Do you really want to do nothing and make tons of money all day?
I don’t.
Would you rather…
Work at a job where you aren’t allowed to do ANYTHING all day (no smartphones, NOTHING) but make tons of money…?
OR
Work at a job where you are challenged and happy but make a reasonable amount?
I’d pick the latter.
A job to me, isn’t just about the money
I know I joke about this a lot and say that I am not interested in the work being offered, I am interested in the MONEY being paid to me, but it’s true.
I was once working at a client, billing $30,000 a month and all I wanted to do was quit.
I hated the project, I hated the environment, it was very stressful, they were unreasonable and I had to still stay cool and professional throughout it all (which really tested my patience).
It was extremely lucrative but it just grated on my sanity and I would rather have been on a project where I made less money (my normal amount) and to have had a much happier work environment.
Sometimes, the money really isn’t worth it
I know this sounds ridiculous to people who are salivating over being able to make what is basically a year’s wage in a month, but having been there and done that, no matter how much you remind yourself of how much you’re making an hour, it is sometimes NOT WORTH IT.
A job isn’t just about the salary, it’s about working with others in a friendly environment, being able to wake up and bounce out of bed eager to get to work and to feel like you are excelling.
Otherwise, it’s a lot of time (40 hours a week) to be spending in an environment that makes you wish you were anywhere but there.
Your sanity is worth a price as well.
This is why I question whether or not I could really retire
Having been benched a lot, I question whether or not I could really retire. Even with all the money and the time in the world to travel, shop and do whatever I want, I’d still feel like something is missing.
If I couldn’t work at my job or didn’t want to, Â but was financially set for life, I’d probably try and start a non-profit teaching children and young adults about money management.
Or volunteer somewhere.
There is something to be said for wanting to feel like you are needed and making a difference.
Maybe that’s why royal families and children in those families end up volunteering and trying to do something with their lives rather than just being rich.
Frankly, I’d hate to be a royal.
It looks and sounds glamourous, but to travel all the time, have to always look perfect, be perfect, be the role model and icon for your country and family, and go to all of these events (some of which you don’t want to go to), and be ON all the time sounds like a nightmare to me.
It’s a real job (even if some of us think it’s useless) but I wouldn’t want to do it.
What about you? What would you pick?
10 Comments
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Rachel @ The Latte Budget
I was working a job that made more money, and had potential to make a ton more, but I was working 100 hours a week. I chose to switch to a lower paying job that only requires 37.5 hours a week. If I didn’t switch jobs, I would have been so unhappy. I could have made so much money, but for what? I didn’t have time to form any friendships or relationships at that job to share my wealth with anyone! Makes you think 🙂
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Taylor Lee @ Yuppie Millennial
I would sit and do nothing 100%. If I am stressed or working long hours I would pick job #2. But if it’s just showing up for oodles of money? Absolutely that one. I work for money. Period. I do plenty of other things outside of work for pleasure, but that ish don’t pay the bills. And the sooner I hit FI, the sooner I would get my 9-5 hours back too.
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Anne
If I was able to use all that time for thinking, then yes, I’d take the job with the money. That would allow me to write the result of my thinking on my free time without worrying to have to sell my writing to buy time to think.
If not, then I’d choose the interesting job – which is what I actually did. -
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Revanche @ A Gai Shan Life
See if it was do nothing for real and not have to be in an office without restrictions I’d be all over that. But that’s because I could use my single pint of energy to keep house and raise JuggerBaby, volunteer, work on projects that I care about, and not spend it all on working a job I’m only a little bit interested in instead.
In your scenario, though, I’m forced to choose the second option.
It’s usually about the money for me but the enervation of boredom almost always beats down the motivation of taking in tons of money. I had a decently paying job in high school that was warehouse based and incredibly boring and I remember having to kick myself into gear to go every day in a way I rarely have to when the job isn’t remarkably like a prison. I may have briefly regretted not earning all I could after the fact but it was more of an academic regret.-
sherry@savespendsplurge.com
I can’t help but multi-task all the time, which makes me realize I cannot just sit around.
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cantaloupe
This is an either/or fallacy though. You’re setting up a dichotomy that ignores all the other options. Even the example you gave doesn’t fall into either of the categories. You hated the job because the client was terrible and it took a lot of self-control to not slap them. That’s not sitting around doing nothing and getting paid a ton, that’s doing difficult work and getting paid a ton.
I know a super rich man who sits around and does nothing and gets paid a ton just by virtue of who he is. And he does not volunteer, haha. When I stay with him, we party and eat delicious food and watch tv shows and movies and just hang out. He has creative endeavors and some of them are “jobs,” but he really does spend the majority of his life just chilling and doing nothing. And he loves it. And from doing it with him, I gather that I would totally love it too. There really isn’t a downside to it. If he gets bored,, he travels or moves to a new country and then there’s a million new things to experience. And when that peters out, he moves again. And he has a fascinating life and amazing stories. It’s fantastic, it really is, haha.