Unhappy "Elite Professionals"

[Mdlerth]

When I am without sin, I will throw stones like there's no tomorrow!

I am a little taken aback by the reverse snobbery in this thread. Does it surprise anyone that there are people unhappy and stressed with their life at all income levels?

I would imagine the amount of money is not the issue - the need to rethink life choices even after you have seemingly achieved everything you set out to is.

Surprises me too. I reckon most here are tolerant of all income levels, but there are a vocal number of class warriors.

People with lots of money are just as human as the rest of us. Pain is painful no matter whom it strikes.* Because of our shared humanity, surely an agonized millionaire is just as worthy of my sympathy as any strung-out junkie or third world orphan. If I could miraculously eliminate all suffering I would; I don't possess that power.

In my experience it's not that money always solves problems so much as a shortage of money will often precipitate them. Some problems may be more likely to arise when money is no object. I can think of a few vices I might have indulged but avoided solely because they were too expensive.

*Full disclosure: There are a few people I dislike. If they encountered serious misfortunes, I'm afraid my first reaction would be one I'm not proud of. I need to work more on forgiveness.

 

[tb001]

I am a little taken aback by the reverse snobbery in this thread. Does it surprise anyone that there are people unhappy and stressed with their life at all income levels?

I would imagine the amount of money is not the issue - the need to rethink life choices even after you have seemingly achieved everything you set out to is.

I wish I were more surprised. It seems to come up every time large salaries or budgets are discussed. It’s a shame as it definitely curbs my appetite for asking for advice or participating in discussions here.

FWIW, while I always remind people who seem to forget how unbelievably hard many low income workers are working, those high paying jobs are often no walk in the park either. People are usually making big life tradeoffs in both cases.

 

[coping]

It can be easy to get caught up in it all and forget that you have a choice in the whole thing. It happened to me. Luckily I figured it out and got out, retired 4 years ago at 50.

When I was young we had nothing. My parents divorced and my mom had 4 kids to take care of. We were very poor and I used to dream about getting out. Turns out, I did. Like most people, a combination of luck and hard work eventually took me to a very large software company. I did very well there, making senior partner and was paid a lot of money. I thought I had made it. I had a big house, fancy cars, all that. I was surrounded by people that always wanted more and it felt normal. But, I was not happy. And the longer I stayed the more unhappy I became. I felt trapped, not unlike the guy in the article. For some reason, I felt that I could never get out. I would be seen as a failure. My family were all so proud, how could I step away? I finally realized that this whole life wasn’t for me. The “never good enough” mantra of the company, politics, backstabbing, playing the game. It was never my thing, I just played along. I built up my courage and with the support of my wife I quit. I was lucky that even though I made a lot of money, I LBYM, unlike many of my peers and could retire.

I retired 4 years ago, did a major downsize in home, car, etc. I’ve never been happier.

Anyway, I can see how people,p get caught up in it all. I feel sorry for them.

 

[razztazz]

I wish I were more surprised. It seems to come up every time large salaries or budgets are discussed. It’s a shame as it definitely curbs my appetite for asking for advice or participating in discussions here.

FWIW, while I always remind people who seem to forget how unbelievably hard many low income workers are working, those high paying jobs are often no walk in the park either. People are usually making big life tradeoffs in both cases.

It doesn't surprise me that job stress and disillusionment occur at all income levels. But the ones high up on that scale won't be getting any sympathy from me. It's not like they're chained to the machine and have no choices. The only choice they face is having their cake and eating it too. All the money in the world and they want cookies and milk too. And I wonder how many of them look down their noses at those who have it actually "unbelievably hard."