36, good salary, but don't enjoy my job

jim said:
If you read his post he refers to a 3 month period. Its obviously entirely possible that lpt may not have 'come up'.
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The point of budgeting is to identify the total annual costs and then figure out what the pro-rate monthly expenditure is.
 
OP is also considering a career change. that may require an investment of time and money in training to pick up other skills or get qualifications to allow them to work in another area. That should also be added into the financial planning, whether it is full time, part time/remote, each has an implication financially.
 
At 36 I hated my job but I had 2 small kids and it paid well.

I didn’t make the break entirely, I made a few changes and plastered over the discontent for a decade. At that stage hubby was unemployed and kids were even more expensive so I was stuck. Now I am watching the clock to retirement.

My advice would be to retrain and get out of dodge! Don’t spend 1/3 of every day doing something you dislike or working in an environment you dislike. Fix that before you worry about retirement. That’s 30 years away.
 
Premos said:
. So to me your question is a bit like how long is a piece of string...
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Yeah 100% I think any sort of financial planning is very fuzzy so I was seeking a few more opinions.

I feel very lucky to have a secure well paying job. I don't think I'll ever feel truly relaxed until I feel like investments cover outgoings, even if that's an extreme goal. I've always prioritised trying to earn more, but now I'm not sure that should be the #1 goal now. I'm pretty miserable in the role and we only have one life to life.

I think I can relax on worrying about pension contributions and think about finding something I would enjoy more even if that means a drop in salary. I could probably get to something like coast retire without contributing at my current rate (I ended the year at 300k in pensions, and 70k in etfs). I guess I'm front loading the stress in my life with an uncertain pay-off.

Total spending for the year was 44k (16k of which was mortgage). My gross was just over 100k and remarkably my investments went up by more than this (120k, this includes gains, mine and employer contributions and vested shares), there were only two months were my gains were less than my total outgoings, but the market isn't going to go up 20% every year.

So with all that in mind, I'm trying to move into a different area in work, and at the same time applying for new roles.
 
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Presume you are aware that the tax free pension contribution limit (20k at your age on 100k) is employee only. If you are contributing 2.1k per month between you and your employer is their contribution very low ?
 
Very few people like their job, mostly it's a stressful drama filled nitghtmarescape with intermittent humiliation. In exchange you get paid exceptionally well.

It's a trade off and you do it to keep everyone in the fashion to which they have become accustomed.

If you're lucky you step off the roundabout with a good pot and spend your retirement as you'd imagined and live to a great age.

Unless there's a viable alternative employment that keeps all the balls in the air then the beatings will continue.

You're doing very well for your age, get used to the grind and keep saving but get income protection, given your age it might not be terribly expensive.
 
Persia said:
Very few people like their job, mostly it's a stressful drama filled nitghtmarescape with intermittent humiliation. In exchange you get paid exceptionally well.
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I really don't think this is most people's experience. Maybe the point is worth a separate thread.

I earned a great deal of money in my early 30s, I worked hard long days, and I loved it. It was challenging and demanding but I really felt I was achieving. The main achievement may have only been to make rich men richer, (and provide employment and provide a service to our customers), but I was stretched intellectually and competitively.

Today I have an easy job, which I really enjoy and find personally enriching. The personal sense of achievement and being all I could be is less, I know I am only coasting, but the ride is comfortable. The actual job is considered to make a worthwhile contribution to society. The money is not bad, but in numerical terms less than I earned 30 years ago.
 
36 isnt very old, obviously. Youre doing very well to have a pension pot of 300k at this age. If you keep it lit for another 7 or 8 yrs and max contributions you can definitly coast retire and full retire shortly thereafter...assuming modest growth and full equities allocation. And assuming you will have a safe (4% possibly more) withdrawal rate post retirement.
 
Important to note, it seems like 7 years ago I was 36.

I'm 58 now, by the time you retire, I'll likely be dead. Time is like a river.

It's good to look to the future and make provision for it (youre doing this), equally it's important to live in the now, enjoy the moment and deny yourself nothing.

It's a balancing act....get it wrong and either age (36 or 68) you'll be miserable.
 
My sense is that there are some people in their 20s and 30s who think that everyone should love their job and leap out of bed in the morning. Some people do, but I think they’re the exception rather than the rule. For a lot of people, it’s just a means to an end, a way to A) live, and B) afford to do fun stuff. I’d be wary of chasing some utopia that doesn’t actually exist for most people. Controversial view coming up, but I also think that some people’s inability to afford a home is linked to this misguided idea about ‘doing a job you love’.
 
At 36 I had a job I absolutely hated. Couldn't get out of bed in the morning. Went and got another I (initially) loved. Now it's fine, honeymoon period has worn off. But I certainly don't hate it. And I like working from home a few days a week. We live in a world where there are lots of jobs out there now. It's not worth sticking at something you don't like for money.
If your partner also has a good wage surely you could afford to take a drop.
 
I’d be interested to know what you dislike about it ? It’s one thing to be working ridiculous hours, be at risk of burnout etc, that’s something to try get out of , if it’s more general enjoyment of the work I’d be inclined to work around that, you’ll find plenty of jobs where you can get paid less and be equally unhappy !
 
Khublei said:
At 36 I had a job I absolutely hated. Couldn't get out of bed in the morning. Went and got another I (initially) loved. Now it's fine, honeymoon period has worn off. But I certainly don't hate it. And I like working from home a few days a week. We live in a world where there are lots of jobs out there now. It's not worth sticking at something you don't like for money.
If your partner also has a good wage surely you could afford to take a drop.
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Agree. Life is too short. What if you got a terminal illness in a few years and had spent the last few years of your life slogging through a job you hate
Planning for retirement is all very well but you may never even get there, so balance is important imo
There are surely options to fin a better fit that might be less money but is a lot more bearable? I have been in a jobI truly hated and the impact on my health was massive.
 
Gordon Gekko said:
My sense is that there are some people in their 20s and 30s who think that everyone should love their job and leap out of bed in the morning.
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Yeah I didn't want to sound like I'm a misguided 20yo on Tiktok expecting everything to be rosy

I'm under no illusions that work isn't meant to be a playground
 
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Blackrock1 said:
Presume you are aware that the tax free pension contribution limit (20k at your age on 100k) is employee only. If you are contributing 2.1k per month between you and your employer is their contribution very low ?
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Yep it is very low unfortunately.
 
Blackrock1 said:
I’d be interested to know what you dislike about it
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cremeegg said:
It was challenging and demanding but I really felt I was achieving.
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It's not challenging or demanding, I see zero growth or change. I feel like I'm stagnating. I feel like if I was older and winding down career wise it would be perfect. But I feel like my energy is being bleed out of me. I often have very little to do but I have to do the performative work of looking busy.

Occasionally there's important work and we're kept around for that, but I feel even that important work is mostly performative. Just doing paper to keep people happy.

It feels a bit dishonest to be paid for delivering such little value.

(There's lots of posts on here about people getting burnt out, so I do appreciate the irony of complaining about having too little to do)

I can't rule out that there's a small chance that if i did switch to something more engaging, I would have to take a pay cut for a number of years but there's a small chance I might make more at something where I'm delivering more.
 
amanwithaplan said:
It's not challenging or demanding, I see zero growth or change. I feel like I'm stagnating. I feel like if I was older and winding down career wise it would be perfect. But I feel like my energy is being bleed out of me. I often have very little to do but I have to do the performative work of looking busy.

Occasionally there's important work and we're kept around for that, but I feel even that important work is mostly performative. Just doing paper to keep people happy.

It feels a bit dishonest to be paid for delivering such little value.

(There's lots of posts on here about people getting burnt out, so I do appreciate the irony of complaining about having too little to do)

I can't rule out that there's a small chance that if i did switch to something more engaging, I would have to take a pay cut for a number of years but there's a small chance I might make more at something where I'm delivering more.
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I’ve been through the extreme ends of ‘up the walls busy’ to a situation akin to what you describe. I’ve posted on here referring to burnout in my current role.

The most stressful, mentally drained, borderline depressed I’ve ever been was in an early job where I earned less than 10% of what I do now. The reasons being similar to your current situation. Give me rewarding 70 hour weeks over having to pretend to be busy for 35 hours any day. It is soul destroying so wouldn’t feel any ‘guilt’ for thinking how you are.

You must work in a reasonably good industry/ have decent qualifications. It seems a little premature to take a nuclear option. Even the identical role to your current one in a different company with a different culture could feel an awful lot better. €100k all in with minimal pension benefits is good, but not crazy in 2025 - have you actively and consistently explored the market in your current field?
 
amanwithaplan said:
...I don't enjoy my job, but it allows me to save. However, I wonder if it's paradoxical to work a job in order to save, in order to not need to work anymore. e.g. could I just skip ahead to taking on something new that doesn't feel so draining...
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If you don't have options, it's very hard to make any decision.
Why don't you look around, talk to a few recruiters, maybe do a few interviews, and see where things lead?
 
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