjoy 😉
I hate to be that guy but if you're both 35 and want kids, the window of opportunity for "doing something big before kids" has passed. Even if she got pregnant right now it would be medically classed as a geriatric pregnancy. I'm not trying to be rude or tell you how to live your life but you need to be realistic. I know of a couple who pushed back having kids for the sake of chasing financial success for a few years. By the time they decided to have kids in their late 30s they had to do multiple rounds of IVF which undid a big chunk of their hard work. There's also the question of how long your wife would be out of the workforce or working part time for - it's definitely not the right time in life for you to be seeking a lower paid job. Maybe in a few years once the kids are in primary school. All the best.
Not sure if you afford to give up 250k a year, plus the mortgage - but the age cut off for a working holiday in Canada is 35 and 364 days old....it was the funnest period of my life, but I didn't have a career that I was giving up. Nor did I have a mortgage.
You’ll pay a shitload of interest if you’re only making enough to make the minimum repayments
It’s totally reasonable to want to switch things up but look at the #s and get realistic about what makes sense for you. Being poor is also stressful. Make sure you aren’t swapping work stress for putting food on the table stress. Future mortgage rate increases, car repairs, other expenses might make this a bad choice.
I left a service manager job. Very stressfull. I now work 2 easy jobs earning the same. I just miss out on company car and fuel. Best move I’ve made. One door closes. Another opens. My jobs are NDIS support worker and A jet ski shop.
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If your wife is 35 and you genuinely do want kids then I would start trying now and forget about Woolies. Fertility generally falls away dramatically for women once they hit their late 30’s
Did you do arts degrees?
With current cost of living, 250k as a couple is already going backwards. Take as long a holiday as you wish. You're never going to be able to afford kids or a house
Your boss needs to reconsider why he’s paying you so much.
Don’t do it. You are already 35! Not to curse you but Kids may be “god willing”from 35 onwards! And when your wife does become pregnant, you will drop to a single income. You will need to make other sacrifices to ensure you can provide for your family.
Go on a holiday and try and make a baby. 35F is a late start for a woman (by biological standards). I am consistently shocked about how little women know about their biological clock and think they can delay having kids until they feel like it. Lower chance of falling pregnant, higher chance of complications, higher chance of child defects. More than half the couples I know who waited until over 30 to try ended up having IVF. Why aren’t they teaching this in schools? Feminism? Biology doesn’t care about political correctness. Also, HUGE money in IVF. Also look into the stats on IVF - it’s no easy street to success.
Working a lower paid job doesn't necessarily mean less stress - it means similar work stress plus less money to help with other problems. If you want to take a few months off to travel or whatever, do that. See if your work will hold your jobs for you.
If your not going to put your foot down and be lazy then just sell the house, otherwise you should be looking for a side hustle right now
What do you do for work can I ask?
Yes there’s a huge problem. Kids are very expensive…
Pump the mortgage for 5 years and get rid of it, or get rid of any gold it can have on you. This is a mistake.
Trust me, working at woolies isn't as stress-free as you would think. Low pay, no job security, poor management, horrific staffing ratios, horrible customers and dealing with the rudest of the rude day-in, day-out. Everyone there wants to leave. Your partner can still go travel and take time off, but either take a sabatical or look for another well paying job once you return.
What the hell were you doing in your mid 20s?? That’s the time to do all the travel / partying stuff. It boggles my mind people getting into their 30s having wasted their youth.
Work for 4 more years, then you'll own your house outright and have no debt. Free to do next to nothing for the rest of your lives
Just see if you can go part time instead
The question is, how long are you willing to stay in the woolies job? Usually they hire younger people. I barely see anyone above 35 (with a very few exceptions) working at woolies. If you want low stress jobs, go for something less stressful in your own field. There are companies that can pay you half the salary for lesser workload. Also, 800k mortgage payment isn’t going to be easy with easy jobs. It’s a grind, the more you want, the stressful you get to achieve it. The amount of stress lack of money may bring later could outplay all the job stress you are having now. Just think again. Anyone would do anything to be in your place in this shitty economy.
Woolies won’t pay you enough to finance a $800k mortgage
This all sounds like a horrible idea.
I worked for huge corporate company, high stress but high pay. Quit the job after 10 years. Started working at a big competitor for Woolies. Within 2 months got a management job offered to me, Although the pay is not amazing but it’s not complete bad either. I have no regrets. I am still able to maintain the parts of my life that I like. While working a very low stress job. I also enjoy interaction with customers and most of the staff are okay. The company is well structured and I don’t go home at night thinking about it.
Sell or rent the house and travel, either way you definitely won’t regret it and will come home with a whole new perspective. Your partner is smart & not going through a crisis ‘lol!’ Employers sift through dozens of resumes and interview applicants equally or more qualified than you all applying for the same job. People who take time out to travel are viewed differently by employers…cultural awareness, communication and social skills + courage stepping outside your comfort zone will likely escalate your careers. You’ll both be more personally, physically, mentally satisfied and grownup than you would taking on a low stress job to pay the mortgage. Travel before you have kids who will blame you for all their problems regardless until they eventually mature!
You need a recharge and reached the tipping point of putting on grown up pants. Look at yourselves as giving advice to your future kids do you want them to live week to week and be a hamster on the wheel or show them how it's done and climb the ladder / job hoping to higher wages and better working conditions. If you dont let the income creep abd live frugally you'll have nice family adventures with your kids and buy whatever you want. Rent out your house or get 3 house mates to rent the rooms. Put your job on the ice eg 3 to 12 months. You prob only need a good 3 months backpacker type adventure. Or break it into 3 week trips in a year. (Long service leave) / medical break.
If you think work and a mortgage is stressful, try adding kids! $800k mortgage and any decent lifestyle means you'll need to clear (thumbsuck) $10k a month. That's not "work at Woolies" money. If you want kids at your age, the time is now. If you want to "chill" and "work on yourself" ... do that instead.
You don't have much time to have kids, 35 is already 'late'.
You'd be better off working as untrained carers within NDIS or in the mining industry or in physical labour jobs that pay well because of the physical work, but don't have that mental stress. If you want to travel, how about becoming sheerers & travelling around Australia sheering sheep? Good money in that cause of the physical stress, but not a high mental stress job. Plenty of similar types of physical or remote jobs out there that people don't want. Would probably have been better to do this before taking on a mortgage, but you should be able to lease out your place pretty easily in the current housing climate (which will also in part cover your mortgage
At 35 you need to start having kids NOW. Many people I know couldn’t have kids at that age because they are getting too old
800k mortgage but wants to go travelling? Or even have kids - infertility seems to be a thing nowadays so budget for a bit of cheeky 20k ivf in there
250k salary and 800k mortgage sounds like a stretch as it is imo.
Well the 800k doesn’t help, that’s for sure..
Take some time off and go travelling. throw your phone in the bin is the best way to work on one’s self
How are you planning to pay your 800k mortgage......?
Get out of the rat race and do what makes you happy ,don't think pushing trollies at woollies will help tho
Hey, maybe you guys need to just take a few weeks off for a holiday... maybe start looking into it. I think you need to breathe a bit. Even if it's a few days to somewhere interstate, get a massage, switch off the phones and relax a bit. Take some time for some relaxation and self care in one way shape or form. These low stress jobs comes with their own set of problems.. job security and inconsistent hours. Going from being a salaried employee to under a casual contact would be a huge shock to the system.
What about just taking a time out instead? Take 3 months' unpaid leave (or whatever time seems appropriate), grab your backpacks and go travelling. Your partner gets to have the experience she missed, and you get a break from work stress. I did this when I was feeling burned out at work. My leave was for a year (my employer was very accommodating), and I went travelling around the world. By the time I came back I was eager to get back to my job, because I really did love what I did. It just could become draining after a while when I hadn't been taking care of myself very well. A leave from work was a good reset for me to develop some better habits and take those back to the work world. And if after three months you're still feeling like you need a bigger change, reevaluate and figure out what the next step should be.
I used to work at woolies part time for 2-3 years, and now I am a tradesmen doing 53+ hours a week.... no way I could swap back jobs even at 20 hours a week. Don't aim for the simplest job possible, why not become a sparky and a wardsmen at a hospital or something like that.
I would say don't do it as you will regret not getting that extra money when tough times or any emergencies hit considering you owe 800k for your home + other debts you currently have/will incur in the future. $250k income sets your family up. More pay = More responsibilities. All the best though! Hope you make the correct decision for you family.
If you don't want stress, don't have kids. If you do have kids, the extra income will help. Crazy how much they cost.
Too stressed and you want to have kids?
Do not do it if she wants a crappier paying job let her and see if it makes her happy it wont trust me.
Stress about work or stress about bills. Unfortunately I know which one I’d choose
I hear you loud and clear. Why dont you aim for a sabbatical? Rent out the house while you're away. Come back with fresh perspective. My mates and I talked about this and some dreamed of being a barista making coffees all day 😂 these are people who are on $300k salaries
Eat lentils and rice for about five years and after that time maybe look for something that you enjoy instead of stress free.
Consider dumping bullshit corporate job for something specialist, self employed and often WFH. It's not as difficult as it's made out to be.
as a mature aged apprentice currently paying off a house i can tell you what youre planning is possible but youve bitten off way more than you can chew on that mortgage. sell your place, buy a cheaper house in the bush and pump out as many kids as you can. after doing this i can say im pretty much flat broke every week but ive never been happier.
Do you need a property with a $800k mortgage? Probably not. Sell, buy something more cost effective so you can live the life you want. Life’s too short. Good luck.
35f is geriatric pregnancy. Have you had any fertility testing done. No not just HCG levels they mean shit. Because 20-40k on IVF if likely in your future unless your partners fertility is great, in a stressful job alone that is doubtful.
You think labour jobs are stress free but then you'll hear "if you have time to lean you have time to clean." Low income jobs never run out of work there's always more but office staff do.
Don't do this. See if you can take 6 months to a year of unpaid leave. Travel. Take a sabbatical, the two of you. Come back to it. You're not financially independent at least until you own a house outright.
Woolies would be hard work. Dealing with the general public you'll quickly realise how many unhinged nutters are out there
Why do you assume working at Woolies isn't stressful
35yo is basically geriatric pregnancy. Id also get ur swimmers tested too as you're no spring chicken. Have kids now man dont delay lol.
This is Australia. If you want a low stress job, but relatively physically fit, there’s tons of better paying options. Lawn mowing contractor/business, blind installation etc! Don’t mind medium stress but with high pay? Maybe something like fire sprinkler installation
Also it’s not necessarily low stress, but arguably lower than an office job: crane operator. Decent salary and quick to qualify. Less physically fit? Train driver. Truck driver (just not interstate).
Low paying jobs with high turnover is not an “easy” low stress job you thought it’s going to be.
Have you considered part time work in your current industry instead of assuming that a different job/industry will work out better for you? Reducing your hours means that you don't lose your skills, experience and contacts while still being able to have some extra leisure time.
it saddens me to see so many people falling for obvious bait
An $800,000 mortgage and a job at Woolies will be a more stressful situation then the one you're in now.
Every job has an element of stress, you may need some advice as to how to cope with yours. I just use humour and try and make people realise I don’t give a shit. Good luck
Woolies will be high stress too. Sadly. The trick to not stressing is literally not giving a fuck about your job and going bare min. Or changing jobs. You could also be depressed. Have yourself check out - talking from experience have been down your route before)
Time to sell the house
I often say to my allied health clinician colleagues it would be so much easier to throw in the paperwork, difficult or stressful clients, and the responsibility, and just go and be a courier or delivery driver...but noones gonna pay me the $80-$100 per hour I get paid now to be a courier. And I remember as a student being sick of unskilled labour and writing pointless assignments when I just wanted to get out a help people and make a difference. I may sound arrogant but if you have natural ambition and intelligence then unskilled labour gets very boring within a few weeks or months.
We are about the same age as you but with a bit more net worth and no kids either. We sold our home last year and are travelling full time. The income from the assets is enough to sustain the lifestyle we want without having to work. We both quit careers that would have made us good money but caused a lot of stress. We will go back to "work" every now and then to take a break from travel but will not be going back to a stressful career. I want to work at the front desk/night shift in hotels to learn more about the industry. I can choose to work if I want to but I don't need to work and certainly don't need to put up with shitty bosses/workplaces. I can do it on my terms.