This post is a guest post by Simple Life in France for the My Honey, My Money series. Simple Life is a U.S. citizen who has relocated permanently to France, her husband’s homeland, in search of a simpler and more sustainable lifestyle. Here she talks about her biggest money conflict.
Imagine this: you land in France in the heat of summer, dragging two suitcases behind you. You plan on finding work in your teaching career in a couple of months. You even packed your wrinkle-free interview suit in you carry-on in a few layers of tissue paper.
That was me back in July of 2009.
Even before our move, my husband and I had butted heads about where in France we would live. He pointed out that his salary as a primary school teacher would remain the same in urban (high-rent) or rural (low-rent) areas. He voted for the countryside. I wanted to live near a city where I stood a chance of finding employment.
Once we’d moved into our new apartment, my interview suit hanging neatly in wait, I started to research my job options in Aix-en-Provence. I quickly discovered that likely pay ranged from 1300 and 1500 euros a month brut (before taxes) to be standard salary for most job offerings. Then I started wondering, How much is 1500 a month in France after taxes, anyway?
I crunched the numbers remembering the charges sociales for French social security and the fact that my income would also raise our tax bracket on DH’s salary. And I discovered my take home would be . . . 1000 euros!
In the meantime, through a few real-estate searches and with the help of a mortgage calculator, DH discovered that the cost of living near Aix instead of in the country would come to about 200-300 euros a month. I begrudgingly had to admit that my projected monthly take home was now hovering around 800 euros.
And what about that second car? The line of work I was looking at (teaching English to professional adults, often at their work sites) seemed to require a vehicle. Purchase, registration, insurance, maintenance and gas for me to zip back and forth between clients: another 200 euros a month, which DH pointed out was a conservative number as he raised his eyebrow as if to say, “You hate it when I’m right.”
A take home of 600 euros a month? I know, I know. I’ve never worked for so little. Would you do it?
I discovered the next hit to my monthly salary on my own. Budget Nazi that I am, when I crunched the numbers at the end of the month, I noticed about a 200 euro drop in ‘fun’ expenses and convenience groceries now that I wasn’t working. I’d started cooking more food at home, even using a price book, which meant fewer restaurant trips. The opportunity cost of going back to work dropped my monthly take home down to 400 euros a month.
After a couple more intense negotiations, DH opted to sit back and let the numbers do the talking. And I began to admit that not only did we not need the money, the 400 a month hardly justified the extra running around. So we made up our minds: DH put in for a transfer, I threw myself into my writing and we’ll move in a couple of months to a much more rural area. I’ll probably start a tiny business teaching English lessons part-time. So far, I’ve been away from my career (teaching) for 9 months . . . and honestly, I don’t actually miss it much.
Thank you to Simple for this post, and I wish her the best of luck in her English teaching business! Having a home-based business is great in terms of flexibility and lower job-related expenses.
One point I’d like to raise is that a career is a long-term asset – so that even though a second income might not contribute much financially, in the short-term, the expectation is that over time the financial advantages of continuing a career will increase to make the expenses worth it. Of course, many people also gain non-financial satisfaction from their jobs.
Readers, have you ever faced a situation where your job didn’t make sense financially in the short-term? How did you decide how to proceed?
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My career is absolutely not worth it right now, as I'm having to volunteer in order to gain enough supervised hours to become a licensed therapist. I've been unpaid for the past two years, and will probably need another year or two to get my hours. If I stayed home, we'd probably spend less on food and I'd have more time to run errands to help my fiance, who runs his own business.
But I'd also be an emotional and intellectual wreck. I need to do meaningful work in order to keep happy and productive; in the few months I had before I started my internships, when I was exclusively focusing on unpacking our house and running errands and such, I was absolutely miserable.
I'm extremely lucky that we can afford for me to focus on my training. And I think it's important, as you pointed out, to look at long-term consequences of not working (which, for me, would mean never getting my therapy license). I've counseled too many women who gave up careers for kids or husbands and who are *terrified* after a divorce or husband's death because they've been out of the workforce for so long, and I never want to be in that position.
Occhiblu–I think your focus on your career even though it is temporarily 'not worth it' financially makes a lot of sense. First of all, it's a career you obviously believe in and find highly meaningful. (I myself have been feeling deeply conflicted about education in recent years–especially public education). I also think that your career looks like it could easily expand in the area you've chosen to settle. In your position, I would no doubt do something similar.
I hear what you're saying about feeling dependent on a husband because of not working at all. I think I'd have a hard time with that as well–although I don't mind saying good bye to one career and using the opportunity to try something else.
Thanks for your thoughtful comments!
i am actually in a somewhat similar situation but a little aggravated because i have no one to talk to about it. I have decided to go on doing it but must importantly to let go and let God handle it because he has the best plans for me. I have a feeling that things will work out for the best in due course
Kenyantykoon, having no one to talk about it definitely makes the whole experience more strange–although, I've found that sometimes talking about it with the wrong people is entirely counter-productive. And when it comes right down to it, you have to decide for yourself. Like you, I've given up on trying to control or predict exactly what will happen in the future. Maybe giving up on one career will help bring me to a new direction. I know others that are not making money in their careers right now who are still working (for nothing) in the hopes that it will bring them to new possibilities later–I think the strategy depends on the circumstance.
I haven't had quite the same experience, but there is a certain level of frustration from being on disability. Not just in being unable to really affect the income — which is its own level of exasperation. No, the thing is that, on disability, you can make about $1000 a month. Beyond that, you lose your disability checks. So, if you can make $1000, you need to be able to make $1750.
Of course, there's some of the same problem for people on unemployment: If you can get the same amount (or more) on unemployment and keep looking for the job you want, how much sense does it make to take a financial hit to go work fast food?
There's nothing quite like feeling that your work brings in so little as to barely be worth it. Especially, as you said, when it can lead to savings around the house. Unfortunately, as a depressive, not having work to do can actually make me less organized. But that's a whole post unto itself, I suppose.
Abigail, you make an excellent connection here! I often think of people here in France who earn a minimum of government assistance (for those out of work who just can't find it). It's around 500 euros a month–which seems like nothing, but if you look at it, it's exactly what I'd stand to earn (although I don't qualify for gov assistance). I can see why people would be afraid to take the risk of working–I've heard of people actually going into debt doing that. It's sad, because as you point out, work–or at least some meaningful activity, can really help morale.
These calculations remind me of the similar math leading many parents to stay home with their kids, rather than bringing in a second income. Numbers don;t lie.
Frugal Scholar–That's true–and we also are considering if we'll have kids or not in coming years . . .which would be a few more numbers against my career. I agree that numbers don't lie, but I think that Well-heeled makes a good point in considering the career as a long-term investment. It's something I intend to consider as well–although I'm still leaning towards a career shift or starting my own small business.
James–you make a good point. One might argue that working full time only to take home an extra 2-300 euros/dollars a week isn't really worthwhile–but if you absolutely need that 2-300, then suddenly it becomes much more enticing.