I am back after 2 years of miserable job and inactivity for investing

[muscleman]

Looks like I missed a lot. I had a miserable job for the last 2 years but finally decided to part ways. The pay was 60% higher than prior employee but it was absolutely not worth it. I did not have time for investing and did not have time to enjoy life with family. In the end, it was just selling more of my own time for money. 

[schin]

@muscleman - So, did it get you closer to financial freedom?  Can you not have a job again or did you get a more reasonable job and can focus on family and hobbies again?

 

What was the inflection point that 2 years was enough? What happened?

[muscleman]

12 minutes ago, schin said:

@muscleman - So, did it get you closer to financial freedom?  Can you not have a job again or did you get a more reasonable job and can focus on family and hobbies again?

 

What was the inflection point that 2 years was enough? What happened?

 

It was too much stress from work that caused more family tensions.

Also the new boss came over, reviewed all my work and claimed I made zero contribution to the company. That was the breaking point.

After going through all that, I feel it is better to have a lower pay job that has better work life balance. I should be able to get a more reasonable job.

Edited May 27 by muscleman

[schin]

15 minutes ago, muscleman said:

 

It was too much stress from work that caused more family tensions.

Also the new boss came over, reviewed all my work and claimed I made zero contribution to the company. That was the breaking point.

After going through all that, I feel it is better to have a lower pay job that has better work life balance. I should be able to get a more reasonable job.

 

Good for you.  I feel there are certain projects/companies that are toxic. I had projects like that. I challenged some friends and ask them if you would goto an insane asylum for 1 year... and you cannot get out.. because you will scream that they are insane..... But, so does everyone else.

[Xerxes]

44 minutes ago, muscleman said:

Looks like I missed a lot. I had a miserable job for the last 2 years but finally decided to part ways. The pay was 60% higher than prior employee but it was absolutely not worth it. I did not have time for investing and did not have time to enjoy life with family. In the end, it was just selling more of my own time for money. 

Welcome back. 

An employer will have the employees that it deserves.
 

They didn’t deserve your contribution. Good riddance. 

[Haryana]

2 hours ago, muscleman said:

... I did not have time for investing ...

 

In case requires extra amount of time,

it is likely Trading instead of Investing. 

 

[Sweet]

When you have kids a job that just throttles your free time is the worst.  You never get that time back.

[dwy000]

2 hours ago, muscleman said:

Looks like I missed a lot. I had a miserable job for the last 2 years but finally decided to part ways. The pay was 60% higher than prior employee but it was absolutely not worth it. I did not have time for investing and did not have time to enjoy life with family. In the end, it was just selling more of my own time for money. 

Welcome back!

[LC]

3 hours ago, muscleman said:

the new boss came over, reviewed all my work and claimed I made zero contribution to the company

Don't take it personally - this is what just what management does when they have some alterior motive. A new boss, looking to chop heads. Or a management team forced to cut staff and needing to come up with reasons. 

 

Welcome back, I hope you (and your family) are healthier. Life is a journey for sure...gotta deal with the bumps sometimes. 

[james22]

I assume you left your money in the market the last two years?

 

How'd it do compared to your previous active management?

 

You might not have missed anything.

[james22]

3 hours ago, muscleman said:

Also the new boss came over, reviewed all my work and claimed I made zero contribution to the company.

 

I'd drag it out (while looking for other work) and make them buy me out or fire me.

 

https://www.financialsamurai.com/how-to-make-money-quitting-your-job-2/

[Parsad]

6 hours ago, muscleman said:

 

It was too much stress from work that caused more family tensions.

Also the new boss came over, reviewed all my work and claimed I made zero contribution to the company. That was the breaking point.

After going through all that, I feel it is better to have a lower pay job that has better work life balance. I should be able to get a more reasonable job.

 

Not worth the headache if you can find a reasonable paying job with better life/work balance.  You only live once...do you want to spend it making extra money but for an ungrateful boss at the expense of family and friends?

 

I think you made the right decision.  Now refocus some of that energy at building your investments to give you the "eff you" freedom that you want.

 

Cheers!

[crs223]

17 hours ago, muscleman said:

Looks like I missed a lot. I had a miserable job for the last 2 years but finally decided to part ways. The pay was 60% higher than prior employee but it was absolutely not worth it. I did not have time for investing and did not have time to enjoy life with family. In the end, it was just selling more of my own time for money. 

 

I’d like to know more about this, as I work in tech and have the opportunity to re-tool and triple my salary.  I love my present job (over 20 years here) but I cannot shake the feeling that the world is shifting and I’m being left behind.  For example, with a low mortgage rate and stupidly high home prices, I am stuck.

 

It seems you are making three main complaints: 1. not enough time with family 2. boss is an asshole 3. Not enough time investing.  And one benefit: 4. higher pay.

 

Would you have stayed if they replaced your boss with a nice person?  Would you have stayed if they doubled your salary?  Would you have stayed if they let you spend 1.5 hours per day investing while at work?

[ValueArb]

Welcome back. The only thing in life better than a job you enjoy is time with your family. A miserable job sucks the joy out of both. 

[muscleman]

On 5/28/2024 at 3:28 AM, crs223 said:

 

I’d like to know more about this, as I work in tech and have the opportunity to re-tool and triple my salary.  I love my present job (over 20 years here) but I cannot shake the feeling that the world is shifting and I’m being left behind.  For example, with a low mortgage rate and stupidly high home prices, I am stuck.

 

It seems you are making three main complaints: 1. not enough time with family 2. boss is an asshole 3. Not enough time investing.  And one benefit: 4. higher pay.

 

Would you have stayed if they replaced your boss with a nice person?  Would you have stayed if they doubled your salary?  Would you have stayed if they let you spend 1.5 hours per day investing while at work?

 

Yeah I work in Tech as well. If you need money to get started with investing, then tripling your pay for a few years is something you can consider. On the other hand you will miss a lot of other things like time with family, time for investing etc.

I don't think you are ever stuck if you have a house with a low mortgage rate. You can always rent it out to someone, and then rent a place for yourself if you have to move.

 

Would you have stayed if they replaced your boss with a nice person? Maybe. But not only the boss was bad but also the skip level boss was bad. If they are both replaced, I may stay for a while longer.

 

Would you have stayed if they doubled your salary? Maybe. Imagine you have to be on call every 4 weeks, and every week you are on call, you can only sleep 3-4 hours a night. That's really bad for health. Later we may have to pay a large medical bill to fix ourselves. Also our lifespan could be reduced by 5 years. That's something hard to say right now but will likely happen down the road.

 

Would you have stayed if they let you spend 1.5 hours per day investing while at work? That's a wrong assumption to have. What about time with family? What about time to sleep? If i don't even get allowed to sleep, how can I get time for the other things?

 

[bargainman]

On 5/28/2024 at 6:28 AM, crs223 said:

 

I’d like to know more about this, as I work in tech and have the opportunity to re-tool and triple my salary.  I love my present job (over 20 years here) but I cannot shake the feeling that the world is shifting and I’m being left behind.  For example, with a low mortgage rate and stupidly high home prices, I am stuck.

 

It seems you are making three main complaints: 1. not enough time with family 2. boss is an asshole 3. Not enough time investing.  And one benefit: 4. higher pay.

 

Would you have stayed if they replaced your boss with a nice person?  Would you have stayed if they doubled your salary?  Would you have stayed if they let you spend 1.5 hours per day investing while at work?

 

I'm curious what you could do to retool and immediately triple your salary?

[crs223]

13 hours ago, bargainman said:

 

I'm curious what you could do to retool and immediately triple your salary?

 

I would take 6 months off to build some kind of distributed AI/ML software (on my dime) then go after one of these jobs:

 

 https://www.levels.fyi/companies/google/salaries/software-engineer/levels/l7

 

I have 25 years experience working on simulation and modeling software (for same company).  It’s been very fun; I love my job.  i tap dance to work (to quote WEB).  I live in a beautiful town and i make plenty.

 

Funny when i wrote that post i was in a funk… but I since realized what was happening… I recently bought a car (been riding bike to work for years — now less time outside) and i was 6 weeks without playing basketball (healing plantar fasciitis).

[boilermaker75]

2 hours ago, crs223 said:

 

I would take 6 months off to build some kind of distributed AI/ML software (on my dime) then go after one of these jobs:

 

 https://www.levels.fyi/companies/google/salaries/software-engineer/levels/l7

 

I have 25 years experience working on simulation and modeling software (for same company).  It’s been very fun; I love my job.  i tap dance to work (to quote WEB).  I live in a beautiful town and i make plenty.

 

Funny when i wrote that post i was in a funk… but I since realized what was happening… I recently bought a car (been riding bike to work for years — now less time outside) and i was 6 weeks without playing basketball (healing plantar fasciitis).

 

The exercise from bike riding would increase, and balance, your neurotransmitters. Also during exercise your heart excretes Atrial Natriuretic Peptide (ANP), which has a calming effect. Maybe if you replace the lost bike ride with some other exercise each day. I usually work out about 6 days a week. That day I don't I notice a change, a lost bounce in my step.

[bargainman]

5 hours ago, crs223 said:

 

I would take 6 months off to build some kind of distributed AI/ML software (on my dime) then go after one of these jobs:

 

 https://www.levels.fyi/companies/google/salaries/software-engineer/levels/l7

 

I have 25 years experience working on simulation and modeling software (for same company).  It’s been very fun; I love my job.  i tap dance to work (to quote WEB).  I live in a beautiful town and i make plenty.

 

Funny when i wrote that post i was in a funk… but I since realized what was happening… I recently bought a car (been riding bike to work for years — now less time outside) and i was 6 weeks without playing basketball (healing plantar fasciitis).

 

hmm.  Well it's good that you have confidence, but why don't you think you have the chops now to go for a Sr Staff Eng job?  Do you think that 6 months of training alone will get you to that level?  Staff Eng is pretty high up there, Sr Staff is very high.  You need actual experience on real projects with many people usually to get that level of a a job, which it sounds like you have?  The Sr Staff folks I know have been working with large teams delivering projects for years.  I'm just wondering.  Hopefully I'm not coming off as negative.  I mean it's rare for someone to just get hired at a 3x salary to their previous position...

[Morgan]

Welcome back muscleman.

[crs223]

4 hours ago, bargainman said:

 

hmm.  Well it's good that you have confidence, but why don't you think you have the chops now to go for a Sr Staff Eng job?  Do you think that 6 months of training alone will get you to that level?  Staff Eng is pretty high up there, Sr Staff is very high.  You need actual experience on real projects with many people usually to get that level of a a job, which it sounds like you have?  The Sr Staff folks I know have been working with large teams delivering projects for years.  I'm just wondering.  Hopefully I'm not coming off as negative.  I mean it's rare for someone to just get hired at a 3x salary to their previous position...

 

You could be right.  One of the guys who worked for me (and now works at Amazon) told me that’s where I should be setting my sights if I wanted to leave.  My old boss (founded a startup) said something similar.  I’ve been working for a govt contractor - I’m not familiar with “levels” jobs and am going by what I’m told — you probably know more than I do.

[tede02]

On 5/27/2024 at 2:53 PM, muscleman said:

Looks like I missed a lot. I had a miserable job for the last 2 years but finally decided to part ways. The pay was 60% higher than prior employee but it was absolutely not worth it. I did not have time for investing and did not have time to enjoy life with family. In the end, it was just selling more of my own time for money. 

 

My wife is in a situation presently where she took a "lead" position within the healthcare group she's employed. It pays a little extra but has significantly increased the stress/headaches of her job. I've been trying to convince her to walk away from it even if they offered to double or triple her lead pay. It has drained her mental and emotional energy. Just isn't worth it.

[james22]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Region-beta_paradox

[ValueArb]

15 hours ago, crs223 said:

 

You could be right.  One of the guys who worked for me (and now works at Amazon) told me that’s where I should be setting my sights if I wanted to leave.  My old boss (founded a startup) said something similar.  I’ve been working for a govt contractor - I’m not familiar with “levels” jobs and am going by what I’m told — you probably know more than I do.

 

Its like anything, you do need to establish a progressive work record but moving from the lower level jobs up to the senior jobs can go pretty fast.

 

When I went back to software development after a decade off I had to begin with my own mobile software startup since my resume was so dated. It didn't fully pay the bills but it gave me work product on the App Store that demonstrated I knew what I was doing. That got me a first job at a local mobile consultancy at $90k, which transitioned into a staff job at a Fortune 500 company at $110k a year later, then a remote job at a startup at $130k the following year, then into hourly contracting at $100/hour for a year and a half, before a senior remote job at a Unicorn at $175k. All over 5 years.

 

So in my case if I had been making $120k a year at a dead end job I loved, it really took me 5 years before I substantially exceeded that income (the contracting was hit or miss, sometimes I'd make $15k in a month, sometimes I'd make half that but have plenty of time to work on my own projects). But one warning, to be honest the expectations at my last job were too high for me to meet and I only lasted a year and a half. So if I went back to mobile development now I'd be surprised if I made that much. I'm too old and have too much family obligations to work 16 hour days to keep up on every new technology, and too opinionated (or perhaps stuck in my ways?) for younger managers to deal with.

[james22]

On 7/29/2024 at 9:09 AM, james22 said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Region-beta_paradox

 

And the flip side (the Region Alpha Paradox?):