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High Pay vs Benefits

A

Alienwho

Diamond Member
I am really torn between two job offers. I know what a terrible problem to have.

Job 1
$70,000/yr (pretty awesome salary around these parts)
So-so health insurance benefits
5 Days PTO/yr (10 days after 2 years)
no dental, no vision, no 401k, no nothing else
In this job I would be the Assistant IT Manager. I would basically be one of two IT guys responsible for everything. This is more of a blue collar kind of place where I would mostly be working with legacy systems until being able to convince management to dump money into new technology.
Pro's) I would be starting at nearly the top of the pyramid. Tons of responsibilities. Great pay.
Con's) Crap benefits. Nearly everything would be on my shoulders. Have to work with old crappy technology. Not the high tech IT environment I was really looking for. Pretty much located in a costco sized warehouse.

Job 2
$58,000
Awesome health insurance
Awesome dental/vision everything
10% 100% matching 401k
15 days PTO starting, 25 after 2 years.
Life Insurance
Here I would be a pretty basic Developer. I would be working on cutting edge technology. Beautiful work environment with an amazing office.
Pro's) See above
Con's) Probably take me 5+ years before I'd be making the $70k the other job would offer.

Am I going to miss tons of vacation time and awesome benefits for the perk of great pay and a much higher position in a company?
 
I'm sorry the 58k is a no brainer (for me)

70k = 12k less taxes = ~7.5k

100% match up to 10% of contribution = 5800

Net difference = ~2700, which I would argue is easily worth the awesome insurance, 10 extra days of PTO, AND room to grow.

Now if you NEED the extra cash then the decision becomes tougher.

Also,

"Have to work with old crappy technology. Not the high tech IT environment I was really looking for. Pretty much located in a costco sized warehouse."

does not bode well for transferable skills IMHO
 
Realistically you are talking about a 12k difference in base salary which gets dropped when you start factoring in the benefits of Job 2. I would try to figure out what hte costs are for insurance, extra week vacation, etc and add it to the 58k to see what you would really be making vs the other job.
 
You have to look at it from a total compensation stand point so count add up the value of the benefits and compare that way. Immediately it looks like job2 is for sure higher compensation and better overall.
 
Depends, will you use those benefits? If not, then they are not worth it.

Vision, who cares. That will not cost much.

All those other can cost alot.
 
The 401k match makes up half the difference by itself. How much different is the health insurance cost? How important are dental and vision to you? The 10 extra days off is worth another $2k if you wanted to straight convert it. Depends how important your vacation is to you...

Honestly, the total salary after benefits and everything is probably pretty much equal. Which job will you enjoy more and which will have more upward mobility?

Ns1 said:
70k = 12k less taxes = ~7.5k

100% match up to 10% of contribution = 5800

Net difference = ~2700, which I would argue is easily worth the awesome insurance, 10 extra days of PTO, AND room to grow.
Click to expand...
Comparing post-tax to pre-tax dollars doesn't make all that much sense.
 
Health insurance is fucking ridiculously expensive these days. I'd get the benefits job. Oh, and the 401k. If you put in 10% ($5,800/year) you get a free $5,800 every year. So effectively that job is paying $63,800.

Another thing, you put "starting at the top of the pyramid" as a pro of job 1, but does that mean there's no room to move up? What about job 2? You start lower down but in a few years you'll be making the same high salary as job 1 but you also get those great benefits.
 
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Money's not everything. Sounds like the second job is what you imagined what a good work enviroment would be and that other hjob is only a grand a month more less taxes and the matching 401K, Health, Dental and Vision Ins along with life ins more than makes up fpor the pay differential. Seems like a no brainer to me.
 
Ns1 said:
I'm sorry the 58k is a no brainer (for me)

70k = 12k less taxes = ~7.5k

100% match up to 10% of contribution = 5800

Net difference = ~2700, which I would argue is easily worth the awesome insurance, 10 extra days of PTO, AND room to grow.

Now if you NEED the extra cash then the decision becomes tougher.

Also,

"Have to work with old crappy technology. Not the high tech IT environment I was really looking for. Pretty much located in a costco sized warehouse."

does not bode well for transferable skills IMHO
Click to expand...

Assuming both jobs have equal risk of being fired, this is a no brainer. 25 days PTO is amazing after 2 years. Take the 58k.
 
Normally, I would say the higher pay... but the benefits for #2 highly outweigh #1.

I vote #2. That 401K is amazing and the PTO for #1 is horrendous.
 
5 days of PTO per year? To hell with that! Matching 100% of your 401(k) contributions up to 10% is also a fantastic benefit. The dental and vision stuff isn't that important, and without more details on health insurance it's hard to say how much that matters, but I'd take the lower-paying job just for the PTO and 401(k).
 
#2, not only because its a better package but because the package alone makes them seem to me like a better company. That is only reinforced when you say it has a good work environment.
 
You should be able to get total salary including benefits package (i.e. health insurance/etc). Compare them both that way, but I'd lean towards the second one. Time off is priceless.
 
#2 would get my vote ... i'd love the PTO.

Granted, Job 1 is what i'd rather be doing, but I don't want to hate myself every day.
 
spidey07 said:
You have to look at it from a total compensation stand point so count add up the value of the benefits and compare that way. Immediately it looks like job2 is for sure higher compensation and better overall.
Click to expand...

This. Job #2 is better and it isn't even close.

OP, I was in a similar situation a few years ago. What Spidey says above is great advice. When I looked at total compensation, it was a no brainer. This position paid, to start, about $8K less than my other offer but 1) They contributed an amount equivalent to 10% of your salary to your 401k and ADDITIONALLY matched the first 5% of your own contribution 2) Paid 100% of your health insurance premiums 3) Started out with 3 weeks of PTO plus the week off between Xmas and NY and 2 additional personal days. The other company (and most in the world, for that matter) can't touch my benefits here.

The only thing that position #1 might give you over the other is supervisory experience, which may or may not be valuable to you depending on what you want to do in the future. 5 days of PTO is a joke, though, and I can't believe any company could offer that with a straight face.
 
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Who you work for makes a big difference too. Job security and overall coolness factor of coworkers makes a difference. I'd hate to work with jerks or lazy folk that are on ATOT all the time.

Seriously though, what's your financial situation? If you NEED the extra income and are young (ie. don't need the benefits right now), consider the higher pay if you're clearning out school debt or other high interest loans. Otherwise, go for the benefits. If you have more paid time off and relatively lower job stress, it'll be worth taking the cut in top-end pay.
 
Some good advice here. You didn't mention your personal activities/projects and the impact of the jobs on them. I'm a relatively young fish in the job market so I value decent hours more than a higher salary so I can get more time for my self-study activities for certifications and such. Also, an environment where there are opportunities to learn and grow as a professional are also big requirements for me.
 
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