dream home vs dream job

[groundloop]

Hypothetically of course.... what would you do if you had to choose between:

1) a mediocre job which was a pain in the ass at times, and had only ok pay with lousy benefits, lousy vacation, and no 401K etc. BUT it paid well enough that you could stay in a house that you really really like.

2) a great job with great pay and benefits, but you'd have a 1 1/2 hour commute each way and would eventually end up moving away from the home you really really like (and your friends).

[PoliticAverse]

1. How long is the commute in 1 ? n/t

[groundloop]

2. 45 to 50 minutes (hypothetically)

[PoliticAverse]

3. I dislike long commutes so 1.n/t

[hollysmom]

4. hah, I lived 14 miles from my job and had 1.5 hour commute every morning,

My office was next to the toll booths on the GWB. Traffic there is bad without the sticky fingers of Chris Christie.

[No Vested Interest]

5. Long commute would do me in - that's two hours

out of your life every day.
House would be secondary, but leaving established friends would be extremely rough.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

6. It's complicated

Does #2 pay at least 15% more than job #1? (That should be 15% more net.)

Job #1 will have you leaving at maybe 7AM and returning around 5PM.
Job #2, everything being equal, may have you leaving at 615 and returning at 545.

Is the eventual move for job #2 really mandatory or for your own convenience?
Does #2 offer flextime? (4 day work week, any chance of working from home occasionally...)

Is the drive to one of these jobs involve ugly traffic and the less traffic but a greater distance?
Do you find traffic frustrating?

How does your family feel about the differences between the 2?

(BTW I asked around here and they have nothing.)

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

7. Another consideration

You're over 50. Health Ins becomes a major factor if you run into any health problems.
Second law of finance: very few problems don't improve with a sufficient application of cash.