Does anyone else just work to live, and have no real desire to 'succeed' beyond living comfortably?

My only desire is to work as little as possible whilst earning as much as possible and seeing family and friends as much as possible. Seems to be going OK so far but I'm never getting rich. Once you accept that, life is much less stressful.

If you can get rich whilst having a decent family life then great but IME 99% of those considered well off (who actually work for it) have very little time out to actually enjoy being well off.
 
No desire for promotion or progression, I am happy with what I am doing and my work life balance.

Me and my wife aren't super comfortable but we have enough to get by and go on holiday etc.

Once she goes back to full time work in a few years we will be more than happy with our money situation.
 
ScarySquirrel said:
OP
Click to expand...

I strive to earn more so i can live comfortably, right now I just scrape by and its not living, its surviving. soon! I will get a job that pays more than 11K PA soon. :cool:
ubersonic said:
Cat = Fed
Car = Fueled
Rent = Paid
WoW = Subscribed
Power = On
G/F = Happy

Life = Complete
Click to expand...
Power = On
Me = Fed

I would love a g/f lol but sadly these are trying times
 
Last edited:
I worked in a warehouse for seven years and earning about 21k. Left that for a job that's nearly 12k and im miles happier. But thanks to my current job its helped me decide what I want to do, so im at college and hoping to go to university next year. I'm also 29, seems to be the magic number in this thread.
 
ubersonic said:
Cat = Fed
Car = Fueled
Rent = Paid
WoW = Subscribed
Power = On
G/F = Happy

Life = Complete
Click to expand...

Nice way of putting it!

I couldn't really complain with my work situation as a whole but I definitely work to live. I’ve done the whole live to work thing, working 14 hour days 6/7 days a week and it really was not worth it at the time, fortunately that was before children came along. Saying that, without doing the silly hours I wouldn’t be in the position I am in now (senior manager level).

We live quite simply, given my wife isn’t working at the moment and looking after family, but as IPB, once wife goes back to work then things should be more comfortable. I wouldn't say no to an increase in pay but not at the expense of job security or increase in stress.

My aim was to be mortgage free by the time I turned 45 but that is going to be a few years out. I can see myself as being much more relaxed once I am no longer a slave to the bank and expect to negotiate a reduction in my work hours.
 
I'm quite ambitious and enjoy making progress and building a business. I'm not overly materialistic but like my life to be very full of experiences like travel and sports (water and snow) so I see the benefit in striving.
 
Gaverick said:
I'm feeling the same at the moment. 25 and been in a stable job for 5 years after leaving uni coming out with about £20k/year, will progress to about £22.5k in a couple of years. Living in the North the wages are lower, but it's also a lot cheaper to live. I love who I work with and don't mind the job either, could quite happily do this for a good while yet.

I don't have any money issues, no debts bar student loan, have loads of disposable income and currently saving for a house with my girlfriend. Go on holiday abroad once a year, have 2 cars and a rally car project. There's nothing more in life I need.

However I have the nagging feeling that I'm not achieving my full potential. I graduated with a degree from Durham Uni after flying through GCSE's and A levels with top grades. The graduate job market was so competitive when I left uni, I went to a few interviews for big city jobs but didn't make the cut, so settled for an average job close to home.

I did software engineering at uni and my job does make use of those skills, but over time I've came to realise I'd rather have done something more hands on at uni, engineering of some sort. Computers were always my thing but now I fancy a change.

I'm afraid of reaching out and making the leap, what if I end up in a job I hate or somewhere with no job security. On the other hand I see no route for progression in my current job.

My ideal has always been to run my own business, I enjoy and I'm good at working on cars, I repair other peoples cars at weekends as a hobby. I also really enjoy plumbing and it's something I feel I would be good at.

Sorry if this post is a bit rambly, just happened to be about something I've been thinking about recently so decided to get it all off my chest!
Click to expand...

Progress to 22.5 in a couple of years? That sounds like you are massively underpaid? I'd have thought 22.5k was extremely low for a starting graduate salary?
 
My goals for success are not based on career progression but on financial independence. I want to get to the point where my money generated from my assets (don't have any yet though) is more than my monthly outgoings. Only then am i generating wealth and successful. Work and my career is only a means to that end.

Its like that saying, when you are young, you just want to not work and lounge around all day, so we work 40 years so that one day we can not work and lounge around all day.
 
I am this.

I have a little bit of property, the wife has a decent job and I have a half decent sales job.
We can buy what we want with in reason, I can afford to have things like new motorbikes when I want them, computer upgrades, collectables etc.

I realised what I wanted from life quite early on, I don't need to putting myself through the ringer for my entire career only to come out the other end having missed most of my life.
I've run my own business, I've had decent management roles in multi million (and one multi billion) pound companies, I made more money (a lot more money) than I do now but didn't enjoy life one little bit.
I've met too many people who have empty lives because all they are focused on is work work work.
There are some lucky ones who have jobs where they can make decent money AND have a decent home life, those are the really lucky ones.
 
Lifelong said:
Progress to 22.5 in a couple of years? That sounds like you are massively underpaid? I'd have thought 22.5k was extremely low for a starting graduate salary?
Click to expand...

It's not a graduate job, I work in the data team in a secondary school. It's actually quite a complex job and utilises a lot of my degree skills but the council totally undervalue the role, don't appreciate the skills needed.

I probably do a lot more than is expected of me as well, but trying to get management to recognise that and pay appropriately is very difficult.
 
Gaverick said:
It's not a graduate job, I work in the data team in a secondary school. It's actually quite a complex job and utilises a lot of my degree skills but the council totally undervalue the role, don't appreciate the skills needed.

I probably do a lot more than is expected of me as well, but trying to get management to recognise that and pay appropriately is very difficult.
Click to expand...

Assume you follow the grading system etc? Its damn annoying, they ended up making up job titles for me last time just so I could go up a pay scale :p
 
I pretty much aspire to the OP's position. I'm on a decent salary for my age which will only improve once I pass my final exam this year, but I absolutely hate work at the moment. It rules my life. I work hard and am generally regarded as one of the stronger people in my peer group but only because throwing in the towel is not in my nature.

In an ideal world I'd qualify, stay on the same pay as now but only work 3/4 days a week. I don't think salaries are commensurate with the pressure and stress you suffer to earn them in most industries - you just have to be the sort of person that is motivated by that. I'm not.

I don't understand where the end game is for most people. We're buying a house this year, have everything we want and live a comfortable life. If we earned more money we'd just fritter it away on useless crap anyway.
 
I'm not massively career driven because at the end of the day while the extra money would be nice I've got better things to do than deal with longer hours and less time to actually enjoy life or the extra stress.
More money doesn't come for free.

At the minute I'm on a decent wage and my commute is a 40 minute each way blast on the bike and the guys I work with are a decent bunch, happy as a pig in poo with that part of my life at the minute.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom