There is one thing that no one has talked about and it happens to be the most important – your kids. When you ask an elderly person what they wished they could do differently, the men usually say that they wished they had spent more time with their kids.
Take the government job. Go to their baseball games and school events. Enjoy their childhood and make it the best you can for them. You said there is a university where you would move. Get an advanced degree while you are there (slowly so that it doesn’t impact your family too much).
I used to work with an attorney. He worked terrible hours and his family suffered. I had considered going to law school myself but the saw the light after watching him.
If being an attorney is your dream job, then that gives it a little extra weight. However, it doesn’t sound like this is the case.
You have a good nest egg and you will live very well elsewhere. I know a number of people with government jobs (not postal, etc) who live very nice lives. I know one guy who has plenty of time to be the head coach on his son’s baseball team. He is always at practice at 3:300. Go to work at 8, almost always home by 5. Where else to do you get that these days?
Bottom line: Kids come before money (or anything else).
