To Move or Not to Move - Job Opportunity

[Sam Costa]

I have been living in a small city for the last 9 years with my wife. My wife's father is a priest of a church and we have been living there (in the church building) for 8 of those 9 years. We have positions and volunteer at the church and also make sure doors are locked, lights are off, etc. It's been a nice situation as it's work we don't mind doing.....and because our rent is very cheap - $400/month (includes utilities). 

I make $50,000 a year and my wife makes $42,000. We also have a business on the side and bring home anywhere between $20,000-$30,000 a year gross for that business.  

Here's the issue....I was just offered a job 2.5 hours from where we are now in a small college town making $80,000 and we are seriously considering the move. My wife's job is remote and they would be fine for her to work from this new town. My current job offered me $65,000 and slightly more flexible hours if I stay. I love my job and they have been really good to me. It's not too stressful and I like going into work. I'm going into a job that will likely be more work and a little more stress and I do feel nervous that I'm not up for it. I have a pretty low stress job currently and I hate for that to change. 

I'm torn on what to do, but here's some info that may be relevant...

• -We have $130,000 invested in mutual funds
• -$67,000 invested in retirement 
• -We have $17,000 in a savings account
• -We drive 10 and 20 year old cars currently, so one of those will need replaced sometime soon
• -We currently put about $1,000 a month in savings and $1,000 into retirement
  -We currently pay 10% of everything we make (after taxes) in tithes to the church 

With the way the housing market is right now (high prices and high interest rates), I have been questioning whether, if we move, if we should buy a house or just rent. If we don't go, I could see us living in the church for another year or two to wait to see what the housing market does. We actually enjoy living here and it's a nice apartment so we are in no rush to leave. 

So aside from the financial side of this.... I have gone through a lot of soul searching the last couple years and currently don't consider myself a believer. I really don't believe anything that my church or peers believe. This hasn't been that big of a deal and I still like the people I go to church with, but none of them know my feelings - only my wife. She is aware and supportive of me and I have told her that if we moved, I think would like to stop paying tithes on my paycheck. While she is supportive of me discontinuing that payment, she would like to continue paying tithes on her paycheck. Currently we pay $520 a month to the church, so if I were to stop making that payment, it would be an additional $300(ish) a month in our account. We also make a lump sum payment at the end of the year based on how much we made on our business money. That tithe payment would be cut in half. 

My wife is really excited about the idea of the move as the church has begun to stress her out and she likes the idea of getting away. That said, she wouldn't be upset if we stayed because she could still be around her family. She spends time with her family literally every day. 

My wife has been basically a time heavy church volunteer for her entire life and I have been for the last 10 years, so it would be nice to actually have some of that time as free time. 

While the decision will likely be determined by how we feel about everything outside of the finance part....financially does it make sense to move? We would be leaving $400/month rent get a $250,000 mortgage which would likely quadruple our housing costs. Add into it the fact that real estate is so expensive right now, does it make sense to take this job? 

I know this is a lot of information, but I would love to have some outside input on this. I appreciate any feedback you can give me.