Only with this last job was money part of the deciding factor, I'd say equal with family considerations and level of work. Because the goal is greater savings and ER.
Thanks for sharing your experience. That's actually very similar to how I've thought throughout everything I've done so far.
I guess I'll concede and say it doesn't matter when you find the site. Better to find it ASAP if you're oblivious to the concepts. What I meant I think was that a high-paying, stressful job becomes "harder" when you have an exit plan. What do you think? Maybe you're still motivated to keep it till you meet your goal, but you're not really willing to stay there for no reason as you may have before.
I think if you're going to say that something is "harder", then you have to say what you're comparing it to if your arguement is going to have any meaning. Maybe you did and I just didn't catch it. I would argue that reading this site and having a FI plan would make a stressful but high-paying job more bearable, if you hold keeping the job for a length of time as a constant. You might say that it is "harder" for someone who has a FI plan because they would otherwise leave and get a less stressful job, but they are staying because they can reach their goal sooner. In either case, I think the person with the plan is better off, because they can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Even in the second scenario a person would be staying because they
choose to, which is no small thing.
The concept of someone seeking to increase their income for reasons beyond those you listed in the OP has been beaten to death already, so I will simply say that I am in the camp of non-monetary reasons to increase my income (past being able to fund my lifestyle, that is). My personal reasons are an irrational competitiveness, a desire to learn, and do things that interest me, which together seem to keep money falling in my lap regardless of whether I want it to.
