Low-paying dream job vs. high-paying boring job

[United Marxist Nations]

This is why I said I would prefer something like a modified Soviet system where housing and healthcare are guaranteed (along with employment positions) and university is heavily subsidized, because then, as long as there's open positions for it, you wouldn't have to need nearly as much pay to get by or even have comfortable amenities.

Damn man. It's a little question about pay, not about how we should bring in the Soviet System or not.

And I simply gave something that would be an alternative to either (also, I answered in my edit).

[Condunum]

Boo to the man who cannot appreciate a humble life.

I'm sorry that my wanting of a life with fast cars, hookers, and 700 pounds of cocaine in my ornate-designed mansion is ruining it for you.

It's not. I don't mind what you want in life. I mind that you consider someone else's lack of that ambition to be "doing life wrong".

[Lalaki]

$30,000 is more than enough for me to live comfortably. I'll happily take that and a job I enjoy.

I fully agree. The only expensive thing I want as an adult is the Internet. Other than that, I want to live frugally, basically, charitably, and humbly.

I may have to change my world views for my wife (whoever she may be), but that is my personal look on life.

[Aggicificicerous]

You're doing life wrong then.

If 30,000 is enough for you to live off of comfortably, then yes, this, you're doing life wrong.

I want as fucking much money as I need to enjoy life, with fast cars, hookers, private planes, buying a country out and turning into a giant tourist trap, then when I die, mobilize an army to kill everyone and burn it down.

Some people live for their paychecks and the weekend. My dream job is my life.

[Pandeeria]

I wonder out of all the people that say they wish to live a humble and charitable life, how many of them would actually, genuinely do so.

[Empire of Narnia]

$30,000 is more than enough for me to live comfortably. I'll happily take that and a job I enjoy.

I fully agree. The only expensive thing I want as an adult is the Internet. Other than that, I want to live frugally, basically, charitably, and humbly.

I may have to change my world views for my wife (whoever she may be), but that is my personal look on life.

It is more fun to be a big spender. I love money.

[United Marxist Nations]

I've lived all of my life in a relatively wealthy (around $140,000 annually) family, so imagining how much worse $30k would be, and how much better $250k would be based on that reference-point, I'm going to go with the high-paying boring job.

[Pandeeria]

If 30,000 is enough for you to live off of comfortably, then yes, this, you're doing life wrong.

Some people live for their paychecks and the weekend. My dream job is my life.

My dream job would be the one to properly enjoy myself live out-side of work.

[Pandeeria]

I've lived all of my life in a relatively wealthy (around $140,000 annually) family, so imagining how much worse $30k would be, and how much better $250k would be based on that reference-point, I'm going to go with the high-paying boring job.

There ya go.

[Digital Planets]

I'm sorry that my wanting of a life with fast cars, hookers, and 700 pounds of cocaine in my ornate-designed mansion is ruining it for you.

It's not. I don't mind what you want in life. I mind that you consider someone else's lack of that ambition to be "doing life wrong".

Does the truth hurt? Everyone should strive to be rich, whether you're from a low-income area or just living in a small apartment, make money your money. Save it away like I am, find opportunities to make more money, open your own business and make what you can.

[Aggicificicerous]

I wonder out of all the people that say they wish to live a humble and charitable life, how many of them would actually, genuinely do so.

There is nothing humble or charitable about me. That is a complete non sequitor.

[Condunum]

If 30,000 is enough for you to live off of comfortably, then yes, this, you're doing life wrong.

I want as fucking much money as I need to enjoy life, with fast cars, hookers, private planes, buying a country out and turning into a giant tourist trap, then when I die, mobilize an army to kill everyone and burn it down.

Some people live for their paychecks and the weekend. My dream job is my life.

Who says you can't work for Saturdays with a 30 pack and a couple friends? Not I, no sir.

[Condunum]

It's not. I don't mind what you want in life. I mind that you consider someone else's lack of that ambition to be "doing life wrong".

Does the truth hurt? Everyone should strive to be rich, whether you're from a low-income area or just living in a small apartment, make money your money. Save it away like I am, find opportunities to make more money, open your own business and make what you can.

That's certainly your opinion.

[Infected Mushroom]

On a purely theoretical basis, I would choose the low-paying dream job. I'm not much of a consumerist (except for the occasional restaurant meal) and money actually doesn't matter all that much to me. Money is mostly about respect for me and even then I consider it not all that great.

The problem is, I'm not sure a ''dream job'' exists for me. I mean, what would this job be like? The things I consider myself talented at in life are the things that make no money unless you find me a job where you just play Call of Duty all day long. But that can't be the case because in the OP it says that the amount of work is the same for both options (12 hours of COD playing a day for a professional team with a 30,000 yearly entry fee isn't ''hard work'' at all compared to 12 hours of paper-pushing, research, report-writing, and lousy client interactions/phone calls). I feel like I'd be cheating if I said ''dream job'' and then described the job as thus.

I find teaching pretty much as boring as research, office paper-pushing, report writing, or performing experiments in a lab. Basically, all the jobs in the world sound incredibly boring to me.

It would be cool to be a great author who's inspired all the time except I'm never inspired to write anything. I'll take 30,000 a year if I could spend my time writing such great books as GRRM's stories (and it wouldn't bother me in the least if they don't sell). But this ''dream job'' is not good to me because I don't have the talent...

I'm not sure there is such a thing as a ''dream job'' for my specific personality and skill sets. All work is pretty dull and most of it in this world consists of doing things which I'm not well-suited for/find stressful and annoying (handling files, writing reports, calling and seeing clients, research).

So I'd probably say...

THEORETICALLY if there IS such a thing as a dream job for me (though I don't know what that would look like but let's assume I could really enjoy it), I would take it even if it just makes 30,000. Money isn't everything and I don't have much use for it.

Making 30,000 for the rest of my life doesn't bother me. My parents won't be impressed and some of my friends won't either. But I don't care, so long as I'm having a hell of a time at work.

THE MAJORITY of your life is spent at work. If it can be enjoyable than so much the better right? It's a really rare thing these days.

The qualification though, is that I'm not sure such a thing can practically exist for me (having a hard time conceptualizing that a ''dream job'' might look like besides entering video game tournaments with a paid yearly entry fee of 30,000).

[Atlanticatia]

My thinking is that if you earn $500k a year from the time you're, say, 20, and you save/invest a decent part of your income each year for 25 years, you'll be able to quit working when you're in your 40s. Even sooner if you save more, or want to have less income after you stop working.

Like, let's say you save $200,000 per year from the time you're 20 to 45, and your amount saved rises by 3% inflation(as income goes up), and you get a 7% return each year, you'll have about ~$19 million by the time you're 45 to live off of for the rest of your life. The value would go slightly up and down depending on how much you save, how long you want to work, etc. But I'd rather tough it out in a boring job (with a not-too-shabby salary) for 20 years, then you'll have a guaranteed 6-figure income for the rest of your life, without working. Personally I'd probably try to save even more, for less time, so I could finish working in my late-30s, and then live my life doing whatever I wanted, which is far better than a dream job.

[Aggicificicerous]

Some people live for their paychecks and the weekend. My dream job is my life.

Who says you can't work for Saturdays with a 30 pack and a couple friends? Not I, no sir.

And you don't need $250,000 and five shitty days a week just so you can enjoy beer with friends.

[Lalaki]

I wonder out of all the people that say they wish to live a humble and charitable life, how many of them would actually, genuinely do so.

I want to. I'm not saying I will live up to it, but it is one of my main goals in life. To serve others and live without a lot of things. I hope I can fulfill my dream.

[United Marxist Nations]

Also, publishing Marxist literature is a lot easier when you have money.

[United Marxist Nations]

Who says you can't work for Saturdays with a 30 pack and a couple friends? Not I, no sir.

And you don't need $250,000 and five shitty days a week just so you can enjoy beer with friends.

Yeah, but you can afford to have sooo much more fun than at $30k.

[Luziyca]

If politics is the high-paying boring job, I'd go fuck yeah. If not, I'd take the political job. Being a member of Parliament would be fun...

[Lenciland]

I feel bad... My dream job is something I love and it would just so happen to earn me large sums if money.
But for the sake of the hypothetical I choose the high-paying boring job because I would have an interesting social life and I could travel to places that I may never be able to see if I wait and save for retirement on the low-paying job. Places like the Taj Mahal might not be around in five years and I want to travel around the world.

[Ancient Magmia]

I want to say high-paying job, but that really depends on what specifically the job is. But then again, I can't imagine doing a dream job and not moving up in salary at all. And with the type of salary I'd get from the high-paying job, I could use some of that money to do fun stuff on the side, making up for the boringness of the job.

So yeah, I'd go with the high-paying job.

[The Remnants of Kobol]

I don't care about the work as long as I can enjoy my outside life. I would rather have a shitty job but then be able to enjoy travel, my hobbies, have better hours, and more respect than to enjoy my work.

For your given salaries, it would be difficult to even pay for housing, food, and gas in the tank on the lower end. I don't care how much I enjoy my job if I have to wonder how I'm going to keep the lights on next month. That's simple Maslow...

[Idzequitch]

So basically, the question is would I rather have fun at work, or at my leisure.
I'd much rather have fun during my free time at the expense of having "fun" at work.

[Lenciland]

My thinking is that if you earn $500k a year from the time you're, say, 20, and you save/invest a decent part of your income each year for 25 years, you'll be able to quit working when you're in your 40s. Even sooner if you save more, or want to have less income after you stop working.

Like, let's say you save $200,000 per year from the time you're 20 to 45, and your amount saved rises by 3% inflation(as income goes up), and you get a 7% return each year, you'll have about ~$19 million by the time you're 45 to live off of for the rest of your life. The value would go slightly up and down depending on how much you save, how long you want to work, etc. But I'd rather tough it out in a boring job (with a not-too-shabby salary) for 20 years, then you'll have a guaranteed 6-figure income for the rest of your life, without working. Personally I'd probably try to save even more, for less time, so I could finish working in my late-30s, and then live my life doing whatever I wanted, which is far better than a dream job.

Pretty much this.