Get on down and live

By VIKKI BLAND

In the mid-70s, a Hollywood movie called The Adventures of the Wilderness Family featured a father who took his family from the big city and relocated them to a cabin in the American Rockies. There, the health and relationships of the family flourished, despite the odd skirmish with a grizzly bear.

Only in the movies, right? Well, while few New Zealanders pack up their families and move from Auckland to the Southern Alps, people can and do give up careers and large pay packets for a simpler life.

It's called being downwardly mobile, a slightly erroneous tag as many who have done it find it anything but a "downer". But where are the catalysts? What are the results?

Two months ago, Sandy Gibbs stepped back from a highly paid but "extremely stressful" position as senior recruiter for recruitment firm Gaulter Russell. She now works four days a week as the firm's operations manager on an income she describes as "significantly less".

"I didn't want to leave, but nor did I want to recruit any more. I was working 50 to 60 hours a week in an industry driven by client demands and tight timelines."

While Gibbs loved the "buzz" of her former job she felt she needed to slow down.

"As you get older the status of a role gradually loses its importance. I was tired of giving out to everyone and fortunately my employer saw I was tired of it as well."

Gibbs says being downwardly mobile has brought her personal time. She spends it with her step-children, renovating her home, and is getting back to kayaking, swimming and squash.

"There have to be personal as well as family reasons for stepping back from a career. And there is nothing wrong with being busy. It's when you get out of control that problems start."

Gibbs says being downwardly mobile requires employer buy-in.

"Employers talk a lot about work/life balance without committing to it. They don't realise it doesn't matter if someone works three days a week as long as they get [the required work] done."

However, you don't need employer buy-in if you are your own boss. In 2002, property developer and entrepreneur Alastair Ferguson shut three businesses and consolidated several mortgages into one freehold home following the shock diagnosis of a brain tumour in his then 9-year-old daughter Emma.

To support his family, Ferguson stayed home from work, made breakfast for his three children, took them to school, and compiled a book on successful New Zealanders to take his mind off his worry.

Along the way, he discovered the joys of being downwardly mobile.

"My advice to people is to not even think about it, just do it. Often people want to make a change but their motivation is not strong enough. Then something forces them to change," says Ferguson.

He says being downwardly mobile goes beyond taking a pay cut.

"People need to consider what they are passionate about and what they really want to do. A lot of people have this fear of financial loss but if things go wrong [in life] and you have to take time off, you always find a way."

Ferguson has gradually rebuilt his property trading business since the successful surgery and recuperation of Emma, and added a couple of public speaking and marketing businesses for good measure.

He spends less time working than he used to through smarter management, and maintains "non-negotiable" areas such as time with his family.

"I need constant monitoring because for someone like me it's easy to get sucked back into the fast lane. My wife and I have a meeting every week with areas of accountability."

Ferguson hopes to retire at 46, and says being downwardly mobile does not have to equate to being penniless. He suggests people create investments that automatically generate income.

"People who say money isn't important don't realise what financial freedom can do. Retirement, for me, is about choice.

"If I want to be one of the largest contributors to the Starship children's hospital or work for a charity for six months, then I can."

One downwardly mobile worker who couldn't care less about financial investments for the future is 56-year-old Ray Smith.

Formerly a parts manager for a large engine-reconditioning company, Smith spent 26 years in the corporate world, managed four staff, and travelled New Zealand, had a company car and mobile phone.

Then, 10 years ago, the born-again Christian says God told him to quit working for his employer and work solely for him.

But how does Smith's vision pay his decidedly 21st-century bills?

It helps that Smith and wife Robyn live in a largely freehold home, that Robyn works part time, and their three children are now independent.


"There have been situations where we have had no money and a courier has turned up with food from an anonymous source."

Perfectly at peace at the extreme end of being downwardly mobile, the Smiths say they have stopped worrying about the future.

While that's not quite true for Orewa music teacher Ross Brown, financial security has also taken a back seat in his life. The 36-year-old is separated with a six-year-old son and says while some people call him lazy, he has never regretted giving up a full-time job in the graphic arts industry to teach music part time.

"You could never pay me enough money for the time I spend with my boy.

"The relationship we have now is fantastic," says Brown.

His small business, which employs seven contractors and two part-timers, still brings in less money than he previously earned as a graphic artist.

"I didn't want to spend my life in front of a computer. This is something I really want to do, and I still get time to coach my son's soccer team and play golf."

Brown says financially, things can get difficult.

"But I am not going to be one of those self-employed people who works all the time. And if I wanted more money, I would work harder."

Hollywood, Ferguson, and maybe God himself would approve.

How to be downwardly mobile

* Can work-load or work-flow be restructured to use less of your time? Can overly time-consuming tasks be delegated or outsourced? If you are based in a large city, would a move to the provinces be personally and professionally advantageous?

* Can investing in information technology or taking a time management course help to reduce the time you spend working?

* Establish what's important to your life and be disciplined about allocating time and energies according to those priorities. For example, if you have a young family are you seeing enough of them? Do you make time for your own health?

* If you have been thinking of making a significant change for some time, consider why you are waiting and whether or not you'll later regret not doing anything.

* Will you try to stay doing what you're doing for a renegotiated pay and workload; or are you ready for a total career change? What steps could you take towards either of these goals?

* Don't just leap into the unknown. Know what your next step will be; have end goals. Being downwardly mobile is often a gradual process.

* If you achieve your downwardly mobile goals, regularly monitor your activities and where you spend your time. It's easy to be drawn back to past lifestyles and habits.

* Find an accountability partner - someone who will remind you why you wanted to be downwardly mobile in the first place and who will help you to be true to that vision.

* Develop investments that automatically generate income without putting in extra hours.

* Be prepared for a little criticism; some people believe being downwardly mobile is lazy or irresponsible. Know what you are doing, why you are doing it, and have sensible financial plans.