Reply to Majors/careers for a kid who wants money and work/life balance

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I think there's also a concept of putting your dues in.  I'm a lawyer and I have good work/life balance now, but my first couple years out of law school were a slog.  Same with my spouse, who's an engineer.  He has work/life balance now but his first few years he had to do a lot of travel and long hours, especially when he was also finishing his secondary degree.  Now this time lined up for us, so it didn't impact our relationship (we got married out of college).

There's an aspect of learning your field so you get more efficient later ad well.

But that's something to consider that your mid to late 20s can be slog time while you build skills and prove yourself. [/quote]

+1. I slogged for 5 yrs and then coasted for the next 35. It was worth it.[/quote]

10 year slog here. Since then it’s been awesome!

DH slogged a few years longer but is now 1/2 time at age 50 with plans to retire in 5 years, max.

We didn’t meet until our mid-30s, but it turned out we had carved out very similar post-college paths (likely due to similar upbringings, priorities, and values.)

By our mid-30s, we each had paid off our school loans, purchased a condo, and were investing small amounts in the market each month.

We’ve been really clear with our teens about that first decade out of college. So they absolutely know our backstory - not just the awesome lifestyle of the past 5-10 years with us working 9-5 (at most) and not worrying about money.

The three keys for us:

(1) We’re both good with long term planning (including financial planning), and are strategic thinkers re value and risk. We taught ourselves a ton (anyone remember Motley Fool back in the day??), but a lot was just intuitive. And of course the stock market had gone bananas these past 30 years!

(2)  We 100% know how to work hard. Very, very hard. All nighters, months with very few days off, grueling work travel,  etc. It was remarkably easy to do in our 20s when we were young and energetic. After a decade, it was a massive relief to start dialing it back. (We’ve told our kids allll the stories! 2am meetings, last minute/quick turnaround travel overseas and back etc. Not so glamorous. 😂)

(3) We’ve both always lived below our means - before we met and ever since. 
Not in some horrible, sacrificial, sad way. We just never bought into a big lifestyle. We invested our bonuses and raises and never over-committed on big ticket things like housing or travel.

It wasn’t hard, maybe because we didn’t grow up wealthy or surrounded by wealth. Or maybe because we’re pretty easily pleased? And as some said above, it definitely helps to live in a smaller city than DC/NY/SF etc. Lower expectations, for sure.[/quote]

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