Unhappy "Elite Professionals"

[dg001]

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.

[pb4uski]

I get it. I used to work with and for these people occasionally. They make a boatload of money, work constantly, have no life and are on call 24/7/365. Most do it for 2-3 years and then try to find something with more work/life balance.

Many middle income people look at them and think wow, they make all that money, travel extensively both domestically and internationally, get these huge bonuses... what fat cats! But they give no credence to the flip side... they work long hours, occasionally overnighters, have stressful deadlines to meet, their travel at great locales is often only from the airport to the office to the Hilton to the office and back to the airport and they can get fired at the drop of a hat or a deadline.... they give up a lot of life to make those big bucks.

It gets me a bit stressed just writing about it.

[marko]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pb4uski ... they work long hours, occasionally overnighters, have stressful deadlines to meet, their travel at great locales is often only from the airport to the office to the Hilton to the office and back to the airport and they can get fired at the drop of a hat or a deadline.... they give up a lot of life to make those big bucks. It

That was me. Sort of.

In my case I thrived on it, enjoyed it thoroughly and the lifestyle (First Class travel, Five star hotels/restaurants) was what I did for 30 years.

It wasn't for everyone. I was away from home 200 nights a year internationally and jet lag was my single biggest problem.

Most folks wondered how I did it and why I loved it. We'd have some engineer/accounting types who'd travel with us sometimes for just a few days and for them it was just too much by the second day and they'd hide in their hotel room come dinner time.

Oddly, while it paid incredibly, I'd have done it for free. Weekends skiing the Alps, touring an ancient Taiwanese village, dinner in Paris; again, it wasn't for everyone.

[pb4uski]

I had two big travel jobs... one in my early 20s that was mostly the east coast from Texas to Quebec and the Carribean and another in my early/mid 40s that was the globe (but mostly the UK, South Korea and part of Western Europe, Australia). In both cases the first year was new and exciting and fun... after that... not so much.

I do recall one around the globe from the US to Korea and then to the UK and then home. Exhausting!

[Cassius King]

They voluntarily signed up to do this for the money. They made the decision fully knowing what it involved and greed won out.

[marko]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pb4uski I do recall one around the globe from the US to Korea and then to the UK and then home. Exhausting!

That was my usual! Boston to Paris to Narita, back to Boston usually over a 14 to 20 day period. I'd do it maybe 8 or 9 times a year.

[pb4uski]

Funny thing, I've probably been through Narita 20 times or more and never once stepped outside the secured area.

[marko]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pb4uski Funny thing, I've probably been through Narita 20 times or more and never once stepped outside the secured area.

Too bad. We lived in Yokohama (Tokyo suburb) for a while...great expat community and a great party town; a little too much fun sometimes.

[HadEnuff]

money ≠ happy

[cooch96]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dg001 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?

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

[Mdlerth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dg001 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.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cooch96 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]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dg001 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]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tb001 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."