Inner Peace vs Money

So I am at a crossroads with jobs. I have offers for positions that are on complete opposite sides of the spectrums.

First, is a job that I can be creative and use my computer abilities in different capacities, working with a small team and little to no stress involved with the job. Almost at times boring and pay is about 80k/year and very stable job. Little to no direction and come and go as you please atmosphere.

The second is a leadership position in a predominately bureaucratic environment that will be fast paced and moderate stress. I would be providing the direction and be responsible for the team and its managers. Plenty of group meetings and conferences to attend as well as staying atop of security and advances in the field. Pay is about 110k/ year and would open opportunities for further advancement.

The problem I have is that I am really at a point in my life where I am trying to define what it is exactly I want out of life. At one point in my life salary was the primary focus, but I now have a family and maybe it’s just me getting old but I have a hard time wrapping my head around working my ass off just for money. I really enjoy my family time and I just don’t want to get in a job that takes that pleasure away from me or my family.

Something in my though process still strives for money, but I often cannot find the reason why I feel the need to make a lot of money?

What is you take and what would you prefer…

A job that promotes inner peace or a job that makes great money?

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Comments

danny069

No amount of money in the world can buy you inner peace. With that being said, are you on track with your retirement? Obviously the more money you make the more you can contribute to your retirement fund, kid's college fund, savings, etc. You have to do what is best mentally and financially for you and your family. If you are on track financially, then spending time with your family is something that you shouldn't let a job take away from you.

si20

All I can do is give my experience and see if this helps you in any way...

I was on 26k (UK salary). I was offered a role on 40k. 40k is BIG money in the UK. Most of my friends are lucky to make 16k a year (non-IT jobs). I took the 40k job because the money was too much to turn down. But i've never been more bored in my life. I'm what you'd call a 'consultant/project manager' (very loosely) and there is very, very little technical work, if any work to do. I'm often bored and wishing I was still in a technical IT job.

As a result of this, i've been feeling a bit down and i've began to apply to jobs around the 20-25k mark just to get back into the technical side of things. Unfortunately, because i've not had much IT experience in the 40k role i'm in, some employers are reluctant to take me on (even though I could do the work with ease). As a result of this, i'm currently undertaking a masters degree in digital security which i'm currently getting a 'distinction' on (highest award possible).

The short story is: I took a high paid job and didn't think of the consequences, I just saw the dollar signs (well, pound signs!) and now i'm having to prove myself all over again to employers that I am willing to take a cut in salary to get back to the technical side of things.

Just have a serious think about what you enjoy and if the money is enough to have a decent life on. Obviously, you don't want to take a low-paid job and under-sell yourself, but be aware that well-paid jobs aren't always as you'd expect.

the_Grinch

The Perfect Salary for Happiness: $75,000 - The Wealth Report - WSJ

I reference the above article which states that $75k is the sweet spot when it comes to happiness. $80k in a laid back environment where you have free reign sounds like a dream to me. Don't get me wrong, I would love to make $110k a year, but when the salary gets that high there are expectations. For that salary there is no "Junior has a soccer game I need to cut out early". Hard to put a value on inner peace

Hammer80

There is a couple ways of looking at this.

Job number 1 offer inner peace for you in the present, this one requires that you'll be content with where you are.

Job Number 2 offers inner peace for your family since it provides more financial security, but not necessarily for you, but you will gain inner peace later on once it's time to retire due to extra income. This one requires your sacrifice for a potential better future.

One more thing to think about is tax implications, you might be better of with the 80k than the 110k job due to being in a different tax bracket. Here is a link where you find your tax bracket and how much it will cost you Forbes Welcome

markulous

Do what makes you happy. Money is great and it's a necessity to a point, but not worth being super stressed and having a poor work/life balance.

networker050184

Money is obviously important, very important, but only to a certain point. You know what you need to live the life style you want. From there I'd definitely advise going after the job that you would enjoy on a day to day basis. We spend so much time at work that if you don't like your job you aren't going to like your life.

cyberguypr

^ +1. I am positive I can double my income if I take on a consulting role that involves a LOT of travel. For me, there's no sum of money that can take me away from spending daily quality time with my wife, daughter, and dog. The key is doing what satisfies you. I know many people would be bored to death going to an office every day and doing the same thing over and over and would rather chase the more time intensive high-pay jobs. Only you can make that call based on your priorities.

jt2929

the_Grinch wrote: »

The Perfect Salary for Happiness: $75,000 - The Wealth Report - WSJ

I reference the above article which states that $75k is the sweet spot when it comes to happiness. $80k in a laid back environment where you have free reign sounds like a dream to me. Don't get me wrong, I would love to make $110k a year, but when the salary gets that high there are expectations. For that salary there is no "Junior has a soccer game I need to cut out early". Hard to put a value on inner peace

With the right employer, that's not a problem.

networker050184

the_Grinch wrote: »

Don't get me wrong, I would love to make $110k a year, but when the salary gets that high there are expectations. For that salary there is no "Junior has a soccer game I need to cut out early".

It's actually been the complete opposite in my experience. The higher up you get the less anyone pays attention to hourly accountability. It's about deliverables at that point. It's not about punching a clock. Of course, sometimes you just have to make yourself available.

Dakinggamer87

markulous wrote: »

Do what makes you happy. Money is great and it's a necessity to a point, but not worth being super stressed and having a poor work/life balance.

+1 I couldn't agree more

sj4088

Once you've gotten to a certain level in your career and you are a certain age more money for more stress just isn't worth it. Take me for instance I'm in a good position. I'm a senior systems engineer. I make a 105k, while I DO work hard, it's not really a stressful position. I work from home three days a week most of the time. There are other weeks I don't come into the office at all. I enjoy the job and the flexibility.

I was offered a solution architect position earlier this year. The pay was 170K per year, but I turned it down. It seemed very stressful. Although I would of had a standard forty hour work week I would of had to do some traveling and been stressed to try to make lemonade without any(or only a few lemons). The extra 65K per year would of been nice but as a man approaching forty it just wouldn't of been worth it to me. My work/life balance is by far the most important thing when it comes to my career.

636-555-3226

Trust me, money buys happiness. People who say it doesn't are just doing it wrong. For example, money and a crappy lifestyle means you're going to have a crappy lifestyle. Money and a happy lifestyle means you're going to have a happy lifestyle and be able to do whatever you want.

markulous

636-555-3226 wrote: »

Trust me, money buys happiness. People who say it doesn't are just doing it wrong. For example, money and a crappy lifestyle means you're going to have a crappy lifestyle. Money and a happy lifestyle means you're going to have a happy lifestyle and be able to do whatever you want.

I don't think anyone is saying you can't ever be happy if you have a lot of money. It's that money isn't worth sacrificing your values or your preferred lifestyle if it will have a negative effect on your happiness. If you can have both the money and the happiness well then yeah easy choice.

Chev Chellios

Personally I would go for the inner peace option but I value my life with my family and things out of work- though more money always helps if you do have a family to support. If you want to chase the dollar then go for the higher paid but more stressful option. It's a tough call that you need to think over- in a way it's a nice decision to have to make though!

Si, sorry to hear about your experiences man, that's kind of why I am where I am at in the UK. I know I could be earning more (I have done in the past too) but my job is ok, it is local and fits well around my family life and being there watching my son grow and learn and spending as much time with him as I can

dustervoice

You cannot put a price on peace.. Money isn't everything i remember i had more money in the bank when i was making the minimum wage back in 1996 washing dishes for $4.25/hr and i was a lot happier. Now i just want enough money to suppress sadness and depression

Mike-Mike

i say 110k, that's some big time money. 80k is sweet, but cracking six figures is the goal right? Personal happiness is one thing. However that's 30k more. You can build quite the future with an extra 30grand.

bpenn

dustervoice wrote: »

You cannot put a price on peace.. Money isn't everything i remember i had more money in the bank when i was making the minimum wage back in 1996 washing dishes for $4.25/hr and i was a lot happier. Now i just want enough money to suppress sadness and depression

Wow, are you me? Now that I make semi-decent money, I have less money to spend than I did making sub sandwiches. I guess that is the perks of a wife, kid, and a mortgage... haha.

JoJoCal19

bpenn wrote: »

Wow, are you me? Now that I make semi-decent money, I have less money to spend than I did making sub sandwiches. I guess that is the perks of a wife, kid, and a mortgage... haha.

Can you add me to that list? I'm approaching six figures but I have less money to spend than when I was making a third of that at my first PC Specialist job. Amazing what happens when you add a wife, three kids, and a house to the equation.

chmod

You need to put a price on the things make you happy, if the schedule flexibility and work enviroment is good plus the benefits(overtime, bonuses) you should add that value to your price tag.

If you are going to accept a better offer you have to make sure it pays very well for all those things you will quit in order to take that job.

Money is important, i want to make enough money to pay the bank for my house while i'm still young and to travel a lot while i'm young, i have to work hard to make that money, but if the paycheck is really good you can take it for a few years, invest the money wisely(pay your debts, pay your house, save enough money to have a good backup when you change to a low paying job with a better work/life balance).

When i work 50 hours of overtime per week i feel exhausted and demotivated until i get paid, when i realize i'm making two or three times my monthly salary i feel a lot better, i'm not planning to do this/work like this my entire life but i really need to pay my debts while i have a decent lifestyle, is hard to make good money nowadays, a lot of young mens would kill to be a solutions architect, it manager or any job alike in order to make good money and have a lot of responsibilities to develop as a professional.

What keeps me working here is that i have a lot of work flexibility, bonuses, over time, the office is 10 minutes from my house and most of our customer are on the city so i don't travel that far, and i do what i like, but i work under stress 24/7 with customers around the country expecting me to know everything and my bosses expecting me to fulfill all the goals which is very difficult sometimes.

Off course is my case, i want to make as much money while i can, while i'm young, i want to have my house fully paid before i turn 40, have some money on the bank, i know money is not equal happiness per se, but it helps a lot, people suffer a lot because they cannot afford a decent lifestyle or because they have so many things to pay or because they cannot even get a job, that makes me feel lucky to be able to make good money working on what i like that i have adjusted my life and mentality to survive the stress.

Off course the day they take away the schedule flexibility, the overtime and bonuses which is what adds value to my sacrifice, i will be the first one to leave. also if i get a a job offer that offers a better base salary it will have to pay for the benefits i have.

I just set/adjust my mindset based on what i want to achieve therefore i don't get frustrated even if there is something i don't like i just do what i like the best i can and get paid, that is all i care at the moment.

One day i will probably adjust my mindset to a more steady lifestyle where i will only care about enjoying my life while i make money to just survive, not interested on working a lot or making a lot of money by working night and day under a lot of stress, that day will come for sure.

I tried to fasttrack that day a few years ago, i took a very easy job that paid decently but i got bored and frustrated as i wanted to buy some land to build my own house, get my master degree and i also wanted a bmw of the year, while i was able to comfortably pay for all those things. So i adjusted my mindset, changed to the job i have now to and focused on what i want.

As long as you keep yourself focused on what you want to make and how to make it happend, you will be happy.

LionelTeo

I remember quitting games and went on studying streak for 2 years to be where I am today. Looking back, I feel I should have balance out in playing games and studying.

Balance is the key to everything. Too much of anything would usually result in a negative effect. Using saving money as an illustration, although saving money is a good thing, over saving of money such as saving 95% of your salary each month would result in unhappiness instead. Take anything out there that would be positive, apply too much of it would definitely result in a negative effect. This shows the importance of finding the balance in life.

Those statistics out there are only for reference. The true answer to inner peace can only be achieve by finding the right balance and mentality. A person sitting on the higher up and the person sitting on the lower end can find peace if their mentality is well conditioned for it (try exploring mediation). In the same situation, the same person sitting on the higher up and the person sitting on the lower end can also loses peace if their mind is not ready for it.

I am a person who plague with a problem that prevents me from unable to stop thinking, this stress me out in the past and had causes lots of problems in my life. I had a stress free job previously, but I had stressed myself out personally through studying without break. I am now in a high pace environment as you described, but I had less stress in my personal life although I continue to study. I found the solution to mediation and exploring the concepts of balance to find peace.

dustervoice

bpenn wrote: »

Wow, are you me? Now that I make semi-decent money, I have less money to spend than I did making sub sandwiches. I guess that is the perks of a wife, kid, and a mortgage... haha.

Yes its strange when i was in $4.25 i had a car, contributing to the rent, bought nice clothes, food & entertainment and money in bank.. Now i can barely afford lunch i now sit at my desk drinking hot water and chewing gum.

bpenn

dustervoice wrote: »

Now i can barely afford lunch i now sit at my desk drinking hot water and chewing gum.

Yep, you are me. Dear God this is my life.

E Double U

I'll take the job with the better work/life balance. Not willing to sacrifice my family time for more money. I don't make six figures, but I'm also not on-call and I'm off weekends. I can work remotely whenever necessary and staying late is rare. I get along well without just about all of the staff here including my boss. Been here for close to 3 years now and I never dread coming to work.

Typical day for me: login from home before 6am and get some work done. Family wakes up and I help get the boys ready for daycare. One of us drops them off and then I'm off to my low stress job which is 11 miles from home. I walk on the pier during my lunch break (I'm in Southern California). Leave the office at 3:30pm to pick up my sons and then our afternoon of fun begins which usually includes a park, library, farmers market, or arcade before we have dinner. My wife gets home around 6pm and the four of us enjoy each other's company until we put them to bed. Then my wife and I do whatever we feel like doing.

I would love more money, but that is not my only motivator.

GoDux

Inner peace all day. I work as a programmer/ Dba in local government in a stress free environment never over 40 hour week @80k.

I get offers over 100k every week to return to the private sector. NO thanks! As long as I'm at 80k and and have a job that gives me flexibly to keep current and use a lot of the latest technologies I plan to stay right where I am at.

paul78

@George - good luck with your decision. But the fact that you can actually have the opportunity to make such a choice is probably more than what most people have.

Based on your description, I probably would opt for door #2. Inner peace for me includes being able to save a nest-egg for my family and it gives me piece of mind to know that they would be financially ok if something ever happens to me.

blargoe

My on-call and work-life balance isn't very bad at all, but I have other reasons for hating my 110K+ job right now, and if I were in a better market I would have already left. I'm at the point where I would leave for less money, but I have be smart about it and make sure my family is being taken care of with respect to benefits and such. As it is, I have really only found one offer that even came within 15% of my current compensation, and after doing my homework on that company I found they were not on stable financial footing (struggling start-up company), so I turned them down.

gorebrush

I am going to confess. I am currently in a difficult position. Well, difficult, but in the nice way. I work shifts and it's a nice pattern, 2 days, 2 nights, 4 off. I get plenty of time to study and I find it works very well. There are changes afoot though in terms of the ownership of the technical teams and different work will be coming our way, which is good and bad. I make decent money because I had a good salary going into the job, and got the shift uplift on top, so money isn't a problem.

However, I've not had a "CCIE rise" yet. I haven't pursued a move to 3rd level yet, but I know my price should I decide to go for it. At the moment, with the hours in my pocket, I like the studying, and I fancy another CCIE to my name. If I were 9-5 or working on-call, studying will be difficult - nigh on impossible because juggling a CCIE on those hours would be hard.

Although, I am itching to move. The role I am in is boring, as I have learned it all - it happens throughout all my roles, I learn it all and I get bored and I need the next thing.

So, CCIE#2 and then I am off. The work-life balance for now is good and the money is good "enough". I make double the average salary in the UK and I live in a relatively poor area - so, I've done well up until this point.

However, I am nowhere *NEAR* my potential. There is so much more I can do and want to do.