English lit major entered a low paying career never made more than $30K went to medical school in my 30s now make $250K got loans forgiven by PSLF it can be done.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can then it around. Mu DH made a massive career switch at age 40. He went from being a boring government contractor pushing paper and dealing with petty politics a d into IT sales. He's 6 years in and with his RSUs alone super funded both our kids 529s. He usually makes around 400-550k.

It was a gigantic risk and very scary, but he wasn't afraid to fail and wasn't afraid to put himself out there, even at age 40. He's currently trying looking foe a new job now at a pre IPO and his story is one that hiring managers gobble up. Everyone loves a transformation story.

PP, I love your DH's story. Can you say more about how he made the leap into IT sales?

We have a lot of friends in IT sales and would see the money they made. His one friend put his neck out for him and referred him and he got a seat at the table. I really gotta give him credit. He doesn't accept complacency ans isn't afraid of being uncomfortable.

Long before this change he joined toastmasters so he could get comfortable in front of groups speaking. I honestly think that was helpful in a weird way.

IT sales is such a racket. It’s basically white people making easy money off of Asian people’s hard work.

People who write posts like this will be unhappy no matter what job they are in or how much money they make.

If you are an admin and liked the diplomat life, why not join the foreign service as an OMS, or a generalist? Salary will not be huge but you still get all the perks of being abroad like you had growing up.

Anonymous wrote:I know nonprofits don't pay like private sector, but it still seems like you're underpaid. My S.O. is about the same age and works at a nonprofit and makes over $100K. This is the environment to get out there and get a new job, that's the only way to get a significant raise.

OP is a secretary in a non-profit. I know plenty of people that worked their way up from being a secretary to being in a leadership role, but it doesn't sound like OP wants to do that. She just wants to complain.

$63K is a perfectly reasonable salary. If you were ambitious, you could work your way to the top and make $200K, but it doesn't sound like you're ambitious, it sounds like you want things handed to you on a platter and that's just not how life works, OP. Anyway, for all we know, you couldn't handle advanced math and there's no way you would've had an LSAT score high enough to get into law school. There's a lot you're not telling us.

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:I made $143k at the nonprofit I quit last year, so I suggest you fix your resume and get out there and beat feet to a new job

What is the difference between someone like this and someone like OP- the type of nonprofit they work at, or just the positions they're in?
- someone not in the nonprofit world

Both. Non-profits encompass a wide span from small community-based organizations to the Gates Foundation. Nonprofits also have a wide range of funding streams, some more stable than others. Even a small non-profit, if its natural constituency is quite wealthy, can have a balance sheet that supports higher salaries. Executive positions, higher-level administrative positions, jobs like in-house counsel, or fundraising jobs tend to pay more than the program side which provides direct services. So I'm a director of development at a small non-profit and I make significantly more than my peer program directors.

I think there is a lot of room to make moves to earn more, but like any industry, most of us need to put in the effort (demonstrating worth, developing skills in areas that pay more, netowrking) to see the reward.

Yup. I’m an attorney at a big non profit and make $200k+. I’m clearly still being rewarded for going to law school, and probably could make more at a different company, but I’ve got a good gig here.

People also LOVE to cite BigLaw and Finance salaries. Please please remember that the people making $500K+ or $1M+ made it to the top of a very small pyramid. And it’s very hard to stay there. Even the top 15% of lawyers and finance types will make $200-400k or so, so it’s important to have perspective.

40 here and wondering if I should go to law school like I had originally planned. Did you go to a school in the area or a top 14

Top 3. Did several years in BigLaw first to pay off my loans first.

You make what is a fortune by the standards of 7/8 of the globe's human population and you live in a vibrant city with tons of amazing things to do for FREE.


Maybe you should look at why you are so fixated on measuring the quality of your life by how much money or materials things you have. There are plenty of people who have everything and are absolutely miserable. At some point, absent serious health problems, happiness is all about your attitude.

Marry rich, OP.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just marry someone rich

I think that is easier said than done.

You don't need to marry someone rich. Just find someone who works and isn't in debt because there is an efficiency in having two incomes pay for one home. It's much harder to live on $65k by yourself. If two people each make $65k, they are both better off if they share expenses.

Anonymous wrote:Just marry someone rich

I think that is easier said than done.

Just marry someone rich

OP, someone posted earlier that it’s important for you to figure out what you are interested in. I’ll also add you need to get a good handle on the skills you have to offer. These are the first steps. As someone else said, a career coach could help.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I will likely make a spin off thread in the teens group soon. I am a second generation immigrant who has worked for our nice life, and have lots of concerns that my children (one in particular) does not have the hustle to support herself to the degree to which she yearns. On the other hand, I did go into one of the fields your father suggested and the first 20 or so years were really hard and I don’t actually wish that on my children. So I don’t know what the correct way to guide my children.

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thank you for the ideas but I feel stuck as my nonprofit job is administrative so I have little business skill to be able to transition to consulting.

An entry level consulting job pays same or more than your salary now. Plus, has enormous promotion potential. Your real problem is laziness or learned helplessness. Daddy brought you around nonprofit folks, you got into it because of daddy, but now daddy doesn't have a magic wand to make you earn a decent living, so you will do nothing but sulk. No. You get out. You need to grow up and take initiative by yourself to get ahead.

Anonymous wrote:Op here. Thank you for the ideas but I feel stuck as my nonprofit job is administrative so I have little business skill to be able to transition to consulting.

Hard truth is that you are your own worst enemy. You need some help to get unstuck — career coach, therapist, life coach. Something. You have self-defeating thinking.

I work in non-profit and have seen several people in admin roles parlay that into something better, sometimes within our org and sometimes they take a job elsewhere. You are directly adjacent to leadership and executives every day, right? You should be soaking up what they do and how they do it.

I make 160k at a non-profit at 45. I got here by hustle, making my own opportunities and working hard. I climbed from 50k to 160k working in the same org. How? If something needed doing, I did it.

I have an undergrad degree in English. Started MPH school at 35. Went part-time while I worked. It was a slow 4-year slog, but I did it. With kids at home.

It can be done, OP. But you absolutely need to shift into a higher gear.