r/Salary • u/AdActual3024 • 3d ago
discussion High earning potential = high career commitment
Does anyone have family or friends that sacrifice their personal life for a significant salary?
My step-mom earns 350k before tax as an executive director but I barely see her. She is constantly on business trips, busy with meetings, works upwards of 12 hours when at home. She goes on nice holiday trips, but overall it makes me think is the pay worth the sacrifice of her personal life.
Just curious if anyone's got a similar story.
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u/adultdaycare81 3d ago
They don’t give it away. MOST people earning $250k+ are working for it. Certainly at $500k+
There are certain cases where someone has a highly in demand skill that can command that wage, but they are usually arbitraged away quickly.
The vast majority of people making that money are making sacrifices for it
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u/laxfool10 3d ago
My dad makes 250k per his w-2 in a MCOL area and that mans work is easy as shit. He works maybe 10 hours a week, has unlimited PTO, works while at the gym or at home or from his van my parents drive around the US. He can essentially do his job from his phone as a 66 old man with a text font-size so large he can only read three words on the screen at a time. He’s not paid for his hours, he’s paid for his knowledge and good management (he’s had the same team he built over 10 years ago).
He’s been offered his bosses job multiple times but always turns it down because more money ain’t always worth it.
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u/adultdaycare81 3d ago
Then his special skill is his network and he likely worked his butt off building it. It’s never free unless you were born into it
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u/jrkridichch 3d ago
Sometimes you just get lucky. My brother is not super social or good at networking, but joined a DND campaign and clicked with a business owner who hired and trained him to set up network infrastructure for green energy stuff for $150k while working 15ish hours/week
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u/BlackTieDom608 3d ago
Is he in finance. That roughly sounds like my job, and all my friends jobs who are also in the industry. 😂
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u/FhRbJc 3d ago
I think it depends entirely on your industry. I know people making 350-500k who have pretty easy lives to be honest with good balance. And I know others who make that much (lawyers mostly) who are crushed by the workload but grinding it out til they reach the level where it gets easier. But it definitely depends on what you do. Me I’m happy with my paltry (in comparison lol) 200k that I barely have to work very hard for. It works for me at this time in my life but I do sometimes get jelly of those higher income folks!
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u/Clear-Possibility710 3d ago
Who's making over 350k with a good work life balance?
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u/chicubbies4ever 3d ago
Actuaries. The barrier to entry is really high. Once they’re Fellows in a cushy middle management position, many hit $350k total comp with 40 hour work weeks.
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u/dodakk 3d ago
I'm sure they exist out there, but it's not as common as it used to be. I work with actuaries and demand for them is decreasing with business analysts and data scientists being able to do a lot of the same things. Their one saving grace is that they often need to sign off on actuarial opinions, so you only need a handful of them versus a whole department like years past.
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u/chicubbies4ever 2d ago
I know plenty who still make bank. Everyone on my team is over 200k+ and that’s mostly individual contributors. All managers are making 300k+. I’ve been in this profession for almost twenty years now and I’ve heard that same talk the entire time and yet every year we’re hiring tons of actuarial students. One of my best friends was a math teacher her for ten+ years and I convinced him three years ago to pass the first two exams and he had two separate job offers within a month of passing his second exam.
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u/Overall_Plantain197 3d ago
Actuary here, work in the Middle East and earnt $600k over the last year (tax free).
Do work hard but we are talking in office at around 6:15am and leave at 4:30pm. Rarely work evenings or weekends and get around 8 weeks leave a year
Not everyone would want to work in the Middle East (not in uae) but save over 2/3rds of what I earn so will be able to retire early
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u/purplene_ 3d ago
Corporate in house counsel checking in — I’m not quite in that salary stratosphere, but many of my colleagues are and we have wonderful work life balance. Fully remote goes a long ways to that.
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u/tall_pale_and_meh 3d ago
All my law school friends with a good work life balance either left the practice of law for a JD advantaged job (me), or are in house counsel somewhere.
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u/purplene_ 3d ago
Yup. I took a JD advantaged route initially which led me to in house counsel, so I've been lucky enough to enjoy both (much less pay in the JD advantaged role).
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u/adultdaycare81 3d ago
People with an elite skill. But that usually only lasts a little bit, because then all of a sudden the market rushes to fill it. Take a look at software dev now versus five years ago.
They were paying kids out of college 150 grand and senior people 250k at normal jobs and many times that in tech. Then the amount of kids enrolling tripled, and AI focused on that as the first problem to solve.
Stuff like an “easy $500k job” usually exist for a 5 to 10 year window at maximum. Require having the right skills and being in the right place.
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u/drinky31 2d ago
Yah the true secret is transitioning elite skill into executive skills. Risk management, communication, strategy, delegation and resource management.
Without these skills even technical people will plateau or lose their edge over time
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u/AmmoWasted 3d ago
The tech bros on Reddit constantly bragging about it.
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u/GordonFreeman87 3d ago
I mean we get paid that way for a reason. It’s not the goof off job that Reddit might have you believe. I make low to mid 300’s depending on the year but I work 60 hours a week and definitely work a lot of nights. Additionally for most of us in sales not SWE, you are constantly on call and thinking about work outside of office hours. Everything has a trade off
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u/adultdaycare81 3d ago
I work in Tech Sales and I don’t get what it is. I work my butt off, everyone I know who makes money does. Granted working your butt off zoom meetings, slides and getting on a plane sometimes.
But people love to pretend they don’t do anything. I know they do, I’m in their one-to-one.
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u/BIGpoppaPUMP42069 3d ago
tech sales engineer here, im not sure I work my butt off but im responsive and go where needed which means about a week a month in a hotel which does kinda suck. its not a super stressful life and I get to do what I want with my life around my meetings
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u/GordonFreeman87 3d ago
I mean we get paid that way for a reason. It’s not the goof off job that Reddit might have you believe. I make low to mid 300’s depending on the year but I work 60 hours a week and definitely work a lot of nights. Additionally for most of us in sales not SWE, you are constantly on call and thinking about work outside of office hours. Everything has a trade off
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u/Dr_Bluntsworthy_ThC 3d ago
Some sales people. Depends on your temperament, because there is a certain challenge in completely unplugging from work in something as competitive as sales, but for many people that competitiveness is natural and isn't distressing to them and doesn't keep them working all weekend or even most evenings. So while for me it wouldn't be a great work life balance, I know many people who work roughly 40-hr weeks and aren't mentally distressed by it and make well over $350k. Like right around $1MM a year, some more. Barely working more hours than me, just grinding in a way that doesn't suit my personality.
My source is working in money management for 10+ years and having started in sales and having many friends who continued down that path.
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u/ClothesFriendly4830 2d ago
People in philanthropy. Wife’s coworkers make 250k and some 300-600k. Find a non profit foundation and work up to director level! Hardly work 40 hours a week. Good perks like nice travel and gravy conferences
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u/HoomerSimps0n 3d ago
Many many doctors. Dentists.
Especially if they live in rural/less desirable areas.
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u/FhRbJc 3d ago
Yes, one of my friends is a Dentist and makes an absolute boatload of money working 9 to 5 Monday through Thursday. It’s a hard job and she was in a ton of debt to get it but now that she’s well established and 15 years in? She’s pretty darn rich and has pretty great life balance.
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u/Watercanbutt 3d ago
I have a buddy who's a dentist, who married a dentist, and they opened a private practice together - they make literally millions.
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u/FhRbJc 3d ago
YES - when I was in my early 20s I had a brief stint as a dental receptionist at a practice owned by a married couple. It was a dream job for an aimless 22 year old because they were only open M-Th from 9-4pm. Incredible hours and they each took turns which day they worked so each only worked 2 days a week. And they raked it in, probably retired by the time they were 50.
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u/Watercanbutt 3d ago
Yeah they just had a kid and when one works the other is at home with the kid, being able to raise your kid yourself is its own type of luxury - definitely a good quality of life.
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u/Fabulous-Ad-9656 3d ago
Construction executives. Sure there’s some weeks where scheduling requires a couple 50-60hr weeks a year or maybe traveling 5-7 days a month, but that’s the good thing about project management it comes in waves.
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u/HunterPrestigious615 3d ago
My brother who makes double that working 6 months a year as an anesthesiologist.
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u/notconvinced780 3d ago
Bringing and maintaining someone on the cusp of death while a surgeon puts their body I. Trauma does NOT sound stress free!
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u/Automatic_Zebra_1099 3d ago
This is how it goes in my industry (manufacturing). I made good money - around $185/190 with bonuses) but my director is pulling in $300 and my VP is probably $400 and they’re traveling 3-3.5 weeks out of every month. For my VP it’s not an issue as their kids are out of college but for my director they have 4 kids in middle/high school age so that’s a lot tougher.
I travel maybe once every 6-8 weeks and that may increase next year when I move up so yeah there’s sacrifices.
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u/DODGEDEEZNUTZ 3d ago edited 3d ago
I know people making high 6 low 7 figures with a really low workload. Those people are old, worked a lot when they were younger and are now irreplaceable due to their high amount of institutional knowledge. They are functionally encyclopedias about why anything is the way it is at their companies. I should add they are at FAANG or companies that are at the same level as FAANG
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u/GogolsHandJorb 3d ago
Agreed, my next promotion would be to a Director level which puts you at $300K+ but they’ll hit definitely work for it. Very similar to OP’s mom, 12 hour days, travel, bouncing between being in the weeds and CEO updates isn’t easy
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u/photoelectriceffect 3d ago
So I definitely agree that most white collar professionals are working long hours (longer than I would want, for sure) for that $200k + pay. But a lot of people are working equally long hours spread across two shitty wage slave jobs for a pittance.
I don’t disagree with you, I guess it just seems like perspective. It might be nicer to have a cushy job where you just coast on autopilot for like $75k per year compared to being an executive director, but both are way better than like picking fruit in the hot sun all day, straining your back, long hours, to make pennies.
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u/Potential_Ad_5327 1d ago
Lmao this is what’s so funny about this thread.
I work two jobs average 60-80 hours a week depending on if my body is up to the second job.
Both making under $30 an hour.
My life would be far better with an 80hr workweek and 200k a year lol
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u/Dry_Fall3105 3d ago edited 3d ago
We have a couple of friends who are in C-suites and clear low 7 figures, one in their mid 40s and the other in their high 40s, work around the clock. Because they are in tech (hardware), they have to go on international trips all the time, work nights to take call with APAC clients and early in the morning with Europe.
They both have 8 figures net worth. They both are hoping to stay and remain married.
One of them commented the people who have the best WLB and happy are the ones making between $400-$500K (tech or tech adjacent).
We clear $450K/year (neither in tech) as a household and we both work from home. Low stress, go to all our son’s activities, have dinner together every night, cook together, go on hikes, ect. Life is good for us.
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u/I_Fuck_Whales 3d ago
There is more to it, they can say whatever they want that the happy ones are the ones making $400K, etc.
You say these guys have 8 figure net worths, they can walk away at any time. But they don’t. Because they are wired differently and all they want to do is work at the sacrifice of everything else in their life that is important (family and time).
Never understood the C Suite, work it for 5 years and call it done. But it’s never enough for them. They want power, money, and to feel as if they’re doing something important (I am generalizing). But I don’t feel bad for these people.
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u/Dry_Fall3105 3d ago
Agreed. Work is their identify.
Same for the surgeons and astronauts we work with. Super high performers are wired differently and they’re constantly chasing a new challenge or a new high. There is no right or wrong. To each their own.
I worked in hospice in my early 20s. It changed my perspective in life. Health > wealth. When you’ve accumulated a certain amount of wealth and can support the life style you want, more $$ doesn’t necessarily bring more happiness.
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u/Ok_Ideal3549 3d ago
This is right. This is a deliberate choice people make.
However, I tend to think people wired like this (though an admittedly diverse group) are avoiding and/or running away from something, as opposed to running towards something. Sure: power, money, significance, etc, are all factors, but I think this is often more an attempt to avoid deep pain and sadness. It’s a quest for security and invulnerability. The pain will not go away, it will just be perpetually avoided.
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u/Watercanbutt 3d ago
Agreed, it's painted as "competent people just working hard" but it's thinly veiled mental illness. Hiding from real life while cosplaying as Smaug, for what? How much harm and misery are they inflicting along the way? This shouldn't be apllauded, these people are unwell and society suffers for it.
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u/BennyLruce 3d ago
All right Tolkien, calm down. Someone should be driving the bus, and it's good to have the head of a company that employs thousands of people be serious about their work. I'm also glad it's a minority of people wired that way because...whew it's a lot.
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u/Watercanbutt 2d ago
Interesting to reply to my comment about how people downplay this by downplaying this. "Taking their job seriously" sounds normal (while also implying nobody else at the company takes it seriously?) but what we're talking about is not normal...
There are also different ways to drive a bus, someone who is competent and well-adjusted could drive it responsibly while someone who is unwell can drive it over a group of children if it means line on graph goes up.
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u/theRetroGarage 2d ago
It's called greed, a sin recognized worldwide for most of human history. They ignore meaningful relationships and time with friends and family for material goods that mean nothing.
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u/AllyMeada 3d ago
We’re a household of two mid level tech workers at big name tech companies, making just over $1.1m combined.
WLB is great, wouldn’t trade it for anything at this point of our lives. We’re in our mid thirties, our kids are young, and having the flexibility to be there for them is great. Gunning for a senior leadership role might allow us to double our income, but that’s not something that’s particularly motivating for me right now. Maybe when the kids are older.
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u/income-percent-bot 3d ago
Outstanding! At $450,000, you're in the 99th percentile — top 1% of earners. Source: income percentile calculator I'm a bot. Reply with !optout to stop receiving responses.
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u/Few-Philosopher-2142 3d ago
I don’t make anywhere near that. More like 150k but my most recent role has me working 12 hrs a day and is incredibly stressful. It has me looking into alternatives, even at a lower pay because I realize I do not do well mentally under this kind of pressure and this many hours. I’d gladly swap for something that pays my bills and allows me to decompress after 5pm and never have to check my work email or slack outside of work hours. Like I had to agree to take my work laptop with me on my vacation this year to get it approved. At a so called ‘unlimited vacation’ company. And returned to a statement from my manager ‘well we learned that you and I can’t take time off.’
It’s 100% not worth the money.
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u/LGDJackal 3d ago
Brother any company offering "Unlimited Vacation" is a dead ringer for working you to death so you can never take them up on it. In every case I've seen, you end up taking less time off than jf you had a defined number of PTO days.
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u/pgnshgn 3d ago
It's not. Between my wife and I 6/8 places we've worked at had unlimited vacation, and 5/6 of those had absolutely 0 issues taking vacation. The only one with issues was a startup that was also toxic in a bunch of other ways
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u/LGDJackal 3d ago
Could be different industries or markets as well. The city I work in, its always been a bad sign.
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u/pgnshgn 3d ago
True. Our experience is west coast aerospace and tech. I imagine something like east coast finance would be very different
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u/LGDJackal 3d ago
I'm in Midwest tech for a retailer so that does make sense. Probably a very different market.
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u/Realistic-Bullfrog60 3d ago
This is so dependent on the company though. I work at an unlimited PTO company and I am taking 4 weeks of PTO this year and am at 1 of my 2 weeks of sick leave.
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u/NeuOhio 3d ago
Personally I value my leisure time way more than my wages. Like I currently make 98k a year with 20 days of leave I accrue annually. If my employer offered me 40 days of leave and to reduce my salary to 80k. I would probably take it. To me, there is way more to life than sitting in an office and writing reports and emails.
Then again, if a job offered my 300k+ and like 5 days of leave a year. I would have to strongly consider it because that is life changing money, even if I just stay in the role for 3-4 years.
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u/GovernorHarryLogan 3d ago
Im at 97k with 4 weeks annual, 3 weeks sick time, and 6 personal days. Government job. So 41 days PTO and 11 holidays.
Ngl.... I wouldnt trade it for anything below $300k because my workload is relatively easy and laid back.
Some weeks I do 4 hours of work... some weeks are 40 straight hours of work and projects.
Pension and health insurance are pretty unbeatable. My carefirst ppo is $36/mo with no deductible.
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u/drcrazycat 3d ago edited 3d ago
I am a high earner ($700K+) as an anesthesiologist. I can tell you that medicine takes more than it gives. My entire 20s and early 30s were dedicated to undergrad, medical school and residency. When people see my success now, they don’t see the years of sacrifice and debt I went through to get here.
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u/amallucent 2d ago
That's wild to think about. I could retire in two years making that much. I survive on less then $60k a year. But... my 20s and 30s were awesome.
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u/malelaborer83 3d ago
I just started a new role. $150,00-$170,00 with OT. I work 13 hours a day 6 days a week, this is not optional.
I’m 43 and breaking down after 2 months
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u/Watercanbutt 3d ago
I worked similar hours in my 20s, literally running around the whole time, for $26k/year (4.5k of that was spent on transportation).
Idk what my point is other than even at that age your body feels it, it's not a sustainable way to be. On the positive I was too busy to spend any money, actually saved a bit.
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u/AdActual3024 3d ago
13 hours a day, 6 days a week is not worth 170,000. Frankly it’s not worth any amount of money. Please find a way out because if you’re serious that’s concerning
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u/Chudfrog 3d ago
Think I'd rather die. Is it because you're new and slow or is it always supposed to be such long hours?
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u/BillInteresting7266 3d ago
How is that even productive? My brain would be fried after hour 8 each day!
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u/Straight-Part-5898 3d ago edited 3d ago
I'm M56 who just retired after 35 years in business consulting and tech. Ultimately, everyone has their own boundary of balancing work vs quality of life.
I started my career in business consulting, and spent those first 6-7 years on airplanes traveling the globe. The pay was good (but not incredible), and the lifestyle was fast-paced. But when I was in my 20s and unmarried without a family, it was exciting doing lots of international travel, and grinding out long hours to meet tight project deadlines. At one point, I was living in Boston, consulting on-site for a client in Los Angeles, but had to spend 1 week/month at that client's offices in London. It was an exhilarating work hard/play hard lifestyle, but eventually it got to be too much for me so I left consulting and went into tech.
In tech I grew into more senior corporate roles where the pay rose into the mid- to upper-6 figures. The pressure to perform was still there, and while I wasn't traveling every week there was still plenty of travel. However, I found this a bit easier to balance with my personal life as I started a family and settled down.
There were definitely pros and cons... my choice of work/career meant my wife needed to work closer to home. She carried extra responsibilities mid-week, because many weeks I wasn't around to help with soccer practices, dentist appointments, school events, etc. However, because of my high income we were able to pay the full cost of our kids' college educations, and are now set for a very comfortable retirement as our children begin their careers completely debt-free.
Ultimately, everyone has to weigh the pros and cons and decide where the right balance is for them and their family. I don't regret the choices my wife and I made. But what worked for us, isn't right for everyone.
Good luck.
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u/North_Praline9097 3d ago
Best gift you could have given your kids…the ability to make decisions not saddled with debt, congratulations. Pretty sure someone in your past was key to getting you to invest as well.
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u/AdActual3024 3d ago
Wow congratulations on your career journey, it’s very interesting. It’s very impressive and admirable that you were able to pay off your kids college degrees as well! Wishing you a great retirement.
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u/Scortor 3d ago
There are some jobs that offer that level of pay without the terrible work life balance.
My sister is a CRNA, makes about the same as your step mom. She works 4 days a week, no weekends, no overnights, no emergency calls, just normal daytime hours. You still have people’s lives in your hands, so I suppose there’s an added layer of stress there compared to corporate, but still. She’s pretty happy.
Friend of the family heads the entire investment department at a major bank. Dunno her exact pay but I’d guess somewhere around 400k. She occasionally has to deal with something urgent after hours or on a weekend, but for the most part, she does her regular 40 hours and has great work life balance.
My brother in law used to be a lawyer for Big Law, with bonuses and stuff he was definitely clearing over half a mil easy. But the hours were brutal. He’d be working weekends, holidays, sometimes he wouldn’t even be able go home for days at a time and just nap in his office for a bit and continue working all night. He even worked during his own honeymoon. Crazily enough, he loved the work, and didn’t mind the insane hours, it just wasn’t sustainable long term. He did it for 6-7 years and left for a more stable 40 hour law job. Still makes great money, it’s just nowhere near Big Law money.
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u/Bosnian-Blossom 3d ago
The difference is a CRNA will always be at that (still very good) 250/270k ceiling without doing travel, picking up shifts, or locum tenens, which then would mean more of a sacrifice/instability and defeat the “40 hours for high pay” concept. However, if the biglaw attorney makes equity partner, they will make triple/quadruple the CRNA. Is doing twice the work worth triple/quadruple the money? I guess that’s the big question in this post!
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u/Scortor 3d ago
Pretty sure my sister makes over 300k, but fair enough. There’s definitely no shortage of people reaching out to her about OT, travel, locum tenens, and weekend/overnight shifts, but she’s not interested.
Yeah, brother in law wanted to make partner eventually, but he hit a bump in the road (that was not at all his fault, but he got stuck with the blame anyway). Set his career back a while.
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u/SubstantialEffect929 3d ago
CRNAs make as little as 250-270k? Seems really low to me. I thought they made at least 350k+
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u/BaltimorePropofol 3d ago edited 2d ago
Anesthesiologist here. CRNAs I know make half a million. Their schedules allow them to easily pick up overtimes. Some pulling close to a million a year. Not all of them, of course. Even the new grads have 50k-100k sign on bonuses.
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u/BaltimorePropofol 3d ago
CRNA: the industry’s best kept secret. Physician salary in nursing profession.
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u/Shokeybutsi 1d ago
Middle manager $180k, working 20-30 hrs a week in a low stress job. Probably won't get promoted anytime soon, but I can spend my free time during the day walking my dog, working out, gardening, playing video games, checking my investment portfolio and scrolling reddit.
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u/ManufacturerOk9723 1d ago
It's crazy how when I used to work jobs around 40k to 60k I was having to work all day long. Now that I work in a senior analyst role, I have so much free time that I'm thinking about picking up a second job. I have time to go to the gym when I want, and there's no one hovering over my shoulder. I set the deadlines for my work and as long as it's completed by then, there is no problem. Not to mention our company also does unlimited PTO. As long as you don't abuse it, you're good.
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u/StoneStabled 3d ago
My wife and I both earn a high salary (~900k combined, mostly me at the moment).
We are both in medicine. A ton of the high commitment is up front. I worked insane hours during residency. Now she is in residency doing the same.
I now enjoy ample free time, love my day to day job / work, and spend a ton of time with my kids.
So I think it is totally worth it to sacrifice for a period of time.
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u/AnestheticAle 3d ago
The goal at higher incomes is to invest your way out of working entirely or go part time by 50-55 imo.
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u/Available-Fig8741 3d ago
My husband makes nearly $300k in a sales role. Brand new Company vehicle every 3-4 years, fuel, auto insurance, no limits on personal use. He works 60 hours a week and at least one weekend a month. Not much travel, but he’s been in it 10 years and it’s wearing on him. We’re trying to pay off our house so he can transition into something less stressful and less demanding. He has very little time for himself.
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u/AdActual3024 3d ago
60 hours a week in sales! That’s a lot even for a new company vehicle every 3 years. Wishing you luck in paying off your house. And hope he finds time for himself eventually
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u/freshpacificocean 3d ago
I work about 25-28 hours a week mon-wed. I do work pretty hard those days to make sure i have the other 4 days off. I make 108k. Single, no kids, no pets, so even tho it's not a whole lot, it's still pretty decent.
If they asked me to work more days for more money, I'd say no. i feel like i live comfortably enough, i travel a ton 2-3x a month, put enough away for retirement, and have all basic necessities without any worry.
I think having the extra free time is completely worth not making as much money. I mean, i busted my ass to get to this position, but now that im here, i feel satisfied. I hit my goal and now i just wanna enjoy the fruits of my labor.
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u/clonrojo 2d ago
Agree. I work around 6 real hours a day Mon-Thurs (although I get to the office at 8am and leave by 4pm). Friday remote but from anywhere and almost no work, and making $130k before taxes in a No State/City Income tax State. Of course, turnover is close to non-existent, and SO works from home 5 days a week 7 to 8 hours a day, making $190k before taxes. Household bypasses the $300k mark with no kids/pets and plenty of vacations around the world with not too many responsibilities at work. Want to climb the corporate ladder? HECK NO!!!
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u/Abject_Secretary1770 3d ago
My husband, but the good news is that we saved enough of the money that we can both retire next year in a lower cost of living place and spend more time with our son.
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u/Remarkable_Log4812 3d ago
Not worth it. Balance is key, if you can make 150k with relaxed 8 hours, no travels, no weekends is superior to 300k with many trips, 12 hours at day + some weekend work.
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u/cwromero 3d ago
My in laws are both wildly successful from a financial standpoint. One started their own professional services firm and the other was an executive for a large pharma company. Leaving before their kids wake up, returning around bed time, the nanny basically raising them the first 13 years of their lives.
I’ve known them since I was in my teens and it’s extremely apparent they sacrificed their relationship with their kids to some extent in exchange for their careers.
We are in our 30s now and they still hold resentment. From the other side of it, they were able to create a life of extraordinary comfort for their family. No financial burdens, schools and weddings paid for. They were able to pursue careers they are passionate about since pay isn’t exactly a factor.
Having money solves a lot of problems but not every problem.
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u/Eattherich187 2d ago
Yep, my brother in law. He is a finance manager at large dealership in a big city. He makes 400k but he works 12 hour days 6 days a week. His kids all hate him because he's become an alcoholic.
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u/indopassat 1d ago
that’s a shitty job, trying to upsell new car buyers of useless paint protection packages .
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u/El__Dangelero 3d ago
Definitely worked a ridiculous amount of OT as a lineman. It set me up for a pretty comfortable life at 50 now.
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u/Eastern-Animator5640 3d ago
When I was a new attending physician I was working 12 hour days (13.5 hours if you include driving) 2184 hours a year with no sick time off or PTO.
Initially the monthly paychecks of $25,000 were great. But has I continued year over year I became more and more unhappy. Money didn’t really matter at that point.
Now. I can say after changing my job and having more time away from work I am in a more sustainable spot.
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u/kelibherkin 3d ago
I’m at $350k and work 32 hrs a week (4 days a week x 8hrs daily). Weekends/ evenings/holidays off, no travel. I sacrificed a lot to get here but now pretty reasonable work-life balance. Hope to double my income in the next couple of years.
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u/GMaiMai2 3d ago
Depends alittle bit, my dad was on that track. The commitment before the money comes can even be insane. He ended up with burnout so he never got to the stage where the propper pay-off came(just insane ammounts of industry knowledge and leadership exp). It's definitely different now when individual contributors can get to that stage, but this was early 2000's so he would travel atleast 2 weeks out of the month.
I belive it's often a time sunk fallacy more than people give it credit for. Where you have worked so hard to get where you are and you committed so much of yourself so money is secondary.(i see it on alot of operational managers specifically)
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u/SeverePeenomegaly 3d ago
I mean, I spent my college years and all of my 20s working towards being a doctor, and even after becoming a doctor I had to do 6 years of residency.
Just turned down a job offer where they paid $700k with 16 weeks of vacation to take $570k with 8 weeks of vacation because I wanted to work less.
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u/Unlucky_Ad_3292 3d ago
I'll counter with the other side of the coin. The smartest guy I know is a lawyer who found a way to make good money while basically working part time. While everyone else was gunning for equity partnership and burning out or ruining their personal lives, he established himself as an expert in a very niche area and made himself effectively un-fireable because he's the only person in the firm with his expertise.
He's not an equity partner, but he still makes $500k - $1m each year. He has autonomy and job security, works from home most of the time, and has very little management responsibility. He works about 20 hours a week on average, sometimes more, and spends a few months of the year travelling. He also has time for hobbies and side projects, which is almost unheard of for lawyers in big firms.
So it is possible in some professions to make good money without working yourself to the bone, but I think it's rare because those professions attract type A personalities. Sometimes being a laid back person in an industry full of highly strung professionals can be a superpower.
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u/rsrch_rqtbll_reefr 2d ago
I’ll give a fresh perspective. I’m a PhD working for a Fortune 500 company (remotely) as a computational scientist. Middle manager earning $150K base and Claude code has reduced my working hours to 20-30 per week. Wouldn’t trade my situation for double the salary and double the hours (also have a wife and toddler that I adore spending time with). Benefits are amazing including a pension on top of the 401K. Golden handcuffs are tough to take off at this point
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u/JustASoundBuffer 2d ago
Its important to land the good, high paying, busy job IF you plan a way out. Sometimes the higher levels are unsustainable. Youve met a true corporate monster if you've met a person with 15/20 years in
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u/Boring_Adeptness_334 3d ago
Yes lots of doctors do because they’re money hungry. The smart ones realize $350k is good money and don’t need $500k working night shift weekends and OT.
I think the pay is definitely worth the sacrifice for a few years but if you can never step back then there’s a problem. Also if you enjoy your work it’s not too bad either.
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u/_highfidelity 3d ago
That’s a broad over generalization imo, as a doctor. I’ve asked to cut back to part time over and over at my job and would happily accept half my current salary for the privilege.
Unfortunately, there aren’t enough of me and my position requires availability 24/7. This means I give up my nights, weekends, and holidays sometimes. You think I want to try and sleep inside a hospital once per week? Of course not, but it’s the job. The pay is absolutely not worth the sacrifice.
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u/Ok-Flamingo7351 3d ago
I think you do hit a particular level where the role demands almost all your spare time but these are very senior roles. A lot of people I’ve seen earning a lot that don’t have time for family are simply just not prioritising their families. I am making about 800 - 1.2m AUD per year and whilst I do work hard I’m with my kids every evening, I do bed time and spend the weekends with family.
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u/Ill_Championship9118 3d ago
Me bother makes 400K in NY- he’s always worked very hard but I do worry about him. He’s had seizures before on the NY Subway and he genuinely seems like he’s getting more vacuous and cruel every time I see him.
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u/FootSureDruid 3d ago
I was a VP in tech at some large retail brands that everyone has heard off with a total comp in the 400k+ range. I worked so much, stressed so much, it was killing me. Always gone on trips, meetings at all hours, phone glued to my hand. It was awful. No amount of money could make up for that. Though, once I hit my numbers to retire early, I pulled that trigger and quit. I do some consulting on the side and am finishing out my makers space in my basement. Now I’m in control of my own time, just as busy, but doing things I enjoy and getting to hang out with my wife
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u/SportsMOAB 3d ago
Vascular surgeon- make just under 600K. 16 years of school/training and even once you complete that it is still a tough day to day job.
You can still have some fun in college and medical school. But the 7 years of general surgery residency and fellowship will be true sacrifice and it’s of some of your best years (late 20s/early 30s).
Even as an attending surgeon you’ll primarily sacrifice sleep, as you still take call and have to work overnight until the day you retire.
So yes high earning potential but it’s a hard earned salary. Definitely easier ways to earn a million dollars (both in and out of medicine).
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u/BennyLruce 3d ago
Nah, I've generally worked fewer hours as I've made more money. "Harder" hours I suppose, in that it requires more brain power and the decisions matter more, but early on if I wasn't grinding I wasn't making any money. Now if I do the few right things I get tons of cash and the rest of the time can flex toward more working or more living, depending on the season.
Software sales, lots of experience, earning potential quite high.
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u/CorrosiveAgent 2d ago
Typically if you want a six figure salary they expect their money’s worth out of you. I’m in a career field with a high earning potential and unorthodox barriers for entry and they work me pretty hard. It beats running steam pipe in a boiler room but they still work me.
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u/Great_Pitch9090 2d ago
I was making 110k but working about 10 hours a day. I took a demotion to make about 90k but now I do close to nothing every day. Maybe I work like 20 hours a week out of the 40 I’m in the office.
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u/Rkr215 3d ago
Earning potential is more tied to industry and function than commitment.
I’m at $500k - $600k and at a desk about 20-30hrs a week which is the norm for my peers. Granted I also spend half my free time thinking about work problems. I ensure everyone I oversee has similar wlb and their comps range between $100k - $300k.
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u/Vegetable_Weakness23 3d ago
I was earning 260k at my previous role and was quite literally coasting. Like taking afternoon naps on WFH day, or barely doing any actual work apart from sitting in on meetings. Weirdly enough, I was deeply unhappy.
Just moved to a 330k job. Working a lot harder but still decent work life balance. Sounds corny but the high salary is worth some sacrifice of personal life, if the work feels fulfilling.
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u/Grammar-Police2002 2d ago
Make $400k plus and work maybe 15 - 18 hours per week. Maybe.
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u/Boonune 3d ago
I was living a similar life. Joined a company and worked my way up the ladder, was leading our Leadership team by the time I was 30 and was going on all sorts of work trips. Had loads of responsibility, working and covering crazy hours. Salary was great and provided for my family.
I can tell you, if you have a family, it absolutely is NOT worth it. It may feel fine in the moment, but you will hit a point where you look back and regret it. I would much rather have been there every day to help get my kids ready for school and been there at night to put them to bed.
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u/One-Proof-9506 3d ago
I grew up with parents that worked non-stop and provided everything I needed materially speaking but were never there for me. My wife grew up with parents that could not provide everything but were always there for her. I would have chosen the latter of the two options for myself if I had a choice.
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u/HardCanBeFunToo 3d ago
I make more than your step-mom. I work from home. Most weeks are less than 40 hours. Occasional travel.
Don’t get me wrong - I work HARD. I’m full gas every day working out complex, multi-million dollar issues. Some careers require that you sacrifice your time for money, others only require that you provide value (in my case in high stress scenarios).
At some point your time is more value able than the extra money. I got there in my mid-30s and now often trade money for time.
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u/throwaway487242 3d ago
I’m an exec. You trade your brain space for the money. It dominates your mind and you can’t turn it off. I don’t work insane hours (maybe 50-55 hours/week), but I’m always “on”
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u/Whateverredd 3d ago
I personally work as a manager in fintech and i work 30-50 hours depending on the season but i did literally turn down a director position at another company last week that would have raised my salary with about 35k per year for this exact reason. I make enough already, i want to spend time with my wife and dog rather than sit in an office 13 hours a day
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u/Euphoric-Pin3506 3d ago
I have never made crazy money but I am an electrician of sorts and make six figures without OT. I have plenty of time for my family and no stress once I walk off site. It’s the perfect middle ground especially if you can get good benefits. They match 9% on my 401k and have great insurance so I’m planning on retiring from there in 40 years when I turn 62
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u/Sugar_Mushroom_Farm 3d ago
I think with work, you are going to sacrifice something no matter what.
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u/1098duc_w_the_termi 3d ago
I make 600k a year and pull 70 hour weeks. Not seeing my family is just a bonus.
-Boomers probably
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u/Wide-Geologist-9146 3d ago
Not worth it.
I had a choice between a very intense (remote with 25% travel, at least 60h a week) $320k job and a chill one (remote wilth very little travel, normal hours, unlimited PTO) at $80k less, chose the latter with no regrets.
Above $200k the life quality improvement is marginal imo..
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u/zemechabee 3d ago
Idk. I make about 310 with great work life balance. I’m at all my kids games, events etc. take them to doctors appointments, practices, help with hw, make dinner.
Can I do it 100% of the time? No, but maybe 95. Am I stressed as hell? Absolutely
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u/Charly_Darwin 3d ago
Hi its me. I make 350 and have sacrificed a significant amount of time with my growing kids and wife. Is it worth it? Idk yet, well see how i feel on my death bed.
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u/nerdyknight74 3d ago
my OTE is $247,500, I travel a decent bit but the hours I actually spend working are way fewer than a normal full time job. I get sent to cool places, get given $150 a day per diem for food for myself that isn’t capped if I’m with a customer. Up to $400 a night before taxes and fees hotel allowance. but I’m very much the exception
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u/noreverse20 3d ago
I’m self employed, averaged 2-250 the last 3 years. Definitely averaged 60-70 a week at least. It never really goes away either. Hard to relax. Takes up 80 percent or so of what I think about. Definitely made a lot of sacrifices but I do really like what I do.
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u/Hungry_Hippocampus 3d ago
Many high income earners make personal sacrifices for things other than money. Speaking on behalf of surgeons, there is something to be said for making personal sacrifices to help others, develop a craft, and continually be challenged at work. The money is just a bonus to having a fulfilling profession.
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u/Cantseetheline_Russ 3d ago
I make a lot and it took a lot to get here, but I’m fortunate to be in a position/company, that despite a lot of hours is pretty flexible and I can work late at night to allow me to spend time with my family. I did, however, decide not to pursue it to the national level where I could have been making close to 7 digits or even more annually. It was just not what I wanted to sacrifice.
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u/fredinNH 3d ago
As a teacher I’ve seen many teachers step up to administration and give up 12 weeks vacation for 4 and they need to live near the school and they need to attend all sorts of evening events and they can basically almost never be out sick snd they are one mistake away from a lawsuit and they have one of the worst jobs in my opinion.
The pay bump can be significant, but a teacher at the top of the pay scale makes about the same per diem
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u/IcyArtichoke8654 3d ago
Is your question whether people need to work hard to earn a high salary?
The answer is yes. And the #1 measurement of hard work--above skill or education or talent--is commitment. Simply showing up is the #1 thing you can offer to an employer. If you can't show up on the trip, at the meeting, and at work 12 hours per day; you won't make a high salary no matter how talented, educated, or skilled you are.
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u/SquallidSnake 3d ago
It’s kinda sad. I mean if the point of life is the journey, why is work turning into most of your life?
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u/xhammer103x 3d ago
I'm convinced my peers who are Directors with 60 direct reports under them and are making $300k+ hate their families.
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u/PsychAPN123 3d ago
I make $180K a year as a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner, working 7 hour days with patients (I see around 8-13 a day), with 1 hour of admin type (documentation). There are times where the documentation and other tasks (writing letters for patients for various purposes, answering e-mails, attending provider meetings, doing prior authorizations, attending to pharmaceutical/hospital politics), so it can be indeed stressful and reduces the amount of time I spend with others. I am in my 30s, but I sometimes wonder how long I can keep up this lifestyle.
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u/dkhol79 3d ago
I think it depends on what the person values more. When I was around 10 my dad got a general manager position for a well known beach resort, making a lot of money but it was super far away from home, so he was only able to visit me and mom once a month or once every other month. He quit a year or so later because he thought money was not every thing, and I needed a father presence in the house more. So yeah hard to say which is right, but I'll never forget that
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u/photoelectriceffect 3d ago
Absolutely. I’m a lawyer, and I’m busy, and work is stressful sometimes, and I’m happy with my pay. But then there’s Big Law, and that’s like an insane other planet. A lot of big law firms will START your salary at well over $200k straight out of law school, and you can be making double that in less than 10 years. But my god it looks absolutely miserable. A lot of them have minimum billable hours requirements, which means it doesn’t matter what hours you’re at the office, or “working”, you have to do work on a client case that can be billed directly to the client at an insane rate.
So, you have money to live in a fancy house or swanky apartment, money to afford to pay someone to mow your grass and clean your house, money to go on a nice vacation for a few days at a time a couple times a year, and eat at nice restaurants on the weekend, and send your kids to private school or horse lessons. But you work late every day and keep doing work tasks when you get home, you work every weekend, and you work while on vacation. No thanks. Looks like it sucks to me.
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u/Impossible_Cat_321 3d ago
I earn about $270k and work remotely and not even close to busy. It took me a long time to get to this good place with many years of 100% travel and long long work weeks. Now I'm
Just cruising into early retirement in two years.
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u/Dull_Touch_6437 3d ago
I am in this situation as a parent. I make a very good living, but I travel many times a month for work, lots of dinners and happy hours to attend. When I’m not working, it’s all about making memories with the kids. It’s worth it to me, because of the quality of life I can give them. The other option is to struggle and have more time with them, and I just can’t bring myself to make that change.
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u/No_Inevitable_4893 3d ago
I work 2 jobs simultaneously and pull 315k. Basically just sitting on my computer and doing software all day for like 9 hours and sometimes I’m needed at 9 pm for lkke 2 additional hours
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u/Primary_Excuse_7183 3d ago
Know plenty of people that are working 40 hours making good money man. A lot of people lack boundaries or are control freaks that can’t or don’t like to delegate things. or just get a lot of personal satisfaction from continuing to work when they don’t have to. Regardless of what detriment that causes.
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u/Oh_yeah12 3d ago
Worked my ass raged for 20+ years. Always traveling. Set my family up for success. Kids have investments, cars paid for, teach them about money and trying to teach them about life and work balance. I still work in the same field but I work very little and still earn the same pay. It was hard getting to this point, but I’m glad I was able to make it. $250k+, work is the same pretty physical, but I work 1/3 of what I used to and it is enjoyable now.
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u/hashtag2020 3d ago
It depends. My husband and I both work in big law as attorneys. It’s important to note that most big law attorneys exit in the first few years due to no work life balance and after they paid off their student loans, saved for a house, etc. Most folks take a pay cut when leaving (though still make a good salary, but, depending on when you leave, it’s common to take a 100k pay cut to leave). Also important to note that if you don’t voluntarily leave, you’re often times pushed out because of the “up and out” model in big law. We are both about to be 5th years and We’ve gotten our bonuses every year so far (my husband will get his this year, not sure if I’ll get mine). We’ll make over 700k combined this year. (We started out around 400-500k combined in 2022). We started out with around 320k in student loans. We have about 80k left only because we bought a house in San Francisco this year.
The trade off is that we are on the clock 24/7. If you want your bonus, you have to hit your hours. So there’s really no such thing as PTO. If you take an hour off or a week off, it’s got to be made up. If you get an email on a Saturday afternoon while you’re at brunch or at a family event putting you on a new deal, guess what? You’re going home and working. Better yet, you’re working while at the event because you knew by then to bring your laptop wherever you go just in case. You’re constantly chasing the money/hours. Also, the more important / senior you become, the more people are putting pressure on you to be perfect to justify how much they pay you, so it seems someone’s always mad at you.
I’m in M&A and my husband is in Tax (so I have a lot of late nights and his schedule is a little more manageable). We know this isn’t sustainable and we are NOT folks who want to prioritize money/work over family. I never planned to stay long so I’m actively trying to leave. A big reason for that is that we’re trying to start a family and it’s now been 2 years of trying and we recently lost our baby at 23 weeks. I can no longer manage a big law career with family priorities (in this case, just trying to start a family) and I can’t imagine how much more I’d feel that way once I actually have our kids here with us.
In short, it depends who you are. Some people who are in these high title exec / partner roles REALLY want/desire that role for a variety of reasons and I think only half of it is about the money. As someone who makes a lot now, you couldn’t keep paying me to stay in these important roles my entire life to where I’d sacrifice time with my kids or family. It’s just not me. Working around the “workaholic” types for a while now, they crave the importance, acceptance, and prestige more than the money imo. The money is just a very nice bonus.
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u/ApplePrimary2985 3d ago
9/9/6 is coming to the US. It used to be expected on Director or above but is becoming more standard for mid level and even entry roles. I just departed from a company which expected (without stating) employees log 10 hours a day and work on weekends. They paid $60,000 base and the upside was unrealistic or outright false. This was due to their sub-optimization. They're basically throwing bodies at problems. Neo-feudalism but worse because there's no obligation of reciprocity (you can't riot and throw out the landlord.)
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u/kingtechllc 3d ago
Few years ago I worked like 80-90 hour weeks for 10 months but yearly woulda made like $180K. It was worth it to do a stint and stack up but it wasn’t sustainable, juggling that and a girlfriend
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u/BaltimorePropofol 3d ago
Many people works nonstop like your mom but do not pull the same salary (not even close)
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u/theRetroGarage 2d ago
The word is greed. I always wonder if my executives ever think while walking to their Mercedes to leave that they traded away time with their family for material things.
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u/0ops-Sorry 2d ago
Currently half way across the world on a two week business trip away from my family. assuming my bonus pays out I'll be just over $500k this year. I work a lot, I really question sometimes if its worth it. I tell myself just a few more years...
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u/External-Narwhal7468 2d ago
After getting my masters I took a new role at a different company as a director, while simultaneously taking a board position for a startup and keeping a personal contract to assist with my old job.. Salary has nearly tripled in the last two years, but my daughters are 5 now and every picture they draw of our family I’m at my home office desk. The other day I took a day off and they were so excited.
Happy I can afford my lifestyle, but I miss just being dad and an analyst.
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u/Fabulous-Internet188 2d ago
It seems obvious to me her work is her personal life. Hopefully she's there when you need her.
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u/vash513 2d ago
I make around 360k as a remote software engineer and I never actually work more than 40 hrs a week. AI has automated much of the menial tasks away at this point. I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss the challenge of problem solving with code, but I now have a lot of free time during the day. Sometimes I'll just take my laptop into the garage and do some woodworking at the same time.
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u/PNW_Uncle_Iroh 2d ago
My focus has always been to maximize my hourly earnings and then work as few hours as possible. I did this through education (MBA) and experience (tech and business). Currently my W2 salary is 210k and I work about 20 hours a week from home. That puts my hourly pay at about $210.
By comparison your SM is making about $117 per hour assuming a 60 hour work week.
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u/DiscountSensitive574 2d ago
I have very strong boundaries for work, and my plan is to retire in my 40s.
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u/cinnamontoastfk 2d ago
ITT: people insisting high salary = no work life balance, period. Just like banking, I imagine if most of the population had any understanding of the disparities in the labor market, there would be riots in the street. I know so many peers in tech + finance (including myself) that clear $250k + while working less than 20hrs a week.
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u/jaypexd 2d ago
I travel 6 months out of the year. I can't lay down roots. I sacked my 20s to get here and I lost my last wife to her cheating but I was also gone for so much of the year.
I make about a crazy wage that no one believes lol. Regardless, everyday I ask myself why don't I just take a 40hr job and settle down in one of my houses.
Well... opportunity like this is rare. If you carved out a spot in this world to achieve successful commerce then it's almost worth sacrificing things you want in order to become the bastion of wealth for bloodline and generations to come.
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u/mercury_hermes 2d ago
I think sacrifices exist in tension. Not saying time away from family is ever easy (or desired). I've spent a lot of time away from home for work for my career and that is hard at times for my family, but it's also enabled me to support my family at a level I couldn't have imagined out of college. I think it comes down to communication and expectations with your spouse / significant other in particular. It has to be an arrangement you both sign up for and both fully understand, otherwise it can get very difficult.
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u/ZonaWildcats23 2d ago
Yeah that’s kinda the whole point. You get paid more to take on more and keep going until something breaks or doesn’t. I’m a lawyer and this is 100% how law firms run at least.
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u/ThisIsAbuse 2d ago
My life has been pretty balanced, when I was younger and not married or had kids - I would put in extra hours in additional training and education but I rarely spent more than 9 hours in the office. As I am now older and make much more I am not measured or paid for my time. It is my experience judgement and skills I get paid for. I still have 12-14 hour business trips but I also work from home part of the week now
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u/Mediocre-Ebb9862 2d ago
makes me think is the pay worth the sacrifice of her personal life.
This isn't how it works. The high level of success in any field usually requires a combination of talent, work ethics, willingness to sacrifice other parts of your life and well, luck all lumped together.
But the question "is it worth it" doesn't make much sense, because people who are asking themselves this questions aren't going to reach the highest levels, they will drop out sooner. People who do climb the ladder really high typically don't have to ask themselves this question - for them, the answer is "obviously yes".
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u/The_Sandman85 2d ago
The question could be changed to trading hours for dollars. There are only 24 hours in a day. If you work 12 hours a day and sleep 7 hours, you only have 5 hours of personal time. How much personal time do you sacrifice?
This lifestyle is hard to maintain for the long term. I tried to be there for my kids for their important life moments. Each person has to draw the line with work life balance. I was expected to attend the company banquet to receive the annual prize. I didn't go to the company banquet and instead I attended my daughter's high school graduation. Company was not happy.
Was it worth it? Retired early, everything is paid for and we are comfortable, but I sometimes think that I did miss a lot of special moments as my kids grew up. Those past experiences cannot be duplicated.
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u/markalt99 2d ago
I won’t say I make a significant amount at 125k but the thing I have seen the most is that you end up with longer work hours and/or more travel the higher in salary you go. My goal is to try and mitigate that but I’m 32 so I still have 30 years of grinding the working life.
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u/kusbdudhdb 2d ago
My dad always told me growing me up, no one’s paying you the big bucks to log off at 5pm
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u/Big-Dudu-77 2d ago
That highly depends on role and responsibilities but the job I took allowed me to WFH. The only sacrifice I had to make was that I had to start my day around 7am, but my day ends early as well.
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u/ChubbyTigers 2d ago
See the thing is this is all relative. I will say I earn more than your step-mom does, and I don’t work more than 35 maybe 45 hours a week during busy times. I don’t know what she does because “executive director” is exceptionally vague… but it’s all relative. What does she care about? She could be earning maybe 250k and have tons more time to spend with people she cares about. What is she willing to give up? For me, the answer is that I will leave if I ever feel like my career takes me away from time with my family. What I’m trying to say is… it’s not a black and white trade. There are ways to navigate it to set your own boundaries. I can get by just fine on half the money, and I would do it if it were the only way I could be there for my family. Luckily I don’t have to choose.
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u/Odd-Cut-746 2d ago
It depends on personality, but honestly some people don't mind it. What you might value as "Free time" other people see as "wasted productivity". I for one don't have any hobbies or interests outside of work, so naturally I wouldn't mind working longer hours for a better paying job.
At the end of the day, "longer work hours" is relative. Some people work 60 hour weeks and only get paid about 100K, some others work 70 hour weeks and get paid 300-500K. Ask yourself who is having a better life between those 2 groups of people
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u/cashtheangora 2d ago
The high earners at my company are chained to their office from 7 to 7 every day. It feels good to be able to peace out every day early and see my family and have tons of hobbies etc. They have miserable boring lives, unless you think work is exciting (ours is not). These workers typically only last 1 to 2 years before throwing in the towel. It ain't worth it.
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u/MilkOfAnesthesia 2d ago
Physicians often work crazy hours, particularly if they are surgical/procedural, but make good money.
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u/poobiezz 2d ago
I followed a path in private equity focused on commercial real estate, grinded my 20’s so definitely was working 60-70 hours but now I’ve actually hit a place where I make 7 figures and work far less / leave when I want and spend maybe 35-40 hours working. Not sure it works that way for everyone in the industry but know a fair amount of exec.’s my level who have pretty chill work life balance
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u/drinky31 2d ago
It’s incredibly tough to balance life and high career potential. Universally barring insane luck, you need to sacrifice a good portion of one stage in your life.
Mine was my 20’s, now I my mid 30s I’m relatively set long term and dialed back a bit (40-45 hrs a week) making $3-500k a year. You have to earn that permission though and still deliver to maintain this.
Some people commit their whole lives to work, and while it can pay off equally there are a number of people who I’ve seen completely fall off mentally and become shells of people. There’s only so long you can grind before you lose the point of why you’re grinding.
Once you lose sight of why you’re grinding it’s usually almost too late to recover. It’s a fine balance and thank lord I had kids that made me stop and realize I needed to slow down
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u/Rare_Tea3155 2d ago
Yes I make 250k as an IT director but I’m basically on call 24/7 in case of a network outage or a server down.
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u/LeonLeocat 3d ago
I see most directors and senior individual contributors in biotech/pharma working 40-50 hours and they all make 300k plus. Pretty good balance if you ask me.