Name your job, hours, pay, happiness 'level'

Wedding DJ, celebrity, on air personality, Boston, VIA and Philly finisher. 8 hrs week of work, do gigs over the weekend. $15k annually but wife makes up for it. Was 10/10 until Cecily, Ken and LRC exposed me as liar, cheater and porn master. Now 1/10 and a slave to my own thread on LRC. Would have been a cool tv show host of I could do it all over again.. Oh wait

Mike Ross i wrote:

Wedding DJ, celebrity, on air personality, Boston, VIA and Philly finisher. 8 hrs week of work, do gigs over the weekend. $15k annually but wife makes up for it. Was 10/10 until Cecily, Ken and LRC exposed me as liar, cheater and porn master. Now 1/10 and a slave to my own thread on LRC. Would have been a cool tv show host of I could do it all over again.. Oh wait

I make $0 a year and owe $20k in fines for fraud.

Currently at 1/10 - so bad I deleted my twitter account.

I resisted posting because I didn't want to be seen as "one-upping" others here, but this is my situation:

I currently do not have a salary. I made $1.00 US and invested it 1,123 years ago. At a healthy 10% return, I now have a net worth of $15,477,927,573,909,702,372,286,166,696,129,707,299,615,801,344.00 after taxes.

Do not feel discouraged if you have less money than me. Money is not the key to happiness.

That said, I do have a happiness level of eleventeen out of 10. Yes, I invented a number between 10 and 11.

I am not a liar.

Professional Athlete

25k- Salary

5-10k- Race winnings (depending on the year)

5-10k-Coaching

25k- At part time job so I could buy a house and save money/retire

No benefits. No retirement. No compensation.

Mortgage underwriters like to see actual pay stubs.

Happiness levels are weird. I am definitely always happy. But I would always say I'm fluctuating between a 7-10. When injured, things are pretty bleak 1-5/10. It's weird, because as an athlete, everything is about the routine and final result. So you're never really satisfied. Everything is always about striving for the future, but even after that big result, it only lasts for a few weeks. Lot of traveling during the season, this can be exciting but also make you miss what you have at home.

Usually each day is a pretty big grind. I could definitely not work part time, but I have trouble sitting still. Getting married, somehow able to maintain a steady relationship, but it's a lot of sacrifice on their part. I want to be a provider, but also work because the life of a professional athlete can be daunting and unknown.

A lot of times I get scared because I'm sacrificing a successful career. And wonder where I will be in 5 years starting fresh. I have a graduate degree, but I still realize I'll be starting from scratch. Regardless, wouldn't choose another path; if I did, I would only live with regret.

RESULTS at the end of page 3, sample size 44.

*ignored non serious responses, probable trolls, or those without enough info

*took an average or best guess when a specific value was not given.

Average pay: $128,000

Median pay: $85,000 (some big earners skewing the average as expected)

Average hours: 43

Median hours: 40

Average Happiness: 6.7

Median Happiness: 7

At the unhappy level (`` 5) there are very few data points. Interestingly these tend to be around the average hours and a bit below median for pay.

Around the average happiness level (6.5 +/-1.5), there is high variation and no real correlation at first glance. Most data points are here, and the most of the extremes of hours and pay are here.

Those with high happiness (%%8) tend to have hours < 45 AND above median pay.

xzCZCzXCzC wrote:

there looks like a sweet spot here.

making too little in dead-end job makes you more likely to be unhappy.

making a lot in a soul-sucking job makes you more likely to be unhappy.

You left out the most important part of the equation; liking what you do. Best advice my Dad ever gave me.

Manager of a clothing jewellery boutique in London and supervise another

£48,000 + commission (avg. maybe £5k PA) ($68,000 + $7,000 in 'Merican)

45-50 hours per week - little variation

Goes from 4/10 to 7/10 depending on how much contact I have with head office. The less the better because sadly it's working for entitled people with the lowest work ethic I've ever met. Luckily their cluelessness works both ways. I get to hire and spend all day with my closest friends too. Swings and roundabouts.

Another lawyer here. 12 years in to career, working in-house for a large corporation managing litigation. 40 hours/week, $180k+60kbonus+ stock last year. Sadly, I live in a high cost of living area so we have to rely on my wife's income too.Pretty happy focusing on my family and no longer striving on the law firm path. Time to run again is great. 7-8/10.

long time to build wrote:

IP Lawyer - Currently have a business job

30 years in the field

400k/yr - bonus and stock

55 hours a week

Happiness is 7/10. Sometimes boring. Have reached a fairly high level of proficiency.

A few more numbers

For happiness at 5 or less:

Average Pay = $68,000

Average Hours = 43

For Happiness 5-8:

Average Pay: $150,000

Average Hours: 44

again, large variation here

For happiness above 8:

Average Pay: $116,000

Average Hours: 37

College track coach

~50 per week

~25-30 over the summer, not including camps

$34k w/ benefits

9/10. Love my job, love my wife, love where I live.

Supply chain manager

60K, no benefits

40 hours

28 y/o

7/10. Mostly because rebounding from injury has been slow. Need another hobby.

Pharmacist

102k + small bonus + benefits

36 hours/week

Happiness: 3/10 while at work but only average 3.5 days/week and love my time off

Before anyone asks, don't become a pharmacist. The field is now super saturated and you won't get a job by the time you finish 6 years from now (maybe in rural Idaho if you're lucky). I jumped on the gravy train while I could. Not sure how long it will last with automation and new grads flooding the market. New schools open up each year who will accept anyone with a pulse willing to pay 150k-300k in tuition.

It's still a retail job which makes it stressful. People think we are doing nothing all the time, but we're always drowning in work. All prescriptions are timed, if a doctor calls it in you have 15 minutes to complete it while juggling phone calls, needy customers, insurance issues, etc. Sometimes 10-15 prescriptions are called in at once. People expect fast food service, you deal with crackheads, and hope not to get robbed at gunpoint. Corporate continuously gives more responsibility and cuts pharmacist and technician hours. I'm on my feet for 12 hours/day and running around like a madman the whole time. I can rarely use the bathroom and get no lunch break. I'm pretty sure my bladder isn't as healthy as it used to be. I have to inhale my food while I work.

The grass is always greener. Before I was a civil engineer working 9-5 + late nights and weekends sometimes, making half the pay, unhappy sitting in a cube all day.

I think people who make 75k-80k are happiest.

Work for a large pension fund

$40k/year

37-40 hours/week

Excellent retirement/benefits

6/10.

I wish I made more money, but my wife makes up for it. Plus, the cost of living here is ~80% of the national average. It's low stress, I have time to get on letsrun, and I never have to be here before 8/after 5 or on a weekend.

Academic Advisor for major University.

35 hours a week, never overtime.

42k a year, good health, dental, retirement, etc.

9/10 on the happy scale. Sure, more money would be nice, but I live in a cool college town, I walk to work, I take good vacations, and spend a lot of time with my wife (her salary is about 40k, self employed website design, no benefits). We have no kids and we're in our mid 30s.

Financial Analyst @ Fortune 500 Company

~45-50 hours per week, maybe 2-4 weeks a year in excess of 50

$57k w/ decent benefits. Will jump to $75-85k in a couple months after I complete my rotational program.

25, single.

8/10. I like my company, work with mostly enjoyable people, and have relocated twice for new roles over the past three years which has kept it interesting. Probably not making as much as some of my peers, but I'm living comfortably and enjoy having time to run and relax.

RuppBuster wrote:

Project Coordinator (gov't contracted construction)

50K/yr

40-45 hrs/wk

24 yrs old

8/10

The hours are flexible so I can get all my runs and workouts done in the morning no problem. Only reason I'm not 10/10 is that I can't work from home...yet

literally just got promoted

Logistics Admin

65k/yr

Hours unknown anticipating 45-50

24yrs

8/10

Keeping the happiness the same until I see how the hours and new responsibilities affect my training

Custodian

37.5 hours a week

41k full benefits

7.5/10

Bloomfield Hills wrote:

I live in an incredibly expensive area of Michigan where a 3,000 Sq Ft. Home costs you close to $700K-$800K.

lololol! try san francisco, where a 500 sq ft apartment is 800k.

engineer (not computer/software)

40 hrs/wk

$88k/year + $12k bonus + great benefits, just a couple years out of undergrad

7.5/10 happiness

Computer Programmer (a specific type that not a lot of people do, not posting specifics here just in case)

40 hours/week

120k full benefits, plus small bonus

8/10

Late 30s, been working 16 years, took a while to get here, including going to grad school while working full time.

I consider myself very lucky. While I don't like sitting behind a computer all day, I've had my share of bad jobs so I know how good I have it now.

My wife has a crazy corporate job and works a ton of hours (and is much more highly compensated than me). Most of the people who do what I do work for startups, while I decided to go the more traditional corporate route. I could make a lot more, but for me the extra hours and stress wouldn't be worth it. Since my wife works a ton, I take care of everything around the house, errands, that type of thing. This works well for us as her upside is much larger than mine and I have time for all my interests outside work and taking care of domestic stuff.

We plan to be retired in