I make $300K in IT and got a $600K offer from a private equity-backed firm – is the extra pay worth the risk?

It’s not an everyday thing that you get an opportunity to double your salary. But in this Reddit post, we have someone who’s landed in that very situation.

Here, we have a 40-year-old who earns $300,000 a year in IT. They’ve just been offered a $600,000 job opportunity, and they’re wondering if they should take it. Let’s review the pros and cons of each choice.

The upside of staying put

There can be comfort in sticking with the job you know, especially if you’re happy with your working situation. Here, the poster has been working from home since the pandemic, so they don’t have a commute to be hassled with. They also have excellent job security.

Their new job would be with a much smaller company, so there’s inherent risk there. Plus, when you start a new job, you don’t know exactly what you’re getting into. It could be that the poster is headed into a toxic work environment and just doesn’t know it.

Also, the poster would need to report to an office five days a week with the new job. And they’d be looking at a 75-minute commute. That’s a tough adjustment given that they’re used to working from home now.

The upside of taking the new job

The poster isn’t being offered a modest salary boost for this new role. Rather, they’re looking at a substantial increase in pay.

An extra $300,000 a year could do a lot of good for the poster’s finances. It could make it easier for them to save toward their goals and cover their costs.

The poster mentions that they reside in an area with very high living costs. Their spouse makes a good salary, but they say living on it alone is tight given the expenses where they are. The poster also has young children and has to bear the expense of a nanny, which eats into their savings.

A tough choice

Ultimately, the poster needs to weigh the pros and cons of each option to decide what’s best for them. One thing they may want to ask, though, is whether they’ll have any recourse if they take the new job and it doesn’t work out.

If their current employer is huge and they leave on good terms, it may be possible to ask for their job back (or a similar job) if the new situation doesn’t work out. But if they don’t think that’s possible, they may end up scrambling to find a job.

The poster also needs to ask what an extra $300,000 will do for them and their family, and whether it’s worth not just the risk, but what sounds like a pretty awful commute. There does come a point when it’s okay to say no to extra money for a better quality of life and work/life balance.

The poster may also want to consult a financial advisor to see what they recommend. The poster has a decent net worth for their age but feels they’re behind on savings.

If a financial advisor is able to reassure them that they’re doing okay, they may feel more comfortable staying where they are, since their current salary is pretty high in its own right. So that’s an important conversation to have on the road to making a decision.

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