What do you earn?

[JLW]

This ^^^.

My previous job gave me great time off …. 4 days away then 8 days home but the 4 days were 24 hour shifts, if you had a bad shift it was a nightmare. Don’t get me wrong, the flip side of it was great getting outdoors and playing on kayaks or mountain bikes etc but it was heavily outweighed by the bad. The first 2-3 days you were home were spent getting over the previous 4 days and catching up on sleep. Then you could enjoy the next couple of days before the realisation that you were going back away again in 2 days started to hit and the sick feeling in your stomach would start to rise . My job now is stressful in its own way but also enjoyable, I’ve stepped in to manage a team who have no manager for a few months so at the moment I’m constantly trying to put out fires everywhere but I enjoy it and the challenges it throws up… I actually get to use my grey matter for a change which is good.

All that sounds great mate but you're right it has its downsides like you've mentioned.

I dont mind a little bit of stress in a job sometimes as it keeps you alert but if its constant then you dont enjoy your time off as your thinking about the job and dreading going back into work, that's not how life should be imo.

It also rubs of on the family when you get home and its not fair on them.

 

[JLW]

This is what I will tell my kids if I ever have any and I will try my best to guide them in that direction.

Its so easy to follow the career path which pays the most money but you wont enjoy it if you're not happy.

 

[Sweeneytoad]

Whilst money does make life a lot easier, mental health always take priority when picking a new job. What's the point in earning a fortune if you are permanently miserable.

 

[Billy Dean]

Its so easy to follow the career path which pays the most money but you wont enjoy it if you're not happy.

Yeah if I'm honest that's the extent of the advice I got from my parents when I was a kid. It came from a good place but I wish I had put more thought into it back then.

 

[JLW]

Whilst money does make life a lot easier, mental health always take priority when picking a new job. What's the point in earning a fortune if you are permanently miserable.

THIS

 

[JLW]

Yeah if I'm honest that's the extent of the advice I got from my parents when I was a kid. It came from a good place but I wish I had put more thought into it back then.

I think the problem is if you follow your passion lets say a Doctor Surgeon Architect or whatever there is a lot of hardship and sacrifices (which in the long would pay off) but to do what you want to do from late teens to early 20s (Party, holidays with ye mates, girls) you need money, unless you have parents who can fund all your social needs.

Most of us don't have rich parents so the only way is to get any job then you're stuck in a rut then.

 

[DualityNSNO]

My brother works in the US and gets 15 days I think. I could be wrong but what I can tell from him is that it also depends on length of service, i.e. the longer you work at a place the more holiday they give you. He also seems to have an arrangement with his boss where his boss just lets him take paid time off outside of annual leave. Not sure if that's widely done in the US generally.

Mental. 20 days absolute standard here by law if you work full time, plus health care and a lot of other benefits, and we're not very good with those, in the grand scheme of things, apparently. I personally get 25 per year, max is 30.

America is just absolutely broken for this, which is highlighted quite well in this documentary, worth a watch for the funny factor alone if nothing else.

 

[Billy Dean]

Mental. 20 days absolute standard here by law if you work full time, plus health care and a lot of other benefits, and we're not very good with those, in the grand scheme of things, apparently. I personally get 25 per year, max is 30.

America is just absolutely broken for this, which is highlighted quite well in this documentary, worth a watch for the funny factor alone if nothing else.

Yeah I wouldn't like to be in my brother's situation TBH. Where he works there seems to also be a culture where you even feel guilty for taking the 15 days you do get.

 

[DualityNSNO]

Yeah I wouldn't like to be in my brother's situation TBH. Where he works there seems to also be a culture where you even feel guilty for taking the 15 days you do get.

Very grim mindset, really.

Also the idea that you must reserve your holiday half a year in advance is mental to me too - it was that way at Amazon as apparently that's practice. Ridiculous.

 

[Tramps_mate]

I think it's based on grade bands but almost certain mines is 30.7% employer contribution and 5.45% employee contribution on top of that.

Where as my current place is 5% employee. 3% employer. Complete garbage..

 

[Papa Shango]

I'm almost in the highest bracket but i make large sacrifices for that.

I am not money hungry whatsoever i just don't know anything else that could pay me and give me a nice lifestyle.

I sacrifice 6 months of my life floating around the worlds oceans working 84 per week so it comes at cost, missing birthdays Christmas weddings funerals nights out etc...
If i could find a job at home that was secure and a decent wage then i would take it in a heartbeat.

Are you a buoy?

 

[chrismpw]

Whilst money does make life a lot easier, mental health always take priority when picking a new job. What's the point in earning a fortune if you are permanently miserable.

Absolutely this.

I enjoyed my career teaching, even though, with my qualifications, I could have easily doubled my earnings. There came a point after 30 years, when I decided I had earned enough. The mortgage was paid off, government had just announced a new massive change to the curriculum they wouldn't fund, they'd made the pension scheme less attractive, so I decided bugger it. I quit, lived of my savings for 5 years and then accessed my pension. Obviously I get way less because I'm taking it early, but I've done the calculations I have ENOUGH, to buy food, heat the house and have some left fir fun and beer. If I'd worked another 5 years it would have made little difference to my pension.

What money cannot buy is the feeling of freedom and time to do what you want. And u discovered you need less money than you'd think once you quit work. Im not spending £80 a month on petrol commuting for starters. I'm less inclined to want to "buy stuff" to make myself feel better, I also don't feel the need to go on holidays.

The wife, who still works and bangs on about 'strong independent women' all the time disagrees with all of this though. However, with no pension of her own she's going to freeload off my pension soon enough.

 

[Papa Shango]

I'm pretty much in the middle.

Could earn more if I really pushed myself, never really found the need to do so. I'm good at what I do (I reckon) but I refuse to let it seep into my personal life.

 

[PhilM]

By US standards I have great PTO 24 days vacation per year and 12 sick days. Sick days accumulate so I have around 500 hours banked.

12 days? I forget how draconian the US employment market can be. I’ve got six months full pay; if it’s longer and caused by work, I’d get pensioned off.

It quite insane isn't it! 25% pension contributions generally I think it is. I've been pushing the missus to get a job at the births/deaths/marriages office in Southport for years.. Pension mainly being the main point as you say!

I pay nearly 14% of my gross wage into my pension, which is matched by my employer. Retiring at 55 is the plan!

 

[ArtetaMoney]

Why was 81k chosen as the top band lower limit?

I work on a PAYE hourly rate as a contractor. Looking to get another job outside of IR35, a pay cut on the hourly rate but tax efficient to the point of it being 50-70% more if I thrash the hours.

I was inside, but moved to outside in the same role after I disputed it. Managed to keep the same day rate as well, only 5 weeks in to being outside but it seems much better.

Being inside was still a decent wage, but it was heavy seeing practically half of your rate disappear every payday.