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

Love this post. For you young guys who can't believe all the people making $100K+, this is the way it goes for a lot of us. Find what you like, do it well, put yourself on the market every so often, and in your 40s or 50s you'll be one of the well-paid people in your organization. What you earn the first 10 or even 20 years of your career is less important than the skills and reputation you are building.

grad student/grad assistant

20hr/week

9k/year

definitely content, i realize I have quite a lot of freedom. I am very critical so I'll never be completely satisfied with where I am at.

My progression from SS records:

1987 1824

1988 32

1989 8623

1990 7020

1991 28803 (1st job out of college)

1992 0 . . . . (back to school)

1993 0 . . . . (Masters)

1994 34680

1995 43983

1996 46297

1997 57183

1998 45834 (back to school)

1999 22165

2000 9657

2001 17859

2002 38946 (Ph.D.)

2003 64389

2004 66255

2005 78761

2006 40347 (1/2-time)

2007 64479

2008 78509 (changed jobs)

2009 99316

2010 160032 (changed jobs)

2011 151231

2012 159799

2013 165903

2014 221608 (changed jobs)

Approx:

$65k, of which only $35k is taxable income.

Free healthcare.

Pension after 20 yrs of service. 50% of your base pay starting at the time of your retirement from service (grandfathered in, so I can dodge this new system they are putting in).

Lots of other benefits.

Daily schedule:l M-F

0630-0730: workout

0930-1130: work

1130-100pm: lunch

100pm-4 or 500pm work

Happiness: 10/10. Love my job. I'm good at it, so that helps.

Alan

Runningart2004 wrote:

Approx:

$65k, of which only $35k is taxable income.

Free healthcare.

Pension after 20 yrs of service. 50% of your base pay starting at the time of your retirement from service (grandfathered in, so I can dodge this new system they are putting in).

Lots of other benefits.

Daily schedule:l M-F

0630-0730: workout

0930-1130: work

1130-100pm: lunch

100pm-4 or 500pm work

Happiness: 10/10. Love my job. I'm good at it, so that helps.

Alan

No wonder you're so liberal!

Runningart2004 wrote:

Approx:

$65k, of which only $35k is taxable income.

Free healthcare.

Pension after 20 yrs of service. 50% of your base pay starting at the time of your retirement from service (grandfathered in, so I can dodge this new system they are putting in).

Lots of other benefits.

Daily schedule:l M-F

0630-0730: workout

0930-1130: work

1130-100pm: lunch

100pm-4 or 500pm work

Happiness: 10/10. Love my job. I'm good at it, so that helps.

Alan

Thank you for your service YOU POG!

So you work five or six hours a day? You take 1.5 hour lunch breaks? Then you suck the taxpayer dry for the rest of your life? Of COURSE you love your "job". It's called welfare.

All the while we have the real warfighters coming back damaged and thrown aside as you play soldier with their resources.

Letsrun observer wrote:

Runningart2004 wrote:

Approx:

$65k, of which only $35k is taxable income.

Free healthcare.

Pension after 20 yrs of service. 50% of your base pay starting at the time of your retirement from service (grandfathered in, so I can dodge this new system they are putting in).

Lots of other benefits.

Daily schedule:l M-F

0630-0730: workout

0900-1130: work

1130-100pm: lunch

100pm-4 or 500pm work

Happiness: 10/10. Love my job. I'm good at it, so that helps.

Alan

No wonder you're so liberal!

I always wonder why the GOP is so supportive of an entity which costs the government so much money.

The vast majority of military folks are Republican. Most I've talked to are Trump supporters.

I don't understand why more smart people don't serve....easy way to pay off student loans or even earn a graduate degree.

Alan

professional bullshit shoveler wrote:

Runningart2004 wrote:

Approx:

$65k, of which only $35k is taxable income.

Free healthcare.

Pension after 20 yrs of service. 50% of your base pay starting at the time of your retirement from service (grandfathered in, so I can dodge this new system they are putting in).

Lots of other benefits.

Daily schedule:l M-F

0630-0730: workout

0930-1130: work

1130-100pm: lunch

100pm-4 or 500pm work

Happiness: 10/10. Love my job. I'm good at it, so that helps.

Alan

Thank you for your service YOU POG!

So you work five or six hours a day? You take 1.5 hour lunch breaks? Then you suck the taxpayer dry for the rest of your life? Of COURSE you love your "job". It's called welfare.

All the while we have the real warfighters coming back damaged and thrown aside as you play soldier with their resources.

It's going to be interesting to see the retention rates after this new retirement policy comes into full effect. The pension will be gone. In its place is a 401k with 5% matching. Recruiting will be easier....but it's going to gut the senior NCO ranks. Lots of guys in that 10-15 yr range stick around for that 20yr carrot.

Alan

BSN/RN

PreOp/Endoscopy @ Surgery Center

PRN/Part Time (15-20hrs) sometimes more or less depending on need

32.00/Hr

Just recently went back to work after being a stay home mom. Had worked years before kids and when they were small. Now kids are older and once youngest goes off to college, I will probably pick up more hours...

9/10 Great place to work, love spending time w/patients & Staff.

Runningart2004 wrote:

Letsrun observer wrote:

No wonder you're so liberal!

I always wonder why the GOP is so supportive of an entity which costs the government so much money.

Good point. I never thought of it this way.

The vast majority of military folks are Republican. Most I've talked to are Trump supporters.

That's what I remember too, especially in the officer ranks. More political diversity among the enlisted.

I don't understand why more smart people don't serve....easy way to pay off student loans or even earn a graduate degree.

I did. Air Force ROTC paid for my undergrad degree. Best decision and five years of my life.

Alan

30, Military Officer

~50. It's hard to say because we don't punch a time card or anything. Normally I'm in at 7am and leave around 5:30pm but I wouldn't say that's all 'productive' time. Long lunches and afternoon workouts are fine if I can fit them in. Usually in the field 10 wks/year which is 24 hour operations. I don't get deployed in my current position.

$66k (taxable) + $31K (non taxable) + full benefits (med, dental, misc services)

2/10. I'm 7 years and it has it's ups and downs. I the past it has been 8/10 but I took a new position 4 months ago that really, really sucks. I'll probably get out in 2 years and hit the civilian sector.

I'm on lunchbreak...so since someone asked...

I run a coffee shop in rather expensive/snobby metro area. Average median household income is $103K in this region so we were hoping to be profitable IF we did the shop really well.

We currently pay about $2500K in rent for the building and we had about $25K down to open it. We also did about $12K in renovations (painting, new seating, structural changes) and bought most of the equipment used.

I will spare all the details on insurance, product costs, marketing, etc.

I made about $60K last year from the shop. Wife worked part time and that was able to save us a min wage worker this past year.

My best year was $75K. The worst was $40K in year two when two months of road construction was cutting out potential customers.

Pros: You are now part of the community and everyone knows you. Calling your own hours and having your staff open for you. Sleeping in until 10am and rolling in 20 minutes later is nice and I get to run a lot. Unlimited vacation time and getting to know the "regulars" has it's perks. For example, a very wealthy guy (now friend) comes in often and I give him a free coffee regularly. He and his wife treat us to dinner at his place on some weekends and we've visited his cabin several times in the summer.

I have another "regular" that wants me to go into business with him...which means more $$$.

Cons: Tedious at times. Stress of having an off year. Getting the shop started was such a nightmare that I broke out into acne and lost about 15 pounds. If Starbucks decides to open another shop near my location, I will suffer. Making business decisions to keep up with trends is something you have to prepare for and anticipate. I only feel relaxed when I'm sampling whiskey.

Volunteer coach/unemployed

Happiness level: When at practice or meets I'm pretty happy (9/10), anywhere else and I'm 0-1/10, suffer from depression which is quite the buzz kill and will make you take steps backwards when trying to develop professionally. Credit going down the drain, at the point where you don't care about that.