Walking away from the money
Discussion
rosbif77 said:
Downsizing from a well paid but stressful job to one with a smaller pay cheque and less stress is fine if you've got cash in the bank or a lot of equity/mortgage paid off.
However, not everyones in that position so we just try to keep our heads above the water, or in my case work two jobs and still not have enough to last each month!
Too right, rosbif, and you have my sympathies regarding your position. My point was that while cash is nice, there is more to life, and a better family life is more than enough justification to take the leap. However, not everyones in that position so we just try to keep our heads above the water, or in my case work two jobs and still not have enough to last each month!
I appreciate that all circumstances differ, though, and some are left to make very difficult choices. However, if it's a case of having a lower (but viable) income and being happier, then it's a go from me.
I must say that I did read your thread regarding your circumstances, and I sincerely wish you the best of luck.
Testaburger said:
rosbif77 said:
Downsizing from a well paid but stressful job to one with a smaller pay cheque and less stress is fine if you've got cash in the bank or a lot of equity/mortgage paid off.
However, not everyones in that position so we just try to keep our heads above the water, or in my case work two jobs and still not have enough to last each month!
Too right, rosbif, and you have my sympathies regarding your position. My point was that while cash is nice, there is more to life, and a better family life is more than enough justification to take the leap. However, not everyones in that position so we just try to keep our heads above the water, or in my case work two jobs and still not have enough to last each month!
I appreciate that all circumstances differ, though, and some are left to make very difficult choices. However, if it's a case of having a lower (but viable) income and being happier, then it's a go from me.
I must say that I did read your thread regarding your circumstances, and I sincerely wish you the best of luck.
Downsizing to have a better work/life balance is what a lot of us dream of doing.
It's not nice to be poor at 49, but then a lot of people out there are in more difficult position than me.
Edited by rosbif77 on Thursday 28th April 12:19
I did the opposite to the scenario the OP is stating, and it sort of proves the point still.
Got approached to do a job that was 2hrs commute across London, when my current job at that time was 10 mins from my house. Double the salary, allowed us to buy a house in a very expensive commuter belt area and get our kids into decent schools. Within 2 years I was a mess, never seeing daylight, no family time and knackered at weekends.
I never regretted jacking it in, scraping by for a few years and getting back to normality. They say work/life balance and job satisfaction doesn't pay the mortgage, and that's true, but it's only when you've chased the money you realise what an unnecessary sacrifice it is.
Got approached to do a job that was 2hrs commute across London, when my current job at that time was 10 mins from my house. Double the salary, allowed us to buy a house in a very expensive commuter belt area and get our kids into decent schools. Within 2 years I was a mess, never seeing daylight, no family time and knackered at weekends.
I never regretted jacking it in, scraping by for a few years and getting back to normality. They say work/life balance and job satisfaction doesn't pay the mortgage, and that's true, but it's only when you've chased the money you realise what an unnecessary sacrifice it is.
Steve Jobs' last words said:
I reached the pinnacle of success in the business world. In others’ eyes, my life is an epitome of success.
However, aside from work, I have little joy. In the end, wealth is only a fact of life that I am accustomed to.
At this moment, lying on the sick bed and recalling my whole life, I realize that all the recognition and wealth that I took so much pride in, have paled and become meaningless in the face of impending death.
In the darkness, I look at the green lights from the life supporting machines and hear the humming mechanical sounds, I can feel the breath of god of death drawing closer…
Now I know, when we have accumulated sufficient wealth to last our lifetime, we should pursue other matters that are unrelated to wealth…
Should be something that is more important:
Perhaps relationships, perhaps art, perhaps a dream from younger days
Non-stop pursuing of wealth will only turn a person into a twisted being, just like me.
God gave us the senses to let us feel the love in everyone’s heart, not the illusions brought about by wealth.
The wealth I have won in my life I cannot bring with me. What I can bring is only the memories precipitated by love.
That’s the true riches which will follow you, accompany you, giving you strength and light to go on.
Love can travel a thousand miles. Life has no limit. Go where you want to go. Reach the height you want to reach. It is all in your heart and in your hands.
What is the most expensive bed in the world? Sick bed…
You can employ someone to drive the car for you, make money for you but you cannot have someone to bear the sickness for you.
Material things lost can be found. But there is one thing that can never be found when it is lost – Life.
When a person goes into the operating room, he will realize that there is one book that he has yet to finish reading – Book of Healthy Life.
Whichever stage in life we are at right now, with time, we will face the day when the curtain comes down.
Treasure Love for your family, love for your spouse, love for your friends.
Treat yourself well. Cherish others.
However, aside from work, I have little joy. In the end, wealth is only a fact of life that I am accustomed to.
At this moment, lying on the sick bed and recalling my whole life, I realize that all the recognition and wealth that I took so much pride in, have paled and become meaningless in the face of impending death.
In the darkness, I look at the green lights from the life supporting machines and hear the humming mechanical sounds, I can feel the breath of god of death drawing closer…
Now I know, when we have accumulated sufficient wealth to last our lifetime, we should pursue other matters that are unrelated to wealth…
Should be something that is more important:
Perhaps relationships, perhaps art, perhaps a dream from younger days
Non-stop pursuing of wealth will only turn a person into a twisted being, just like me.
God gave us the senses to let us feel the love in everyone’s heart, not the illusions brought about by wealth.
The wealth I have won in my life I cannot bring with me. What I can bring is only the memories precipitated by love.
That’s the true riches which will follow you, accompany you, giving you strength and light to go on.
Love can travel a thousand miles. Life has no limit. Go where you want to go. Reach the height you want to reach. It is all in your heart and in your hands.
What is the most expensive bed in the world? Sick bed…
You can employ someone to drive the car for you, make money for you but you cannot have someone to bear the sickness for you.
Material things lost can be found. But there is one thing that can never be found when it is lost – Life.
When a person goes into the operating room, he will realize that there is one book that he has yet to finish reading – Book of Healthy Life.
Whichever stage in life we are at right now, with time, we will face the day when the curtain comes down.
Treasure Love for your family, love for your spouse, love for your friends.
Treat yourself well. Cherish others.
rosbif77 said:
Testaburger said:
rosbif77 said:
Downsizing from a well paid but stressful job to one with a smaller pay cheque and less stress is fine if you've got cash in the bank or a lot of equity/mortgage paid off.
However, not everyones in that position so we just try to keep our heads above the water, or in my case work two jobs and still not have enough to last each month!
Too right, rosbif, and you have my sympathies regarding your position. My point was that while cash is nice, there is more to life, and a better family life is more than enough justification to take the leap. However, not everyones in that position so we just try to keep our heads above the water, or in my case work two jobs and still not have enough to last each month!
I appreciate that all circumstances differ, though, and some are left to make very difficult choices. However, if it's a case of having a lower (but viable) income and being happier, then it's a go from me.
I must say that I did read your thread regarding your circumstances, and I sincerely wish you the best of luck.
Downsizing to have a better work/life balance is what a lot of us dream of doing.
It's not nice to be poor at 49, but then a lot of people out there are in more difficult position than me.
Edited by rosbif77 on Thursday 28th April 12:19
t for anyway.That tiny self inflicted cock up precipitating such life changing consequences proved something was deeply wrong with the life I was living. I spent the next few days quietly at home ignoring calls and clients and work altogether and officially pulled the plug a week later. I stopping advertising, abandoned future plans and gave all my remaining commitments away to competitors. It took just a long morning of calls and mails to throw 17 years efforts and hopes away and probably the best mornings work I've ever done in my life.
We plugged the financial black hole I'd caused by selling our home and moving away, we got rid of luxuries and kissed expensive holidays and cars goodbye. Mrs JS still works and if we're careful we'll survive and if I need to I'll pick up some part time casual work here and there to make sure there's always some beer in the fridge.
I mostly spend my days now pottering around the house and garage, going for long walks and looking after the Grandbaby. Which is much nicer.
Mattt said:
Why didn't you just sell up rather than pressing self destruct?
Business was based on providing a discrete property management service for absent landlords and wealthy clients too busy or too lazy to organize building and decorating and home refurbishments themselves.There was nothing tangible to sell. No premises, tools, plant or equipment to value and my income came from material and labour mark ups, commission payments and introduction fees as well as the occasional decorating job I did myself.
All I actually had was a strong reputation for getting things done to a very good standard leading on to a lot of repeat business and word of mouth reccomendations, a ancient mobile phone and several good quality reliable contacts in various building trades to work on my behalf.
Looks like somebody else has moved in to the gap I left now. At the time it suddenly went tits up I couldn't even answer a phone let alone face up to the idea of either carrying on or having a break then going back to it so that's fine by me.
Up until about 10 months ago I was an asset manager for one of the biggest housing associations in the UK. I was part of the upper management reporting directly to the CEO and directors, and as such was on really good money.
It was the pinnacle of my fairly steep 8 year rise up the ladder of property and housing.
It was a life of meetings, boardrooms, email, suits, shiny shoes, restaurants, claiming expenses, company cars, writing reports, meeting suppliers and other business partners all over the country.
I was so utterly, utterly bored and frustrated by it all that I practically wanted to throw myself off the building everytime I got another Outlook calendar request to another meeting. Even though I worked for a good company and liked almost everyone I worked with, I simply couldn't stand the job or the industry I was in.
I quit and threw away the salary, the expenses, the large holiday entitlement and all the other benefits.
I started my own bodyshop and garage, specialising in performance and classic cars. It has been an incredibly hard struggle, but it's all pointing in the right direction now, we are really busy and have seen many satisfied customers though the doors. Just finished restoring and painting a rare Porsche 964 Jubilee which is being entered into a national concours event this summer, amongst a load of other big projects we are working on.
When I stand in the queue at Sainsburys on my way home from work, clutching some groceries and covered in oil, paint, filler dust and god knows what else, I get nervous glances from the chaps in the queue who are in their business suits and shiny shoes, who clearly pity me as they think I'm some low-wage garage employee who gets paid a few quid a day to skin his knuckles and end up filthy.
But no. It is now I who pity them.
It was the pinnacle of my fairly steep 8 year rise up the ladder of property and housing.
It was a life of meetings, boardrooms, email, suits, shiny shoes, restaurants, claiming expenses, company cars, writing reports, meeting suppliers and other business partners all over the country.
I was so utterly, utterly bored and frustrated by it all that I practically wanted to throw myself off the building everytime I got another Outlook calendar request to another meeting. Even though I worked for a good company and liked almost everyone I worked with, I simply couldn't stand the job or the industry I was in.
I quit and threw away the salary, the expenses, the large holiday entitlement and all the other benefits.
I started my own bodyshop and garage, specialising in performance and classic cars. It has been an incredibly hard struggle, but it's all pointing in the right direction now, we are really busy and have seen many satisfied customers though the doors. Just finished restoring and painting a rare Porsche 964 Jubilee which is being entered into a national concours event this summer, amongst a load of other big projects we are working on.
When I stand in the queue at Sainsburys on my way home from work, clutching some groceries and covered in oil, paint, filler dust and god knows what else, I get nervous glances from the chaps in the queue who are in their business suits and shiny shoes, who clearly pity me as they think I'm some low-wage garage employee who gets paid a few quid a day to skin his knuckles and end up filthy.
But no. It is now I who pity them.
Them that look down.... Ill smile and think you really really haven't grasped it yet ? what is it with those that go chasing the money the kudos of the corner office with your name on the door, the personal secretary, the expense account, the lease car ?
No matter how high you climb your still a little cog in the mechanics of big business... conditioned to excel at he next appraisal for what ? what is it that it achieves ? is it that important in life ?
what about your family ? what about your health? what about what you want ? Im 47 and def not going anywhere in the business, dont get me wrong I enjoy what I do and ill do it as best as I can but I refuse to get fixated with all the other crap that goes with the job. its really not worth it in the grand scale of things.
Ill do what I can to pay the bills food on the table and clothes on my back.
No matter how high you climb your still a little cog in the mechanics of big business... conditioned to excel at he next appraisal for what ? what is it that it achieves ? is it that important in life ?
what about your family ? what about your health? what about what you want ? Im 47 and def not going anywhere in the business, dont get me wrong I enjoy what I do and ill do it as best as I can but I refuse to get fixated with all the other crap that goes with the job. its really not worth it in the grand scale of things.
Ill do what I can to pay the bills food on the table and clothes on my back.
CaptainSlow said:
Has anyone made a career decision that saw a negative effect on their pay packet but greater happiness, and what were their reflections on the decisions?
Somehow I've got to a position after chasing the banding/salary where I'm doing a job that I don't get any personal satisfaction or sense of achievement however the financials are great. Friends and family think I'm mad for considering giving it up but I'm confident that I could still earn good money doing something I enjoy more. It will still involve looking at spreadsheets all day, I'm not looking at a massive change. Anyone else been through it?
Yes, just done this. I walked out of a greatly paid job in December after spending 4 months saving to cover the down time. Best move I ever made, when I started looking for work a few months later, I was employed within a week but in a much lower paid role but without the sSomehow I've got to a position after chasing the banding/salary where I'm doing a job that I don't get any personal satisfaction or sense of achievement however the financials are great. Friends and family think I'm mad for considering giving it up but I'm confident that I could still earn good money doing something I enjoy more. It will still involve looking at spreadsheets all day, I'm not looking at a massive change. Anyone else been through it?
t.... one is much happier as a result and the difference is being home every night, working from home or when in the office its 20 minutes away. Do I miss the past responsibility? Absolutely as these lot are muppets of a high magnitude but hey, I just do my job now and feel so much happier.Saying that, the muppetry is a bit testing at times and there is a contract just put my way which is 15 minutes walk from the door so I might go for that but the career part is behind me, b
ks to it life is more enjoyable now. If you are confident you can do it and earn good money then go for it but the flip side is, the downscale in responsibility and influence can be difficult and adjusting to the "fk it its some other mugs problem" is a bit hard.CaptainSlow said:
Thanks for the replies. For me it isn't about long hours, stress or long commute. I can work from home but that drives me mad!
It's about being passionate, being proud on what I'm doing and using my skill sets. It's about seeing a result of my work and having a target to achieve. Also, the environment I'm in is very quiet, there's no buzz, laughter or excitement. I need to be in a more active atmosphere.
In work respect, you sound like me. I am very much motivated by doing the best I can and working for people that do the best they can, however I find most people now are just cruising and don't do anything at all. The majority mentality is just turn up, smile and hope no one realise you are Milton. It is depressing to admit but I now no longer could give a toss about the work I do so long as its done to meet the expectations of what I am paid for. Its a bitter pill for me to swallow but in realising this I am much more content, much happier.It's about being passionate, being proud on what I'm doing and using my skill sets. It's about seeing a result of my work and having a target to achieve. Also, the environment I'm in is very quiet, there's no buzz, laughter or excitement. I need to be in a more active atmosphere.
My Mrs has just left job for a big corporate, with a bullying boss and an expectation of 12 hours days to go to a smaller company for a 15% pay cut, massively shorter hours, really friendly people and a much more laid back atmosphere. Not a huge lifestyle or career change, (she did leave without a role to go to) but one that has made a great difference to her well being.
Money gives you options, but if you have to give up more to get it than it provides, then it isn't really a benefit.
Money gives you options, but if you have to give up more to get it than it provides, then it isn't really a benefit.
stopping the press, potentially just been put on to a lucrative 8 month contract. I figure that might be my future. Not giving a fk about politics, no loyalty beyond the set terms of contract, good day rates and then part ways at the end as friends. Also if they offer perm work you've had a good chance to vette them first.
k about politics, no loyalty beyond the set terms of contract, good day rates and then part ways at the end as friends. Also if they offer perm work you've had a good chance to vette them first.
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