Money is a very relative thing.

I was 18 when I got into the mining business and my first job paid $6.00 an hour. I was a laborer and was happy to have the job. On that wage, I bought my first house and a brand new pickup. I was living large.

After some time, I got promoted and began running heavy equipment in the mine. That position paid $12.85 per hour. That was a HUGE increase. Early on, I would go weeks without even depositing my paychecks because I didn't even know how to spend all that money. I thought I was rich and was happy to keep doing what I was doing until retirement.

Naturally, I eventually found ways to spend and invest my money.

Fast forward 22 years. I'm now 40 years old and am still in the mining business. I started as a general laborer and am now a Vice President. There were a lot of promotions in that 22 years and a lot of big life changes. I always found new ways to spend and invest my money.

At 40 years old, I think it's time to do something different. I feel like I've done everything I HAD to do, so now I want to do the things I WANT to do. To achieve this, I've been preparing to accept a HUGE pay cut, but it takes time to rewind the things that took 22 years to create.

These are some things I've done to prepare myself for a WAY lower paying job:

- I got rid of my mortgage

- I paid off all my vehicles

- I invested in rental property that creates an income stream

- I bought a business in Utah that brings in an income stream (Jo runs it)

- I consolidated all my insurances (SUBSTANTIAL!!!) and cut $1000 per month in expense

- I've been hoarding air miles to offset future travel costs for vacation a racing (sitting on 600,000+ miles now)

- Been running and racing locally as much as possible, or within driving distance

To achieve some of these cost reduction initiatives, I had to put in a lot of capital up front, which means that I have less to use later in life. It's all a delicate balance.

 

 30% reduction would be tough unless you had another source of income, or unless you REALLY like

to eat mac n' cheese.

No....I was offered 30% of my current salary, which is a loss of 70% of my earnings. I would have jumped at it if it was only a 30% reduction!

I think Mandy and I had the same idea. I've race directed before. Have them give me a call

Oh, and Kelly, have Ragnar give me a call.  It would probably be a raise for me. 

Admittedly, my current job puts very little pressure on me. My schedule allows me to do almost anything I want while I still draw a nice paycheck. The obvious move for me was to stay where I am while I hoard cash for a while, and continue to enjoy the freedoms that I've had for the last few years. Or at least until they get tired of my freewheeling work practices.

 I couldn't lose my identity as a nurse. 

That's also part of the issue. For a lot of us, especially early in our careers, our jobs become our identity. I know I felt that way for a long time, but these days, I don't want it to be my identity. I want my own unique identity. I'm not being critical of that mindset because I know it's something we all seem to fall into and I struggled with it just like everybody else does. Our jobs validate who we are and it gives us status in the world. That's why little boys want to be firemen and cops, and socially, we support that because it's noble and heroic. It's an identity. We make instant assumption about people based on their jobs. When 2 men meet for the first time, it only takes a few sentences before they ask each other about their jobs. Men do this so they can size each other up while making assumptions about wages, the size of their home and what kind of car they might drive. It's all bullshit.

I get what you're saying.  I have seen the comparisons, even among women.  Maybe it is that I'm earlier in my career enough that I still have the "I can help save the world" attitude, IDK.  I just know that even though I have rough nights at work, I'm not ready to give it up completely, even if the carrot of a running industry job were dangling in front of me.  It sounds like you're ready for a change, and I suspect you'll find a good fit before too long 

It's also hard when you would essentially feel like you're throwing away the investment in time and education for something totally unrelated. Especially in your situation because you're just getting started in your field. People would think you're nuts, and they might be right.

In my short life and career, I've come to realize that dream jobs can be a bit overrated at times. Maybe I'm just jaded.

I had my dream job ten years ago. I was a young Park Ranger working for a small municipality with lots of open space and rangeland.

I loved every minute of what I did. The people I worked with, on the other hand, well suffice it to say I'm not working there anymore.

I look at my grandfather as the best example of a career for me. He was a dentist, he had his own practice. It wasn't until after he passed away and I got to read some of his journals that I came to understand what being a dentist meant to him. His first love was meteorology, And he also had a great interest in physics and mathmatics. He chose to go into dentistry a little later in life, in his mid 30's WW2 got in the way a bit back then. He said that it was a career that would provide a good life for him and his family, and provide him with plenty of time to pursue the things that mattered most for him. He would take the entire family on epic vacations year after year. He spent weeks and months up at our family cabin, playing with kids and grand kids, teaching us how to work, taking us on hikes and helping us explore the outdoors.

he was more of a part time dentist, and full time explorer.

I'm at a point in life where my primary duty is to provide for my family. Do I wish I had more free time? Absolutely.

Could I take a 70% pay cut? Nope. In fact about a year ago I interviewed for and had an opportunity for another job that would have given me a little bit better schedule, and more free time. But they wanted me to take a salary that was half what I was currently making.

that just wasn't going to work.

In the big picture though, I'm o.k. going to a job I don't love and working more than I want to.

it's what I signed up for when I became a father.

P.s. I'm happy for anyone who gets to pursue their dreams. I'm happy for those who tough it out at jobs that are less than ideal.

We each have our own path to find in life, the trick is finding contentment and joy along the way.

The biggest factor for me would be how well I liked my current job. If I loved or liked what I was doing, the increased stress the decrese in pay would bring about would not be worth it. If on the other hand, stress at my job was killing me then it may be worth taking less money to do what I loved.

I switched from driving truck to the medical field quite a few years ago. Took a big pay cut to do it. If I could have grown my trucking company like I had hoped to, my income today would be very much in the upper middle class range, certainly better then it is now.  But being able to be around my kids while they grew up, not having to work 90-100 hours a week and being able to live a healthy life style made it worth it. But then the pay cut was not 70%. More like 25-30%.

This is always a tricky subject. I've seen people that have worked hard to have a stable financial future, never took time to really enjoy life, then died early. I've also seen others who never really had a good job because they were following their dreams and had to rely on others to support them in their old age.

While money can't buy happiness, the lack of money can quicky lead to misery.

So if I had the opportunity to own a running and biking store, which is my dream, but had to take a 70% pay cut to do it. I would probably pass. Unless there was a good chance that the reduction in pay would be short term.