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![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/mXPyy.png)
Hello TLers,
I'm 26 yrs old, and I'm undergoing a kind of quarter life crisis. As I sit in my office churning out yet another financial model, I can't help but wonder to myself, "Is this it? This is what I'm going to be doing for the next 40+ years of my life?"
I do like my job. It pays well, my boss is great, my coworkers are okay, and it's pretty intellectually challenging. And perhaps most importantly, I take pride and satisfaction in doing a good job.
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/AoPBj.jpg)
Slowly but surely the feeling has been getting worse...
But I don't love my job. And it doesn't fulfill me. That's what slowly eats at me. Am I settling for a mediocre life?
The fact that I'm likely to get married within a year only makes the feeling worse. I feel like I've got this looming deadline where I have to have a solid career by the time I'm married so I can provide stability for my wife and soon after our kids. (Craziness...being a father!)
So one year -- one year to figure out if finance is really what I want to do for the rest of my life.
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/oJjrG.jpg)
Do I dare...?
So I pose to question to you, my fellow TLers: do you like your job? Or is it something to get you by while you look for your true passion in life? How are you going about discovering it? And am I being retarded in thinking I need to figure out my passion in a year before I'm stuck in finance by default?
(Please vote only if you've worked full-time for at least a couple of years)
Poll: Do you like your job?No, it's just something to get me by until I find my true passion. (21) 39% No, but I'm too lazy/afraid to look for something else. (16) 30% Yes, I've found my life-long career. (9) 17% Meh / my career is not important to me. (8) 15% 54 total votes Your vote: Do you like your job? (Vote): Yes, I've found my life-long career.
(Vote): No, it's just something to get me by until I find my true passion.
(Vote): No, but I'm too lazy/afraid to look for something else.
(Vote): Meh / my career is not important to me.
Poll: Once married, is it too late to drop your career to explore other jobsNo, the real deadline starts when she's pregnant. (24) 45% No, it's never too late. (19) 36% Yes, you're a family man now. (5) 9% It doesn't matter. (5) 9% 53 total votes Your vote: Once married, is it too late to drop your career to explore other jobs (Vote): Yes, you're a family man now.
(Vote): No, the real deadline starts when she's pregnant.
(Vote): No, it's never too late.
(Vote): It doesn't matter.
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it's interesting that you wrote this thread at the exact moment that I felt like I really have to get out of this job. I'm currently sitting in my chair, at my "office," wondering exactly the same thing; is this it?
I'm an environmental engineer, 24 years old, been working for about 2.5 years. Recently, i've been playing with the idea of going back to school to study ecology. I love wildlife and when I first got into environmental engineering, I thought i'd be doing work to preserve the natural environment. Instead, I'm finding that all there really is for an environmental engineer (that pays decently) is to clean up after peoples' messes for other people that are willing to pay for it. There is no glorious "save the world" feeling. It's all, and i mean ALL, governed by how much money the client has. It's really quite depressing.
Sure, there are positions out there that would fulfill me more, but no one is really willing to pay for that kind of work.
In short, the answer is no, i don't really like my job. It's probably also attributed to the fact that my boss is kind of a douche and loves to micromanage pretty much every chance he gets.
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lol @ married part.. Oo my uncle married at the age of 18 back then, other people marry at 40+ - thats a totally stupid relation to make, as marriages vary a lot in age.
and at the point of job - i'm a university student, don't have a job in that sense right now. so - not voting.
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It's good that you're asking these questions. Don't squash these feelings, look into them more.
I totally get you, but am unable to help you specifically. I just know that in my head, I've postponed the getting married tech upgrade to T3. (i.e. I won't get married before 30s.) (I know I know, 'so I say now'.)
When you get kids, you care about them too much to allow a chance of jeopardizing their well being, so people usually put themselves to second place.
but don't listen to me..
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I currently dont like my job, Its not bad, but its boring and completely unchallenging. But Im only here for 3 more months till I go back to school and have to start looking for a full time job. I am currently doing an internship and I only have ~9 months of work at 2 different places of experience. I have put some thought into the problem you seem to be having, and I might just be a cynic, but I came to the conclusion that having a fulfilling job that you love and is your reason that you get up in the morning is bull shit for 95% of the world. If you can find a job like that you are lucky, and I hope it stays fulfilling and awesome, but for the rest of us I think the realistic thing to hope for is a job that you don't mind doing for the compensation.
Im only 22, not even out of school(6 more months of classes) and I already think this, I guess that does make me a cynic, but going forward is the only way to find out if Im right.
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I love mine... its intense... but I don't think I'll be doing it for the rest of my life. Screw a pension plan, you only live once. Look into other stuff if you're getting bored and explore your options.
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what kind of finance are you doing? i-banking, equity research?
im in finance as well, but since i live in Montreal (which is great since girls are all uber-good looking), but there's pretty much zero finance jobs here, so im a 26 years old unemployed fucker. consider yourself lucky to have a job in your field.
but financial people are supposed to be superior financially. work hard for a few years. build yourself a 500k nest egg. invest it @10%. live off interests or dividends. 50k / year in your pockets whether you wake up or not in the morning. aint bad. Build yourself a list of hobbies or things that passion you, and spend the rest of your life doing them all. theres 168 hours in one week. take 60 hours a week doing nothing but hobbies. 100 hours a week just sleeping or chilling... live a great life.
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There are some people who would cherish the idea of a stable job with a family on the way.
Don't make the mistake of thinking your life has to be about explosions and sex, drugs and rock and roll for it to be worthwhile.
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TSL-Lore, I know exactly how you feel man... it's too bad that you know what you want to do, but the economics of your industry don't work out. It really sucks how money does matter ... or does it?
intrudor, I do equity research. And I have counted myself lucky until this year when all of a sudden all the bulge brackets started paying well again (I'd say at least 25% of my dept has left over the past 8 months due to how sucky our bonuses were this year). And lol, you make it sound so easy to save up 500K, and to earn 10% per year. At the rate I'm going, it'll take me 20 years to save that much =P And if you can make me a guaranteed 10% per year, I'd gladly give you my money and give you 1%/year. (Do you do banking/research too?)
Thanks for all the comments and votes, I really appreciate any older, experienced personal life advice/stories I can get.
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I have it even worse than you man. I got my Ph.D. in genetics and now I'm a postdoctoral scholar. But guess what, there is really nowhere to go from here! Only 5% of postdocs get a decent job and that's usually after 6 years of postdoc. Let's review: That's 4 years of college, 6 years of grad school, then 6 years of postdoc to have a 5% chance at a decent job. I'm even considering just teaching Junior College or High School. 
They told me science doesn't pay well, but they never told me I wouldn't even get a job!
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Wow Greatfall, sorry to hear that man. Do you have any regrets?
krndandaman, thanks for sharing that. I'm really relieved to hear your dad was able to pull it off! And in terms of you finding a passion -- well, I can't exactly give great advice since I haven't found mine yet, but I do have to say the way I know what's NOT my passion is all the part-time jobs, internships and summer jobs I've had. So I really want to encourage you, get as many diverse jobs as possible before your junior year of college when your internships actually do matter.
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I dislike my job but I have no idea what else I'm gonna do and I'm too lazy/afraid to look for something else so long as this brings in the money. And it's never too late to change careers, but you do have to think carefully about a steady income if she's pregnant, of course.
My dad was a truck driver until he got my mom pregnant, then he started work in the factory (so he wouldn't be gone all week on the road). When the kids were grown up enough to take care of themselves (12-15), my dad went back to being a truck driver (he was 45 at the time). It was tough as hell at first, figuring everything out again, but after 6 months of getting the hang of it and tons of stress around the house, he was much, much happier.
Now that I'm 24, I need to find a job I actually feel like putting effort into... bah.
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anyone with half a brain can get around 10% on his money. the average equity annual return, historically, is around 9%....so if you invest in some global index fund, thats pretty much what you'll earn. subtract maybe 1 or 2% for taxes or bad luck...and you still got 7 or 8%. building a nest egg is what takes a bit of self-discpline, but if you're smart, it wont be hard. with 500k, you earn anywhere between 35 and 40k.. but thats DOING NOTHING. even if you "only have 250k", you can still earn like 20k. so you can choose to work like 5 or 6 months per year, and give yourself a nice sweet half-a year vacation time. thats my plan.. right now im unemployed..and since finance in Montreal is like snowboarding in jamaica, it looks like ill be forced to work in accounting....blehhh....whatever, i dont consider 9 to 5 the path to happiness. its only a means to get there.
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I love this thread, and it prompted me to ask these questions: If your parents who worked at office jobs (engineering, finance, research, etc.) told you to get an office job, will you actually do it because they told you to? Are office jobs really the greatest jobs in the world because it provides financial security? If not everyone can have a successful/fulfilling career at an office job, then why does our society "mass spam" that office jobs are the best jobs? Are office jobs actually harming our health? Why is it that office job workers stop exercising as they get older?
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Are you engaged or just assuming you will get married around next year?
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On September 17 2010 06:43 intrudor wrote:
anyone with half a brain can get around 10% on his money. the average equity annual return, historically, is around 9%....so if you invest in some global index fund, thats pretty much what you'll earn. subtract maybe 1 or 2% for taxes or bad luck...and you still got 7 or 8%. building a nest egg is what takes a bit of self-discpline, but if you're smart, it wont be hard. with 500k, you earn anywhere between 35 and 40k.. but thats DOING NOTHING. even if you "only have 250k", you can still earn like 20k. so you can choose to work like 5 or 6 months per year, and give yourself a nice sweet half-a year vacation time. thats my plan.. right now im unemployed..and since finance in Montreal is like snowboarding in jamaica, it looks like ill be forced to work in accounting....blehhh....whatever, i dont consider 9 to 5 the path to happiness. its only a means to get there.
haha that's cute.
anyway, for me... well luckily i'm still in school but unfortunately i am graduating soon. ffuuuu
im working atm, your standard 9-5 finance job @ a bank
and no, i'm not happy with my job (that's not to say it isn't exciting ... it is!). of course it could be a lot worse, i mean i could NOT have a job at all, then i'd be screwed. could it be a lot better? hard to say
i think the real problem is that, at least me, i get bored of doing the same thing. it doesn't matter if its playing videogames, writing code, or trading. after months/years of the same thing.. it's no longer fulfilling (could very well still be exciting, don't get me wrong. there's a difference). i think people just need a change once in a while. at least that's my theory for now.. but i am only 21 and definitely dont know very much
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a_flayer, that's pretty interesting what your dad did there. I wonder if I'd be able to drop finance for a few years, and then come back to it to support the family? I guess so long as I'm willing to drop out of the stinkin' rat race, I think I can ... =)
intrudor, I'm gonna go out on a limb based on what you've said and say that you've probably never invested any real amount of money (there's at least 5 things I find wrong about your strategy/plan right off the bat). It's one thing to read about 30 year S&P return averages in a "How To Invest For Dummies" book, and it's another to actually do it. Oh, and there's no shame in starting in accounting ... I did. (In fact, I started out as a full-time intern, I had to get promoted to do accounting haha)
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On September 17 2010 06:04 Osmoses wrote:
There are some people who would cherish the idea of a stable job with a family on the way.
Don't make the mistake of thinking your life has to be about explosions and sex, drugs and rock and roll for it to be worthwhile.
I agree with this. Why do you want fulfillment from a job? Sounds like you have a very positive job anyway. Fulfillment is what the rest of your life is for. Family/Friends, Meeting new people, Playing Sports/ watching OSL Finals/Traveling, going to the Movies, being involved in the community etc. You need to have all of this in your life and put it on a rotation, so that you can be stimulated by various environments and never feel like you've grown stale. If you're around the same people day in and day out, it's hard to get a new perspective. Maybe go travel with your g/f over the weekend to some interesting place, talk to a bunch of new people - it will help you see life in a different light.
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EPT
