- Location
- Cumbria
My brother and I (both directors of our livestock farm, but not ownerd by us) in our 30s work on our family farm usually 50+ hours, probably take a week to 10 days holiday a year (I know this is not unusual in this industry). Our housing is provided by the farm, but can hardly be classed as elaborate, we pay ourselves £8k/year (and have been for the last 10 years). I've been looking at our accounts and in theory we could probably afford to increase this to £16k ea, but this would probably be at the expense of investment needed (new barn, replace worn out machinery etc etc) as our profits would only be £10-15k based on last years costs/sales.
I'm very much minded towards a pay rise as I'm finding my pay whilst adequate a decade ago is not enough to afford the basics and have money for savings, but the rest of the family are reluctant. I have suggested we look for ways to improve profitability, but am met with deaf ears at best and positive hostility towards some diversification plans. Is it reasonable to expect more (as a uni grad) from this industry?
It's difficult to say without knowing all the facts but, do you get a vehicle supplied ( taxed, fuelled and maintained by the business)? Do you get council tax and utilities paid?. If the answer to these is yes then to be honest you are not that different to the vast majority of other graduates.
You also need to keep in mind you have in effect have had a pay rise because you have been insulated form rent rises, council tax rises, energy price rises (assuming these are paid by the business) for ten years. These costs have doubled for most families in ten years.
Grass is always greener.
Oh and I wouldn't worry about saving, it's not worth it even if you have it spare. You are better of being paid less and investing it in the business assuming it's viable/profitable imho.