I'm a 41 YO professional, who spent most of my 30s working in an all-consuming, extremely stressful job that, fortunately, paid very well. I invested well, and I'm probably coast-fire right now (over 7 figures CAD invested, house more than half paid off, decent contributions to children's university savings), especially if I continue to work until my mid-50s (which I plan to do). My 39 YO spouse is a teacher, and has no plans to RE, although she probably won't work much past 60. She'll receive a modest pension assuming she continues to teach until retirement. We have two young kids, 1.5 and 7. We're not big spenders, although we want to have a comfortable retirement, with lots of travel, restaurants, activities, etc.
A couple years ago, I left my private practice role to work in a regulatory agency. I took a steep pay-cut, but I work so much less that my income is a basically wash on a per-hour basis. My job is very oriented to work-life balance. I get 4 weeks vacation, an extra week off at Christmas, and 17 flex days that I can use throughout the year. I earn about $140K CAD in total comp. My job is, however, extremely easy. I can do a week's work in one day, and I outproduce my colleagues by a factor of 3:1 even though I've begun to fill my time by taking on extra non-core tasks, or just not working, especially on work-from-home days. My team is very low producing, and there's a bit of resentment directed my way for "making them look bad." It's fine though as I get along well with my manager, and several other people in other groups, so I'm not socially isolated, I just have very little to do with my own team (one - two meetings per week).
Basically, I thought I won at life by finding an easy job that pays well. However, I'm not challenged, and I feel like my skills could stagnate, or become redundant, which is a risk if I need to survive ~15 more working years. In addition, I think my role could be automated in the relatively near future, although management of my organization is probably less inclined to automate my role than similar roles in the private section. I doubt the role ends in the next five years, but on a 10 - 15 year timeframe, who knows? In terms of benefits, I love the time I have with my family, and the ability to handle emergency childcare (v my spouse's much less flexible schedule). Also, the pay is obviously not bad (especially for how easy the work is), and I'm still able to make significant contributions to investments.
In any case, I've started to look for other opportunities, and will be interviewing for the following two roles soon:
(1) Promotion to a different group, with higher pay at my org: The role reads like a "bullshit job" (per David Graeber) but the org is putting a lot of resources into the position, which is featured in its strategic plan. Benefits: higher pay (probably a $15-20K increase in total comp), probably somewhat more interesting work, maintain work-life balance. Drawbacks: a little bit more stress, the role is more political, and there is potentially less stability given that the role is part of a new initiative that could be dismantled if there's a change in leadership.
(2) Move to a government position: The other role I will be interviewing for is with our Provincial Government. It would be genuinely interesting, but likely more stressful, with slightly longer hours of work. Benefits: increased salary (likely in the range of $20K), defined benefit pension plan (I ran calculations that estimated if I retired in my mid-50s, I'd be paid about $3500-4000 CAD/month, indexed to inflation for life, with survivor benefits, basically assuring me the ability to retire in my 50s), probably more interesting work. Downsides: some potential for work on evenings and weekends, no flex days (i.e. 17 less days off per year), more stress, less flexibility.
Anyway, I'm wondering what people (especially those who face similar dilemmas) have done, or think I should do. I guess I'm looking for perspective on how to navigate between work-life balance verging on boredom versus challenge and stress; whether it's possible to ride out a job that's far too easy for a long period of time; and, whether I'm looking a gift-horse in the mouth by walking away from the easiest money I'll probably ever make (other than the passive income that will fund my retirement).
Thanks in advance!
