Unhappy "Elite Professionals"

[MichaelB]

IIRC, Florida has some special provisions that shield one's assets (primary residence, maybe?) from seizure due to court judgments. I believe this is why O.J. set up shop in Florida back in the 90s, so that he could protect some of his net worth from the expected civil lawsuit brought against him by his murdered ex-wife's parents.

It was this way until Madoff’s family used it to shield some of their asset. The Florida legislature changed the law in ‘05 for that reason. It no longer is the unlimited shield it once was.

+1/ A few guys in South Florida who earned their millions in very interesting ways got limited jail time but kept their lavish homes due to this very nice provision.

Even if it were, which it is not, that still would not make Florida a tax haven, just a place to shield assets.

 

[robnplunder]

I complained constantly to everyone and then quit at age 53. Complaining made me feel better but quitting made me stop complaining. Never looked back since.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

There are some executives in my neighborhood that make huge salaries live in MCmansions , and drive expensive cars. They are working in very stressful conditions, work long hours, take red eye flights to make a morning meeting in another city, and trying to maintain their 5 star lifestyle to support their families, wives that don't work and expensive tastes.

Our kids grew up around some families like that. I think our adult kids kind of get our LBYMs lifestyle now as they see many of their friends' parents still working in high stress jobs and we're out having fun most days.

 

[Nick12]

It was this way until Madoff’s family used it to shield some of their asset. The Florida legislature changed the law in ‘05 for that reason. It no longer is the unlimited shield it once was.


Even if it were, which it is not, that still would not make Florida a tax haven, just a place to shield assets.

Many wealthy people declare their primary residence here in FL. No state income tax in FL. NY, NJ, CT, CA, IL -- some of these states taxes their residents up to 13.3% ouch! Kind of odd that all 3 of the New England Patriots well known guys , Kraft, Bellicheck, and former NY Giants and Pats coach Bill Parcells set up residence in Jupiter FL.

 

[MichaelB]

Many wealthy people declare their primary residence here in FL. No state income tax in FL. NY, NJ, CT, CA, IL -- some of these states taxes their residents up to 13.3% ouch! Kind of odd that all 3 of the New England Patriots well known guys , Kraft, Bellicheck, and former NY Giants and Pats coach Bill Parcells set up residence in Jupiter FL.

There are wealthy and high income people in every state. My guess is the wealthiest and highest income people live in California and NY / tri-state. The OP isn’t about state taxes, it’s about work and job satisfaction.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

All it takes is a few episodes of Housewives of New York, Beverly Hills or Atlanta to make me gag. Unfortunately, many people strive for that lifestyle. Remember the Lives of the Rich and Famous? How many millions of people were glued to the TV, salivating over all those riches. Machiavelli comes to mind.

A few episodes?!? My DW watches that crap (thankfully when she's in the exercise room, so I don't have to watch) and every now and then I will hear/see a bit...it takes me about 6 seconds to get nauseous.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Interesting part of the article:

Basic financial security, of course, is critical — as is a sense that your job won’t disappear unexpectedly. What’s interesting, however, is that once you can provide financially for yourself and your family, according to studies, additional salary and benefits don’t reliably contribute to worker satisfaction.

Although my example pales in comparison, the article reminds me of my career.

I was an enlisted "sweaty" in the Air Force and I had a pretty awesome job...at least in the world of the enlisted. When I finished my BS degree, many thought I should apply to OCS so I could become an officer. My uncle was one of those proponents (he was a former enlisted that later became an officer) and I heard it incessantly from him. Well, odds were that if I went to OCS, I would get to be a supply, intel, or other admin type officer. Sure, the pay (and retirement) would have been more, but the j*bs would have been TERRIBLE. Plus, you add in the politics/longer hours/extra-curricular "fun" that is required in a officer world...yeah, no thanks.

In the end, I am *very* happy in the choice that I made staying an enlisted guy. I continued to have the best j*b in the enlisted world, and for the most part...I only w*rked when I was AT w*rk...no need to deal with BS when I wasn't there. And the retirement pay of this enlisted guy? Plenty enough to retire quite early.

 

[RenoJay]

"Riches" can be a loose term.
Down here in South East Florida, everywhere you look there's a $30MM house with the requisite $7MM yacht out back.

We figure a third are true wealth, a third are on the treadmill trying to hang on to it all and a third are outright scammers just one jump ahead of the man. (seems like 20% of the show American Greed takes place in Fort Lauderdale or Miami)

Interesting post. I've done tons of business deals, and a few years ago had this revelation that during the times I got scammed (or felt I was dealing with a scammer), most of them lived in Florida. Not sure why. Perhaps it's the homestead exemption that allows people to keep their house even if they're convicted of other crimes.

 

[razztazz]

Although my example pales in comparison, the article reminds me of my career.

I was an enlisted "sweaty" in the Air Force and I had a pretty awesome job...at least in the world of the enlisted. When I finished my BS degree, many thought I should apply to OCS so I could become an officer. My uncle was one of those proponents (he was a former enlisted that later became an officer) and I heard it incessantly from him. Well, odds were that if I went to OCS, I would get to be a supply, intel, or other admin type officer. Sure, the pay (and retirement) would have been more, but the j*bs would have been TERRIBLE. Plus, you add in the politics/longer hours/extra-curricular "fun" that is required in a officer world...yeah, no thanks.

In the end, I am *very* happy in the choice that I made staying an enlisted guy. I continued to have the best j*b in the enlisted world, and for the most part...I only w*rked when I was AT w*rk...no need to deal with BS when I wasn't there. And the retirement pay of this enlisted guy? Plenty enough to retire quite early.

That's my story too. There was no way I was going to start over as an O-1. What turned me off most was the hoops they make you jump through just to get in. You gotta really want it. BS. I had nothing to prove to the Establishment types. Money? You can get money lots of places. I already had money. I don't need to be an officer unless I feel a need to be a officer. Kinda like owning vs renting. It's a lifestyle choice.

 

[Squirrel]

This part boggled my brain :

"It was insanely stressful work, done among people he didn’t particularly like. He earned about $1.2 million a year and hated going to the office .... He had received an offer at a start-up, and he would have loved to take it, but it paid half as much, and he felt locked into a lifestyle that made this pay cut impossible. “My wife laughed when I told her about it,” he said."

 

[Nick12]

This part boggled my brain :

"It was insanely stressful work, done among people he didn’t particularly like. He earned about $1.2 million a year and hated going to the office .... He had received an offer at a start-up, and he would have loved to take it, but it paid half as much, and he felt locked into a lifestyle that made this pay cut impossible. “My wife laughed when I told her about it,” he said."

If one is not in the circle of this life one would have difficulty understanding the pressures. Pressures to succeed, to maintain ones lifestyle and social standing, family, peer, and company pressures. I went to boarding school before college. I was on an aid package. The pressures on some of those wealthy kids to succeed was incredible. One can laugh but this is no laughing matter.

 

[RobbieB]

Each to their own, I don't care. More power to 'em, go for the gold!

 

[Spanky]

This part boggled my brain :

"It was insanely stressful work, done among people he didn’t particularly like. He earned about $1.2 million a year and hated going to the office .... He had received an offer at a start-up, and he would have loved to take it, but it paid half as much, and he felt locked into a lifestyle that made this pay cut impossible. “My wife laughed when I told her about it,” he said."

it's time to get a new wife!

 

[Mr. Tightwad]

it's time to get a new wife!

Or not get married in the first place.

 

[griffithee]

Interesting part of the article:


Although my example pales in comparison, the article reminds me of my career.

I was an enlisted "sweaty" in the Air Force and I had a pretty awesome job...at least in the world of the enlisted. When I finished my BS degree, many thought I should apply to OCS so I could become an officer. My uncle was one of those proponents (he was a former enlisted that later became an officer) and I heard it incessantly from him. Well, odds were that if I went to OCS, I would get to be a supply, intel, or other admin type officer. Sure, the pay (and retirement) would have been more, but the j*bs would have been TERRIBLE. Plus, you add in the politics/longer hours/extra-curricular "fun" that is required in a officer world...yeah, no thanks.

In the end, I am *very* happy in the choice that I made staying an enlisted guy. I continued to have the best j*b in the enlisted world, and for the most part...I only w*rked when I was AT w*rk...no need to deal with BS when I wasn't there. And the retirement pay of this enlisted guy? Plenty enough to retire quite early.

I chose the OCS route and became a USN Supply Officer. Best decision of my life. I loved it. I had so many more opportunities as a SUPPO than I ever would have as a pilot or ship driver. I served on submarines, aircraft carrier, lived in Sicily, Saudi Arabia, and Hawaii. I changed jobs every two or three years and always got to learn a different skill set with all different problems. I was a loggy (logistician), comptroller (CFO), aviation support, submarine support, military liaison to the Saudi Royal Navy, and many more secondary jobs I couldn't probably even list. I've supported the Iraqi National Counter Terrorism force and helped establish their financial systems. I've worked in SOF and met some of the best people in the world. I've fallen out of airplanes (intentionally) over two hundred times. I've scuba dived with the Saudi Marines doing dive and salvage operations in the Arabian Gulf. I've been at periscope depth watching the bad guys off of bad guy's land and even watched good guys off of good guy's land just to see what they were doing. I've partied with the entire crew of a Peruvian submarine. I've worked with embassies and consulates across the globe. Being a supply officer was never boring for me. And retiring as an officer, my pension is twice that of my DW (she is retired enlisted USAF). NO REGRETS!!!!

 

[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]

... 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]

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]

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]

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.