Would you work for a year on half your normal salary in return for double salary the following year ?

I don't know if I could cope on half my wage but double my wage would be great !!!!

I have enough saved up to do this, so yeah.

Depends on who would pay the rest of my bills while I was at half salary. If my family could live on half my salary, sure I'd do it.

Jody : You would have to pay your bills still !

see..... that explanation is exactly why math gives me the hives!!!! Ha!

Wicksy: ah. I see. Then I'm afraid it shan't work.

How about 1/4 then 4 times?

Yes, because I could easily afford to live for a year on half my salary (with some judicious borrowing). Also, it would probably be even more advantageous for me than the example given, because I would be in a lower tax bracket for one of the two years.

I'd never trust that something wouldn't happen between this year and next year. They might reneg on the agreement, go bankrupt, the country might experience runaway inflation, and so on. I've given up on delayed gratification - now is always better than later!

No, I can barely make it on what I earn right now.

depends. If I have high confidence that the double-salary next year will actually happen, that the job will still exist, and that I'll still want it, then sure, I'd take the extra long-term cash (though I'd want to think through the tax consequences first). I could live on half my salary for a year if I had to.

Don't think so -- I'm way too cynical about things like that. Why would I be offered something like that? What's behind it? How about tax brackets? Would they be getting what they are paying for (I work just half the hours)? Blah, blah, blah... In short, it sounds like I'm being scammed or someone is trying to find out how greedy I am. No thanks.

Only if I had an up front contract and the money put is escrow. I'd have to check the tax brackets first.

In a way I've made a choice like that: I'm intentionally channeling as much of my profits from my fledgling company back into advertising, supplies, development, pro-bono work, etc. as possible- bringing home as little as tenable in wages, with the belief that anything I can do to build up a client base and general visibility this year will vastly increase my wages/profits next year or the year to follow. This isn't exactly what you are asking but it's as close as my personal experience comes to the question.

It's the "little as tenable" part that makes this work-- we still have to make sure that the composite household incomes pay the mortgage etc. If we halved our composite income we would have to drastically change our style of living in way that I would find not worth it- such as ceasing to subsidize the rents for the two students who are our tenants.

topper: now sure, what you said makes perfect sense to me. But the original question just reminds me of the job interviewee who, when asked "How much of a salary do you expect to earn?" said "All of it."

not sure; tax liability of double my normal wage is a scary thought.

pcpr - ironically in this context, my answer would be "about half."

Sounds like a good deal, but I wouldn't want to commit to a job for 2 years.

Wicksy you suck!!

Sandals : I have let your comment pass by .....

Can I do it the other way around? That way if you make the job a living hell during the wealthy year I can bail out. (Also I can save up so I have money to live on the second year.)

No, I wouldn't because I would make too much the second year and would have to pay U.S. tax.

kirst: but your net gain would be positive even after the tax...