Low earning professionals, do you regret your career?
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Anonymous
| Do you wish you had set out to work in higher paid professions? |
Anonymous
| Yes, PhD in science. I wish at this point that I had pursued tech or marketing, or anything else! |
Anonymous
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Yes. At the time though, librarian starting salaries were not that much lower than other professions. The divide really took off in the 2000s.
I would never encourage any young person to become a teacher or librarian now, unless they have family money.. |
Anonymous
| I did as an architect. I left for an adjacent higher paying field. Glad I got out in my thirties. |
Anonymous
| No. I like the freedom of no pressure and eating dinner with my family. I make enough and don’t desire any more. |
Anonymous
Same. I think I could have been a fine lawyer. |
Anonymous
|
Psychologist
Yes, I regret it. |
Anonymous
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I have done the absolute best I can with the resources I have. Do I wish I were richer? Absolutely. Can I support myself and save a little bit? Yes. Do I wish I could afford to buy instead of rent? Sure. Do I have any debt? No.
I struggled very hard to get where I am. This is the best I can do. |
Anonymous
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Mechanical engineering and ended up in renewable energy. Three decades into it and never made more than $85k, while living in Washington. Not poverty. Not great.
I don't regret the field and the mission, which has been a blessing. I sure do regret not getting on to the money side of the business. I think my kids will be OK because they will have options in life and have plenty of experience living in a money-stressed household. |
Anonymous
Good post. |
Anonymous
| Yes and no. I love what I do, but it does suck not being able to afford nice things or take nice vacations. I'm a creative professional and have no aptitude for STEM, so I think I would flounder if I had gone that direction. I naively didn't think $90K would feel so poor when I was in college 25 years ago. But I can afford the basics and its more than what most of the world makes, so I'll just be grateful for that while I pursue other pathways within my field. |
Anonymous
Public school teacher here. Same. |
Anonymous
| Different public school teacher. Yes and no. These days, I definitely feel regret. I have only been able to save a small amount for my kid for college. I do love teaching students but I wish I had more to offer my own kid. |
Anonymous
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Yes, I do.
What's done is done, now that I'm mid 50s and I can't change course. What I CAN do is offer explicit, no-holds-barred information to my kid who is heading off to college next year. I thought when I chose a low paying major @19 that money didn't matter so much as long as I was passionate about whatever it was at the moment. Turns out, money did matter. My kid is starting to say the same kinds of things at the same age -- they're "passionate" about "history." I point out in a way that I wish my parents had that "history" doesn't pay the mortgage and they'll need to monetize that "passion" for "history" very soon. |
Anonymous
so interesting that you associate low paying careers with no pressure and plenty of family time. i spent 20 years as a news reporter. low pay, high stress, low family time. left for high paying corporate job a decade ago and only wish i'd done it sooner. i should note as well that i am not from family money and didn't marry money. just in case this turns into another thread about the npr reporters with trust funds and married to law partners. it's not the same. |