Job Satisfaction (or lack thereof)

[lostmonkey007]

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[Aelias]

That's pretty much where I am.  If you have a relatively cushy job that pays that well and you don't hate it, stick with it til FIRE.  If you start to hate it, find something else to do.

If possible, you should try to get some work from home flexibility.  I find that helps me tolerate the corporate environment.

[big_slacker]

My thinking is to just hack away at my FIRE goal for a decade, enjoying my passions in my generally abundant down time ahead of full FIRE'ing in my late 30s.  Does this jive with the older MMM crowd with more life experience than me?  Or am I missing a beat here?

You don't have to like your job. Not many people do. And you only have to do it for a short period of time whilst still enjoying what you love to do the whole time. You're on easy street, enjoy it!

[big_slacker]

You don't have to like your job. Not many people do. And you only have to do it for a short period of time whilst still enjoying what you love to do the whole time. You're on easy street, enjoy it!

Fair enough!  I do envy people who get up everyday a bit more excited about their day jobs.  But I also appreciate that I make a healthy income for someone who's not a financier/doctor/lawyer.

Fo sho, I'm sure that does exist for some people. And FWIW I don't MIND my job. It's challenging, good people, pays well and so on. But I'd rather be mountain biking or snowboarding. :D

[Noodle]

You haven't mentioned if children are part of your life plans in the next ten years, but if so a corporate job with good benefits, a regular schedule, minimal stress and high salary will be pretty valuable to your family, even if it comes at the expense of a job you find more interesting.

That said:

1. There's nothing wrong with looking around and seeing if there's anything whose combination of salary, work tasks, etc is better than what you have already.

2. If you do get to the point where you are actively unhappy, for heaven's sake look for something else. The number of people who complain on these boards about their jobs but won't even try a job search surprises me sometimes.

[toganet]

You don't have to like your job. Not many people do. And you only have to do it for a short period of time whilst still enjoying what you love to do the whole time. You're on easy street, enjoy it!

Fair enough!  I do envy people who get up everyday a bit more excited about their day jobs.  But I also appreciate that I make a healthy income for someone who's not a financier/doctor/lawyer.

Am I correct to guess you are in Tech somewhere?  I marvel at the salaries young folks are making these days.  Don't take it for granted, and don't define yourself by it.

[JLee]

3% SWR is unnecessarily conservative -- 4% is already conservative.  What are your actual expenses, and what will they be if you are leading the life you want to have?

That's a ridiculous salary for someone your age...you're making over three times the median household income for your state. If you get your expenses low enough and use a realistic withdrawal rate, you probably do not need to be working for another decade.

[Pylortes]

Man, I have to say with your income and youthful age, I really suggest putting your head down for a few years and just deal with the boredom, and continue to really try to maximize your outside activities with your free time.  Your job is about a guaranteed ticket to financial freedom at a young age.  You could make a change to try and get something better aligned with your values but there is certainly no guarantee you’d like the new position better, and you could piss away the great opportunity you are sitting on. 

If it was me, I’m not sure I’d go the full 10 years but I’d commit to 3-4 years, bank as much savings as I could then reevaluate at that time.  If I’m still feeling decent about the job, I’d then sort of mentally re-up for another 3 years and repeat as needed.  If you get to the point where you feel like your soul is being crushed at this job then it’s time for a change.  But I’d say you just need to stay the course for a bit and good things will come.  I think you already know this is true.

[JLee]

$1.2mil is $45k/yr at 4% (vs $1.5mil at 3% for $45k).

If you're making $175-200k and you could live on $45k, let's assume you're able to invest $8500/mo between tax advantaged and taxable accounts.  I make way less than you and I did nearly half of that last year, living in a HCOL area (NJ, 7 miles outside of Manhattan).

This is six years at an averaged 7% return:



There's no need to do this for a decade unless you really want to. Extending that time horizon out to 10 years puts you north of $2 million.

If I were you, I'd buckle down for a few years and make sure to take advantage of vacation time, holiday weekends, etc to do what you truly want to be doing. I turned 34 last week and I would love to be FI right now. You could be.

[Linea_Norway]

If I were you, I'd buckle down for a few years and make sure to take advantage of vacation time, holiday weekends, etc to do what you truly want to be doing. I turned 34 last week and I would love to be FI right now. You could be.

This^^^^

Enjoy your great salary and do as much outdoor stuff as you can. I you don't need to work weekends, then enjoy your weekend in the outdoors. Working for another 7-10 years in a low stress job is really not that bad, compared to what must of us are doing for many more years.
Try to get assigned to interesting projects at your company.

You can of course look around for an equally well paid job somewhere else. But remember that the grass is not always greener on the other side.
If the job was costing you your health, you would have to look for something else, even if it was lower paid. But if you can hold out working there, while making your plans for the next weekend, you will reach FIRE in a relatively short time.
You can also consider if you can start your own company, doing what you do now. But I think it will be more uncertain and require more work than what you do currently.

[edgema]

Resonates very much with me and I am with others with the 'stick at it' advice. I did this myself with similar high earnings, reasonable lifestyle, but no passion, and don't regret it. Although who knows, in another universe perhaps their is another me who escaped and has had a 'better' life.   

I have had a career in finance which my opinion varies between its OK to a feeling of being one of the vampire squids. Cannot say I am as outside the norm lifestyle wise as you present yourself but certainly have never desired the ridiculous house and car. For what its worth I tried escaping a few times, once to travel, once to start a business and once to do a masters. Each time I thought I was out for good. Upon financial reflection though, and I am not particularly proud or ashamed of this, I always came back to the money and the fact that over time it would provided me the opportunity to FIRE relatively early in life (41 now).

My last attempt at escape was 2010 and when I decided to come back I committed to working however long it took me to get the stash level which meant I never needed to return. It hasn't always been easy, but I don't hate what I do day to day, and now in 7/8 years later I am just under a year away from FIRE and arguably could go now. It feels great, although hard to slog out the last 14 months and 4 days....

My personal opinion is that it is really hard to earn $200k. Knuckle down, save hard, let your peers financially expand their lives while you enjoy building a stash that very few others will get anywhere near in their lifetime. Finally, sail off into the sunset in you late (ish) 30s.

You make a valid point on spouses / children. You may find a committed MMM disciple to marry. If it is someone more 'normal', perhaps you will be happy to have more behind you. My experience of kids is that they are more expensive than you can conceive before having them. Not saying we shove silver spoons into ours but they seem to cost in surprising ways. Simple point would be all the travel 'hacking' espoused on this site; try travel hacking a holiday for a family of four during school holidays!

[edgema]

OK I lied. Rarely have I desired the ridiculous house and car....

[BFGirl]

I'd buckle down for a few years and gain experience and contacts while building up your stash.  Then, if you do decide you want a family, you would have enough saved and enough experience to start your own business and have the flexibility to enjoy your family.

As a lawyer who is middle aged and hasn't broken a six figure income yet, I am envious of your salary.  However, I chose to work part time when my kids were little and then took a government position with lots of flexibility, so I'm behind some of my peers in earnings.

[big_slacker]

What program is that?

$1.2mil is $45k/yr at 4% (vs $1.5mil at 3% for $45k).

If you're making $175-200k and you could live on $45k, let's assume you're able to invest $8500/mo between tax advantaged and taxable accounts.  I make way less than you and I did nearly half of that last year, living in a HCOL area (NJ, 7 miles outside of Manhattan).

This is six years at an averaged 7% return:



There's no need to do this for a decade unless you really want to. Extending that time horizon out to 10 years puts you north of $2 million.

If I were you, I'd buckle down for a few years and make sure to take advantage of vacation time, holiday weekends, etc to do what you truly want to be doing. I turned 34 last week and I would love to be FI right now. You could be.

[Aelias]

I would also echo what some folks on here have said about taking full advantage of vacations, holidays, and--while you're still child-free--the copious free time you have.  It may not feel like it now, but you have at least 3x more free time now than you will if you choose to have kids.  And, given your profile, you will most likely hit FI and be ready to fully FIRE by your late 30s early 40s at the latest.  So, take the time now to develop those hobbies and interests and visualize what would really bring you joy and fulfillment if you weren't working.

I would also say that there's nothing wrong with keeping a healthy detachment from your job.  For a lot of people, their job is a huge part of their identity.  But if you're in the US, you're probably an at-will employee, meaning that your job can end in an instant with no notice and, often, for reasons that have nothing to do with you.  So it's not a bad thing to nurture the parts of your identity that aren't related to your job.  I think this helps build emotional resilience in the event your job ends unexpectedly.

In short, stick with your current job if you don't hate it, but focus your excess energy on building up the things you do care about.  Those things will become your life once money is no longer an issue.

[MrDelane]

What program is that?

I believe that is the compound interest calculator available on Bankrate's site:
https://www.bankrate.com/calculators/savings/compound-savings-calculator-tool.aspx

[JLee]

What program is that?

I believe that is the compound interest calculator available on Bankrate's site:
https://www.bankrate.com/calculators/savings/compound-savings-calculator-tool.aspx

That is the one!

[big_slacker]

What program is that?

I believe that is the compound interest calculator available on Bankrate's site:
https://www.bankrate.com/calculators/savings/compound-savings-calculator-tool.aspx

Thank you sir!

[LWYRUP]

You make an enormous amount of money for not very much work at a young age.  I would advise (1) saving as much money as you can, because maybe that will continue or maybe that will change and (2) being grateful in the meantime that you have such a great opportunity to stack some fat cash and buy yourself freedom in not too many years.

[FireLane]

OP, I'm in a similar position as you, just a few years further along. I agree, the waiting is the hardest part. You've got that huge earnings potential, it just needs time to build up, and that's tough when you can visualize the goal so clearly.

One strategy I adopted that's helped me on down days is to think "There are millions of people who wish they could trade their problems for mine." It helps me keep a sense of perspective.

When I'm tempted to self-pity, it's a worthwhile reminder that we're very privileged and fortunate compared to the majority of humanity. Huge numbers of people have suffered so much more than we have for so much less reward. When I put it that way, I find that the idea of sticking it out for a few more years doesn't sound so bad.

One possibility: Have you thought about asking to go part-time? If you make that much money, your company probably doesn't want to lose you, and you may be able to negotiate and trade off time for money. Even four days a week would give you a lot more free time to pursue your own interests. 20% off a solid six-figure salary won't make that much difference as far as time to FIRE goes, and it may make the interim a lot more tolerable.

[Linea_Norway]

I would say my compensation is approaching a ceiling.  I'm currently nearing the high end of the individual contributor pay range.  Therefore, a meaningful jump in comp (i.e. further acceleration towards FIRE) would entail taking on active management responsibilities.  The give-and-get analysis really doesn't check out for me.  I'd be looking at perhaps a 25-30% pay bump.  However, working a 50/55-hour week vs. a 30/35 hr one, along with the materially higher amount of 'managing people and reporting to senior execs' stress, is something I'm quite averse to at the moment.

Management indeed brings potentially more stress. My DH has the same challenge. He could either be a consultant, just working for customers. There is only so much your can be paid, because the customer needs to pay your hours or they go to the competition.
His alternative is being a group leader or a higher manager. He liked the extra challenges that come with being a group leader (apart for his current problems). But for the moment he no longer has ambitions to try higher management. The higher you get, the more it might be about politics and less about the actual work that he cares for. He also tried a job, not being a group leader at all, but that was not challenging enough for him and he got bored after 2 years. Now it is also a matter of holding out until FIRE.