This whole thing has been a bit of a puzzle for me. Just wanted to share what I've been through. A few years back, I left a well-known company in my country because the pay was just too low after being there for over ten years. Sure, it was lower compared to other big names, but I had a stable and secure position.
Now though, I'm earning a way better income, but honestly, my current job feels super unstable and insecure, and I could lose it any day. Being the breadwinner really makes me question if I'm still on the right path or if I should just go back to a stable job, even if it pays less. So here’s my question: which is more important, a higher but unstable income or a lower but secure one?
I think that along with a secure job, you should also utilize your high-earning skills so that you don't fall into financial crisis. If you have a secure source of income, even if it is small, it will still be enough so that if your path to earning more money ever gets closed, it can be supported.
You see in life, we continue moving until we get to where we are heading towards, had it been that you know, you could have checked to see whether you could manage to combine running the two job together in other to increased your income, because sometimes, we just don't leave one for another without taking serious comparison between the two and know what we stand to gain, having an unstable income is also a serious challenge to an extent, if you think you can add more other things to do, such as menial jobs to add to this new one you're into will be of great profits to you.
We have to analyze and compare the two in other to know which best fit our condition.
I experienced this dilemma before during my days when Im still a corporate worker. Other colleagues of mine keep jumping from different companies that offering higher salaries whenever they have chance while Im staying on my company despite a low compensation but very stable.
In the end, some of my colleagues manage to land on companies that give both higher compensation and stable job since they gain a lot of experience and credentials from different companies that they work.
One thing that I learned on corporate ladder board is its very hard to be promoted on higher positions since you need connections to achieve that and owner preferred hiring people from other companies that already working on higher position rather than promoting someone.
Try to save first money that will sustain your family then seek a better job position on other companies.
I think high profitability is more important. Be it business or job, if you do not take risks, you will never be able to go to a high position and your income will not increase. As you mention, high-profit jobs are not secure and there is a fear of losing your job. In this case, you can find a better job and leave your old job before you lose your job. In this case, working in different companies will increase your experience and your chances of getting promotions and job offers from big companies will increase. In this way, you may be able to find a stable and secure job with high profitability someday. Experience will never go to waste, rather, you will become more valuable as you gain experience.
Well, it depends. As Dunamisx says, we would need to know more in order to compare. But if you have been able to find a job that pays very well but is more insecure, if you get fired you should be able to find one with similar characteristics, it's not the end of the world. In a secure job that pays little, inflation would probably eat away at your earnings, so take advantage of the high salary to save and invest, and to have an emergency fund. That way, if you get fired, you'll be in a better position to find another job with similar characteristics without being too stressed.
Cointxz give a good idea where you need to need reach specific amount of money and move to other job/company. That's option is good for risk taker who have a high skill of adaptation.
However, another safer option is you should retain your long term small compensation job, then you focus to learn a new skill or build a business during your free time. Unfortunately this might likely not improve your career, instead it's switch career.
Remember the saying; "strike while the iron is hot".
It means that if you're profitable from your unstable income, keep on doing it. But don't be so confident that you'll be wasting your income there. So, from the money you make from that unstable source you have now. Keep on investing, either in Bitcoin or any crypto you prefer and of course, to yourself. The latter is all about improving your skills and doing any passion that might generate you profits whether it's a talent or service. As for me, a family person will choose a stable and secured job but think of your years coming that you're like in a cage when there are other potential source of income that you can do. IMHO, what's important is if you're having a good time in that job and it's stable, work there with the working hours. While the remaining hours, maybe 2-4 hours, do the side hustle. And from there, think what you really want to do when you've got secured assets and investments already to do whatever you want.
The people that settle for stability are the laziest people around and those tend to be big pushovers. If you are overqualified for your job which means that you could be earning more money somewhere else, either at the same or different job, you are an economic loser! This is one of those life things that are objectively just wrong, there is no justification for it. The same people that take stability and laziness are those that complain about others getting rich or moving up fast in the career ladder.
If it is a job that improves your skills and qualifications, continue doing it. If it is one of those gig things where you don't learn any skills that can help you with future jobs, don't do it.
It depends on your personal situation. If you are a younger ambitious person whose only responsability is to feed himself and build for a better future, you would definetly choose unstable higher income and take all the risks that come with. While if you have more responsabilities especially people at a certain age range with a family to feed, you don't have better options than to chose a stable secure income even if it's not that higher.
When you think that a stable source of income without any risk is enough for you where the salary is low, then you think that you are a coward and a fool who does not have the courage to take risks and does not have the knowledge to improve yourself. There is no alternative to taking risks to improve yourself or earn more money. Even if you are attached to an unstable source of income, if the salary is satisfactory and new experience can be gained from there, then there is no problem even if the job is lost. By utilizing your experience, you will be able to find a new job again.
Never be afraid to take risks, but you have to make sure that you are taking the necessary risks. The results of risky work are big
It is tough to say specially at this time when economy has become unstable and risky with prices rising. Which means you want both at the same time, job security and higher income are now equally important. The best option at a time like this is in my opinion to get a more reliable job that pays the bills but try to have some additional income on the side, like a second job, an investment, even trading could work. That way you have something to fall back on, even if the pay is low, but also you have the secondary income to help the financial situation.
One thing to note here is that life is not an ideal setting and can be very unpredictable. Trying to play safe by sticking to a low paying job that's kind of secured can be a trap that cages you down to that job while you loose out on other opportunities around. Chasing the big jobs and resigning from your stable job can also end bad if life happens and the job stops coming.
What I can only advice in this is that you analyse things out yourself and count the cost in both instances. This is a real life situation that a lot of us are facing and sometimes, the best option always looks like doing both jobs and at the end, over stressing ourselves.
If by doing few Gigs you can earn a decent amount far more than what you stand to get by sticking to a low paying job, I can take the risk of doing that but if the pay is not too good, I will opt for Job security since the economy is becoming so unpredictable.
It depends on how much the difference is between high profitability and stability. If you have a job with low stability that pays $2000 but there is a job with high stability that pays $1000, I would choose a job with low stability and high pay because your six months' work there is equal to 12 months' work in a high stability job. You have to look at it like you have a free six months in the year and you can do so many things in those six months that it's unbelievable. Even if you get fired from your low-stability job, you can use that money and your free time to improve your skills and land a better job in the future.
You're right, the question is very technical so we also need to rethink before taking any decision because you can't possibly decide to go for the one that is more stable and secured without thinking about what will happen in the future. And yeah this can be a trap because when you're into this job you won't be having time to look into other things meanwhile the amount you're been paid is not even enough to take care of the bills and still have enough leftover, I can only agree with this decision of going for the one that is more stable and secured that's if the monthly income will be enough to take care of my bills and some leftover which can be used to invest into other business this way I can decide to go for the stable and secured One.
I was going to say the same thing, it will all depend on personal circumstances. We should not give advice carelessly or ask others for advice when we are not in the same situation.
If OP is married and the main breadwinner, advising him to choose a high paying but unstable job that could result in loss of income at any time would not be wise advice. Because think about it, if he is unemployed for months and doesn't have enough money to cover living expenses, how will his family survive? Conversely, that advice is only appropriate if OP is single and willing to make trade-offs for a better future.
In addition to this, let me input my opinion when considering for this aspect, it is good that we look out for a high paying job, because it will give us the assurance that we earn much, but on the contrary, it goes beyond just the high pay, because securing such have to align with the cost and leaving expenses to doing that job, which we can consider the transportation cost, feeding and other allowances or bonuses we may get from doing such kind of a job, some have been working and cant afford to have some savings for not balancing up this aspect.
Let me make it more being practical, someone earns $1000 from his new job a month, spend close to $850 for transport, rent, tax and feeding, his take home after all these is $150 monthly, while another earn $800 per month and spend $550 as transport, rent, tax and feeding as his monthly expenses, while his take home was $250 monthly, you can see from the two instances which is more better to go for, that is why i will have to include a living expenses to the nature of the job we are going for together with proximity to where we stay.
Stable income is what matters most for me because is permanent and reliable so there is no how a family cannot be fed well so actually there is no need going for something you would enjoy two months or three and you consider not doing anything again so those kind of instability is something nobody wants, though the unstable one could pay twice the stable income but what is important is the durability so actually someone who is single and no responsibility pressure can sometimes see importance on the unstable income based on the mentality on sustaining themselves when it stop but this is definitely not for someone who is a breadwinner because at the moment you make a mistake everybody sees the impact. We could only take the unstable one if is something that could give the person the money that would give them all they need then is good because some unstable income has such potential to do that but only if a person is lucky to see one.
Government jobs are more stable since disengagement or sack requires bureaucratic processes. They also guarantee gratuity and pension after retirement. But the problem with it is the low pay. Private sector jobs pay higher but you can be fired without compensation at any time.
I prefer a stable job even if the pay is low. You can easily plan for the future with a stable. Unstable jobs make planning difficult and there are no predictions when you can get a job if you are sacked.
It is proper to seek other side jobs that you can add to your stable job to get another income stream. However, I have friends who prefer these high paying unstable jobs. Some of them have businesses or other investments they fall back to if they are jobless.
Both options are good, but you would have to have another source of revenue to enjoy any of these options.
Another reason why some may not buy the idea of settling for government jobs is that they are limited to certain amount of earning and to even get promotion is an herculean task to achieve, though this may varies in countries, but salary tied one to a particular style of living pattern whereby you can go beyond what you earn a month, while others that do some other jobs have the ability of earning 4x of what a salary earner earns in a month within a week or two, but the security is not there and sometimes they experience a downtrend in it performance.