Dave @ Accidental FIRE
I reached financial independence and semi-retired in my mid-40's through hard work, smart living, and investing. This blog chronicles my journey and explores many aspects of personal finance including the psychological and behavioral factors that drive our habits.
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2024 Activity Tracker
Cycling: 1530 Miles
Running: 126 Miles
Hiking: 19 Miles
Paddling: 10 Miles
Climbing Days: 1
2023 Activity Tracker
Cycling: 5400 Miles
Running: 472 Miles
Hiking: 37 Miles
Paddling: 96 Miles
Climbing Days: 6
2022 Activity Tracker
Cycling: 5408 Miles
Running: 321 Miles
Hiking: 43 Miles
Paddling: 40 Miles
Climbing Days: 7
Turnip FIRE! Disclaimer:
Turnip FIRE! is like, real fake news. I mean, there’s fake news that’s meant to be real, and then fake news that’s meant to be fake. The fake news that’s meant to be real is like, actual fake news. Turnip FIRE! is fake fake news…. okay now I’m confused…. Anyhoo, don’t take any Turnip FIRE! stories seriously. Just don’t.
So very true! People keep encouraging me to get my masters degree and take on a leadership position. Taking a leadership position translates into more work and more headaches, which is counter to my goal of eventually reducing my hours. Not sure how a leadership position is a good idea. 😉 The extra money isn’t worth it!
You’ve got your head on straight Katie. I wish I had that much wisdom before I went into management. I thought management might offer some good things to the visible bad things. In my experience I was wrong
you got that right, dude. i tell ’em “keep the extra pittance.” I’ll be over here doing this easy thing for “enough money.”
The Oracle of Buffalo has got this work thing figured out too!
I love this graph. It’s completely true for most people. I think a few people got around this somehow. Like Freddy above.
Ideally, you can keep the money and hassle steady, but that’s tough to pull off.
It’s VERY tough to pull off! Thanks for stopping by Joe!
Pithy, and powerful.
I appreciate that Fritz – now get on the road in that RV!!
Mainly because my wife makes a really good salary am I willing to keep the hassle low (actually decreasing over time) but this also means the pay stays low as well. And I’m fine with this. Recognizing “enough” is a good skill to have.
That sounds like a great set up for you 😉
LOL! When you say “W2 Progression” do you mean “Progression to Middle Management” where you have a lot more responsibility and very little power? This is spot on.
I do mean that, which was the mistake I made. Live… learn..
I once worked with a man at an aerospace factory who would price parts using his personal “hassle pricing” or what he called his 2%. Any part that would have extra difficulties from the customer (usually a spares, or old part replacement needing impossible to procure materials) would be quoted at double the normal price. He always hoped that the customer would see the ridiculous price and go elsewhere, thus saving the hassle. Surprisingly, the customer would order the parts at the quoted price about 80% of the time. At least that way, when the hassle materialized, we could feel like at least we were earning a profit that made up for some of the trouble.
Hassle pricing – I love that idea! I should consider that for my design business… thanks for the great comment!
The most successful executives that I know often make a “lateral” move later in their careers for the same pay but instead of 40 direct reports they have 3. Instead of having to manage a $100M budget that is under huge scrutiny at every review, they manage $4M where trying to trim is not really impactful to the org at review time and hence safe.
So true, I’ve seen many do that too. Some accuse them of “cruising into retirement”, I call them smart
I think the Green Line in the 2nd chart is too high; it needs to be adjusted for “After Taxes.”
Ha!
This is it exactly…I have the certification to be a public school administrator. But I am currently a PS librarian and am happy with my salary because the stress is low. I could make far more as an administrator my personal time would be infringed upon..so not worth it.
Great choice!
None of my managers are happy they work more and spend more nights away from there family’s they only make about 20% more than me so tell me why would I want there jobs again?
The answer to your questions is: You don’t!!
Oh my God!! I couldn’t agree more with this. I’ve seen people aspire to be managers or some higher ups in the management and hoping life will get easier and probably make more money. While the latter might happen, the former is an illusion. It’s tough to do that job since you are taxed emotionally and mentally, leaving little room for creativity or other fun pursuits. No wonder burn out is real.
This is spot on. I remember getting a 5% raise to take on another 10-12 direct reports. I really enjoyed analyst work before that move since I was able to be creative but management stretches you too thin to do both. Definitely lost the creativity part of the work. Now I get to worry about office temperature issues, vacation calendars, and refrigerator smells.
Burn out is real indeed, thanks for stopping by!
that is so true and why I backed down from trying to rise up the chain and just live as a coder! I did the management bit for a while, but realized how unhappy I was. I am back to leading a small team and spend most of my time coding. That is much better for me, and I am comparatively much happier!
I’ve seen good coders become managers and it usually ends badly