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Love or money?

Gavin83
Posts: 8,757 Forumite


Given the choice would people here prefer to do a job they love or a job that's ok but pays a much higher salary? Just to make it more practical I'll put some figures on it, let's say £40k vs £60k. Anyone ever had this choice to make?
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Comments
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Do the job you love. If you are unhappy in your job, you'll just spend a lot of the extra (on which you're taxed higher, probably) on things to cheer yourself up.0
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Not had the choice to make but I'd rather do a job I'd be happy at doing.0
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It doesn't take long for something you love to become something you like, and on to something that's 'OK' if you rely on it for income. It depends on your own resilience to this. A good example is my Mum loves baking. She retired, has all the equipment and certificates, and after 2 years she's already considering packing it in.
Alternatively... "Chase your passions and money will come. Chase money and you may never find your passions"Started 07/15. Car finance £6951 , Mortgage: 261k - Savings: £0! Home improvements are expensive0 -
I think most people would rather be doing a job they love, but the reality is most people end up doing a job which is OK but pays the bills. The real problem is when you are stuck in a job which you have come to hate but can't see a way out. Then even good money doesn't really help.0
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I suspect relatively few people make the choice when faced with two job offers - but lots when deciding not to apply for a job or which career to pick. That is how I feel this applies to me, I chose a career based on interest, not pay scales.
If you haven't seen this study about what higher earnings do to both daily happiness and sense of worth (in Americans, I'm sure it varies culturally) you might be interested - link to paper in this article:
http://www.techinsider.io/nobel-prize-winners-figured-out-the-perfect-salary-for-happiness-2015-10But a banker, engaged at enormous expense,Had the whole of their cash in his care.
Lewis Carroll0 -
It depends upon how high up the scale you are. I'd always want to be doing a job i love, but there must be many people working on 'minimum pay' in a job they enjoy, but would change tomorrow for an extra few pounds.Liverpool is one of the wonders of Britain,
What it may grow to in time, I know not what.
Daniel Defoe: 1725.
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I think it very much depends on how much money you need, if you and your dependants can have a comfortable life while your earning minimum wage on a job you love then alls good, if not then something has to give.0
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I loved cooking so after leaving school I became a chef.
End result was that after working unsociable hours for little money I ended up hating cooking.
Then made a career change to IT where I work 9 to 5, get paid very well but find the work completely uninspiring.
I am much happier now because I have a lot more money to do the things I actually enjoy outside of work and I have rediscovered my love of cooking.0 -
I don’t particularly enjoy my job/career but its secure and pays just enough to provide for my family so I’ll stick with it. If I had my time again I’d like to think I’d do something I enjoyed more but I’d probably just do the same thing, bills need to be paid at the end of the day.0
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Unless there were aspects of the higher paid job that I'd find intolerable, I'd take that one.
At that sort of level, it's likely the job would be reasonably challenging, would utilise my skills, and would demonstrate some career progression on my CV, so I could focus on these positives.
Happiness in a job can depend on a lot of variables, in addition to the work itself. The physical environment, your relationship with colleagues and managers, the impact it has on your life outside work; and all of these can be subject to change that can turn an enjoyable job into one you dislike and vice versa.
It's important to be happy in your work, better for you and for your employer; but ultimately for many the primary purpose is a financial transaction, so, unless thoroughly miserable, emotions would be secondary.
For others who, for whatever reason, don't want to, or have to, consider financial aspects, the position may be different.
Put your hands up.0
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