What do you earn?

[TheBigIguana]

I'm in the top bracket plus a few more. I work 60-70hrs per week. I answer my first email at 0630 and my last email at 2230. I answer emails on weekends/holidays and usually have a 0700 daily meeting for 30 mins even when I'm on vacation. I have little work/life balance but it rarely bothers me. I have moments where I hate my job - this month has been horrendous - but for the most part I enjoy what I do. Like most, I could earn more money but like the company culture where I am. I can't afford to retire for at least 7 years but I'd be bored senseless if I did. I need to keep busy.

I don’t work nearly that much but I’m in the same boat with the end part. I don’t get a ton of PTO but when I do use it if I don’t have something I’m actually doing I’ll be bored by like 1pm. Last week I took Wednesday before Thanksgiving off, did some work around the house for the morning, got lunch and was sitting there thinking what now? I guess if I had more time I could take vacations or whatever but as is I don’t really mind working. Helps that I like my job and my coworkers I guess.

 

[Chewbacca]

Best bit about earning well is being able to retire early. I went at 56 and it is absolutely ace.

 

[Pabbers]

Lots telling fibs on the poll obvs.....only aorund 5% of the country are on over £80k per year.

 

[roydo]

Best bit about earning well is being able to retire early. I went at 56 and it is absolutely ace.

55 me. Dot on my 55th birthday. If circumstances then were different, I would still be delivering parcels most likely, but I quite enjoy things now.

 

[verreauxi]

Lots telling fibs on the poll obvs.....only aorund 5% of the country are on over £80k per year.

Some USA votes in there?? (I didn't vote), Isn't it the case that USA salaries are generally higher, given we have to pay for health care, school, etc.

 

[Nymzee]

Why is the US so stingy with holidays? Never understood it.

 

[chrismpw]

I'm in the top bracket plus a few more. I work 60-70hrs per week. I answer my first email at 0630 and my last email at 2230. I answer emails on weekends/holidays and usually have a 0700 daily meeting for 30 mins even when I'm on vacation. I have little work/life balance but it rarely bothers me. I have moments where I hate my job - this month has been horrendous - but for the most part I enjoy what I do. Like most, I could earn more money but like the company culture where I am. I can't afford to retire for at least 7 years but I'd be bored senseless if I did. I need to keep busy.

I stopped being bored the moment I stopped working. My work was fun, hard, taxing, rewarding, but there were long periods of time I just felt I was wasting my time on earth.

Since retiring I've cosseted my classic cars, got back into sailing a dinghy, built and used a campervan, built a machine workshop, built more hifi and speakers, done a LOT of DIY for the missus. Nearly 8 years now and I've not yet found the time to get back into oil painting.....

Genuinely can't remember what being bored is like.

 

[chrismpw]

Why is the US so stingy with holidays? Never understood it.

Capitalism & profit are the twin gods of the USA.

 

[Pabbers]

Some USA votes in there?? (I didn't vote), Isn't it the case that USA salaries are generally higher, given we have to pay for health care, school, etc.

Yes it would seem so.

Be interesting to see how many of that 51% say over 50k is actually in the UK.

 

[BNJ1878]

If I could go back 30 odd years I'd tell the younger me not to bother with aspiring to 'better' roles just to buy material nonsense.

I have accumulated that same material nonsense over the years but in the process I have lost contact with several friends and some members of my family.

I've worked hard but I've also worked sneaky. I made it to a higher position than I could have ever imagined when I left school with a few basic qualifications.

Point is, when looking back I don't think I'm much happier now than I was at 23/24 in the RAF with cheap food, cheap accommodation and cheap boozing on base.

Best advise I'd give to myself back then? Forget the cool car, forget the really expensive hifi. Nobody cares.

 

[SerenityNigh]

Capitalism & profit are the twin gods of the USA.

That's exactly right, it's all about personal freedom, whatever that means. Get up before 600, get the kids to school, suffer a horrendous commute, scarf down a cheap lunch while working, clock out whenever, commute home (finish the podcast), pick up takeout, put down a few cans of coors, repeat. but at least I have my freedom and my firearm [location concealed], you can't take away my freedom you liberal nazis!

 

[BNJ1878]

I'm in the top bracket plus a few more. I work 60-70hrs per week. I answer my first email at 0630 and my last email at 2230. I answer emails on weekends/holidays and usually have a 0700 daily meeting for 30 mins even when I'm on vacation. I have little work/life balance but it rarely bothers me. I have moments where I hate my job - this month has been horrendous - but for the most part I enjoy what I do. Like most, I could earn more money but like the company culture where I am. I can't afford to retire for at least 7 years but I'd be bored senseless if I did. I need to keep busy.

The Asian work culture is absolutely nuts.

I used to spend a lot of time with one of our offices in Singapore, you'd get emails at 11pm (that I'd read in the pub) and at 1130pm I'd get a call asking if I'd read their email.

Mind boggling. But everyone buys into it through the fear of being replaced.

 

[wm02]

The Asian work culture is absolutely nuts.

I used to spend a lot of time with one of our offices in Singapore, you'd get emails at 11pm (that I'd read in the pub) and at 1130pm I'd get a call asking if I'd read their email.

Mind boggling. But everyone buys into it through the fear of being replaced.

Definitely. I used to work for a Japanese company and the government enacted a law by which the offices needed to close by 6pm. A number of employees continued working in the lobby until 10pm or 11pm. Crazy

 

[roydo]

That's exactly right, it's all about personal freedom, whatever that means. Get up before 600, get the kids to school, suffer a horrendous commute, scarf down a cheap lunch while working, clock out whenever, commute home (finish the podcast), pick up takeout, put down a few cans of coors, repeat. but at least I have my freedom and my firearm [location concealed], you can't take away my freedom you liberal nazis!

Sounds a bit grim that. Mind you, back in the day, that would have been me. Wake up whenever, read a couple of chapters of a book, (with cups of tea), get up, feed cat, buy newspaper, have brekkie, decide what I want for tea/supper. Potter round the house/garden, go buy supper, maybe a walk, back home. Do crossword, cook supper, light log burner, watch telly.

 

[SerenityNigh]

Sounds a bit grim that. Mind you, back in the day, that would have been me. Wake up whenever, read a couple of chapters of a book, (with cups of tea), get up, feed cat, buy newspaper, have brekkie, decide what I want for tea/supper. Potter round the house/garden, go buy supper, maybe a walk, back home. Do crossword, cook supper, light log burner, watch telly.

that's definitely true for a lot of the US, although not me. but the grind is there for everyone, especially if you have kids at home. everyone hustles, all across the globe, but it's a hard hustle in the US for the poor and single parents, much worse usually in larger cities.