Matthew Booker was in his mid-forties when he left his job in TV journalism to start training as a secondary school teacher – halving his salary in the process.
Mr Booker, who now teaches history and politics in London, was earning around £55,000 but starting his first rung in his new career meant his annual pay initially went to £26,000.
“I wasn’t earning mega bucks, but it was a comfortable salary I was on. I had a mortgage, two children – both of school age – and while it would have been all very well and good with me taking that gamble, it is very different when you have a family affected as well. It’s a very big decision,” the 48-year-old said.
Even now, with his pay having increased due to his experience in the role, he still says he thinks about money more than he did.
“I watch the pennies a lot more. Whereas before if a friend said let’s go for a bite to eat and a drink, I would have said ‘yes’ and I wouldn’t even think about it. Now, I do. I think, ‘well can I actually do that? I already went out twice this month.’”
“My wife has a career and has taken up a bit more of the financial slack. She probably pays for a little more of the bigger stuff than I do” he adds.
He says he had thought about going into teaching before – he likes talking about history and politics and now gets to do it every day – but that the salary fall had put him off. He admits would not have been able to do it, had it not been for redundancy money received from his old job, plus a £12,000 bursary to cover living expenses while he studied.
Now he’s made the move though, he doesn’t regret it at all. “The money issues I’m talking about are real first-world problems,” he says. “When you teach, you realise the life that some families have are really hard.”
“It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but it’s an amazing job. The reason it’s hard is because I really feel it matters and you hope you’re making a difference,” he says.
Now Teach, the scheme Mr Booker used to get into the profession says their focus is getting higher flyers to swap the boardroom for the classroom, and that large numbers of their recruits take big cuts in salary to move career.
But workers being willing to take cuts to move into a more enjoyable career is not just confined to teaching.
Research commissioned by workforce advisory Resource Solutions suggests that 73 per cent of Gen Zs – those currently under 27 – would be willing to take a big pay cut or step down in their job in order to change to a career path that would be more fulfilling.
Ayesha Murray is another who opted to take a 50 per cent pay cut for a career change.
The mum-of-two had worked in marketing for over two decades when she decided to leave her role in 2020 and become a career coach.
“My catalyst for career change was having kids and finding it tricky to have a work-life balance” she said. “I wondered if this was ‘it’ so to speak,” she says.
She took voluntary redundancy from her previous job which gave her a financial buffer to start, had done her research on her expenditure, to make sure the sudden career switch was feasible, and also had the advantage of having a second earner – her husband – in her household.
But Ms Murray, 49, says she also had to make cuts to her spending as well.
“I think a tonne of money goes on coffee, lunches out and more, so that went immediately,” she says.
“Then there are things like clothes and shoes that we want – but you realise that you don’t need those things. If you take a holistic approach to what you need, it’s easier to spend less.”
She adds that the caveat to this was that because of the cost-of-living crisis, certain things were difficult to cut back on – like energy bills.
However, she also says she has not regretted the change in career, despite having lower disposable income.
Her new business provides work life balance coaching, with a focus for working parents. She says her own experience tells her people fall into their careers, and that it’s important to reflect on the career path you’re on.
“I have no regrets, I’m 50 next year, and it’s served me well at this stage of my life to have a better lifestyle than to have burnout and health issues, but to have more material things,” she explains.
Tom Bourlet was 30 years old when he decided to leave his marketing job and set up his own consultancy business back in 2018.
“I had only secured a couple of clients, so I had to take a steep drop in pay. It was exactly a 50 per cent pay cut. It was a shock to the system having to cut out lots of costs and reject opportunities, but I had to focus on the long-term goal,” he says.
Mr Bourlet, who lives in Sussex, had been thinking about moving to consultancy for a while, but has said even though he was prepared and had built up cash reserves – of around £10,000 – to cover himself, it was still a “stressful time.”
“I was constantly having to meet potential clients and pitch to them without knowing if I could pay my bills in a couple of months,” says Mr Bourlet, who was renting at the time, living with his girlfriend.
“I cut all the subscription services I had, they were the first to go. It also made me assess my weekly food shops, as I know I had got a little bit relaxed with how much I was spending, getting the expensive version of everything. So I started adjusting to Asda brand versions and only what I needed, which reduced my food shop by about 50 per cent,” he adds.
He eventually built his pay up by securing clients, but around a year ago, decided to move back in-house, not for financial reasons, but because he missed working in part of a team, and is now head of marketing at Fizzbox, an events company.
So was the pay cut worth it? He thinks so: “If you’re taking a lower pay to seek a career you’d love, then it’s most definitely worth the temporary drop in pay.”