Did you give up a large portion of your income in pursuit of a happier life?

[Anonymous]

Majored in computer science and dove into consulting work upon graduation. Less than 5 years in, I was miserable. Went back to grade school for a masters in education, cut my salary in half, and became an 8th grade math teacher.

There are a lot of days I wish we had more money, or I am envious of my friends who stayed in who are traveling the world on their vacations, but I wake up each morning legitimately loving my job.

[Anonymous]

We did this twice - first DH left law firm because we had baby and he was missing out on quality time so that was a HUGE decrease in HHI. We have maintained a somewhat more conservative lifestyle than we had so quite pleased. Recently went down to one income so I could pursue my professional career. Weirdly happiest lifestyle yet! Only drawback is the travel that we crave needs to be really well thought out and budgeted. Otherwise, happy as clams!!

[Anonymous]

Yes - we did so two years ago. Moved to rural MoCo, work from home and are very happy.

[Anonymous]

We did it. DH and I were making close to $1m/yr (he was a tech exec) but he really disliked his job. Now he's back to a startup and our income is about a fifth of what it used to be. We saved a ton while he had the old job for the express purpose of being able to choose work without regard for income in the future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a pair of DC lawyers who dropped out of big law once they paid off loans. One became a SAHM to 4, the other became a music minister for a church in Idaho.

I think they're nuts, but they're happy and say it's the best thing they could've ever done for their family. To each his own.

This just makes me sad. So the whole law thing was a complete waste, simply worked to pay off loans -- would have same outcome if they just moved to Idaho directly..

Not necessarily. They have lawto fall back on in an emergency.

I can't imagine that being out the legal profession for years would make it easy to move back to practicing law. If you go to law school and end up in a career that doesn't require a legal degree or even value one then you truly wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars and years of your life.

That's kind of true. But I am still happy I did it. I would have always looked back if I didn't because at the time, it is what I wanted to do. It's a sunk cost now. I will not build my life around a profession just because I spent too much time and money already. I am cutting my loss at this point .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can point to three points in my career when I made choices that sacrificed money for family/meaningful work. Looking back, I would change my decisions.

Being financially stressed in middle age when care of parents and facing college with almost no savings is miserable. Did you know you can save cash by going without health insurance for two months a year without penalty? Sucks to be me.

Thank you for sharing this. Having grown up poor, I think people here are romanticizing 'a simpler life'. Although to be fair, it sounds like most people are talking about going from being wealthy to being comfortable, not poor. Think about what you may give up - the ability to pay for an unforseen medical emergency, help out a relative going through a crisis, or your child's college undergrad.

Obviously the above may not directly apply to the OP - I think 150K is still very comfortable in most places in the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can point to three points in my career when I made choices that sacrificed money for family/meaningful work. Looking back, I would change my decisions.

Being financially stressed in middle age when care of parents and facing college with almost no savings is miserable. Did you know you can save cash by going without health insurance for two months a year without penalty? Sucks to be me.

Thank you for sharing this. Having grown up poor, I think people here are romanticizing 'a simpler life'. Although to be fair, it sounds like most people are talking about going from being wealthy to being comfortable, not poor. Think about what you may give up - the ability to pay for an unforseen medical emergency, help out a relative going through a crisis, or your child's college undergrad.

Obviously the above may not directly apply to the OP - I think 150K is still very comfortable in most places in the US.

+1

It's one thing to go from 300k to 150k to reduce the work week from 80 hours a week to 40 hours, or to regain your soul. I can understand that, provided whoever's doing it can cut out the European vacation or enjoy living in Gaithersburg.

It's another thing for a woman living in NWDC whose husband works Big Law to become a preschool teacher, non-profit worker, etc. She is able to make herself feel better but isn't really going to suffer any material repercussions.

Then you have a GS-11 that decides she wants to be an "artist".

My point is that a cut in income needs to be balanced with a cut in lifestyle expectations and then being really okay with the cut in lifestyle. It's one thing to move to a condo or to an emerging neighborhood because you want to cut back/simplify. But then don't whine about the upstairs neighbors making noise or the young men who seem to have no jobs but infinite time to sit on their front porches. (Or maybe moving out to WV and then complaining about Trump voters.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can point to three points in my career when I made choices that sacrificed money for family/meaningful work. Looking back, I would change my decisions.

Being financially stressed in middle age when care of parents and facing college with almost no savings is miserable. Did you know you can save cash by going without health insurance for two months a year without penalty? Sucks to be me.

Thank you for sharing this. Having grown up poor, I think people here are romanticizing 'a simpler life'. Although to be fair, it sounds like most people are talking about going from being wealthy to being comfortable, not poor. Think about what you may give up - the ability to pay for an unforseen medical emergency, help out a relative going through a crisis, or your child's college undergrad.

Obviously the above may not directly apply to the OP - I think 150K is still very comfortable in most places in the US.

Well, of course it is--it's 3x the median household income. It's the top 11% across the US. http://money.cnn.com/calculator/pf/income-rank/

It's still a comfortable salary in DC, as the median HHI here is 93k. Folks who argue they're slumming it at that salary (not that anyone in this thread has) are delusional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:yes, best decision ever.

no one ever says at a funeral of somebody that the deceased wishes they could have spent more time more time at work or making more money............

Everyone says this but it is not true. I know several elderly people who didn't save enough and now they have very limited housing choices. Think subsidized nursing homes with up to 4 to a room. They "lived for the moment" and didn't save and now they are stuck.

[Anonymous]

I twice took paycuts of 25% or more for better quality of life (one time it was a straight cut in pay in for a cut in hours and one time it was to go from a job that was boring to a job that was challenging and meaningful).

Great decisions both times. I dread to think about how close I came to being stuck in that awful boring job for decades (it had golden handcuffs in the form of a decent pension).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know a pair of DC lawyers who dropped out of big law once they paid off loans. One became a SAHM to 4, the other became a music minister for a church in Idaho.

I think they're nuts, but they're happy and say it's the best thing they could've ever done for their family. To each his own.

This just makes me sad. So the whole law thing was a complete waste, simply worked to pay off loans -- would have same outcome if they just moved to Idaho directly..

I'm with other PPs who say law was not a waste. No one says you have to practice law for the rest of your living days or it is wasted. Heck, many people get the degree and never practice law, but the education and the experience, if you do practice for a while, inform other things you do in life. You misconstrue the experience when you say they "worked to pay off loans." No, they were practicing law. But when the loans were paid off, their financial situation changed enough to make a different choice, to move on to something different, and for them better. Up until that point, it is not as if they were doing nothing - they were practicing law in the traditional way. And so you are also wrong that skipping law and moving to Idaho would have been the same outcome .. not, it wold have been a totally different life path, skipping the part where they studied and practiced law.

[Anonymous]

More income doesn't make you more interesting
What decision feeds your soul? Op, you've answered you own question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:yes, best decision ever.

no one ever says at a funeral of somebody that the deceased wishes they could have spent more time more time at work or making more money............

Everyone says this but it is not true. I know several elderly people who didn't save enough and now they have very limited housing choices. Think subsidized nursing homes with up to 4 to a room. They "lived for the moment" and didn't save and now they are stuck.

And, there are lots of people who save their entire life and still end up in a nursing home sharing a room as there are very few singles (most are doubles) and on medicaid. The majority of the residents at many nursing homes burn through their savings and end up on medicaid. Nursing homes suck every penny out of you and the government. Even if you have a million saved, that can go very quickly. And, speaking from experience, the private pay still get treated as poorly as the medicaid residents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can point to three points in my career when I made choices that sacrificed money for family/meaningful work. Looking back, I would change my decisions.

Being financially stressed in middle age when care of parents and facing college with almost no savings is miserable. Did you know you can save cash by going without health insurance for two months a year without penalty? Sucks to be me.

Thank you for sharing this. Having grown up poor, I think people here are romanticizing 'a simpler life'. Although to be fair, it sounds like most people are talking about going from being wealthy to being comfortable, not poor. Think about what you may give up - the ability to pay for an unforseen medical emergency, help out a relative going through a crisis, or your child's college undergrad.

Obviously the above may not directly apply to the OP - I think 150K is still very comfortable in most places in the US.

Yes, to be sure, if we did not feel financially secure, we would not have made this decision. We were not giving up financial security. We were giving up the more$, more$, more$ culture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone knows money isn't making them happy, and that chasing the security of having a big paycheck is like a thirst that's never satisfied. But fear stands in the way of dropping out of the race. We did it to pursue what we felt we were called to do in this life. We aren't wealthy but we are insanely fulfilled and joyful.

+1 it takes courage! Well done.