Quote:
Originally Posted by Flabbibulin
The funny thing is a lot of us are probably talking about careers we dislike with a salary already closer to that lower figure, and the risk is taking on a new career that pays even less than that.  I guess I am still fairly young though and can only go up.
My brother has the opinion that he doesn't care how much he hates his job as long as he is paid well to do it- I am not sure about that philosophy and think it might not be a sustainable way of life.
My wife recently left a miserable job she hated, after being there many years, to go to a start up company (purely for job satisfaction reasons, and future potential I guess) that is paying her about 65% of her previous salary. She had been depressed in the previous company for a while and really wanted out. Well, she absolutely loves her new company and is a happier person, but it definitely is a financial adjustment. I would really have a hard time doing that regardless of how miserable I was, but then again, she just disliked her job, not career. I think I dislike both. |
Financial considerations are a reality, but too many people overemphasize the importance of money.
I'm not saying financial security isn't important, clearly it is. But once you hit a certain threshold you're not talking about security anymore, and the tradeoff is a certain degree of excess or luxury beyond what you need to be financially secure. Working 80 hours a week doing something you hate so that you can buy a $90K car to drive to work from your million dollar home strikes me as stupid. People adapt to material wealth, and are eventually just as dissatisfied with their rich lives as they were during their poorer days (and probably even more dissatisfied if they hate their work). The joy material goods bring is temporary, and it's expended as soon as you've acclimatized to the fancy car or the expensive shoes or whatever fancy toy you've most recently bought for yourself.
You only live once, and you can't take the money with you.
Look at it this way: how much money would it take to make you want to change your career life story from (1) "I loved my work, am proud of what I did, and I balanced it all well with my interests, my family, and the things that are important to me"; to (2) "I worked at a job I hated for 30 years that impacted and compromised my personal life in all kinds of crappy ways and, frankly, I don't really want to talk about it"?
Because that's the choice, or so it seems to me.