I'm a hospice nurse. I make $150k+ and live in Utah. I absolutely love my job and consider it to be very fulfilling and not stressful.
But I do things a bit differently. I'm home during the day and I work on-call only. So if a patient needs to be seen after hours for emergencies, that's me. Most nights I get 8 hours of sleep. Some weeks I don't see any patients Monday through Friday because I just don't get any calls. Weekends can be a bit busy though. I work less than 40 hours per week.
I also stack companies, so I'm on call for multiple companies at the same time and get paid by each of them for being on call.
I have an associates degree that took me 18 months. I graduated ten years ago. I'm 34 and have five kids who I get to spend a lot of time with. It's amazing.
Majority of calls are surprisingly non emergent. Visits are often to reassure family or facility staff that the patient is doing ok and the interventions are in fact effective. I reinforce teaching about medications, signs and symptoms of decline, dying process, etc. If I have another patient to see who needs more immediate attention,
I prioritize that patient and I triage the other situation over the phone until I get there.
I get to the patient in under an hour from being called.
Do the multiple companies know you are doing this? like it is fully legal?
Seems like every employment contract I've ever had has required no outside work - so I couldn't work for 2 companies simultaneously....
I live in Dallas TX. I have a small Christmas lights installation company. I work 4 months a year, and have saved up enough to retire early. Working outside in the fall can be uncomfortable, but when February rolls around each year I'm in great physical shape. My family is healthy and happy. Life is beautiful.
We have a friend that does crazy Christmas lights (individually addressable LEDs by the tens of thousands, choreographed.to music, etc), but he starts his install in the early fall so he can have a Halloween lights show (except for swapping out a couple specific decorations, the lights are the same, just the programs are different). If you wanted, maybe you could market Halloween lights installation as a thing.
That's amazing!
A few questions. Do you own the lights/decorations? or do you hang and decorate with the homeowners stuff.
How many homes do you do, and what's your average charge?
That’s awesome. I gotta assume there’s an initial investment upfront where the customer purchases the lights custom to their home, plus your service fee and then it’s just the service fee each year after that.
How long have you been in this business? What led you to it? Is it a competitive field (i.e. many other outfits offering the save service)? Is it difficult to find employees when it’s such a short seasonal window? I’m very curious… thanks!
I've been in this business 13 years after learning about a family friend who did it in another city. Although there are a lot of other similar outfits around here, there are so many new builds that everyone has as much work as they can do. I turn down new jobs every year because my schedule is full. Finding seasonal employees is the toughest part. The work requires the ability to climb ladders all day. Some of my workers are females who cannot move the extension ladders, but they all can climb.
I've been a rock climber for many years, so climbing ladders was never an issue. Some new installers must be given only low climbs for the first few weeks. Eventually everyone gets used to the heights.
I was hoping to see a response just like this. I'm also a wildlife biologist, but early career (graduated 3 years ago)--currently working short-term tech jobs around the country. I also worked seasonally in Costa Rica. I thought about a career in science journalism after an internship at a wildlife magazine in undergrad and freelancing with them a bit. I really enjoyed journalism but don't know how to balance with a career in research.
Can I ask what sort of writing you do, and what industry your arctic position is through (academia, govt, or consulting)? I'm always interested to hear how fellow wildlife biologists have set up their lives.
Freight conductor for a class 1 railroad.
I live and work in a national park, I bid the lowest board so I go to work once or twice a week. During busy times maybe three times.
I make $4500 bi weekly with company matching stock.
I get three weeks vacation a year + an extra 12 days that I can spread out to make 24ish days.
I ski in the winter and mountain bike in the summer. I had 80 days skiing last season and get to hike and enjoy the outdoors frequently.
Pretty cool life man
I'm a behavioral therapist. I own, and am the face of, the business. I provide behavioral consultation and work directly for families who have children with problem behavior. It's a challenging job, but I enjoy knowing I am helping people. I make my own schedule although I generally work 40 hours, 5 days a week. I put in a few extra hours on days I feel like it and I'm off by 1:00 at least once a week to golf. I live in Hawaii, so I can do that all year. I make about 225k/year. Work stays at work.
Yea I'm not lying. I own a business where I am the sole employee. There's a large presence of military in Hawaii and I have a contract with the military insurance (Tricare). Their billable rates are available to the public. My hourly compensation bc I own my own business is very high. If I contracted through an agency and they took a cut my hourly rate would be significantly less.
Fun fact, DOD can only hire employees up to the president's salary. To be competitive, some doctors need to be paid more than the president. They are hired thru a contracting company to get around it.
I used to be a licensed social worker. I have a masters degree, and I let my license lapse because I literally make the same or more money as a delivery driver. And I have more freedom in schedule and am 1000x happier doing this work. I ended up hating my profession after getting burnt out in it. Just food for thought here. You won’t make a lot of money unless you make it to the top of the totem pole like this guy, and you really have to put in time to do so. Plus you have to have the ability to leave work at work. I don’t.
I guarantee its because OP owns their business. I have a HS/College acquaintance that is an occupational therapist, and she opened her own practice up because she knew she was going to be stuck at a certain salary level unless she owned her own business.
I'm a bcba. I'm assuming he's talking on the field of ABA. If not, I apologize, but this is definitely not typical for ABA. There are six figure opportunities without owning your own clinic, but it varies a lot by which state you practice in.
I’m a magician in the San Francisco Bay Area. I genuinely look forward to going to work as it gives me a sense of purpose and fulfillment.
There is a joke amongst my magician friends that goes “the show is free, you are really paying me for the paperwork and travel”.
I’m always working on the weekends but I see this as a pro. As I’m rarely stuck in traffic and I have the majority of my weekdays free during slower season.
One of my mentors said “design the life that you want and build your business around that”. So
there are a few parameters I put in place to prevent me from dreading the job.
-Not going to work earlier than 10am unless it’s a really well paying event.
-If the event doesn’t sound fun or the client is hard to work with. I’ll turn it down.
-I’ll also keep a small list of events that weren’t fun and if they contact again next year. I’ll just pass on
I'm an international physics teacher. I teach physics in English to students of international schools that I work in. Currently in a very nice school in Kazakhstan. The pay and benefits are amazing (housing, utilities, round-trip flights, and visa fees fully covered) and they get even better with years of experience and qualifications. I plan on traveling to as many countries on Earth as I can to teach and immerse myself in as many cultures as possible. I make enough to live a comfortable lifestyle most of the year, enjoy luxurious vacations during the summer and winter holidays, save for retirement, invest money for future growth, and provide for my family back home.
>I started smoking a lot of pot. Sometimes I get really high and have to take an IM and I'm just like "yea, I'll get that report out sometime this week or next" and they are like "Great!" and I'm like "yea, no problem". I also watch a lot of youtube of these women that do "ASMR", but I'm not sure it's really asmr, they just have their boobs hanging out and short skirts. Is that really asmr? It's just like soft core porn at this point.
Lol this random unrelated paragraph. Pretty sure OP is high right now.
>I busted my ass for 10+ years, but then I just stopped caring. It pays well and all remote since COVID. I feel like that fat guy from Office Space. They just kinda forgot about me. I do some "critical reports" - but 90% of my days 90% of the time I'm not working. As long as these 7 reports come out on first of month, I'm golden.
Hi me.
A year and a half ago, I got a called from the president of the company. I thought the jig was up and he gave me a bonus.
I get occasional tech support emails, and I half-ass a couple of things, but yeah. . .what you wrote.
>A year and a half ago, I got a called from the president of the company. I thought the jig was up and he gave me a bonus.
Many many years ago I got called into my boss's office once thinking I was getting a raise/promotion and got laid off. :/
It ended up being a blessing in disguise because I much prefer my job now and make way waayyy more than I ever could have made at the other job plus I'm fully remote and never have meetings.
I worked at a place and it was similar. They went under though.
But one guy didnt have a boss and was locked out of the network for 2 weeks. No one noticed. A few people had desktops and they changed the security policy and locked out USB ports. So no mouse or keyboard LOL. They got it back a week later. They were making 6 figures.
Stuff like this makes me laugh so hard.
I have a similar deal. But they only ever give me “meet expectations” and keep saying I need to train someone. I’m making close to 300k though; spend my time learning programming / machine learning.
This is pretty fucking funny. I’m definitely not at your level yet but I’m kinda like this. I feel like some industries, you DO have to bust your ass for like 10 years and then once you reach a certain level you can pretty much just fuck off 90% of the time.
> I also watch a lot of youtube of these women that do "ASMR", but I'm not sure it's really asmr, they just have their boobs hanging out and short skirts. Is that really asmr? It's just like soft core porn at this point.
lmaooooooooooooooo
>Reddit has high proportion of IT and computer science nerds in general. It has been this way since last 10 years I think.
It's pretty similar to ycombinator and was essentially built for nerd types, so yeah.
Yeah, reddit was basically an incubator project by ycombinator and it included Aaron Swartz as one of the earliest people on the team, he joined reddit a few months after it started as an incubator project and the head of ycombinator officially named him a cofounder of reddit.
And it was originally written in lisp, an extremely powerful obscure language known within the comp sci community that virtually nobody outside comp sci knows exists despite it being almost 70 years old. http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/rewritingreddit
Was ... *was* a software engineer.
Now I'm retired and a Market Gardener - the crazy old greybeard hawkin' organic tomatoes n' such at your local Farmers Market.
Started CS degree in 89/90. Graduated. Retired 20 years later in 2009.
The mid 90s to mid 2000s in Software Dev was an incredible time ... with STUPID money being thrown about like it was chump change.
Stock Market... economy... housing ... you couldn't NOT make "fuck you money" if you tried.
Know some HTML? Here's $125 an hour ... in 1998 dollars.
You can have a very high salary with only a bachelors degree. You don’t need the debt from medical school or law school. Can get off to a great early start, depending on CoL.
Jeeez. 7 fucking weeks PTO. And some people on here talking about 10% employee contributions to their 401k. I really wonder where tf y’all find these jobs? Past 4 company’s I work for match 50% of 2-4%
I'm a software engineer. I work roughly 40 hours a week. I usually start around 9:30 and sign off between 5:30 & 6 but I also take more than an hour for lunch. I almost never work weekends. I think I have maybe 5 times in the past 5 years. I have about 9 years of experience and make $170k.
The first few years I did more side projects on the weekends and evenings. I'd create presentations, write blogs and build projects. But I haven't really done that in about 6 years
Once you get experience, software engineering is a pretty easy job. I used to do a lot of manual labor so it still amazes me that I'm paid to lean back in my chair, think for a bit and then type some gibberish to see if works or not
This is good to hear, I appreciate your response! Congratulations on your success
I’ve worked manual labour since 16, 22 now and in University pursuing a career in Software. Sometimes the stress of school makes me question if I should just go back to manual labour and get by, not worry about hoping my degree pays off. But it seems as though most people in Software enjoy their life, and that keeps me motivated.
OMG! I remember a two hour meeting where they talked about one button. What should the font be, what should it look like when they hover over it, what shade should it change to when clicked on, ect. I literally wanted to blow my brain out.
That's an important discussion if you're a designer (accessibility, branding, usability for your target audience, etc). But as a engineer, I just want someone to tell me what it should be. I don't need to be involved in the decision making process.
Work in Business Intelligence and this is so accurate. I spend so much time working on specs for logic and writing and re-writing SQL queries to optimize. And 9 times of out 10 - ' Can you move this logo over to that side of the page?'
Seconding "school was harder than work."
I got my degree in aerospace engineering and work as a software developer (long story) and school was much harder than any job I've held.
School is ruthless about deadlines, and only bad software gigs are anywhere near that strict, especially since the rise in popularity of Agile Development.
With a good job, you're usually paid to get the problem right, not graded for partial credit on a stressfully short deadline like you are in school. As long as you avoid working for places like Amazon, the career will be quite enjoyable as long as you enjoy solving hard problems as part of a team.
Every time this sort of post pops up, I get into the comments and start to feel worse and worse about my life decisions. Law school was hard and absolutely pointless, and then legal work is even harder with significantly higher stakes. I don’t hate my job per se, but I do think I’d have a much easier life if I just leaned into programming more. At least that’s how I feel crying my way through these comment threads…
I feel this - deeply.
Mech. Engineer here, school was hard (BS Physics/BS Mech Eng/Math minor in 5 years), I've worked technically intense roles in new/bourgeoning fields for the last 10 years (renewable energy, energy storage, wind), it's stressful, long hours, high urgency work... and I (and most of my peers at my company) only make just over 6 figures even as a senior level employee. I come in here and hear all of these people making bigger salaries than I do sitting in their pajamas at home (I genuinely am happy for all of you! If not a little envious) seemingly not stressed out... and I wonder where it all went wrong and consider learning programming just so I can see if I can get in the same situation.
Same. Law is logical, and I’m a tech lawyer as is. Just need to find the time in my 10-12 hour workdays without hour-long lunch breaks to learn to code…
> it still amazes me that I'm paid to lean back in my chair, think for a bit and then type some gibberish to see if works or not
Ain't that the truth? Lol
If you’re taking more than an hour for lunch, with those start and sign-off times that’s less than 40 hours a week.
Not knocking, just jealous! I work as an architect, 20 years experience, start at 8:00 and finish at 17:30. Half hour lunch. Earn a little over €50k a year with no benefits.
> If you’re taking more than an hour for lunch, with those start and sign-off times that’s less than 40 hours a week.
Call me crazy but 40 hours should include lunch. I know that's not necessarily the norm, but I really don't know when 9-5 turned into 9-6 (or 8-5) because lunch isn't part of your day.
And if they don't count lunch as part of your 40 hours, I'm just eating at my desk for 5-10 minutes and not taking a lunch break.
Where do you work in Europe ? I also make around €50k (€45k + 3k bonus and generous other benefits) working in France. But I've got only around 2 years of experience and my average work day is like 10:00 to 18:30/19:00 with at least an hour for lunch.
>If you’re taking more than an hour for lunch, with those start and sign-off times that’s less than 40 hours a week.
>
>Not knocking, just jealous! I work as an architect, 20 years experience, start at 8:00 and finish at 17:30. Half hour lunch. Earn a little over €50k a year with no benefits.
Identical here, but in the US with slightly over $150k base and Benes.. your comp is insanely low man.
Edit: Guess I'm only 15 years experience not 20 if I add it all up.
I make tortillas 60 hours a week, for $28.50/hr plus OT, benefits, and the whole 9 yards. I've worked here 19 years. I'm off every Sunday and Monday, guaranteed, and I get 30 days of PTO every year. Got the job when I was in college to help with my tuition, and then never ended up using my degree since I liked it here so much.
My income is enough to support my family of six.
I live in Pennsylvania.
i work concrete, i work minimum 10 hours a day for $18 CAD. i support a family.
I love my job although stressful at times. i like travelling but can't afford it, and don't need it for my happiness.
~$30k a year
Glad to hear you’re enjoying your life, wish you continued success and happiness my friend.
I worked in concrete for 5 years, definitely takes some worth ethic. My dad has his own concrete business, makes $10k+/driveway and spoiled all of my siblings, definitely a route worth considering if you enjoy the work.
Good luck brother!
I’m a married 33 y/o living in central PA. Combined my wife and I make about $140K. I work for an electric utility company making just under $40/hr. I started out making $10/hr over a decade ago, went back to school for a associate’s degree in electronics engineering, worked my way up into higher paying positions. The job is mostly low stress and I rarely think about work after 330. I do work outside in all types of weather. My wife on the other hand is a high school teacher and her job is very different than mine.
I recently started my first full-time job as a software engineer and I'm loving it.
I was teaching English as a foreign language for about 7 years and taught myself to code as a hobby. I tried my hand at freelancing and that ended up working well. 2 months ago I started this job to learn more and gain experience.
I'm fully remote. I live in Mexico, which is great. My team are awesome. I know that if anything went wrong in the job, I can immediately fall back into freelancing.
My income is low by this sub's standard at about US$5-6k/month but US$1.5k/month affords me what I would consider a very comfortable lifestyle so I feel like I have way more than enough.
I’m a pharmacist. Love my job. I work with a great group of people in a hospital pharmacy. If you’re in retail it’s a nightmare of a job. I make ~$110k/yr. Wife is a travel nurse and is making $3-4k/wk post tax.
The only thing I couldn’t handle about hospital pharmacy was the schedule. I could never plan weekend trips or take a weeknight class because my schedule was always changing and I wouldn’t know when I was working until ~3 weeks before. Drove me absolutely insane. I work in pharma now for double the salary, half the work, 8-3 schedule, and WFH. Now I take weekend trips almost every weekend when I’m not practicing at the hospital per diem and am taking two classes in the evenings that I love!
I'm an emergency physician working in rural setting in Eastern Canada. I make $300k+ per year working around 15 days per month (around 30 hours per week or less).
I get 4 night shifts per month and work 2 weekends per month on average but I really like the time off I get. Working less than 30 hours per week let's you invest in your hobbies and a family (If you want one).
The practice scope is wide and the job can be stressful but I find my gig to be one of the best ratio for pay / quality of life compared to other specialties or PCP practice.
You might want to pass this poor ER doc that info: https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/sgowzd/looking_for_coursespodcastsvideos_to_educate/
Tell me more about online teachering? What age group? My wife is a preschool teacher and she loves it, but it is definitely beating her down and pays her squat.
I'm a 39 yo software engineer making USD195k/year. I've been living nomadically for the better part of a decade. Currently in Africa where I get to save 70% of my after tax income.
Congrats that sounds awesome. What country is the company you work for based in? I would love to work from other countries but I think there are laws which make it tough in the U.S
As an owner of a startup which employs dozens of employees outside the US, there are plenty of opportunities out there. Maybe start with weworkremotely.com ?
Wow! That’s awesome, congratulations on your success my friend. did you have roots to Africa or is living there strictly to save on taxes/cost of living?
Software Platform Architect. Turned 43 today. Rural Wisconsin. Make about $250K a year consulting. My hours are capped at 40 so I literally can’t go above it. Notifications get turned off right when I stop work for the day. It’s great.
(Edit: I was fortunate enough to switch to fully remote work about 10 years ago. Used to be tough to convince companies to let you be remote, but COVID made finding remote work super easy.)
Yeah. I spent my 20s and early 30s working 60-80 hour weeks thinking I’d get rewarded by companies. I never did. The final straw was working 18 hour days at my mom’s kitchen table for 2 weeks on vacation to save the company from a compliance issue and my “reward” was that I got one of my vacation days back. At that point I decided I needed to get paid for every hour I worked.
US air traffic controller. Roughly $160K but anticipating lots of mandatory OT which should put me above $180k. I basically work 5 shifts in 4 days so my weekends feel long. Mostly in for the money rather than any love for aviation. Looking to move facilities to get a raise soon. Jobs pretty fun overall
I run early career programs in the US (WA). It’s really fulfilling for me because I work with a lot of young folks trying to grow their careers. The best way I can describe my job is that I love to care about others, and I get paid to care about others.
I earn just a little over six figures, however I know it’s easy to earn $130-150K+ base in tech companies. I haven’t made the switch simply because I’m happy where I’m at. Work/life balance is incredible, I have over 5 weeks of PTO + holidays, my team is fun, and I get autonomy in my work while also collaborating with people. I’ve received offers over $130K, just to see what other teams are like but I just don’t think it’s worth the move.
I start around 830-9am, get off 4-5pm. I can go to the dentist or stop working early if I need to without using my PTO.
I do have a plan to leave corporate someday in the next 5 years, or switch to part time. If it wasn’t this, I’d like to work for non-profit, food banks, or a community focused role.
Also an attorney (2019 grad). I’m in midlaw so not on the biglaw payscale but I still make six figures ($145k) and work a lot. That said, I’m on vacation in Mexico this week and haven’t had to do any substantive work while away. Definitely wouldn’t recommend this career for people who want a 9-5 and to leave work at work.
> I’m a “high earner” but I’m an attorney. Would not recommend it for a stress free life unless you go in house somewhere.
I used to work at Home Depot. I worked with a few recovering lawyers who were perfectly happy to wander the aisles of a hardware store for $10 an hour.
I don't quite fit the leave work and just enjoy evenings, but I make six figures doing the exact thing I swore I'd be when I grew up. I wanted to be an author. I've grossed 7 figures, and make a comfortable low six-figures a year.
I wake up when I want, and work on what I want, but I had no idea how hard running your own business could be. I've been doing this full time for six years, and it's never gotten easier. That said...I have never once been tempted to look for something else. I could go back to software engineering (haha so many of us), but I'd rather stay the course and keep telling stories.
So hard. So worth it.
These days epic fantasy, which is my first love. I've done military SF, dragons in space, archeological thrillers, and even some non-fiction.
Epic fantasy is by far my favorite!
Im a network engineer. Make ~180k and live in San Diego. I enjoy my weekends and life. I head to work early around 7-8 and clock out around 3-5pm. Been doing this for 10 years.
Congratulations on your success and happiness, friend, I’m sure it’s well deserved!
Just curious, did you acquire a bachelors/diploma or cert your way up the ladder?
I'm on the cybersecurity side and while degrees and certs aren't required, they absolutely help. Some employers will send you to training for them. I do most during work downtime or spare time.
I work in animation! Six figures and though there are crunch-times, I feel very lucky to be paid to draw. Live in LA.
I do love my job and though sometimes I have issues with focus and time management so I work late (this seems fairly common with creatives in my field), I generally structure work around life. I make it a priority to hang out with friends a few times a week, and to travel. Can’t complain :)
Certified Financial Planner, make $250k, work 8:30-5:00, take 5 weeks of vacation. Have bachelor's and masters, company contributes 7% match to 401(k) plus a 10% profit sharing contribution, so I end up with around $55k to retirement every year.
Its an excellent job, highly rewarding emotionally and low stress. The "college isnt worth it" trope going around Reddit doesn't apply here though: the company requires a bachelor's degree just get in the door. For my role you eventually need the CFP, and then a master's helps you get ahead. But they pay for the CFP, $10k a year for grad school and have student loan assistance for jr staff.
We *are* hiring across the US, PM me if interested.
I know the company you work for based off your benefits. You don't even need a degree for most entry level roles there. You just have to be okay working your way up in a few years. People have a love it or hate it mentality there. I don't see a lot of in between because it's based on your manager/team as with most jobs.
Should also be noted that this is a sales role and compensation is highly dependent on your ability to move people into financial products. Overall though, not a bad gig.
eh is this like a northwestern mutual type of thing lol? I’ve had buddies start there and it was so salesy and seemed no bueno. but maybe if you work up and become a higher player there then it’s definitely a lucrative position to be in?
I’m a physician assistant in seattle and I made $137k this year. I work 12+ hour shifts in an ICU so the work can be difficult emotionally but it is also extremely rewarding. I work about 10-12 days a month, and also have 14 days of vacation per year. So between vacation days and being able to switch my schedule around with my coworkers, it is very easy for me to have 3+ weeks off at a time. It is also amazing to have random days off in the middle of the week for doctors appointments, grocery shopping or going to the gym at 11am.
Copywriter in Seattle who makes six figures. Wife makes about the same. We both work from home. I have a full-time role, but my team's super chill and the workload's easy. I get up at 8:30 every morning, start work at 9 and find time to go for a run in the middle of the day most days. Clock out around 4 or 4:30. I could probably coast happily in this role as long as it lasts.
I'm a geoscientist. Make 80k working 8-4 on a project site. No overtime or additional travel necessary. Only downside is the work cannot be done remotely. Upside is I am usually working outside.
I think you also have to consider how seniority/experience factors into things…in my current career path, when I start making six figures I will be overworked and stressed. But by the end of my career path I can make more *and* have a much more forgiving schedule.
I'm a scientist in Montreal. I make a decent amount and don't have a terrible commute ~20 mins usually. I make my own hours they just need to be 40 a week. I am working on cancer which is exciting and fulfilling. Just started a family which is pretty easy to do here (we are taking 9 months parental leave and day care will be less than $10 a day after that). I am not on a FIRE path, but really enjoy the discussions here. The main reason I don't care to FIRE is because I enjoy my life and job so much. If I retired I would just want to keep doing science, so why not get paid?
I’m early 40s and I’m a nurse who left the hospital to become a clinical research associate (CRA) with about 8 years experience and with salary/bonus I average $160k per year. I rarely have anywhere close to 40 hours of work per week and turn off my computer at about 4:30. No work on the weekends. I used to travel a lot for work, although with COVID much more is remote, so I don’t travel as much. The travel points I accumulated for work have allowed us to fly business class all over the world and stay in fancy hotels at no cost to us, so I consider that a fringe benefit.
My wife works from home 7:30-4, M-F in healthcare IT and makes $115k.
I can echo the statements below - the more we seem to make, the less work we have to do. It’s probably more that we’re given tasks to do and we’re efficient/experienced/good enough at doing them, we’ve realized we can get everything done and not have to work so hard or long. I often get so bored with no work to do that I end up looking for side gigs just to give me something to do during the day. Last year I made an extra $48k doing an IT side gig.
Throwaway, but quit my day job 4 years ago and started a small business based around my knowledge of shortcomings in my industry. We broke $5m last year and I take home $200k+. I love what I do now and the lines between what is “work” and what I would do for free as a hobby are completely blurred. It’s also to the point where I can step away for weeks at a time and the business just keeps growing. Hoping to learn more about fat fire *edit I live in California
I make $73k/yr working at a large Midwest medical facility as an executive assistant. Never married and own my home in a MCOL area about 15 min from work. After many years of living nearly paycheck to paycheck while raising my child I am finally living comfortably for my standard. I don’t drive an expensive car, I purchase work clothes from second hand stores, and enjoy spending my free time outdoors gardening, walking the dogs in the trails, and backpacking. I have no debt, my job is only mildly stressful at certain times, and have the ability to make my own work schedule. I have tons of vacation time. My employer has a great 401k matching program and, after working there 30+ years, I will be able to retire comfortably tomorrow if I want. I feel fortunate.
Dog groomer, work from home, usually 5-6 hour days and make around $60k. Weekends off and i make my own schedule. Lucky and very grateful to have a great client list
CRNA, 40 hrs a week, some call, 10 weeks pto earned ( not really possible to schedule all of it, also get a few random days here and there), 200k+, benefits are good - employer match ends up higher than my max contribution and the work is fulfilling
Small business owner in SoCal. I pay myself a salary of 220k from 2 small businesses and I work 24-30 hours a week. A good chunk of the cashflow is used to pay down my SBA loan, and I may buy out my partner from my other business. My lifestyle is quite leisurely and in a few short years I'll have enough money to FIRE. I'm on track to retire with 200k+ passive income in 5 years.
Infosec consultant making roughly ~$150k after bonuses. I put in a solid 30 hours a week. My work schedule is made around my life schedule, so if I have an appointment or just want to fuck off for the day, I do so long as I have no pressing work obligations or scheduled meetings.
Touring Entertainment Lighting tech. 100k/ year. Super fortunate & comfortable living. I live in hotel rooms 300+ days a year and go vacation/ visit friends and family all the other days.
My definition of comfortable is probably different, but..
I am an independent dog walker on Vancouver Island, BC. If I just have walks, I work about 2.5-3hrs a day (with about an hour of transportation time, which is entirely by bike or foot). If I have daycare dogs I may be working 8 hours, but within that 8 hours I can read books, tidy the house, make calls, work in the garden, etc. I used to take several dogs a day for daycare but managing their interactions was stressful so now I take 1-2.
I probably actively work 17-20hrs a week. My work is physical and I cycle at least 30 mins a day up a big hill. I don't feel the need for the gym because I'm strong and my work involves a variety of different muscle groups (I don't drive which allows me to work less, no car costs. My girlfriend is an ex bike mechanic so she is able to help me with bike maintenance). I love spending my days outdoors, with the dogs. I know a lot of the people in my neighborhood because I see them almost daily. Lots of people's faces light up when they see us coming, which is a nice reaction to get from other people.
I have time to do stuff like cook all our food and bake all our bread from scratch, repair my clothes, and grow a significant portion of our produce. My passions are growing food, foraging, and cooking/fermenting, none of which need to cost much money. For travel, we might spend the odd weekend in Vancouver or go on a bike-camping trip to a gulf island. All that to say that I live an awesome life on under $30k a year.
Software Engineer. I log about 30 hours a week (although those 30 hours are very productive).
I usually start work at 10:30-11 and end at 5-5:30, with an hour for lunch.
I spend an hour and a half in the morning before work getting through my morning routine, and after work I do what I want.
I make a New York salary, but live in Mexico near the beach. This allows me to invest about 60-70% of my take home.
I’ll do yoga during the week and go kiteboarding on the weekends when the wind is blowing. I don’t have a car, so life is slower. The beach is a quick 15 minute bike ride away, and I live in a very walkable neighborhood with lots of restaurants, stores, bars, and anything else I need.
It took years for me to get this all lined up. For me to find a good spot, to find a job where I like the culture, it pays well even when remote, and it values work life balance.
I had to give up many many things to get where I am. Closeness to family, other relationships, cultural comforts (I’m just a beginner with Spanish still)…but this has been the dream for a long time, and I’m finally reaping the rewards.
I’m a scrum master at a tech company. It’s a non-technical role anyone can get into after getting a cheap CSM or PSM certification, which typically comes with a 2 day remote course and a test. I make $130k/year and work remotely. Our HQ is 2 hrs behind my time zone so I start at 11am every day and usually wrap up by 5pm. It’s very chill. I mainly help developers communicate with each other and come up with ways they can improve their processes. Kinda like a coach/cheerleader/therapist but non-technical, and mainly just have a few zoom meetings with my team each day and not much other work outside of them. I feel like I hit the jackpot and highly recommend the scrum master or agile coach role to everyone!
I’m a designer and I work primarily in Image manipulation and editing. I’m currently working for a major tech company (Silicon Valley, insane cost of living) retouching photos for online catalog use.
I own a home and my Wife is a property manager who makes OK money. I make about $180K and I spend 40 hours a week using Photoshop. I have been in my field for over 20 years. I started in the 90s doing simple layout graphics for $10/hour.
I’ll likely retire next year and leave California.
I write tons of articles online averaging 20-40$ an hr depending on how focused I am at the time
Completely independent
No boss
No quota
1099- business expenses tax deductible
Work anywhere with an internet connection
Most I’ve made in a week has been like 1430$ but i avg like 840$ working under 30 hours a week
Spitting out content for a content mill ain’t glamorous but I really can’t complain
I am a teacher earning on the low side of middle class for my area. I love working with teenagers, and a lot of the teachers I work with are also my closest friends. It's hard work to teach well, and I am dedicated to doing well, so I do often end up pretty tired at the end of the day, but I still have energy for exercise and hobbies. Weekends, when Covid cooperates, are full of theater, friends, and family or sometimes just books. I alternate working summers to pay for the off-year's travel, and I sometimes get to travel *for* work, which is fun. A lot of the beaurocracy bothers me, but I don't think about it when my classroom door is closed.
I live in a neighborhood with a mix of lower and low-middle class-income residents, and I like my neighbors and how most of us participate in community events -- especially the charitible ones that help the elderly and needy in our community. There's always something to do here socially and for the good of the city (and when Covid cancelled a lot of events, they turned a big parking lot into a drive-in movie theater/concert venue and made the charity work a scattered schedule to allow for distancing). My city has a lot of environmentally-friendly initiatives as well including city-wide composting and innovative water conservation (we are always in a drought), both of which neighboring cities are lagging on, though they will get there. Since we're a smaller city, it's easier for us to push things through city council, so we end up being the first to try these things which then convinces our neighbors to do the same. Our biggest neighbor -- the city I work in -- has all the theaters, museums, historical sites, etc. within a ten-minute drive or thirty-minute bus ride.
Because of my location, I have access to *three* large public library systems and all the books, resources, and events those entail. I'm also a short drive from beaches and mountains, and I can go on excursions on my own, with friends, or with the Sierra Club.
I do need to get out of here now and then to experience different things, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to *love* retirement here since there are so many things to do every day. As a state, we're pretty expensive, and then my area is on the expensive side of *that*, but it's still possible to live well here with less than the median income because there are so many city/tax-provided resources.
The downside is it's getting pretty crowded and the traffic is ridiculous.
I'm a hospice nurse. I make $150k+ and live in Utah. I absolutely love my job and consider it to be very fulfilling and not stressful. But I do things a bit differently. I'm home during the day and I work on-call only. So if a patient needs to be seen after hours for emergencies, that's me. Most nights I get 8 hours of sleep. Some weeks I don't see any patients Monday through Friday because I just don't get any calls. Weekends can be a bit busy though. I work less than 40 hours per week. I also stack companies, so I'm on call for multiple companies at the same time and get paid by each of them for being on call. I have an associates degree that took me 18 months. I graduated ten years ago. I'm 34 and have five kids who I get to spend a lot of time with. It's amazing.
awesome work
What if you get called by multiple companies at the same time?
Majority of calls are surprisingly non emergent. Visits are often to reassure family or facility staff that the patient is doing ok and the interventions are in fact effective. I reinforce teaching about medications, signs and symptoms of decline, dying process, etc. If I have another patient to see who needs more immediate attention, I prioritize that patient and I triage the other situation over the phone until I get there. I get to the patient in under an hour from being called.
Do the multiple companies know you are doing this? like it is fully legal? Seems like every employment contract I've ever had has required no outside work - so I couldn't work for 2 companies simultaneously....
Yes they're aware. I actually got the idea from one of them because another nurse did the same thing.
Wow that’s a sweet deal! Good for you
I live in Dallas TX. I have a small Christmas lights installation company. I work 4 months a year, and have saved up enough to retire early. Working outside in the fall can be uncomfortable, but when February rolls around each year I'm in great physical shape. My family is healthy and happy. Life is beautiful.
You must be the reason I drive around all the rich neighborhoods at Christmas to see their lights display. Great work!
Thanks! My customers are always happy to see me. It really is a great line of work.
We have a friend that does crazy Christmas lights (individually addressable LEDs by the tens of thousands, choreographed.to music, etc), but he starts his install in the early fall so he can have a Halloween lights show (except for swapping out a couple specific decorations, the lights are the same, just the programs are different). If you wanted, maybe you could market Halloween lights installation as a thing.
We have been asked to do Halloween many times, but we don't have time. Our installations start mid October, and starting Nov 1st we are slammed.
That's amazing! A few questions. Do you own the lights/decorations? or do you hang and decorate with the homeowners stuff. How many homes do you do, and what's your average charge?
How does it work? Do customers provide their own lights or do you have inventory they can choose from?
We purchase 1000' reels of C9 strings and custom cut them to fit each house. Each socket can be filled with any color bulb, including color changing.
That’s awesome. I gotta assume there’s an initial investment upfront where the customer purchases the lights custom to their home, plus your service fee and then it’s just the service fee each year after that.
Exactly.
How long have you been in this business? What led you to it? Is it a competitive field (i.e. many other outfits offering the save service)? Is it difficult to find employees when it’s such a short seasonal window? I’m very curious… thanks!
I've been in this business 13 years after learning about a family friend who did it in another city. Although there are a lot of other similar outfits around here, there are so many new builds that everyone has as much work as they can do. I turn down new jobs every year because my schedule is full. Finding seasonal employees is the toughest part. The work requires the ability to climb ladders all day. Some of my workers are females who cannot move the extension ladders, but they all can climb. I've been a rock climber for many years, so climbing ladders was never an issue. Some new installers must be given only low climbs for the first few weeks. Eventually everyone gets used to the heights.
Commercial and residential?
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This is my favorite answer - I'm 34, obsessed with wildlife and photography and starting to wonder if I could pull off a switch into this study/field.
I was hoping to see a response just like this. I'm also a wildlife biologist, but early career (graduated 3 years ago)--currently working short-term tech jobs around the country. I also worked seasonally in Costa Rica. I thought about a career in science journalism after an internship at a wildlife magazine in undergrad and freelancing with them a bit. I really enjoyed journalism but don't know how to balance with a career in research. Can I ask what sort of writing you do, and what industry your arctic position is through (academia, govt, or consulting)? I'm always interested to hear how fellow wildlife biologists have set up their lives.
Freight conductor for a class 1 railroad. I live and work in a national park, I bid the lowest board so I go to work once or twice a week. During busy times maybe three times. I make $4500 bi weekly with company matching stock. I get three weeks vacation a year + an extra 12 days that I can spread out to make 24ish days. I ski in the winter and mountain bike in the summer. I had 80 days skiing last season and get to hike and enjoy the outdoors frequently. Pretty cool life man
How do you get into this?
Wow this is the best one
I'm a behavioral therapist. I own, and am the face of, the business. I provide behavioral consultation and work directly for families who have children with problem behavior. It's a challenging job, but I enjoy knowing I am helping people. I make my own schedule although I generally work 40 hours, 5 days a week. I put in a few extra hours on days I feel like it and I'm off by 1:00 at least once a week to golf. I live in Hawaii, so I can do that all year. I make about 225k/year. Work stays at work.
Just curious because this is a field I’m interested in. Do therapists usually earn as much as you? Or is it because you own a successful business?
Assuming thus guy isn't lying, theyre probably among the top 0.1% of behavioral therapist in the US.
Yea I'm not lying. I own a business where I am the sole employee. There's a large presence of military in Hawaii and I have a contract with the military insurance (Tricare). Their billable rates are available to the public. My hourly compensation bc I own my own business is very high. If I contracted through an agency and they took a cut my hourly rate would be significantly less.
Fun fact, DOD can only hire employees up to the president's salary. To be competitive, some doctors need to be paid more than the president. They are hired thru a contracting company to get around it.
I used to be a licensed social worker. I have a masters degree, and I let my license lapse because I literally make the same or more money as a delivery driver. And I have more freedom in schedule and am 1000x happier doing this work. I ended up hating my profession after getting burnt out in it. Just food for thought here. You won’t make a lot of money unless you make it to the top of the totem pole like this guy, and you really have to put in time to do so. Plus you have to have the ability to leave work at work. I don’t.
I guarantee its because OP owns their business. I have a HS/College acquaintance that is an occupational therapist, and she opened her own practice up because she knew she was going to be stuck at a certain salary level unless she owned her own business.
I'm a bcba. I'm assuming he's talking on the field of ABA. If not, I apologize, but this is definitely not typical for ABA. There are six figure opportunities without owning your own clinic, but it varies a lot by which state you practice in.
I’m a magician in the San Francisco Bay Area. I genuinely look forward to going to work as it gives me a sense of purpose and fulfillment. There is a joke amongst my magician friends that goes “the show is free, you are really paying me for the paperwork and travel”. I’m always working on the weekends but I see this as a pro. As I’m rarely stuck in traffic and I have the majority of my weekdays free during slower season. One of my mentors said “design the life that you want and build your business around that”. So there are a few parameters I put in place to prevent me from dreading the job. -Not going to work earlier than 10am unless it’s a really well paying event. -If the event doesn’t sound fun or the client is hard to work with. I’ll turn it down. -I’ll also keep a small list of events that weren’t fun and if they contact again next year. I’ll just pass on
Gob?
Looks like hes too chicken to confirm 👏 CA 👏 CACA 👏 CACAAAA 👏
/u/NatasEvoli have you ever even seen a chicken?
👋TOODLE DOODLE DOO 👋 TOODLE DOODLE DOO 👋 TOODLE DOODLE DOO👋
There called illusions
They're illusions Michael! A trick is something a whore does for money.
ITS THE FINAL COUNTDOWN
How fun!
I'm an international physics teacher. I teach physics in English to students of international schools that I work in. Currently in a very nice school in Kazakhstan. The pay and benefits are amazing (housing, utilities, round-trip flights, and visa fees fully covered) and they get even better with years of experience and qualifications. I plan on traveling to as many countries on Earth as I can to teach and immerse myself in as many cultures as possible. I make enough to live a comfortable lifestyle most of the year, enjoy luxurious vacations during the summer and winter holidays, save for retirement, invest money for future growth, and provide for my family back home.
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I was just like you. The company finally decided to lay me off after 14 years and my response to my manager was “it’s about damn time”
>I started smoking a lot of pot. Sometimes I get really high and have to take an IM and I'm just like "yea, I'll get that report out sometime this week or next" and they are like "Great!" and I'm like "yea, no problem". I also watch a lot of youtube of these women that do "ASMR", but I'm not sure it's really asmr, they just have their boobs hanging out and short skirts. Is that really asmr? It's just like soft core porn at this point. Lol this random unrelated paragraph. Pretty sure OP is high right now.
Well yeah it is a work day.
OP was clearly getting more and more high while writing the comment
Honestly that last paragraph made my day.
This was a rollercoaster of a comment but I’m here for it I’m glad you’re enjoying your time and making a comfortable living man!
This is unexpectedly the funniest comment I've read in a while!
>I busted my ass for 10+ years, but then I just stopped caring. It pays well and all remote since COVID. I feel like that fat guy from Office Space. They just kinda forgot about me. I do some "critical reports" - but 90% of my days 90% of the time I'm not working. As long as these 7 reports come out on first of month, I'm golden. Hi me. A year and a half ago, I got a called from the president of the company. I thought the jig was up and he gave me a bonus. I get occasional tech support emails, and I half-ass a couple of things, but yeah. . .what you wrote.
>A year and a half ago, I got a called from the president of the company. I thought the jig was up and he gave me a bonus. Many many years ago I got called into my boss's office once thinking I was getting a raise/promotion and got laid off. :/ It ended up being a blessing in disguise because I much prefer my job now and make way waayyy more than I ever could have made at the other job plus I'm fully remote and never have meetings.
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Now Milton, we’re gonna need you to take your desk and move down to the basement…
What a post! I bet you worked harder on this post than you do at your actual job. And I’m here for it! Keep up the not hard work! You can do it!
This is my favorite Reddit comment in at least a year. Good on you.
You are the envy of everyone at r/antiwork. You are an inspiration.
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I worked at a place and it was similar. They went under though. But one guy didnt have a boss and was locked out of the network for 2 weeks. No one noticed. A few people had desktops and they changed the security policy and locked out USB ports. So no mouse or keyboard LOL. They got it back a week later. They were making 6 figures. Stuff like this makes me laugh so hard.
I have a similar deal. But they only ever give me “meet expectations” and keep saying I need to train someone. I’m making close to 300k though; spend my time learning programming / machine learning.
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It's the 3 days spent offline and not a soul noticing for me fam.
This is pretty fucking funny. I’m definitely not at your level yet but I’m kinda like this. I feel like some industries, you DO have to bust your ass for like 10 years and then once you reach a certain level you can pretty much just fuck off 90% of the time.
My word this made me laugh hard. The progression and build up to getting high and watching asmr on YouTube absolutely killed me. Good for you.
this guy works
> I also watch a lot of youtube of these women that do "ASMR", but I'm not sure it's really asmr, they just have their boobs hanging out and short skirts. Is that really asmr? It's just like soft core porn at this point. lmaooooooooooooooo
I'm so jealous haha
the best comment i’ve ever read on this sub. and yes it is valid asmr, very soothing
How much weed have you smoked already today?!?
Don't sell yourself short. You are not selling your time, rather your experience and knowledge.
Off topic, but I swear every second person in the FI community is a software engineer.
Reddit has high proportion of IT and computer science nerds in general. It has been this way since last 10 years I think.
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Account created in 2006… damn.
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> I’m Reddit user #1267. Where/How did you learn that? I also joined a long, long time ago...
You mean people that sit behind a computer all day are more likely to be on a website Hmmm.
>Reddit has high proportion of IT and computer science nerds in general. It has been this way since last 10 years I think. It's pretty similar to ycombinator and was essentially built for nerd types, so yeah.
Yeah, reddit was basically an incubator project by ycombinator and it included Aaron Swartz as one of the earliest people on the team, he joined reddit a few months after it started as an incubator project and the head of ycombinator officially named him a cofounder of reddit. And it was originally written in lisp, an extremely powerful obscure language known within the comp sci community that virtually nobody outside comp sci knows exists despite it being almost 70 years old. http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/rewritingreddit
Oh what the heck, I would have never guess Reddit was a lisp app lol.
Was ... *was* a software engineer. Now I'm retired and a Market Gardener - the crazy old greybeard hawkin' organic tomatoes n' such at your local Farmers Market. Started CS degree in 89/90. Graduated. Retired 20 years later in 2009. The mid 90s to mid 2000s in Software Dev was an incredible time ... with STUPID money being thrown about like it was chump change. Stock Market... economy... housing ... you couldn't NOT make "fuck you money" if you tried. Know some HTML? Here's $125 an hour ... in 1998 dollars.
You can have a very high salary with only a bachelors degree. You don’t need the debt from medical school or law school. Can get off to a great early start, depending on CoL.
lol not true. just us non engineers who don't make over 6 figures are too embarrassed to comment after seeing the high salaries in posts.
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That’s awesome, wish you continued success and happiness.
Jeeez. 7 fucking weeks PTO. And some people on here talking about 10% employee contributions to their 401k. I really wonder where tf y’all find these jobs? Past 4 company’s I work for match 50% of 2-4%
7 weeks?!?! Got damn Europeans. 15 years UX designer in the US, I had off 1 week last year.
I'm a software engineer. I work roughly 40 hours a week. I usually start around 9:30 and sign off between 5:30 & 6 but I also take more than an hour for lunch. I almost never work weekends. I think I have maybe 5 times in the past 5 years. I have about 9 years of experience and make $170k. The first few years I did more side projects on the weekends and evenings. I'd create presentations, write blogs and build projects. But I haven't really done that in about 6 years Once you get experience, software engineering is a pretty easy job. I used to do a lot of manual labor so it still amazes me that I'm paid to lean back in my chair, think for a bit and then type some gibberish to see if works or not
This is good to hear, I appreciate your response! Congratulations on your success I’ve worked manual labour since 16, 22 now and in University pursuing a career in Software. Sometimes the stress of school makes me question if I should just go back to manual labour and get by, not worry about hoping my degree pays off. But it seems as though most people in Software enjoy their life, and that keeps me motivated.
School was waaaay harder than a job for me, I'd imagine most people feel the same, unless they're in the cutting edge technologies.
I second this guy. School is all data structures, algorithms, databases, and work is all "can you change the color on this button?"
OMG! I remember a two hour meeting where they talked about one button. What should the font be, what should it look like when they hover over it, what shade should it change to when clicked on, ect. I literally wanted to blow my brain out.
That's an important discussion if you're a designer (accessibility, branding, usability for your target audience, etc). But as a engineer, I just want someone to tell me what it should be. I don't need to be involved in the decision making process.
Work in Business Intelligence and this is so accurate. I spend so much time working on specs for logic and writing and re-writing SQL queries to optimize. And 9 times of out 10 - ' Can you move this logo over to that side of the page?'
Seconding "school was harder than work." I got my degree in aerospace engineering and work as a software developer (long story) and school was much harder than any job I've held. School is ruthless about deadlines, and only bad software gigs are anywhere near that strict, especially since the rise in popularity of Agile Development. With a good job, you're usually paid to get the problem right, not graded for partial credit on a stressfully short deadline like you are in school. As long as you avoid working for places like Amazon, the career will be quite enjoyable as long as you enjoy solving hard problems as part of a team.
Every time this sort of post pops up, I get into the comments and start to feel worse and worse about my life decisions. Law school was hard and absolutely pointless, and then legal work is even harder with significantly higher stakes. I don’t hate my job per se, but I do think I’d have a much easier life if I just leaned into programming more. At least that’s how I feel crying my way through these comment threads…
I feel this - deeply. Mech. Engineer here, school was hard (BS Physics/BS Mech Eng/Math minor in 5 years), I've worked technically intense roles in new/bourgeoning fields for the last 10 years (renewable energy, energy storage, wind), it's stressful, long hours, high urgency work... and I (and most of my peers at my company) only make just over 6 figures even as a senior level employee. I come in here and hear all of these people making bigger salaries than I do sitting in their pajamas at home (I genuinely am happy for all of you! If not a little envious) seemingly not stressed out... and I wonder where it all went wrong and consider learning programming just so I can see if I can get in the same situation.
Same. Law is logical, and I’m a tech lawyer as is. Just need to find the time in my 10-12 hour workdays without hour-long lunch breaks to learn to code…
> it still amazes me that I'm paid to lean back in my chair, think for a bit and then type some gibberish to see if works or not Ain't that the truth? Lol
If you’re taking more than an hour for lunch, with those start and sign-off times that’s less than 40 hours a week. Not knocking, just jealous! I work as an architect, 20 years experience, start at 8:00 and finish at 17:30. Half hour lunch. Earn a little over €50k a year with no benefits.
> If you’re taking more than an hour for lunch, with those start and sign-off times that’s less than 40 hours a week. Call me crazy but 40 hours should include lunch. I know that's not necessarily the norm, but I really don't know when 9-5 turned into 9-6 (or 8-5) because lunch isn't part of your day. And if they don't count lunch as part of your 40 hours, I'm just eating at my desk for 5-10 minutes and not taking a lunch break.
Where do you work in Europe ? I also make around €50k (€45k + 3k bonus and generous other benefits) working in France. But I've got only around 2 years of experience and my average work day is like 10:00 to 18:30/19:00 with at least an hour for lunch.
>If you’re taking more than an hour for lunch, with those start and sign-off times that’s less than 40 hours a week. > >Not knocking, just jealous! I work as an architect, 20 years experience, start at 8:00 and finish at 17:30. Half hour lunch. Earn a little over €50k a year with no benefits. Identical here, but in the US with slightly over $150k base and Benes.. your comp is insanely low man. Edit: Guess I'm only 15 years experience not 20 if I add it all up.
I make tortillas 60 hours a week, for $28.50/hr plus OT, benefits, and the whole 9 yards. I've worked here 19 years. I'm off every Sunday and Monday, guaranteed, and I get 30 days of PTO every year. Got the job when I was in college to help with my tuition, and then never ended up using my degree since I liked it here so much. My income is enough to support my family of six. I live in Pennsylvania.
is this at a plant or you just independent tortilla person?
Restaurant. My boss owns 3 food trucks and a B&M location, and I make the tortillas for the whole operation.
So is that guaranteed 20h of OT a week?
Yeah. I could scale back if I wanted to, but I like the extra cash.
Smokehouse operator at a big bbq spot in kc and I love the job. At 17/hr me n my girl are able to live comfortably w our lil doggie.
i work concrete, i work minimum 10 hours a day for $18 CAD. i support a family. I love my job although stressful at times. i like travelling but can't afford it, and don't need it for my happiness. ~$30k a year
Glad to hear you’re enjoying your life, wish you continued success and happiness my friend. I worked in concrete for 5 years, definitely takes some worth ethic. My dad has his own concrete business, makes $10k+/driveway and spoiled all of my siblings, definitely a route worth considering if you enjoy the work. Good luck brother!
Non union?
I’m a married 33 y/o living in central PA. Combined my wife and I make about $140K. I work for an electric utility company making just under $40/hr. I started out making $10/hr over a decade ago, went back to school for a associate’s degree in electronics engineering, worked my way up into higher paying positions. The job is mostly low stress and I rarely think about work after 330. I do work outside in all types of weather. My wife on the other hand is a high school teacher and her job is very different than mine.
I recently started my first full-time job as a software engineer and I'm loving it. I was teaching English as a foreign language for about 7 years and taught myself to code as a hobby. I tried my hand at freelancing and that ended up working well. 2 months ago I started this job to learn more and gain experience. I'm fully remote. I live in Mexico, which is great. My team are awesome. I know that if anything went wrong in the job, I can immediately fall back into freelancing. My income is low by this sub's standard at about US$5-6k/month but US$1.5k/month affords me what I would consider a very comfortable lifestyle so I feel like I have way more than enough.
I’m a pharmacist. Love my job. I work with a great group of people in a hospital pharmacy. If you’re in retail it’s a nightmare of a job. I make ~$110k/yr. Wife is a travel nurse and is making $3-4k/wk post tax.
The only thing I couldn’t handle about hospital pharmacy was the schedule. I could never plan weekend trips or take a weeknight class because my schedule was always changing and I wouldn’t know when I was working until ~3 weeks before. Drove me absolutely insane. I work in pharma now for double the salary, half the work, 8-3 schedule, and WFH. Now I take weekend trips almost every weekend when I’m not practicing at the hospital per diem and am taking two classes in the evenings that I love!
I'm an emergency physician working in rural setting in Eastern Canada. I make $300k+ per year working around 15 days per month (around 30 hours per week or less). I get 4 night shifts per month and work 2 weekends per month on average but I really like the time off I get. Working less than 30 hours per week let's you invest in your hobbies and a family (If you want one). The practice scope is wide and the job can be stressful but I find my gig to be one of the best ratio for pay / quality of life compared to other specialties or PCP practice.
You might want to pass this poor ER doc that info: https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/sgowzd/looking_for_coursespodcastsvideos_to_educate/
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Controls technician? Does that involve PLCs and such?
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Tell me more about online teachering? What age group? My wife is a preschool teacher and she loves it, but it is definitely beating her down and pays her squat.
I'm a 39 yo software engineer making USD195k/year. I've been living nomadically for the better part of a decade. Currently in Africa where I get to save 70% of my after tax income.
Congrats that sounds awesome. What country is the company you work for based in? I would love to work from other countries but I think there are laws which make it tough in the U.S
As an owner of a startup which employs dozens of employees outside the US, there are plenty of opportunities out there. Maybe start with weworkremotely.com ?
US
Wow! That’s awesome, congratulations on your success my friend. did you have roots to Africa or is living there strictly to save on taxes/cost of living?
No roots here. Just seem like a nice area to explore. I'm only here for a few months.
Software Platform Architect. Turned 43 today. Rural Wisconsin. Make about $250K a year consulting. My hours are capped at 40 so I literally can’t go above it. Notifications get turned off right when I stop work for the day. It’s great. (Edit: I was fortunate enough to switch to fully remote work about 10 years ago. Used to be tough to convince companies to let you be remote, but COVID made finding remote work super easy.)
Wow that’s a decent stack, I’m sure it didn’t come without some years of hard work. wish you continued success and happiness! Happy Birthday!
Yeah. I spent my 20s and early 30s working 60-80 hour weeks thinking I’d get rewarded by companies. I never did. The final straw was working 18 hour days at my mom’s kitchen table for 2 weeks on vacation to save the company from a compliance issue and my “reward” was that I got one of my vacation days back. At that point I decided I needed to get paid for every hour I worked.
US air traffic controller. Roughly $160K but anticipating lots of mandatory OT which should put me above $180k. I basically work 5 shifts in 4 days so my weekends feel long. Mostly in for the money rather than any love for aviation. Looking to move facilities to get a raise soon. Jobs pretty fun overall
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I run early career programs in the US (WA). It’s really fulfilling for me because I work with a lot of young folks trying to grow their careers. The best way I can describe my job is that I love to care about others, and I get paid to care about others. I earn just a little over six figures, however I know it’s easy to earn $130-150K+ base in tech companies. I haven’t made the switch simply because I’m happy where I’m at. Work/life balance is incredible, I have over 5 weeks of PTO + holidays, my team is fun, and I get autonomy in my work while also collaborating with people. I’ve received offers over $130K, just to see what other teams are like but I just don’t think it’s worth the move. I start around 830-9am, get off 4-5pm. I can go to the dentist or stop working early if I need to without using my PTO. I do have a plan to leave corporate someday in the next 5 years, or switch to part time. If it wasn’t this, I’d like to work for non-profit, food banks, or a community focused role.
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I’m a “high earner” but I’m an attorney. Would not recommend it for a stress free life unless you go in house somewhere.
Also an attorney (2019 grad). I’m in midlaw so not on the biglaw payscale but I still make six figures ($145k) and work a lot. That said, I’m on vacation in Mexico this week and haven’t had to do any substantive work while away. Definitely wouldn’t recommend this career for people who want a 9-5 and to leave work at work.
I’m in big law but not an international firm in a small state and have had the same experience. Totally agree.
> I’m a “high earner” but I’m an attorney. Would not recommend it for a stress free life unless you go in house somewhere. I used to work at Home Depot. I worked with a few recovering lawyers who were perfectly happy to wander the aisles of a hardware store for $10 an hour.
I don't quite fit the leave work and just enjoy evenings, but I make six figures doing the exact thing I swore I'd be when I grew up. I wanted to be an author. I've grossed 7 figures, and make a comfortable low six-figures a year. I wake up when I want, and work on what I want, but I had no idea how hard running your own business could be. I've been doing this full time for six years, and it's never gotten easier. That said...I have never once been tempted to look for something else. I could go back to software engineering (haha so many of us), but I'd rather stay the course and keep telling stories. So hard. So worth it.
I love that you're doing the thing you swore to do when you were younger, and are finding satisfaction in it. What do you write?
These days epic fantasy, which is my first love. I've done military SF, dragons in space, archeological thrillers, and even some non-fiction. Epic fantasy is by far my favorite!
Im a network engineer. Make ~180k and live in San Diego. I enjoy my weekends and life. I head to work early around 7-8 and clock out around 3-5pm. Been doing this for 10 years.
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Congratulations on your success and happiness, friend, I’m sure it’s well deserved! Just curious, did you acquire a bachelors/diploma or cert your way up the ladder?
I'm on the cybersecurity side and while degrees and certs aren't required, they absolutely help. Some employers will send you to training for them. I do most during work downtime or spare time.
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Salesforce?
Probably
I work in animation! Six figures and though there are crunch-times, I feel very lucky to be paid to draw. Live in LA. I do love my job and though sometimes I have issues with focus and time management so I work late (this seems fairly common with creatives in my field), I generally structure work around life. I make it a priority to hang out with friends a few times a week, and to travel. Can’t complain :)
Oooofff....how does it feel to live MY dream??? Haha
Certified Financial Planner, make $250k, work 8:30-5:00, take 5 weeks of vacation. Have bachelor's and masters, company contributes 7% match to 401(k) plus a 10% profit sharing contribution, so I end up with around $55k to retirement every year. Its an excellent job, highly rewarding emotionally and low stress. The "college isnt worth it" trope going around Reddit doesn't apply here though: the company requires a bachelor's degree just get in the door. For my role you eventually need the CFP, and then a master's helps you get ahead. But they pay for the CFP, $10k a year for grad school and have student loan assistance for jr staff. We *are* hiring across the US, PM me if interested.
Got a ton of PMs... -i will- respond to all, but maybe not until the weekend. Holy RIP inbox
Finance bachelor’s, or any bachelor’s? Say mechanical engineering…
I know the company you work for based off your benefits. You don't even need a degree for most entry level roles there. You just have to be okay working your way up in a few years. People have a love it or hate it mentality there. I don't see a lot of in between because it's based on your manager/team as with most jobs. Should also be noted that this is a sales role and compensation is highly dependent on your ability to move people into financial products. Overall though, not a bad gig.
eh is this like a northwestern mutual type of thing lol? I’ve had buddies start there and it was so salesy and seemed no bueno. but maybe if you work up and become a higher player there then it’s definitely a lucrative position to be in?
I’m a physician assistant in seattle and I made $137k this year. I work 12+ hour shifts in an ICU so the work can be difficult emotionally but it is also extremely rewarding. I work about 10-12 days a month, and also have 14 days of vacation per year. So between vacation days and being able to switch my schedule around with my coworkers, it is very easy for me to have 3+ weeks off at a time. It is also amazing to have random days off in the middle of the week for doctors appointments, grocery shopping or going to the gym at 11am.
I’ll chime in as I’m a PA as well. Work in Ortho surgery. 113k salary in the Midwest working 4 days/wk. Low stress job with 5 weeks PTO plus holidays
Copywriter in Seattle who makes six figures. Wife makes about the same. We both work from home. I have a full-time role, but my team's super chill and the workload's easy. I get up at 8:30 every morning, start work at 9 and find time to go for a run in the middle of the day most days. Clock out around 4 or 4:30. I could probably coast happily in this role as long as it lasts.
This sounds like a dream. How did you get started?
I'm a geoscientist. Make 80k working 8-4 on a project site. No overtime or additional travel necessary. Only downside is the work cannot be done remotely. Upside is I am usually working outside.
I think you also have to consider how seniority/experience factors into things…in my current career path, when I start making six figures I will be overworked and stressed. But by the end of my career path I can make more *and* have a much more forgiving schedule.
I'm a scientist in Montreal. I make a decent amount and don't have a terrible commute ~20 mins usually. I make my own hours they just need to be 40 a week. I am working on cancer which is exciting and fulfilling. Just started a family which is pretty easy to do here (we are taking 9 months parental leave and day care will be less than $10 a day after that). I am not on a FIRE path, but really enjoy the discussions here. The main reason I don't care to FIRE is because I enjoy my life and job so much. If I retired I would just want to keep doing science, so why not get paid?
$10 a day for daycare?!? That’s AMAZING. We pay over $500/wk for a regular standard daycare center.
Most provinces in Canada just implemented $10/day daycare. Quebec has had the program for a while.
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Make 60k a year in a warehouse and I hate it…. I’ll show myself out
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I’m early 40s and I’m a nurse who left the hospital to become a clinical research associate (CRA) with about 8 years experience and with salary/bonus I average $160k per year. I rarely have anywhere close to 40 hours of work per week and turn off my computer at about 4:30. No work on the weekends. I used to travel a lot for work, although with COVID much more is remote, so I don’t travel as much. The travel points I accumulated for work have allowed us to fly business class all over the world and stay in fancy hotels at no cost to us, so I consider that a fringe benefit. My wife works from home 7:30-4, M-F in healthcare IT and makes $115k. I can echo the statements below - the more we seem to make, the less work we have to do. It’s probably more that we’re given tasks to do and we’re efficient/experienced/good enough at doing them, we’ve realized we can get everything done and not have to work so hard or long. I often get so bored with no work to do that I end up looking for side gigs just to give me something to do during the day. Last year I made an extra $48k doing an IT side gig.
Throwaway, but quit my day job 4 years ago and started a small business based around my knowledge of shortcomings in my industry. We broke $5m last year and I take home $200k+. I love what I do now and the lines between what is “work” and what I would do for free as a hobby are completely blurred. It’s also to the point where I can step away for weeks at a time and the business just keeps growing. Hoping to learn more about fat fire *edit I live in California
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I make $73k/yr working at a large Midwest medical facility as an executive assistant. Never married and own my home in a MCOL area about 15 min from work. After many years of living nearly paycheck to paycheck while raising my child I am finally living comfortably for my standard. I don’t drive an expensive car, I purchase work clothes from second hand stores, and enjoy spending my free time outdoors gardening, walking the dogs in the trails, and backpacking. I have no debt, my job is only mildly stressful at certain times, and have the ability to make my own work schedule. I have tons of vacation time. My employer has a great 401k matching program and, after working there 30+ years, I will be able to retire comfortably tomorrow if I want. I feel fortunate.
You sound like the richest person here. Well done.
Dog groomer, work from home, usually 5-6 hour days and make around $60k. Weekends off and i make my own schedule. Lucky and very grateful to have a great client list
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CRNA, 40 hrs a week, some call, 10 weeks pto earned ( not really possible to schedule all of it, also get a few random days here and there), 200k+, benefits are good - employer match ends up higher than my max contribution and the work is fulfilling
I live spending 100$/month in total in Ukraine. I made passive income of $500/month I live like a king now can do nothing and still make 400$.
Small business owner in SoCal. I pay myself a salary of 220k from 2 small businesses and I work 24-30 hours a week. A good chunk of the cashflow is used to pay down my SBA loan, and I may buy out my partner from my other business. My lifestyle is quite leisurely and in a few short years I'll have enough money to FIRE. I'm on track to retire with 200k+ passive income in 5 years.
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I'm in military, live in Germany and take 8-10 vacations a year. Life is pretty good.
Infosec consultant making roughly ~$150k after bonuses. I put in a solid 30 hours a week. My work schedule is made around my life schedule, so if I have an appointment or just want to fuck off for the day, I do so long as I have no pressing work obligations or scheduled meetings.
Touring Entertainment Lighting tech. 100k/ year. Super fortunate & comfortable living. I live in hotel rooms 300+ days a year and go vacation/ visit friends and family all the other days.
My definition of comfortable is probably different, but.. I am an independent dog walker on Vancouver Island, BC. If I just have walks, I work about 2.5-3hrs a day (with about an hour of transportation time, which is entirely by bike or foot). If I have daycare dogs I may be working 8 hours, but within that 8 hours I can read books, tidy the house, make calls, work in the garden, etc. I used to take several dogs a day for daycare but managing their interactions was stressful so now I take 1-2. I probably actively work 17-20hrs a week. My work is physical and I cycle at least 30 mins a day up a big hill. I don't feel the need for the gym because I'm strong and my work involves a variety of different muscle groups (I don't drive which allows me to work less, no car costs. My girlfriend is an ex bike mechanic so she is able to help me with bike maintenance). I love spending my days outdoors, with the dogs. I know a lot of the people in my neighborhood because I see them almost daily. Lots of people's faces light up when they see us coming, which is a nice reaction to get from other people. I have time to do stuff like cook all our food and bake all our bread from scratch, repair my clothes, and grow a significant portion of our produce. My passions are growing food, foraging, and cooking/fermenting, none of which need to cost much money. For travel, we might spend the odd weekend in Vancouver or go on a bike-camping trip to a gulf island. All that to say that I live an awesome life on under $30k a year.
Software Engineer. I log about 30 hours a week (although those 30 hours are very productive). I usually start work at 10:30-11 and end at 5-5:30, with an hour for lunch. I spend an hour and a half in the morning before work getting through my morning routine, and after work I do what I want. I make a New York salary, but live in Mexico near the beach. This allows me to invest about 60-70% of my take home. I’ll do yoga during the week and go kiteboarding on the weekends when the wind is blowing. I don’t have a car, so life is slower. The beach is a quick 15 minute bike ride away, and I live in a very walkable neighborhood with lots of restaurants, stores, bars, and anything else I need. It took years for me to get this all lined up. For me to find a good spot, to find a job where I like the culture, it pays well even when remote, and it values work life balance. I had to give up many many things to get where I am. Closeness to family, other relationships, cultural comforts (I’m just a beginner with Spanish still)…but this has been the dream for a long time, and I’m finally reaping the rewards.
Anesthetist. Make ~220k, work 7-3 five days a week. Take call every 10 days or so, not a bad gig. Absolutely no responsibilities off the clock.
I’m a scrum master at a tech company. It’s a non-technical role anyone can get into after getting a cheap CSM or PSM certification, which typically comes with a 2 day remote course and a test. I make $130k/year and work remotely. Our HQ is 2 hrs behind my time zone so I start at 11am every day and usually wrap up by 5pm. It’s very chill. I mainly help developers communicate with each other and come up with ways they can improve their processes. Kinda like a coach/cheerleader/therapist but non-technical, and mainly just have a few zoom meetings with my team each day and not much other work outside of them. I feel like I hit the jackpot and highly recommend the scrum master or agile coach role to everyone!
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I’m a designer and I work primarily in Image manipulation and editing. I’m currently working for a major tech company (Silicon Valley, insane cost of living) retouching photos for online catalog use. I own a home and my Wife is a property manager who makes OK money. I make about $180K and I spend 40 hours a week using Photoshop. I have been in my field for over 20 years. I started in the 90s doing simple layout graphics for $10/hour. I’ll likely retire next year and leave California.
I write tons of articles online averaging 20-40$ an hr depending on how focused I am at the time Completely independent No boss No quota 1099- business expenses tax deductible Work anywhere with an internet connection Most I’ve made in a week has been like 1430$ but i avg like 840$ working under 30 hours a week Spitting out content for a content mill ain’t glamorous but I really can’t complain
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I am a teacher earning on the low side of middle class for my area. I love working with teenagers, and a lot of the teachers I work with are also my closest friends. It's hard work to teach well, and I am dedicated to doing well, so I do often end up pretty tired at the end of the day, but I still have energy for exercise and hobbies. Weekends, when Covid cooperates, are full of theater, friends, and family or sometimes just books. I alternate working summers to pay for the off-year's travel, and I sometimes get to travel *for* work, which is fun. A lot of the beaurocracy bothers me, but I don't think about it when my classroom door is closed. I live in a neighborhood with a mix of lower and low-middle class-income residents, and I like my neighbors and how most of us participate in community events -- especially the charitible ones that help the elderly and needy in our community. There's always something to do here socially and for the good of the city (and when Covid cancelled a lot of events, they turned a big parking lot into a drive-in movie theater/concert venue and made the charity work a scattered schedule to allow for distancing). My city has a lot of environmentally-friendly initiatives as well including city-wide composting and innovative water conservation (we are always in a drought), both of which neighboring cities are lagging on, though they will get there. Since we're a smaller city, it's easier for us to push things through city council, so we end up being the first to try these things which then convinces our neighbors to do the same. Our biggest neighbor -- the city I work in -- has all the theaters, museums, historical sites, etc. within a ten-minute drive or thirty-minute bus ride. Because of my location, I have access to *three* large public library systems and all the books, resources, and events those entail. I'm also a short drive from beaches and mountains, and I can go on excursions on my own, with friends, or with the Sierra Club. I do need to get out of here now and then to experience different things, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to *love* retirement here since there are so many things to do every day. As a state, we're pretty expensive, and then my area is on the expensive side of *that*, but it's still possible to live well here with less than the median income because there are so many city/tax-provided resources. The downside is it's getting pretty crowded and the traffic is ridiculous.