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

OP:

I am also a teacher, and my financial situation is similar to yours. I empathize with the boredom issue.

I recently switched jobs, and have taken over the AP programs at a local rival school. The students, the material, and the pace of AP programs are much more intellectually stimulating than teaching regular high school classes (or even college freshmen). When you teach AP, you are getting the best of the best. When you teach in college, you get a bunch of kids who "have to take this class to fulfill a GenEd requirement", but don't really want to be there.

2 years ago, I would have answered my happiness at a 3-4/10. Now, I would say a solid 8.5/10. Look in to it. Also, are you a paid coach? If you are a volunteer, I would encourage you to look in to taking over the XC program, or starting a Junior High/JV team. It is extremely rewarding.

45-50 hours a week. Bad weeks are 60, slow weeks in the summer are 35-40.

27 yo

Analyst at a hedge fund, $450k for 2015. Was a bad year for the firm and comp was down from 2014.

Happiness is probably a 6/10. I get unlimited vacation and respectable wage for somebody my age. That being said there are always opportunities to make more and living in NYC makes it hard to do any kind of outdoors activity. Doing well at a young age also generates a tremendous amount of pressure to stay on “The Track”. I could reasonably retire around 35 and move someplace with beautiful scenery, running trails, and live a very happy life. That being said when there is a chance to be a PM and make high 7/low 8 figures, or even to start a fund and make hundreds of millions, it is hard to walk away.

CAC N&P SBH wrote:

University lecturer

£52000 (~$75000)

'officially' 37.5 hrs per week, but difficult to determine exactly what I do as never really 'off' . You cant decide in advance that 'at 2pm I will sit at my desk and proceed to have good ideas for the next 2 hours'. Tend to do most of my thinking whilst out and about (especially when running) and when at work I think about other stuff.

5/10. Its nice to be able to earn a salary teaching and researching what I'm genuinely interested in. The admin load and bureaucracy is ridiculous though

I doubt you'll read back and see this.. but if your title is lecturer are you in a position of you can still pull grant money and have your own lab to do research? Or do you co-author with other labs at your university? Lecturer is a role I have thought about looking into. I like teaching but being able to do research on the side without the life hating stress of battling for tenure would be a fun gig.

And for my chip in:

Doctoral student

Hours: every hour? Not really never not thinking about work/research I have to do

Pay: Take home after taxed- 20K

Happiness: 9/10

Stress is high at times, and I am rolling right through all my degrees so I didn't take a big pay cut to go back to school. I'm always thinking about my work, and weekends aren't really existent. But I can't complain about getting winter and spring breaks. Only reason not 10/10 is because I don't have money for hobbies I want to do- skydive license, travel, own a house with a big enough garage to have a project car to work on, etc.

Presidential Candidate

69-420

Small loan of a million dollars

69/10

I'm in the UK so different system to the US. 'Lecturer ' is a very generic title that covers a range of very different posts. However, generally you are expected to teach and research, and I also have some management responsibility. Absolutely nothing to stop me bringing in grants and having my own lab, but no pressure to do so. This is not the case for some other staff and universities. I still research and work with colleague's at my own institution as well as collaborators abroad. Hlno concerns about tenure here!

VAC N&P SBH wrote:

I'm in the UK so different system to the US. 'Lecturer ' is a very generic title that covers a range of very different posts. However, generally you are expected to teach and research, and I also have some management responsibility. Absolutely nothing to stop me bringing in grants and having my own lab, but no pressure to do so. This is not the case for some other staff and universities. I still research and work with colleague's at my own institution as well as collaborators abroad. Hlno concerns about tenure here!

Thanks for the response! Sounds like a pretty great gig you got going.

CS major w/Econ Minor for now.

5 year BS/MS Program possibly.

In House Federal Securities Law Attorney

350-400k year with salary, bonus, matching and incentive payouts

40-45 hours per week

Happiness about 7/10; 8/10 when commute is easy and I can run at lunch regularly.

Stunt double for adult movies

hedge fund guy wrote:

work at hedge fund (invest money for institutions and very wealthy people)

base $250k, bonus: last year ~$1.5M (best year so far). In 8 years my pay has ranged from $200k to close to $2m last year, with average being in mid to high 6 figures.

Hours: office hours I set my own schedule and is probably around 50 hours in the office, but really my job is a lifestyle where you either have to commit to win and make it a priority, or you will fail

Happiness: Overall a 6 or 7, but very volatile. I like what I do, but it is all consuming. Bad stretches it is a 1 and I am very close to being clinically depressed and good days a 9 or 10.

Ditto, except I make more (avg ~3mm last four yrs, 6mm last year) and am probably slightly less happy on average. The trouble with managing money is that, no matter how good you are, you are losing roughly 50% of the time. If you hate losing, then you are gonna be unhappy a lot. A lot of my colleagues don't care that much about winning, they are way happier than me (though less successful).

Student

24/7

-$20k/year

Anywhere from 10/10-1/10 depending on the week, day, or hour.

Orthopaedic surgeon

48-90 hrs/wk depending on call, average 55-60.

800K

Not very happy, maybe 4/10. It takes about 20 good results to offset the stress, anxiety and guilt of one poor result. It's very good pay and interesting work but I dread going to work every day. Sometimes I want to bail out and work in a running store but I'd feel like a quitter.

I was just looking at my SS statement and viewing my progress since high school.

2015 $109,352

2014 $106,832

2013 $106,600

2012 $90,312

2011 $85,583

2010 $78,375

2009 $80,197

2008 $75,305

2007 $61,023

2006 $47,363

2005 $46,126

2004 $43,178

2003 $40,677

2002 $34,565

2001 $26,976

2000 $26,908

1999 $23,345

1998 $23,010

1997 $12,879

1996 $5,492

1995 $6,203

1994 $4,861

1993 $4,080

1992 $0

1991 $1,191

1990 $1,525

1989 $1,244

1988 $586

Mostly steady progress with a few good jumps in there.

Never really put in a lot of hours.

1. Client Service Manager for a Wealth Management Firm

45/wk

$65k plus annual bonus worth between $5-15k

8.5/10 - Benefits aren't great but the job is awesome.

2.Running Coach

10/wk

$20k

8.5/10 - Blast working with folks that want to get better and put in the miles

Sub teacher (head varsity xc/tf coach)

pizza delivery guy

18k last year

job is 7/10 because i don't consider them difficult nor do they require much so its good, full time teaching will be a lot better.

over happiness is 9/10. i do what i want, when i want and how I want. Also I get to coach and that is the best.

Assistant Professor (tenure-track) at small private liberal arts university, primarily teaching oriented with some research expectation.

Hours: During the semesters, 40-60, but probably mostly around 40. During the summers as much time on research as possible, but probably 20-30 hours in the office. It is hard to really quantify because with research, I am thinking about things every waking (or dreaming) hour of pretty much every day.

Pay: $65k

Happiness: 6/10

If it wasn't for the time during the summer/winter breaks it would be a lot lower. I do have time to run and train, which brings the number up. I have a lot of pressure to publish, which means that even when I want to take a day off, I still have this pressure that I should be working on research. I also have a pressure to keep students happy, since tenure is also based off of end-of-semester evaluations. I am hoping that after getting tenure that the happiness level will rise. Full professors in my university would be earning around $105k, which would be much nicer. My wife and I are not happy geographically, and it is really hard to find an academic job in my field right now, so it doesn't look easy to make a move until after getting tenure, and that might mean having to go through the process again.

Question?

Does anyone here run a small coffee/cupcake/donut shop , a small wine store, single screen movie theater, or something neat a like small bar that fits like 40 people tops?

I'm wondering how much these people make per year.

My wife and I often dream about quitting our corporate jobs and starting something that we are more passionate about instead of working with CMS/Scrum all day at a desk.

Engagement manager at a top strategy consulting firm

55-65 hrs per week, sometimes an extra 10 or 15 if a weekend is needed

~$190k base, ~50% bonus (~$95k), generous retirement contribution, great benefits

Happiness level ~8/10. Could be higher, but the 'moving up or getting fired' system we have that puts a potential limit on how long I can stay at the firm is a bit of a happiness limiter. I'm also fine with my M-Thursday travel every week. Otherwise, the automatic promotions through the ranks and associated salary and benefit increases every year is nice.

Name says it all.

30-35 hours a week, no travel

Last year made $230k, but that was a good year

Happiness is as much as I'd get out of a job. My work is not my identity, so that makes it easier. I work at a firm, but essentially for myself. So if I want to make more I work more. No boss breathing down my neck either. I've got it good.