Has wanting money discouraged you from public service?

[Anonymous]

I make $55k and my husband makes $70k. We both work for Congress. We have a child that also is in daycare full time. I promise, you will survive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Glad to hear people are making it work. It will be a bit sad to see the savings rate go down, but I guess that's what public service is all about. Will definitely need to try hard to avoid the keeping up with the Joneses attitude though as most of our friend circle is in finance, consulting, tech etc. so we'll just have to accept being the less well off ones haha.

Why do you want to go into public service? I've been in public service my whole career, and all my friends are as well. Not to discourage you, but you may not really be the public service type if you haven't already gravitated there and that's where your friends would be already. Those of us who do do it because we always had an inherently strong desire to do it. It was never even a question if I would go for the money. There are some who do private sector at the beginning of their careers to pay back loans but they never intend to stay long.

OP here. It's something I've always wanted to do. It's why I got into my career in the first place. I did a brief public service-ish stint for a couple years straight out of school, and worked in the private sector afterwards to earn money and set myself up for the type of public sector positions I'd want down the road. I find the work on that side more interesting and more rewarding.

Of course, the motives aren't purely selfless- the types of jobs I'd be looking into would also translate well to a bigger paycheck after walking through the revolving door again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Glad to hear people are making it work. It will be a bit sad to see the savings rate go down, but I guess that's what public service is all about. Will definitely need to try hard to avoid the keeping up with the Joneses attitude though as most of our friend circle is in finance, consulting, tech etc. so we'll just have to accept being the less well off ones haha.

Why do you want to go into public service? I've been in public service my whole career, and all my friends are as well. Not to discourage you, but you may not really be the public service type if you haven't already gravitated there and that's where your friends would be already. Those of us who do do it because we always had an inherently strong desire to do it. It was never even a question if I would go for the money. There are some who do private sector at the beginning of their careers to pay back loans but they never intend to stay long.

OP here. It's something I've always wanted to do. It's why I got into my career in the first place. I did a brief public service-ish stint for a couple years straight out of school, and worked in the private sector afterwards to earn money and set myself up for the type of public sector positions I'd want down the road. I find the work on that side more interesting and more rewarding.

Of course, the motives aren't purely selfless- the types of jobs I'd be looking into would also translate well to a bigger paycheck after walking through the revolving door again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I make 50k as a teacher. We still paid off our house in our 20s and reached barebones FI by 30.

In 1962?

We're in our early 30s now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Glad to hear people are making it work. It will be a bit sad to see the savings rate go down, but I guess that's what public service is all about. Will definitely need to try hard to avoid the keeping up with the Joneses attitude though as most of our friend circle is in finance, consulting, tech etc. so we'll just have to accept being the less well off ones haha.

Why do you want to go into public service? I've been in public service my whole career, and all my friends are as well. Not to discourage you, but you may not really be the public service type if you haven't already gravitated there and that's where your friends would be already. Those of us who do do it because we always had an inherently strong desire to do it. It was never even a question if I would go for the money. There are some who do private sector at the beginning of their careers to pay back loans but they never intend to stay long.

Mose feds i work with are absolute lazy slobs. It's disgusting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Glad to hear people are making it work. It will be a bit sad to see the savings rate go down, but I guess that's what public service is all about. Will definitely need to try hard to avoid the keeping up with the Joneses attitude though as most of our friend circle is in finance, consulting, tech etc. so we'll just have to accept being the less well off ones haha.

Why do you want to go into public service? I've been in public service my whole career, and all my friends are as well. Not to discourage you, but you may not really be the public service type if you haven't already gravitated there and that's where your friends would be already. Those of us who do do it because we always had an inherently strong desire to do it. It was never even a question if I would go for the money. There are some who do private sector at the beginning of their careers to pay back loans but they never intend to stay long.

Mose feds i work with are absolute lazy slobs. It's disgusting.

I don't really count feds as public interest, with some exceptions (DOJ civil rights, some CFPB, scientists).

[Anonymous]

I recently retired from a public service job with an incredible retirement, free medical for life plus over a million in savings. It can be done.

[Anonymous]

What a ridiculous post. You'll be fine financially. However, you sound so disconnected from what life looks like for the average person that I fail to see how you could be successful in most public service sectors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What a ridiculous post. You'll be fine financially. However, you sound so disconnected from what life looks like for the average person that I fail to see how you could be successful in most public service sectors.

Eaxctly what I was thinking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What a ridiculous post. You'll be fine financially. However, you sound so disconnected from what life looks like for the average person that I fail to see how you could be successful in most public service sectors.

Eaxctly what I was thinking.

*Exactly

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Glad to hear people are making it work. It will be a bit sad to see the savings rate go down, but I guess that's what public service is all about. Will definitely need to try hard to avoid the keeping up with the Joneses attitude though as most of our friend circle is in finance, consulting, tech etc. so we'll just have to accept being the less well off ones haha.

Why do you want to go into public service? I've been in public service my whole career, and all my friends are as well. Not to discourage you, but you may not really be the public service type if you haven't already gravitated there and that's where your friends would be already. Those of us who do do it because we always had an inherently strong desire to do it. It was never even a question if I would go for the money. There are some who do private sector at the beginning of their careers to pay back loans but they never intend to stay long.

OP here. It's something I've always wanted to do. It's why I got into my career in the first place. I did a brief public service-ish stint for a couple years straight out of school, and worked in the private sector afterwards to earn money and set myself up for the type of public sector positions I'd want down the road. I find the work on that side more interesting and more rewarding.

Of course, the motives aren't purely selfless- the types of jobs I'd be looking into would also translate well to a bigger paycheck after walking through the revolving door again.

Yeah, I don't think you actually want to be in public service. As someone who has worked in public service for my entire career, I wouldn't want to work with anyone who posted the above. To say you come across as completely out of touch is an understatement.

[Anonymous]

Hey OP looks like what you actually want is to cash in on your public "service" by peddling influence and "access" once you exit the revolving door. No worries, you'll have plenty of company, and you don't have to fret about the dilemma of public sercive v wealth. Welcome to the swamp.

[Anonymous]

DH went public, I stayed private. I make 3x what he does and foot the bill for our lifestyle. We both enjoy our work though, and have a good life together. I have often wished I could do something more "meaningful," but won't give up our financial security.

[Anonymous]

Jeez settle down everyone. I never said that was my only or even my main intention. Like I said, my plan is to remain public side indefinitely. It just so happen that my area of specialty values government service if/when you decide to switch back to the private sector.

I also don't see this as a problem-- having the opportunity to do that if necessary means that the government gets people who are the best and brightest, when we might otherwise not be able to serve because of our families' needs.

Also to the people saying I'm out of touch-- I asked about our particular situation/those who made similar moves. Yeah, obviously I get that a ton of people make less money than us. Whatever- how is that relevant?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jeez settle down everyone. I never said that was my only or even my main intention. Like I said, my plan is to remain public side indefinitely. It just so happen that my area of specialty values government service if/when you decide to switch back to the private sector.

I also don't see this as a problem-- having the opportunity to do that if necessary means that the government gets people who are the best and brightest, when we might otherwise not be able to serve because of our families' needs.

Also to the people saying I'm out of touch-- I asked about our particular situation/those who made similar moves. Yeah, obviously I get that a ton of people make less money than us. Whatever- how is that relevant?

Clearly you don't care about the actual mission of what you propose to do. The revolving door is incredibly toxic to the missiom of most agencies. And fed salaries are perfectly adequate to take care of a family. You and your ilk just want to cash in.