Whats most important to you ? Money or happiness ?

[mad max]

Just want a general idea of how you guys feel . I feel like im working a dead end job and not being treated fairly . The boss tells me " Money isnt everything but its a long ways ahead of everything else". Whats your guys take on it ?

[Mista Bone]

my son took a $2 an hour cut in pay so he wouldn't to deal with the stress and politics of management.

[97dustang]

I found a gig that was more money and I'm happier, look for something like that, it's out there just gotta look. What do you do?

[draggin50]

Im much happier making less money without the responsiblity. Its not worth the stress at all. I was offered 20K more a year but it is salary supervisor spot. Be my luck Id get stuck with some real idiots and have to fire my whole crew!!!

[Dirtyd0g]

Money is a necessary evil, you cannot buy happiness. If I have to choose I take happiness every time, in fact I did.
Alan

[black90lx]

depends on how much money...

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

I just took a $2 cut when i wasnt making much to begin with because the job had me so stressed and pissed off all the time. I dont think money can buy happiness but it can sure make it easier to find and get rid of a lot of problems that take away happiness.

[Roush GT]

Yeah, but would you guys take a $6 pay cut to be happier? just curious

[latamud]

Earlier this year I took a $5/hr pay raise to have less stress. My work load dropped significantly going from grunt to manager. The raise covered my mortgage and car payment which did make me happy. It's not all about the money, I'm building my resume for something bigger. I'm taking a 25% pay cut for more stress, more work and worse conditions. I'd have to say I'm somewhere in the middle, what I like to call "comfortable".

[Pops Fun]

Keep working and look for something else!!!!

[mad max]

I work for my family in an 24 hour / 7 day a week towing service. I get NO days off. I get to leave for a couple of hours maybe once every two weeks . I hate to bitch because my family has taken care of me in my time of need , its just that this job is sucking the life out of my soul. There is no time to decompress from the stress of this job and working for my family just makes it that much more stressful.

[DSSKing68]

My motto is BTH....I don't care what shit they throw at me or who I have to work with.

BTH = By the Hour...You have to work, and probably until we all die, so I aim to pace myself.

Work stress is what you make of it....I have worked both sides - Hourly-high stress, salary-high stress, hourly-7 days a week...they all pretty much suck.

Just remember...try to work to live, not live to work.

[SMOKE]

In the past 2 years I have gone from making almost 6 figures to 30% less than that. I was a sales and finance manager at a car dealership working 60-70 hours per week. My 2nd daughter was born in September of 2009 and I wanted to spend more time at home with her and my wife..... Best decision I ever made. Still live in the same house, drive nice cars and don't really notice the extra money is not there. We just watch what we spend a little closer and everything is fine. Happiness is DEFINATELY worth something but most of the big money jobs cause more stress. There is a reason for making high pay, YOU EARN IT!

[redfirepearlgt]

Being there are many without work and losing their homes in these nasty times, I would have to say (and I have to keep reminding myself) that I am just thankful I still have a job to make my house payment and bills. We pray daily for all struggling to find employment.

Unfortunately in times like these the respect from the employer towards the employee seems to drop drastically. So in response I would have to say that working for an employer who cares about his/her people and respects their efforts goes a hell of a long way. Nothing worse than wondering (regardless of the hourly rate) if you are going to get the axe tomorrow and find yourself looking for a job when unemployment is at 9.2%+ .

I would gladly take a paycut for a fellow employee to maintain a job or for the company to stay afloat as long as I know it is not for the gain of a few fat cats already making more money than they earn each day they decide to show up for work. The greed I see in the executive and middle management level of corporate america sickens me. These people would do well to spend a month or two in the shoes of a middle income employee trying to keep his/her job and make the bills each month. Maybe then they would have a little more respect for the asset that the hourly employee that puts in a full 40 effort each week actually provides for the employer.

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

Yeah, but would you guys take a $6 pay cut to be happier? just curious

That depends on what i would end up making, and how that would leave me financially. Money can't buy happiness, but being dirt poor can sure buy you a lot of misery.

[Black92LX]

Yeah, but would you guys take a $6 pay cut to be happier? just curious

I guess that depends on what I was making. If I was working minimum wage, could not afford the cut.
If it was in regards to what I make now, yes I would take the cut if I was happier.

I work 40 hours a week and that is fine by me. I have plenty of opportunities to work more at $35+ an hour. I choose not to because after my initial 40 hours my rate of return on what I need to be paid is much higher.

If I have an emergency pop up, or there is something I really want to buy I will work extra. But I have a nice emergency savings so it would have to be something serious for me not to be able to pull the cash out of savings.
Or not really much that I can't wait a few weeks and save the cash to buy.

I like my non-working time.

[sean]

I believe life is ment to be lived doing what you love. Some people love their work and thats what they do. Some like to be with their families and thats what they do. I have done both and I think time spent with my family is most important. I got rid of all my bills. Kept a few cars, a motorcycle, and some fun off road stuff. (all paid for ) and am living MY life the way i think I should. We go to florida every year and dont really want for anything. My wife has a job she likes and makes ok money at and I have a crap job where I dont make 1/4 of what I used to make, but I am happier now than I have been in a while. Where we work we are constantly thanked for the job we do and they do everything they can to make sure we know we are appreciated and get what ever we want as far as days off or whatever, within reason to make us happy. Being happy and making sure you do whatever you can to make the ones you love happy are the most important things. I am 38 and I finally figured that out. Its not easy to make the change from making a ton of money to making next to nothing in compairison but when you do you will see how much you spent on silly things and how much you can have when you dont.

[NXcoupe]

Just want a general idea of how you guys feel . I feel like im working a dead end job and not being treated fairly . The boss tells me " Money isnt everything but its a long ways ahead of everything else". Whats your guys take on it ?

Brother, I don't know. You and I have discussed this at length. I see your predicament and don't see an easy way out. I think you ought to get someone to give you at least a day a week break from the grind.

[04 Venom]

Higher stress= shorter life.

[flyin2jz]

Money is what makes the world go round. The only way a job making 40-50k a year is enough is if thats all you have ever made. It kinda depends on where you are now. If your used to making 25k a year then 20 a year wont be a difference. I can tell you this. Happiness will never take you on 2 vacations a year or give you expendable income that you can enjoy. I dont care whether your an ot hog or dont work any ot. Just dont tell people that decide to really work alot of hours to make more money that they dont love their families or care about anything but money. Guys at my work piss me off to no end by saying to me that i work too much and i must not love my family or care about spending time with them. These same douche bags that say these things are hammer broke and live week to week and make there family suffer because they dont have the work ethic that i do. Its almost funny that the guys use this in every overtime conversation. "i love my family" thats why i dont work all the time. I bet your family would love me alot more with 30k in the bank....lol My job as a husband and a father is to support my family whether im happy or not. We all want to be happy but if i have to take a job making 75k a year to be happy then its just not gonna happen for me....

[Mista Bone]

Higher stress= shorter life.

which is why I walked away from a job of 14 years making $40k a year in 1999. I was 32, doctor said I wouldn't live to see my 36th birthday if I didn't quit.

If I had stayed, I'd have my 30 years in 2015 and retied at age 48 with full pension. But you can't spend it when you're dead.

[Dirtyd0g]

So you are saying it is better to have a family that barely knows you as long as they have the newest game out for their playstation or whatever the game system of today is.
I'm different. I prefer to spend as much time as humanly possible with my family, we don't have the latest toys. We rarely get a vacation and if we do it would make some people turn their nose, the most expensive part is the fuel. I kiss every one of my 5 kids goodnight every night. I clean up their boo-boo's and try to teach them to be honorable people. I do not have a nanny or even a babysitter. I put a tv in the shop and the kids watch it when they are not playing outside or just running around being kids.
Alan

[Mista Bone]

flyin2jz, finding the middle ground or balance is the key.

I didn't mind the 50 hour weeks with two day weekends, but my now ex-wife decided to be a cheating whore. After we split I went to working 65 hours a week since I was only getting my son on weekends. It did help I only lived 1.2 miles from work. So rather than that extra hour total commute each day, I was making $23 an hour on OT.

[foxbody]

happiness man. money cant give you that.. it can give you things that have the possibility to make you happy. but sometime all the headache that goes with making bank doesnt leave you with time or the right attitude to even let you enjoy those things you can afford with the extra cash.

[bestracing]

Money is a necessary evil, you cannot buy happiness. If I have to choose I take happiness every time, in fact I did.
Alan

Agree and Same Here!!!

[Pitbull1052]

I think it all comes down to what makes you happy and some balance....... I know if i don't have a dollar in my pocket i'm pretty unhappy... but then again I sold cars for years and am pretty money motivated... with that being said I quit that job because it was 60+ hours a week and the money didnt matter because i never had time to spend it. I can also tell you not having money and bills piling up doesnt make me too happy either..... So gotta figure out what makes you happy and balance work with personal life.......

[Gene]

There's a balance. I've had both kind of jobs...lots of money and very little happiness, and lots of happiness and very little money. In my experience, I will happily trade a job that I love but don't make much for a job that I can tolerate but where I earn a large enough paycheck to do the things I enjoy.

[SCHMUCKINGHAM]

honestly they go hand in hand, when you have money you usually aren't happy and when your happy you don't have any money. Philosophical? probably not but its an observation as a business owner.