Would you rather have a high paying job you dislike?

[startingout]

Or a lower paying job you like (not love)? On one hand, a higher paying job will get you to FIRE (or fatter FIRE) faster. On the other hand, if you don't mind working at your job and stick with the lower paying job for longer, you might still come out financially ahead.

[Ron Scott]

Or a lower paying job you like (not love)? On one hand, a higher paying job will get you to FIRE (or fatter FIRE) faster. On the other hand, if you don't mind working at your job and stick with the lower paying job for longer, you might still come out financially ahead.

It’s a false dichotomy. Bide your time, keep looking, find a really good paying job that uses your talents, and will recognize and reward you for your effort and accomplishments.

The highest paying job you can get may not be the best for you personally, but accepting much less than you’re worth is foolish.

Don’t give up.

[rocketpj]

Nope.  Could get hit by a truck next year.  I've tried that, worked really high paying jobs that I didn't like or were dangerous. 

NOT WORTH IT.

Nobody sane is going to be awash with glee while at work, but at least make damn sure it is a safe and healthy workplace, and ideally have it be something that you feel is actually worth doing.

10 years of misery in hopes of some post work happiness is not a recipe for a good life.  Work for 12 years instead and just be happy(er) now.

[TimCFJ40]

Outside of possibly unreasonably high paying no. 

Example:  I'd take a really bad job making F500 CEO pay and survive it for 3 months to be completely set for life.  But that's not a reasonable thing to happen.

Otherwise I agree with the other posters so far.  Keep looking, keep networking, and find something that pays well, AND you like it. 

[GilesMM]

Do what you really love, find a way to get paid for it, and you'll never need to retire.

[Villanelle]

I guess it would depend on how much money and how much I dislike it (and why).  Pay me, say $500k for a job that's boring and coworkers are annoying?  Yes, please, and I'd do it for a year or so and then quit.  (My current freelance work brought in >%10k last year, so this would be a massive increase.)   But $250k where I'm being sexually harassed by my boss, asked to do wildly unethical things, am expected to work 7 days a week and have a 2-hour-each-way commute each way?  Nah, I'm good. 


Work is almost always a balance.  Find something that feels balanced, where what you give up is less valuable to you than what you gain.

[lefty]

Depends on a few factors.

1. Where am I in my financial journey and what do I want to achieve
2. What is the real hourly work/paid rate - Greatest financial incentive paid for x hrs of real work
3. Can I tolerate it? For how long?

Once I'm know the answers to the above, I should be able to answer your question.

[AuspiciousEight]

This really depends, but, realistically most jobs with a certain job title in a certain area are going to pay pretty similarly. So unless you're referring to changing job titles and/or the field you work in the pay isn't going to be hugely significant in terms of FIRE (maybe +-30% or so).

No matter what, you're going to be working for several years to achieve FIRE. It doesn't make sense to me to spend that time in a job you dislike, getting burned out, etc.

Of course - people often associate stress and pain with high pay for some reason, and that has pretty much been the opposite in my experience. Some of the most stressful jobs I have had in my life were actually service jobs that paid the least also, and the stress level for the jobs I have worked has actually gone *down* with the higher pay and job title. So sometimes (or often in my experience) the highest paying job is actually the least stressful job as well, as you tend to have more autonomy and flexibility at work also.

Your mileage may vary.

[NorthernIkigai]

Depends on a few factors.

1. Where am I in my financial journey and what do I want to achieve
2. What is the real hourly work/paid rate - Greatest financial incentive paid for x hrs of real work
3. Can I tolerate it? For how long?

Once I'm know the answers to the above, I should be able to answer your question.

4. How will working that job (for the period of time determined in 3.) affect me mentally/physically/reputationally/etc. after I've quit?

[Ron Scott]

Do what you really love, find a way to get paid for it, and you'll never need to retire.

This is the kind of insight those who consider FIRE should grapple with.

People who do not shape events through their own sense of purpose will eventually be engulfed in events shaped by others. Being well-paid to follow your muse might be the best of both worlds.

[mistymoney]

What kind of dislike? How much dislike? How much money?

[Loren Ver]

Based on experience we had DH changed twice due to the job being terrible.

He left what was going to be his highest paying job ever to a very low paying job that was tolerable.  The pay was really not good.  One time he got a raise that came out to 11 cents per pay check!  He was told he was lucky because he was one of the few that got a raise.

Then over time that job changed to intolerable due to staffing changes and office changes.  Something needed to be done.  I told DH I didn't marry him so he could work at a job so he could be miserable.  We paid to send him to school to get a lesser degree while working part time.  Then he got a job he actually kinda like in an environment that was supportive of his desire to never climb the ladder or work outside his self defined box until he retired (7 years).

He never made it back up to his original pay, even with 15 years of work and inflation.  But he wasn't a sad sack of husband for our entire marriage.  Then we retired anyway.   

So- totally on the if you are miserable change can be good.
Now I wasn't happy for some of my time at work, but at my job the rule of thumb was wait two years, either you will move or you boss will.  And it proved true.  But I wasn't super miserable either, I was just unsupported.

[roomtempmayo]

Do what you really love, find a way to get paid for it, and you'll never need to retire.

In an ideal world, what you love pays $300k and has no administrative nonsense required.

Most of us don't live in that world.  I think if you like your job 75% of the time and you're paid reasonably well for it, you're doing great.

My experience has been that the extremes aren't worth it.  On the low end, you get paid like crap, and with rare exceptions (e.g. some nonprofits and religious organizations) that low pay is license for poor treatment.  But on the other end, if you're already paid well to do work you mostly like, the promotions into management aren't worth it for lots of people.  If you're good as an individual contributor, a 20% bump to become a people manager probably isn't worth it unless you actually want to become a people manager.  In general, jobs do get better as you go up the pyramid, but I'm not sure that's true in the layers between teams/departments and VPs.

[Laura33]

C.  Find a job I really like, not one I can just tolerate.

The only reason to put up with a bad job is if you are about to get booted out on the street and have no other choices.  And even then you should be looking from day 1 for other choices that don't completely suck.

[GuitarStv]

If I like my job, I can do it reasonably well.  If I can do it reasonably well, then I can find happiness and satisfaction from that.  I've had work that I kinda like that gets more fun over time.

If I dislike my job, then it lives in my head all the time . . . including when I'm not working.  It sucks energy from me when I'm at home.  Usually I dislike jobs where I don't find any satisfaction in completing tasks, and that lack of satisfaction ends up making the dislike turn to hate.  I've never disliked a job and then had it turn around to be something I liked.


I'd take the lower paying job every time given the choice between the two.

Do what you really love, find a way to get paid for it, and you'll never need to retire.

If I had to do the things that I like, day in and day out . . . with limited creative input, with mandatory pointless meetings, with a long commute simply so I could clock in at my desk at 9:00 every morning, with stupid HR requirements to do corporate training . . . it would suck the joy out of the things I like.

[Freedomin5]

I would rather have a very high paying job I dislike. As another poster mentioned, it's about the tradeoffs. If I'm being paid more but I'm also incurring more expenses because I'm too tired to cook in the evenings, or I have to take a getaway vacation every month to tolerate my job, then I may not be saving more by earning more. So the unpleasant job would have to be significantly higher paying so that I can save significantly more than if I were working the lower paying job.

My other consideration is whether something might happen in the future that is out of my control that will impact my ability to continue working. First thing that comes to mind is health. I would rather have a bird in the hand than two in the bush.

That being said, I'd probably take the much higher paying job that I dislike, while looking for a high paying job that I like.

But at the end of the day, I'd still rather FIRE, because even if you're doing something you love, as long as someone is paying you for the work, they have expectations on you, and others' expectations and dictates can be stressful, and I prefer autonomy.

[Cranky]

I think you work at a job you hate because you have mouths to feed - the job is the means to an end not your focus.

But I’d rather work at something meaningful than something dumb - I’d rather be a janitor than work in marketing.

[Retire-Canada]

In the accumulation phase I'd make the most $/hr of effort I can as long as it was sustainable and I didn't hate my life. I've never loved any work so it's not something that I really think about as an option.

Working longer at low pay even if it was more enjoyable doesn't sound like a good trade off.

[Zikoris]

I'd take whichever one lets me read at work. Having to actually work much at this point would be a dealbreaker.

[bacchi]

For full time work, I'd hit a wall in 12 months anyway. Sign me up for the shit job that pays a lot!

Now if there was no/a short commute, for 20 hours a week, then I'd accept less money.

[classicrando]

So, even though I have actually in my life picked the lower paying job that is pretty reasonable, I can't definitely say that I wouldn't take the high paying job I disliked.  If given the opportunity.

It would still depend on the job and pay though.

[startingout]

In my case, I work in tech, so there's a huge difference in pay between the FAANG companies and everyone else. The FAANG companies probably pay 2-3 times my current pay. But, it would take me significant effort and time to be able to prepare myself enough to get one of those jobs, and even if I get hired, I might end up being overwhelmed, fired, or replaced by AI. Maybe it could have been a good dream for me to strive towards 10 years ago, when I was young and didn't have a family.

Even outside of the top companies, there are jobs that could pay me more that I was close to getting. But close is not the same as securing an actual job offer. I'm wondering if I should work harder at furthering my career or be complacent.

[NV Teacher]

Do what you really love, find a way to get paid for it, and you'll never need to retire.

I loved teaching but I still needed to retire.  I worked until I had enough, had had enough, and could say enough.

[Just Joe]

So, even though I have actually in my life picked the lower paying job that is pretty reasonable, I can't definitely say that I wouldn't take the high paying job I disliked.  If given the opportunity.

It would still depend on the job and pay though.

Same. And retirement approaches on the horizon fortunately.

I have plenty of anecdotes of why I don't want my boss' job. More headaches for not much more pay. Boss values my input, my input often makes their life easier and that sometimes makes my life easier. My boss is ambitious in ways that don't excite me at all. My boss' boss (I think) would consume all my patience and I'd go home frequently highly stressed.

DW and I have plenty of income to live the way we want w/o taking positions higher on the management ladder. I do regret that couldn't FIRE in our 30 or 40s but we got a later start due to reasons.

DW and I are both the technical get stuff done people that others rely on. People seek our input. Perfect. And we carpool home unburdened most of the time with more work after dinner. Yeah we're among the people that get called if there is an emergency but that is pretty rare.

If someone offered me enough money that I could retire in a very short time frame and if I was younger, even with higher levels of stress maybe I'd do it. I have an acquaintance on the executive track whom I've witnessed from afar who is a little younger than me but dealing with a list of health issues likely related to long term stress. With the job came the high income, and their lifestyle shows it.

Not worth all that to me (us - DW too). I've had stressful jobs with a projected retirement in my mid-60s and it wasn't worth what they paid me b/c it carried over into the rest of my life somewhat and I didn't like that.

[Much Fishing to Do]

I built a business that eventually did extremely well but also killed me with hours and stress.  I gritted my teeth the final 3 years and, after tax (which was substantial), made 15x my annual spend in those 3 years. At that point (that I had well surpassed my planned stache) I got out and took a much less stressful salaried job instead.  Its not quite as easy as saying I chose to make less, as there were extreme financial risks in my business that was part of the stress (as could be seen by the months my net was negative...)

Now, six years later, I still am making a choice per pay I guess...I actually 'like' my current 15 hr/wk job I recently moved to...and think its good for me mentally to do versus retiring completely...but given I've decided I'm already FI I seriously doubt I'd do it if it paid poorly.  But it pays so much more per hour than I ever thought I'd make at a risk-free job that turns it into a no brainer for me to just stick it out.  Granted...I worked so many hours for so long I frankly don't know what I'd do with those additional 15 hours that I can't already do in the free hours I have now.

[Laura33]

Maybe it could have been a good dream for me to strive towards 10 years ago, when I was young and didn't have a family.

FWIW, this is largely my advice to my kids.  When you're 20 or 25, you are your own best investment.  Pour your effort into learning those things that make you an exceptional employee (or follow an entrepreneurial dream if that's you).  If you don't have a strong pull to any one thing, go for the one that gives you the most pay/best training/best resume, even if that means you have to work your ass off.  Before marriage/kids is when you will have the fewest external demands on your time and energy -- and it's also by far the best time to invest for your future.  If you can put in a good few years making a shit-ton of money and saving a big chunk of it, then you will gain the experience to figure if that path is for you, develop the resume that enables you to choose a better path, and all the while build yourself a really sound foundation for your financial freedom and to fund your ability to kick back to a lower-paid job later.

Of course, if you do know very clearly what you want to do, then ignore all of the above.  Except for the "learn all you can" to make yourself valuable in whatever path you chose.

[FIREin2018]

Or a lower paying job you like (not love)? On one hand, a higher paying job will get you to FIRE (or fatter FIRE) faster. On the other hand, if you don't mind working at your job and stick with the lower paying job for longer, you might still come out financially ahead.

Was in a job i liked.
Then went into management. Didn't like that.
Completely switched careers to a high paying low stress job that i didn't like. It wasn't fulfilling.

I unexpectedly Fired at age 47.
Fortunately, i already had hobbies that i can put more time into: Gambling and travel
Now i'm away from home at least 50% of the time spending long weekends in casinos or going to other countries.

[Villanelle]

Doesn't almost everyone have a price and threshold for this though?  For those who said definitively that they wouldn't take the high paying job they dislike, would you take $1m/week if the dislike was just that it was boring?  You sit at your desk, read a book during the extensive down time when no one is looking (or when they are, because what do you care if you get fired?), work for 2-3 weeks, and quit.  I suspect nearly anyone would take that job.  Then back it off to $1m mo or per year, or per 3 years.  And amp up the dislike from boring to annoying to frustrating to stressful.  Drop out points will differ, but I think there's a point at which nearly everyone who isn't Musk/Buffet/Gates rich is going to say yes to a tiny amount of dislike for a crap-ton of money for a short time. 

[GuitarStv]

Doesn't almost everyone have a price and threshold for this though?  For those who said definitively that they wouldn't take the high paying job they dislike, would you take $1m/week if the dislike was just that it was boring?  You sit at your desk, read a book during the extensive down time when no one is looking (or when they are, because what do you care if you get fired?), work for 2-3 weeks, and quit.  I suspect nearly anyone would take that job.  Then back it off to $1m mo or per year, or per 3 years.  And amp up the dislike from boring to annoying to frustrating to stressful.  Drop out points will differ, but I think there's a point at which nearly everyone who isn't Musk/Buffet/Gates rich is going to say yes to a tiny amount of dislike for a crap-ton of money for a short time.

I'd argue that when you know that you're going to be doing something for a very short period of time your tolerance for shiftiness goes way, way up.  Once you're getting to a three year period kind of time though it's no longer a short period of time and even a really astronomical salary can't make up for the misery.  This is where there are real physical tolls that start to come into play with your body, and where the mental stress leaks into other aspects of your life.  (Also, a lot of job stress comes from expecting bad things to happen in the future because of current failures . . . but if you know that there's no future/a very short future in the job for you that stress disappears entirely.  So the dislike amount actually changes in this case.)

[Villanelle]

Doesn't almost everyone have a price and threshold for this though?  For those who said definitively that they wouldn't take the high paying job they dislike, would you take $1m/week if the dislike was just that it was boring?  You sit at your desk, read a book during the extensive down time when no one is looking (or when they are, because what do you care if you get fired?), work for 2-3 weeks, and quit.  I suspect nearly anyone would take that job.  Then back it off to $1m mo or per year, or per 3 years.  And amp up the dislike from boring to annoying to frustrating to stressful.  Drop out points will differ, but I think there's a point at which nearly everyone who isn't Musk/Buffet/Gates rich is going to say yes to a tiny amount of dislike for a crap-ton of money for a short time.

I'd argue that when you know that you're going to be doing something for a very short period of time your tolerance for shiftiness goes way, way up.  Once you're getting to a three year period kind of time though it's no longer a short period of time and even a really astronomical salary can't make up for the misery.  This is where there are real physical tolls that start to come into play with your body, and where the mental stress leaks into other aspects of your life.  (Also, a lot of job stress comes from expecting bad things to happen in the future because of current failures . . . but if you know that there's no future/a very short future in the job for you that stress disappears entirely.  So the dislike amount actually changes in this case.)

Of course.  But since most of us here are on some kind of FIRE (or FI, or FIR) path, for enough money it would be short-term.  To use the absurd example, if they are paying $1m/week, even someone who wants an absolutely morbidly obese FIRE and was starting from $0 wouldn't have to work more than a few months.  Or if it was $1m year, even if you only last 6 months, you are well on your way to FIRE (at most levels of lipid-ness) and then could downshift to a regular job that you don't dislike and that pays less, or much less.

So I don't see how this question is answerable because the variables of level of suck, type of suck, and how high-paying, plus the lever of just doing it for a short time to accelerate or complete FIRE, mean it's a pretty complex issue.   

[NorthernFire]

I made that choice. I took the money. I'd rather work a not so nice job for a shorter period of time than an OK / nice job for years longer just to make the same amount in the end. Also, there is no guarantee that the OK job will not change to the crappy job at any time.

[rocketpj]

I find this conversation interesting and relevant to what my eldest is currently considering.  He's going to start apprenticing as an electrician in a couple of weeks. 

Around here the big money as an tradesperson, even as an apprentice, is working in camps up North.  He can very reasonably expect to be grossing >$200k/year by the time he is about 22.  The tradeoff is that he'd be going up to work in remote camps for 10-20 days at a time, 18 hour days, then having a couple of weeks off and repeating the process.  Long, miserable days, no little amount of danger, and lots of lifestyle dangers (booze and drugs).

For a 19 year old that's fine and something of an adventure.  For a 35 year old with a family that is misery.  For a 55 year old you are probably already dead or might as well be because of poor health and substance abuse issues, not to mention the divorce(s) and the alienated family.  Having worked in those environments myself, none of the above is an exaggeration.

I've told him that he should by all means go work those jobs while he's young and motivated.  Make boatloads of money, invest it all and either FIRE outright before he's 30, or transition to buying/opening an electrical company with all that cash he's made.  Just make sure to look around at all the older people at the camp and think very hard about whether that's a life he wants to get stuck in for 25 years.  Go in, have a plan, make your cash and then get the hell out.

[clarkfan1979]

I find this conversation interesting and relevant to what my eldest is currently considering.  He's going to start apprenticing as an electrician in a couple of weeks. 

Around here the big money as an tradesperson, even as an apprentice, is working in camps up North.  He can very reasonably expect to be grossing >$200k/year by the time he is about 22.  The tradeoff is that he'd be going up to work in remote camps for 10-20 days at a time, 18 hour days, then having a couple of weeks off and repeating the process.  Long, miserable days, no little amount of danger, and lots of lifestyle dangers (booze and drugs).

For a 19 year old that's fine and something of an adventure.  For a 35 year old with a family that is misery.  For a 55 year old you are probably already dead or might as well be because of poor health and substance abuse issues, not to mention the divorce(s) and the alienated family.  Having worked in those environments myself, none of the above is an exaggeration.

I've told him that he should by all means go work those jobs while he's young and motivated.  Make boatloads of money, invest it all and either FIRE outright before he's 30, or transition to buying/opening an electrical company with all that cash he's made.  Just make sure to look around at all the older people at the camp and think very hard about whether that's a life he wants to get stuck in for 25 years.  Go in, have a plan, make your cash and then get the hell out.

Great story. I teach community college and had a student two semesters ago that worked for oil and gas and worked in temporary camps in his entire life. He made a shit load of money, but unfortunately has nothing to show for it. He is in his 50's and trying to get his life back in order. 

I really like my job and get along well with an economics professor. We have had a similar conversation the past 2-3 years about, "how much would it take to sell out and get a corporate job." I think our numbers were around 250K to 300K, but that was 2-3 years ago.

I make 61K/year, but total compensation is around 90K/year with health insurance and 401a. I work about 1,000 hours/year. It's 32 weeks year at about 30 hours/week

Now in 2025, if I was to get a regular corporate job at 45-50 hours/week with no travel, my minimum ask would be 400K/year. If someone offered me 350K/year, I would turn it down.

[GuitarStv]

I find this conversation interesting and relevant to what my eldest is currently considering.  He's going to start apprenticing as an electrician in a couple of weeks. 

Around here the big money as an tradesperson, even as an apprentice, is working in camps up North.  He can very reasonably expect to be grossing >$200k/year by the time he is about 22.  The tradeoff is that he'd be going up to work in remote camps for 10-20 days at a time, 18 hour days, then having a couple of weeks off and repeating the process.  Long, miserable days, no little amount of danger, and lots of lifestyle dangers (booze and drugs).

For a 19 year old that's fine and something of an adventure.  For a 35 year old with a family that is misery.  For a 55 year old you are probably already dead or might as well be because of poor health and substance abuse issues, not to mention the divorce(s) and the alienated family.  Having worked in those environments myself, none of the above is an exaggeration.

I've told him that he should by all means go work those jobs while he's young and motivated.  Make boatloads of money, invest it all and either FIRE outright before he's 30, or transition to buying/opening an electrical company with all that cash he's made.  Just make sure to look around at all the older people at the camp and think very hard about whether that's a life he wants to get stuck in for 25 years.  Go in, have a plan, make your cash and then get the hell out.

Great story. I teach community college and had a student two semesters ago that worked for oil and gas and worked in temporary camps in his entire life. He made a shit load of money, but unfortunately has nothing to show for it. He is in his 50's and trying to get his life back in order. 

I really like my job and get along well with an economics professor. We have had a similar conversation the past 2-3 years about, "how much would it take to sell out and get a corporate job." I think our numbers were around 250K to 300K, but that was 2-3 years ago.

I make 61K/year, but total compensation is around 90K/year with health insurance and 401a. I work about 1,000 hours/year. It's 32 weeks year at about 30 hours/week

Now in 2025, if I was to get a regular corporate job at 45-50 hours/week with no travel, my minimum ask would be 400K/year. If someone offered me 350K/year, I would turn it down.

Yeah, thinking about this . . . your age really does change your answer to the question too.  A younger GuitarStv had a much higher tolerance for bullshit.  I worked many truly terrible jobs because they would pay a dollar or two more an hour than the much easier minimum wage stuff when saving money for university.  I have worked 80 hour weeks for months at a time to capture ridiculous amounts of overtime despite the personal life misery it caused.

As a middle aged guy with a decent amount of savings and a kid, I'm at a point in my life where I can now comfortably tell those jobs to shove it.  The juice isn't worth the squeeze any more.  As a young kid with no savings or responsibility, just out of highschool/university though?  Hell yeah, throw the adversity at me for some cash.