Experienced (older) Letsrunners : I'm low income - should I work more or enjoy life

Enjoy life! Things are more simpler for me. I drive an old bomb, live in an old house, wear old running clothes, and still use rabbit ears for my TV (but I do have a smartphone). I also eat healthy and try to stay out of disastrous medical system. Run for health & happiness 😉

Get a gf, marry, procreate, raise your children, divorce, remarry, etc. All while you're working your butt off. You'll hate it. But in the end you'll love it.

Thanks so much for the advice. May I ask how old you are? I used to think I really needed to get an "all-star" career and make a solid income but more and more I feel that I want to free myself up. My only worry is I won't have $ to travel the world which is important to me.

Low Income Runner wrote:

Enjoy life! Things are more simpler for me. I drive an old bomb, live in an old house, wear old running clothes, and still use rabbit ears for my TV (but I do have a smartphone). I also eat healthy and try to stay out of disastrous medical system. Run for health & happiness 😉

Joke?

life is to give life wrote:

Get a gf, marry, procreate, raise your children, divorce, remarry, etc. All while you're working your butt off. You'll hate it. But in the end you'll love it.

Bump

I'd vote for the master's degree/further education option. There will come a point in your life when a certain amount of money will become important. If you get married and have a child you will essentially be forced to work whatever job you have to in order to support your family. If you hate this job life will suck, no matter how good the other parts of your life because you spend so much of your life working. And going back to school if you have a wife, kid, and mortgage will not be an option. If you study happiness theory you will notice that happiness increases nearly linearly up to incomes of about $100K, but after that it rapidly starts to plateau. You have to strike the right balance between making money and pursuing meaningful life experiences. In a lot of ways money equals freedom. When you hit 70 and feel like retiring, but look at your bank account and realize you will be working until 80, you will regret not keeping a certain focus on building your nest egg sooner. Good luck.

Enjoy life. Find something you can do in your spare time to make extra money but not something you have to do at a certain time.

I have always been self employed but changed careers 20 years ago so I could pick my own hours. What's really nice is the ability to sleep in when I need to. I think that is one of the keys to staying as healthy as I have.

Some of us work so we can enjoy life.

Agreed. I'm definitely not saying I won't work. But should I continue to work 25 hours a week making 45k and have a ton of spare time or should I grind to get a more fufilling/engaging but much harder and longer hour job

Coach wrote:

Some of us work so we can enjoy life.

Thanks this is good advice.

If you're single and young, work as much as you can and save.

Stay busy and strive, work hard have fun and adventure. It is all a movie, my friend

Why?

quote]Simple math wrote:

If you're single and young, work as much as you can and save.[/quote]

That's my problem - how can I have time to adventure if I'm working hard??

judge holden wrote:

Stay busy and strive, work hard have fun and adventure. It is all a movie, my friend

This. Get that Master's degree.

It's easier to work hard while you're young and single. You can always take vacations/do things that interest you but it gets much tougher when you settle down, get married and have kids. You will be working harder with little free time.

I suggest maybe looking into starting your own business. You mentioned that you're creative and entrepreneurial. If you have your own business then you can be more flexible with your time.

No one ever laid on their death bed and thought, "I really wish I had worked more."

Having a family changes everything. If you're single and living below your means, enjoy life. If you think you'll get married and have kids, that's a whole other world of responsibilities - and expenses. Them enjoying life should become more important than you enjoying life.

With all due respect, you sound like a loser. No kids, no wife, no real responsibilities and you are worried that working more than 25 hours a week will be stifling? I am sure that my situation is pretty similar to many folks on this board...working 60 hours a week in competitive environment, making good ( not great ) money ( mid 6 figures ), married with two kids in nice schools, and still find time to run 75 miles a week. If I was a slacker the age of 30 then I wouldn't have anything to show for it. I haven't missed out on any great life experiences. Put your big boy pants on and start working like an adult. Putting in 50 hours a week without parental / marital commitments is like a part time job. Make some money and save some money now before it is too late.