All you really have in life is time, your health, friends/family and your lifestyle. Money and time affects moslty lifestyle in a positive or negative way. As long as that stays balanced you are okay. If that gets too much out of balance, your screwed.

Good luck.

Dan

Ask your wife. :)

Good advice there.

what would you do with the extra money if you had it?

money is typically used in trade for a higher quality of life, right?

General security, provide better for my family, more expensive colleges, more trips, eventually a cushier retirement, help the kids later in life, and so on. I don't have a large need for money for my own personal lifestyle.

well, your wife will have to balance that out

re: more expensive colleges - I can virtually guarantee that sending daughters to a really expensive college means they go join the Peace Corps then come back and live at home while they waitress for a few more years...

We are in the same industry and I've been thinking about this as well. My niche makes it more difficult to job hop (we had a few PMs earlier this year).

I was involved in acquisition a few years ago and now work in a significantly larger firm and my direct responsibilities were narrowed and less fulfilling. Additionally, my pay is driven by a formula which is team based and does not include any measure of personal achievement. It makes it a little harder to give 100%.

The upside is my more narrow responsibilities has resulted in a 55-60 hour workweek from 60-70.

I know I could make more money if I join the hedge fund ranks, but I'd have a much more stressful job and would likely have to move for it. I’m also enjoying the reduced stress the new job has. For the first time during my career, I feel comfortable not checking email and bloomberg every 30 minutes during my vacation days. I still check it every few hours. I've gone from using less than 10 vacation days per year to looking forward to next year when I get and additional week for a total of five weeks.

I moved about 1200 miles four years ago due to the acquisition and we have just settled in. My oldest daughter is starting high school this year and my youngest is two year behind her. I don't think I want move them again and at this point, I'm not sure I would want the level of job that would be necessary to justify it. I figure I'll reassess in six years when I have an empty nest, but right now I'm more inclined to hang a shingle or get out of the industry.

I probably need a change, but overall I like what I do, the money is good and I have time to spend with my family. Feel free to PM me if you want to kick around anything offline.

Not necessarily. Read up on lottery winners.

jyl,

I'd focus and spend more energy on investments, rather than income. That's what I've done the last 2 years or so - I've spent a significant time on it, and less time on my income. My income has gone down a bit, but my investment portfolio is much, much stronger, so my time to me was well spent.

The problem with focusing on income is that, well, you have to keep working to keep up income.

Which is ok, if your income is extremely high, I guess. Because the problem is, income only generates cash. And the future value of that cash, IMO, is highly uncertain.

And, even if you have a pile of cash at retirement, to generate low risk income from that cash is very speculative.

To me, now is the time for us (people at our age) to begin setting up long term cash flowing investments. Or, at least begin putting time and energy into that direction.

I guess it is the old catch 22... work to live or live to work? Do you work really hard to have a bunch of money so you can have fun, or work at something you like for less money?

Personally I couldn't live in a unpleasant place no matter the money... there will always be unpleasant people and projects at work... but home has to be a place where I can relax.

Work to live.

Invest--You can use Sharebuilder if you have to.
Invest--If your employer matches your 401k, at least do the minimum to get their maximum.
Invest--Use your states 529 plan for college. Start now. If your kids don't use it, you get it back at the current level.


Watch your daily and monthly expenses. Save for the big trips, it's the ones the kids will remember.

Your second job will be managing your Sharebuilder portfolio. Figure a minimum of 1 hour per day once you have some meat in the market.

Enjoy life, to me it's a lot funner than work.

not to mention the tax advantages of "unearned" money flows vs. wages

John,
There is more to life than money.
Toby

And many other tax advantages. Such as depreciation. That's just one example, but a big one. I'm surprised it's still legal, it makes a huge difference.

I am the type of person that hates change..... I live in a rural area in a plain 40+ year old house. I make much less than nearly all my old college buddies, but at 47 my house is paid off my daughters made it through the local college and have decent jobs. I do not owe anyone a dime. I have enough projects to keep me happy in my shop for years. I have no intention of ever moving again and am perfectly content to continue driving used cars and playing with old toys...... Thankfully my wife seems happy too even though I make well under 100K. YMMV

I was happiest when I lived in Northern AZ. I didn't make a ton of money, but I had good friends, and a nice job with great benefits.

My wife and I recently traded work/income for better quality of life/more relaxing. She's a specialized RN, I'm an engineer. We both decided to "semi-retire" and chopped our work week to 4 days a week. We both only work Monday to Fri. No more weekends. Ever. We're both young and have tons of high earning potential (do the math for combined income of engineer+RN) We just didn't want to work as much anymore.

Of course, we had to make some lifetstyle changes to cope with the substantial loss in income.

But we wouldn't have it any other way. We're loving our choice!

I'm really into investing...
I invest in paying my mortgage...
Paying the water and power bills...
Buying food...
And then there is my collection of Ferrari's

As Tim said, not everyone make over 100K and has disposable income.

I'm at my employer for the next five years until I "retire". I'm fortunate that I love my job. Pay isn't what I'd like, but its called the "Golden Handcuffs", they own you and know you can't possibly afford to leave. My pension will not be great, but I've put money away since I started working 34 years ago, so I'll be comfortable.

This is key (IMHO).