Author Topic: Saving up for a lower paying career  (Read 1713 times)

wealthviahealth

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Saving up for a lower paying career
« on: October 29, 2019, 11:42:45 AM »
I have had the recent "come to Jesus moment" in which I realized that my current career path is simply not something I would want to do for rest of my working career ( 25 + years). I make good money now and have been diligent about saving/investing so I have a solid nest egg accumulated but I realized that most of the careers I can seen my self thriving in for the rest of my working life are incredibly rewarding but pay about 50% less than what I am making right now.A part of me wants to make this change ASAP and the other part thinks it would be best to stack away another year's salary before doing so.

Curious to hear if others have made similar transitions to lower paying/more rewarding and sustainable careers
and what they did to plan for it financially.
Note that this career change would also require me to pay for a 2 year masters program that I would have to do full time, ie not with my current job. Would love any thoughts, tips, suggestions on this.

tyrannostache

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Re: Saving up for a lower paying career
« Reply #1 on: October 29, 2019, 12:13:23 PM »
First things first: how do you know you will love these lower-paying careers? Are you certain that you'll find them more fulfilling and more sustainable? Are you certain there are jobs available? Before you invest in a master's degree, go do some informational interviews with folks who are already working in these fields.


While I haven't transitioned from high pay to low pay, I have chosen a lower-paying career path out of many options available. I work for a nonprofit. If I did what I do in a corporate setting, I could certainly be making much more money. But the mission of my organization matters a lot to me, I love what I do, and I can see myself doing it for a long time. I have occasionally explored going corporate, but I've never actually followed through. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), my spouse shares my mindset. We do our best to keep our spending rate low and our saving rate high so that we can continue to do the work that is meaningful to us.

BECABECA

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Re: Saving up for a lower paying career
« Reply #2 on: October 29, 2019, 12:39:55 PM »
Is there some job you could take in the field that doesn’t require you to first complete a 2 year master’s degree? That way you could get a feel for the industry and potential employers before making that level of investment (dropping to 50% pay is a lot more palatable than dropping to 0% pay and paying out for tuition on top of it for two years). And are you really planning on working in this new field for 25+ years or do you plan to retire earlier than that?

I moved to a lower paying job after about 10 years working for large company and getting increasingly frustrated with the bureaucracy and aversion to change. First I started my own consultancy, and made about 50% of what I made before, but only had to work about 25% of the year, which I was very happy about. Then after 2 years I decided I wanted to switch industries and started interviewing for positions that I had some transferable skills for. I ended up finding a job that surprisingly paid what I was making back when I worked for the large company in the old industry, but without the huge drag of bureaucracy. It was really fun for a couple of years, and then when it stopped being fun I retired.

I don’t think I would have done the initial move to a lower paying job if it had required getting another degree, since I knew that early retirement was my ultimate goal. But early retirement a year or two faster wasn’t worth staying at my old job and being miserable. So it’s totally up to what your ultimate goals are and what compromises to the speed of reaching them that you’re willing to make.

terran

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Re: Saving up for a lower paying career
« Reply #3 on: October 29, 2019, 12:47:25 PM »
Not necessarily something you need to answer here, but food for thought. How does your spending compare to the expected salary in this new career? Will you be able to continue to save, or do you need to reach "coast FI" such that you can just let your retirement assets grow on their own without further contribution? Why do you think your career needs to be another 25 years? Lots of people here are on the 10-15 year path start to finish.

dollarchaser

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Re: Saving up for a lower paying career
« Reply #4 on: October 29, 2019, 08:38:30 PM »
I left a frustrating factory job after 20 years. The pay and benefits were better than any position available to me. It was and still is a work in progress since it happened about 15 months ago.

We had a good understanding of our expenses and had cash set aside. Sold a nice house because it forced me to stay in the factory. Then proceeded to go live in the country.
The past few weeks we have seen deer in the yard daily, hiking is close, float trip was free and slept at home afterwards. Instead of 50-60 hour weeks I settle for 40 at a much lower hourly rate. Pretty peaceful overall.
Financial picture is not bad. Savings are now depending on market gains and time. Contributions are scaled back? More? than expected. Also I don't have the firepower to smooth over some expenses like in the past.
Worth it?  I think so. But it takes intimate knowledge of your specific needs and wants. I have felt institutionalized from the time on the single job. Adjustments to leaving that behind were /are interesting but not really problematic.
Good luck with your future and rock it!