Money and career are inextricably linked. Like fish and chips, you can’t really have one without the other.
I am the first to admit that I have some serious money hang ups. As someone who grew up with very little, I have a real scarcity approach when it comes to money. I struggle to spend money on myself and when I do, I often feel guilty.
I have also paid my own way from an early age. Getting a part-time job as soon as I was able to and putting myself through university. I hate the idea of being dependent on someone else. When I first went on maternity leave, I really struggled with the idea of ‘taking my husband’s money.’ Even now I have to remind myself that the money in our bank account is “our money” and that as long as we make big purchases in consultation with one another, I have as much right to spend it as he does.
My hang-ups about money held me back from changing career for a long time. Like a lot of people, I thought that in order to have meaningful work I’d have to accept a meaningless pay packet. The reality of the situation was:
- By working with my husband to assess how we could cut costs (we ended up relocating to the south coast where we are much happier anyway) the pay cut became affordable
- The pay cut was nowhere near as severe as I thought it was going to be and now, when I take my overall package into account, I am almost on par with where I was in my corporate days (but a hell of a lot happier)
Moving forward I am in a career that has lots of potential. As my kids grow older, I will happily increase my hours, and this is a career from which I never want to retire. In corporate I would have only been able to keep going for so long. So, in the long-term I would say my career change has been a good move financially.
Other areas where I see that women could benefit from more long-term financial thinking when it comes to their career are:
Taking a financial hit for childcare
A lot of women tell me it’s not worth them going back to work as they will be paying more in childcare than what they make from their salary. This can be a bitter pill to swallow but if you’re concerned about your long-term finances then it can be worth taking a childcare hit in the short term. Long career gaps cost us financially, both in terms of future earnings and accumulated super.
Investing in themselves
As I said above, I hate spending money on myself but one area where I do bring myself to do it is personal development. I regularly pay for personal development training, have a bookshelf full of books and a HECS debt from undertaking a Graduate Certificate in Careers Education and Development.
There are other less obvious forms of investment though – paying for childcare is one of them if it enables you to keep working, or studying, and developing skills. I also consider help around the house to be a form of investment. Paying for a cleaner is money well-spent if you can spend it working or doing something else that is far more beneficial in the long-term.
Asking for a payrise
When I worked in the corporate world, I was always very good at negotiating pay rises. I knew that the organisations I worked for could afford it. And hell I was only working for the money so it had to be good!
But now that I love my job, I find it really hard to ask for more money. I put my prices up, reluctantly, a couple of years ago and you may have noticed that I haven’t raised them since then. It’s a money block that, I admit, needs some work.
I see a lot of women that I work with who are in a similar position. They are so grateful to finally have the flexible job that they’ve been dreaming of. And a lot of them tell me that they would rather take the time than the money. So they just don’t ask for more. The thing is, I see that employers are starting to catch on to this. Flexibility is there for the taking now after Covid but pay is still a sticking point. The new national gender pay gap is 14.1 per cent, an increase of 0.3 over the past 6 months, according to WGEA.
When we start a new job is an ideal time to ask for what we deserve but it is not the only time. Check your employment contract or enterprise agreement for further information about pay progression. It might not seem like a big deal but year upon year of earning less makes a big difference to our earnings and our super overall.
There is more to work than money. But money is important. I truly believe the world would be a better place if women earned more, and that’s not just because of the latest statistic about lost GDP due to women’s under-representation in the workforce. When women earn we make a contribution to our homes, to our communities and to ourselves.
I’m determined to keep working on my money hang-ups. I hope you can do the same.
Denny
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