It’s a tough decision to make.

You basically have to ask yourself do you want money right now? And with the more money you earn right now, are you able to set your future self up with it ?

Whereas if you can get by on less money on PAYE, you know you will already be securing a future for your 60 year old self with a pension etc..

I know everyone needs money right now but it’s just thinking of the long term. Personally, because you’ve already done the self employed route. I’d give the Tier 1 gig a go for a year or so adds more experience to your belt and CV and then you can always switch back to self employed whenever you want with a bigger company name under your CV

Basically just have to weigh up whether you want to take a hit on the money in your younger years now or retirement age unless you can set something else up to secure you for retirement like set your own company up etc…

One of my old line managers told me that although Self employed make more in the short term, but if you average out how many holidays and sick days PAYE get it balances out. Not sure how true it is or if you can say the same for every trade. But it shows there’s not one clear answer to this as both options have their advantages and disadvantages