Forget that I ever existed

pickledonionspaceraider

MovingForwards said:

I had great ambitions of climbing the career ladder, a mix of circumstances caused me to evaluate everything and step right back down.
Occasionally I get glimmers of wanting to revert back into it, look at jobs and the respective companies, but that's as far as it goes.

Now I have a work / life balance, crave for less hours but for now I need the money to clear the mortgage and know when I can implement the next stage of my plan.

As with all your posts, any change has to come within and until you know what you want, your fishing trips are only adding further frustration.

This is similar to my circumstance too

I love my life now, my quality of life and work life balanace is amazing - and I am content

I would never go back to being a career chaser again.  The thought has crossed my mind sometimes, i could easy earn quadruple what I earn now - but then the thought is quickly dispelled 

Money really isnt what life is about, contentment is where it is at

Apintplease

Im chasing 60 and I still dont know what I want to do - as a career

So instead of navel grazing I went out to work

Name a job - Ive probably done it - bar staff, marker research, PA, Manager in a Supermarket, Sandwich maker, chef- and more

Im now working in a dead end NMW job in a factory, but building a wee side line in hospitality. The OH is also in the same boat, works 3 days in his qualified trade, the rest of the time he buys and sells cars and bikes

I work 3 days a week, have been part time since my 30s. Been Mortgage free since my early 40's

In America its pretty common place to change "careers" two or three times in a lifetime

I personally had no interest in a Career. For me work is there to pay to live, I dont live to work.

We pay our bills and owe nothing to anyone and we work at what we like and enjoy. When the enjoyment stops, we move on and try something different 

None of us ( me and sisters ) have pursued a career, we have had jobs, and we all of us are mortgage free and working PT and enjoying life as best we can

Apintplease

ushjr said:

Apintplease said:

Im chasing 60 and I still dont know what I want to do - as a career

So instead of navel grazing I went out to work

Name a job - Ive probably done it - bar staff, marker research, PA, Manager in a Supermarket, Sandwich maker, chef- and more

Im now working in a dead end NMW job in a factory, but building a wee side line in hospitality. The OH is also in the same boat, works 3 days in his qualified trade, the rest of the time he buys and sells cars and bikes

I work 3 days a week, have been part time since my 30s. Been Mortgage free since my early 40's

In America its pretty common place to change "careers" two or three times in a lifetime

I personally had no interest in a Career. For me work is there to pay to live, I dont live to work.

We pay our bills and owe nothing to anyone and we work at what we like and enjoy. When the enjoyment stops, we move on and try something different 

None of us ( me and sisters ) have pursued a career, we have had jobs, and we all of us are mortgage free and working PT and enjoying life as best we can

It does sound more interesting to have a variety of jobs than stick to one profession. Just out of interest, how did you managed to pay off the mortgage in your early 40s when you've been working part time since your 30s?

We were lucky as although we had bought a much bigger house, we had moved quite a distance from London so the increase in mortgage was minimal. Then the recession came, saving rates fell through the floor and mortgage rates went with them. So we used our savings to clear the mortgage

My husband took a huge pay drop by no longer working in London, and I mean huge, but once the mortgage was paid, we didn't need so much income and work/life balance became more important. Now when I say he was a big earner he also spent big, we both did as Londoners. Now living in the country miles from anywhere, theres nothing to be spending on, a pair of wellies last a long time

We won't be having round the world cruises or second homes in the sun, but they aren't important to us - family is and we have grandchildren - another on his way - who we would rather have quality time with. The OH has finally wised up to the fact he doesn't need a new BMW and or Audi every year. He has his classic cars and now drives a 5 year old car for every day - hes never had a car older then two years the past 30 years until now. I dunno, as you get older, your wants and needs change a lot. We are happy turning a pound or two, as long as we can pay the bills and still have spending money we are happy

The biggest mistake I made was allowing myself to be nagged by my mother into "bettering" myself. I spent 14 hateful years working for the NHS in an admin role. Oh I was successful, worked up through the grades, but I hated every bloody minute of it - hence the breakdown and giving up work so young

Whatever you chose to do in life, make sure you are happy to get up in the morning to go do 8 hours or more. I only work 3.5 days a week yet I bounce out of bed and annoy everyone I work with as Im full of life at 7am. When that changes, I move on

74jax

ushjr said:

Apintplease said:

Im chasing 60 and I still dont know what I want to do - as a career

So instead of navel grazing I went out to work

Name a job - Ive probably done it - bar staff, marker research, PA, Manager in a Supermarket, Sandwich maker, chef- and more

Im now working in a dead end NMW job in a factory, but building a wee side line in hospitality. The OH is also in the same boat, works 3 days in his qualified trade, the rest of the time he buys and sells cars and bikes

I work 3 days a week, have been part time since my 30s. Been Mortgage free since my early 40's

In America its pretty common place to change "careers" two or three times in a lifetime

I personally had no interest in a Career. For me work is there to pay to live, I dont live to work.

We pay our bills and owe nothing to anyone and we work at what we like and enjoy. When the enjoyment stops, we move on and try something different 

None of us ( me and sisters ) have pursued a career, we have had jobs, and we all of us are mortgage free and working PT and enjoying life as best we can

It does sound more interesting to have a variety of jobs than stick to one profession. Just out of interest, how did you managed to pay off the mortgage in your early 40s when you've been working part time since your 30s?

Mine was due to simply buying my first property at 18 with a 25yr term.
Back then it wasn't unusual to do that 
I moved a few times but again houses were so much cheaper so my PT salary was fine. When I went PT I did my last house move to were I am now. I overpaid on mortgage when I could and so it was cleared a few years earlier than the 25yrs too. 

coffeehound

Apintplease said:

I work 3 days a week, have been part time since my 30s. Been Mortgage free since my early 40's

The five-day working week has been a mad convention that we've mostly conformed with in the past.  Five on, two off is often not enough time off to get even basic home life tasks in order, let alone to fit in enough R&R.  The last job I did was nominally five days per week, though I mostly seemed to end up working six:  it was miserable.  Hopefully now we'll see a move towards a four day working week, and more part-time opportunities.

hob_nob_bob

Although I've worked at the same company for 14 years, I definitely don't have a 'career'. I have a relatively good job and a relatively good salary of £28,000, but I have no desire to climb the ranks, so to speak. I'd be happy to side-step into a new role for a new challenge, and potentially a small pay increase, but in my current role the only way up would be to go into management which I just absolutely do not want to do.

To me, the extra level of responsibility, and the time that would take out of my personal life, is just not worth the financial compensation.

I would say I have a good standard of living; I'm in no debt - aside from my mortgage - we eat well, have trips out, will have holidays again once regulations allow etc. Most of all, I'm HAPPY.

74jax

ushjr said:

Apintplease said:

ushjr said:

Apintplease said:

Im chasing 60 and I still dont know what I want to do - as a career

So instead of navel grazing I went out to work

Name a job - Ive probably done it - bar staff, marker research, PA, Manager in a Supermarket, Sandwich maker, chef- and more

Im now working in a dead end NMW job in a factory, but building a wee side line in hospitality. The OH is also in the same boat, works 3 days in his qualified trade, the rest of the time he buys and sells cars and bikes

I work 3 days a week, have been part time since my 30s. Been Mortgage free since my early 40's

In America its pretty common place to change "careers" two or three times in a lifetime

I personally had no interest in a Career. For me work is there to pay to live, I dont live to work.

We pay our bills and owe nothing to anyone and we work at what we like and enjoy. When the enjoyment stops, we move on and try something different 

None of us ( me and sisters ) have pursued a career, we have had jobs, and we all of us are mortgage free and working PT and enjoying life as best we can

It does sound more interesting to have a variety of jobs than stick to one profession. Just out of interest, how did you managed to pay off the mortgage in your early 40s when you've been working part time since your 30s?

We were lucky as although we had bought a much bigger house, we had moved quite a distance from London so the increase in mortgage was minimal. Then the recession came, saving rates fell through the floor and mortgage rates went with them. So we used our savings to clear the mortgage

My husband took a huge pay drop by no longer working in London, and I mean huge, but once the mortgage was paid, we didn't need so much income and work/life balance became more important. Now when I say he was a big earner he also spent big, we both did as Londoners. Now living in the country miles from anywhere, theres nothing to be spending on, a pair of wellies last a long time

We won't be having round the world cruises or second homes in the sun, but they aren't important to us - family is and we have grandchildren - another on his way - who we would rather have quality time with. The OH has finally wised up to the fact he doesn't need a new BMW and or Audi every year. He has his classic cars and now drives a 5 year old car for every day - hes never had a car older then two years the past 30 years until now. I dunno, as you get older, your wants and needs change a lot. We are happy turning a pound or two, as long as we can pay the bills and still have spending money we are happy

The biggest mistake I made was allowing myself to be nagged by my mother into "bettering" myself. I spent 14 hateful years working for the NHS in an admin role. Oh I was successful, worked up through the grades, but I hated every bloody minute of it - hence the breakdown and giving up work so young

Whatever you chose to do in life, make sure you are happy to get up in the morning to go do 8 hours or more. I only work 3.5 days a week yet I bounce out of bed and annoy everyone I work with as Im full of life at 7am. When that changes, I move on

OK makes sense, I guess I could be mortgage free myself if I moved back to the North West. 

I spent a similar amount of time climbing the ladder in my last company, the further I got the more useless my job became. But its the useful jobs that people are discouraged from doing. A Dustbin Man for example is seen as a dead end job, but getting a degree, getting on a graduate scheme and climbing the ladder to some nonsense job like Senior Lead Product Manager is seen as success. But if we had no Dustbin Men it would be a disaster, if we had no Senior Lead Product Managers I don't think anyone would notice. 

74jax said:

ushjr said:

Apintplease said:

Im chasing 60 and I still dont know what I want to do - as a career

So instead of navel grazing I went out to work

Name a job - Ive probably done it - bar staff, marker research, PA, Manager in a Supermarket, Sandwich maker, chef- and more

Im now working in a dead end NMW job in a factory, but building a wee side line in hospitality. The OH is also in the same boat, works 3 days in his qualified trade, the rest of the time he buys and sells cars and bikes

I work 3 days a week, have been part time since my 30s. Been Mortgage free since my early 40's

In America its pretty common place to change "careers" two or three times in a lifetime

I personally had no interest in a Career. For me work is there to pay to live, I dont live to work.

We pay our bills and owe nothing to anyone and we work at what we like and enjoy. When the enjoyment stops, we move on and try something different 

None of us ( me and sisters ) have pursued a career, we have had jobs, and we all of us are mortgage free and working PT and enjoying life as best we can

It does sound more interesting to have a variety of jobs than stick to one profession. Just out of interest, how did you managed to pay off the mortgage in your early 40s when you've been working part time since your 30s?

Mine was due to simply buying my first property at 18 with a 25yr term.
Back then it wasn't unusual to do that 
I moved a few times but again houses were so much cheaper so my PT salary was fine. When I went PT I did my last house move to were I am now. I overpaid on mortgage when I could and so it was cleared a few years earlier than the 25yrs too. 

I could probably shorten my term by overpaying my mortgage but I prefer to have money in my savings in case I need it.

coffeehound said:

Apintplease said:

I work 3 days a week, have been part time since my 30s. Been Mortgage free since my early 40's

The five-day working week has been a mad convention that we've mostly conformed with in the past.  Five on, two off is often not enough time off to get even basic home life tasks in order, let alone to fit in enough R&R.  The last job I did was nominally five days per week, though I mostly seemed to end up working six:  it was miserable.  Hopefully now we'll see a move towards a four day working week, and more part-time opportunities.

I don't mind the 5 days, more the number of hours in the day worked.

hob_nob_bob said:

Although I've worked at the same company for 14 years, I definitely don't have a 'career'. I have a relatively good job and a relatively good salary of £28,000, but I have no desire to climb the ranks, so to speak. I'd be happy to side-step into a new role for a new challenge, and potentially a small pay increase, but in my current role the only way up would be to go into management which I just absolutely do not want to do.

To me, the extra level of responsibility, and the time that would take out of my personal life, is just not worth the financial compensation.

I would say I have a good standard of living; I'm in no debt - aside from my mortgage - we eat well, have trips out, will have holidays again once regulations allow etc. Most of all, I'm HAPPY.

I agree, when I see people still sat in offices late in the evening I don't know how they can do it. Or people taking their work laptop on holiday with them.

That was me 🙈. I loved my job, I took it just to 'check in to see what was happening'. Looking back I wonder what the hell I was doing, but at the time I wanted to keep things ticking over and I might have been able to answer something urgent..... I would take an hour, sit with a cocktail whilst hubby was out and check in on things. Bloody bonkers I think now 😂 but at the time it was the thing I wanted to do. 

MovingForwards

74jax said:

ushjr said:

Apintplease said:

ushjr said:

Apintplease said:

Im chasing 60 and I still dont know what I want to do - as a career

So instead of navel grazing I went out to work

Name a job - Ive probably done it - bar staff, marker research, PA, Manager in a Supermarket, Sandwich maker, chef- and more

Im now working in a dead end NMW job in a factory, but building a wee side line in hospitality. The OH is also in the same boat, works 3 days in his qualified trade, the rest of the time he buys and sells cars and bikes

I work 3 days a week, have been part time since my 30s. Been Mortgage free since my early 40's

In America its pretty common place to change "careers" two or three times in a lifetime

I personally had no interest in a Career. For me work is there to pay to live, I dont live to work.

We pay our bills and owe nothing to anyone and we work at what we like and enjoy. When the enjoyment stops, we move on and try something different 

None of us ( me and sisters ) have pursued a career, we have had jobs, and we all of us are mortgage free and working PT and enjoying life as best we can

It does sound more interesting to have a variety of jobs than stick to one profession. Just out of interest, how did you managed to pay off the mortgage in your early 40s when you've been working part time since your 30s?

We were lucky as although we had bought a much bigger house, we had moved quite a distance from London so the increase in mortgage was minimal. Then the recession came, saving rates fell through the floor and mortgage rates went with them. So we used our savings to clear the mortgage

My husband took a huge pay drop by no longer working in London, and I mean huge, but once the mortgage was paid, we didn't need so much income and work/life balance became more important. Now when I say he was a big earner he also spent big, we both did as Londoners. Now living in the country miles from anywhere, theres nothing to be spending on, a pair of wellies last a long time

We won't be having round the world cruises or second homes in the sun, but they aren't important to us - family is and we have grandchildren - another on his way - who we would rather have quality time with. The OH has finally wised up to the fact he doesn't need a new BMW and or Audi every year. He has his classic cars and now drives a 5 year old car for every day - hes never had a car older then two years the past 30 years until now. I dunno, as you get older, your wants and needs change a lot. We are happy turning a pound or two, as long as we can pay the bills and still have spending money we are happy

The biggest mistake I made was allowing myself to be nagged by my mother into "bettering" myself. I spent 14 hateful years working for the NHS in an admin role. Oh I was successful, worked up through the grades, but I hated every bloody minute of it - hence the breakdown and giving up work so young

Whatever you chose to do in life, make sure you are happy to get up in the morning to go do 8 hours or more. I only work 3.5 days a week yet I bounce out of bed and annoy everyone I work with as Im full of life at 7am. When that changes, I move on

OK makes sense, I guess I could be mortgage free myself if I moved back to the North West. 

I spent a similar amount of time climbing the ladder in my last company, the further I got the more useless my job became. But its the useful jobs that people are discouraged from doing. A Dustbin Man for example is seen as a dead end job, but getting a degree, getting on a graduate scheme and climbing the ladder to some nonsense job like Senior Lead Product Manager is seen as success. But if we had no Dustbin Men it would be a disaster, if we had no Senior Lead Product Managers I don't think anyone would notice. 

74jax said:

ushjr said:

Apintplease said:

Im chasing 60 and I still dont know what I want to do - as a career

So instead of navel grazing I went out to work

Name a job - Ive probably done it - bar staff, marker research, PA, Manager in a Supermarket, Sandwich maker, chef- and more

Im now working in a dead end NMW job in a factory, but building a wee side line in hospitality. The OH is also in the same boat, works 3 days in his qualified trade, the rest of the time he buys and sells cars and bikes

I work 3 days a week, have been part time since my 30s. Been Mortgage free since my early 40's

In America its pretty common place to change "careers" two or three times in a lifetime

I personally had no interest in a Career. For me work is there to pay to live, I dont live to work.

We pay our bills and owe nothing to anyone and we work at what we like and enjoy. When the enjoyment stops, we move on and try something different 

None of us ( me and sisters ) have pursued a career, we have had jobs, and we all of us are mortgage free and working PT and enjoying life as best we can

It does sound more interesting to have a variety of jobs than stick to one profession. Just out of interest, how did you managed to pay off the mortgage in your early 40s when you've been working part time since your 30s?

Mine was due to simply buying my first property at 18 with a 25yr term.
Back then it wasn't unusual to do that 
I moved a few times but again houses were so much cheaper so my PT salary was fine. When I went PT I did my last house move to were I am now. I overpaid on mortgage when I could and so it was cleared a few years earlier than the 25yrs too. 

I could probably shorten my term by overpaying my mortgage but I prefer to have money in my savings in case I need it.

coffeehound said:

Apintplease said:

I work 3 days a week, have been part time since my 30s. Been Mortgage free since my early 40's

The five-day working week has been a mad convention that we've mostly conformed with in the past.  Five on, two off is often not enough time off to get even basic home life tasks in order, let alone to fit in enough R&R.  The last job I did was nominally five days per week, though I mostly seemed to end up working six:  it was miserable.  Hopefully now we'll see a move towards a four day working week, and more part-time opportunities.

I don't mind the 5 days, more the number of hours in the day worked.

hob_nob_bob said:

Although I've worked at the same company for 14 years, I definitely don't have a 'career'. I have a relatively good job and a relatively good salary of £28,000, but I have no desire to climb the ranks, so to speak. I'd be happy to side-step into a new role for a new challenge, and potentially a small pay increase, but in my current role the only way up would be to go into management which I just absolutely do not want to do.

To me, the extra level of responsibility, and the time that would take out of my personal life, is just not worth the financial compensation.

I would say I have a good standard of living; I'm in no debt - aside from my mortgage - we eat well, have trips out, will have holidays again once regulations allow etc. Most of all, I'm HAPPY.

I agree, when I see people still sat in offices late in the evening I don't know how they can do it. Or people taking their work laptop on holiday with them.

That was me 🙈. I loved my job, I took it just to 'check in to see what was happening'. Looking back I wonder what the hell I was doing, but at the time I wanted to keep things ticking over and I might have been able to answer something urgent..... I would take an hour, sit with a cocktail whilst hubby was out and check in on things. Bloody bonkers I think now 😂 but at the time it was the thing I wanted to do. 

Same as me. Sitting in a bar or on the beach, dealing with emails on my phone as my work was up to date but colleagues always had an excuse for not dealing with questions if people called. Case notes said what I had done, was waiting for and what I would do next my team would email to say Mr X called for an update or Y has called to negotiate.

I stopped doing it after a couple of holidays and told the team to deal with queries as the information was on file if they cared to look at the last review. 

Tokmon

ushjr said:

Mickey666 said:

pickledonionspaceraider said:

Money really isnt what life is about, contentment is where it is at

That's very true, but contentment becomes a lot easier when you have enough money.  Life is all about balancing various trade-offs.

It is a lot easier to say money isn't everything when you have money. When I hear stories of people who spent years chasing money in banking or something until they saw the light and found something low paid but enjoyable I do question if they'd have still done that had they not made the money in the first place.

Studies have shown that when people have enough money to cover their basic needs in life (food, home and bills plus a bit extra for miscellaneous) without getting into debt then extra money doesn't actually result in an increase in long-term happiness or contentment. 

Someone who is good at budgeting and lives within their means doesn't actually needs that much money to meet that requirement.

Jonathan_Powell

Straight out of university, I got a job in finance, relatively low pay, but quickly promoted and moved on to a top 10 accountancy firm where again I was quickly promoted and highly regarded. By the time I was 26, I was the National Partnerships Manager for one of the UK’s largest trade groups and was earning around £48k a year.

I was very hungry, very ambitious, worked long hours and was proud of my salary and titles. Then the crap happened. I was let go from a role for, no exaggeration, doing too good of a job. I was thanked, apologised to and told I was earning too much bonus so they are giving my role to someone much junior. 

I then joined a role I loved but the senior colleagues were absolute back stabbers. End up quitting after a series of performance reviews were brought against me despite me constantly hitting targets and more.

Now I'm in a crap sales role where my boss is constantly going on about my call volumes despite me hitting record sale numbers. I've lost all drive to exceed professionally and just looking forward to completing my mortgage and getting a very simple job. The amount of effort I've put into some companies to be treated so poorly is disheartening. Just focusing on my family and my own mental health now.