Where to start looking
I cannot afford to leave my job
The maths does not work, and you have done the maths more than once.
People suggest things that assume you have a cushion you do not have.
You have stopped talking about it because the conversation always ends the same way.
Real constraints deserve to be looked at, not argued with
There is a strand of advice that treats every financial limit as a mindset problem. It is not. A mortgage is a mortgage. What is worth examining is not whether the constraint is real but which parts of it are fixed, which are chosen, and which were inherited from a version of your life that has already changed.
The number is often standing in for a standard of living
The figure you need is usually the figure that keeps everything exactly as it is. That may be the right figure. It is worth knowing that it is a decision rather than a fact.
Trapped and staying are not the same experience
Two people can remain in the same job for the same reasons and have completely different years. The difference is usually whether they know why they are there.
What this usually connects to
- What the job is costing in things that are not money.
- Which parts of the outgoing are fixed for the next twelve months and which are not.
A question worth sitting with
- If the money were solved tomorrow, what would you do? The answer tells you what the money is holding.
The session works out what this job is actually costing, alongside what it pays.
What is this job actually costing meIt is a conversation, not a questionnaire. You can stop at any point, and finishing it does not mean anything has to change.
If the question turns out to be a different one
This is reflection about what money is for. It is not financial, tax or investment advice, and it should not be used in place of a qualified adviser.