[marssaxman]

Some of us have motives other than acquiring money. What is that money for? Work takes up a larger share of your time and energy than anything else in your life. If your job makes you unhappy, how much additional money will it take to make up for that?

[linuxftw]

I try to maximize my earnings during my working hours (M-F, 9-5ish) so I can enjoy things outside my working hours. Most of my work related unhappiness comes from the idea that "I should be making more money." I'm finally at a spot, where if the market rebounds a little, I'm in the top 10-15% of pay for an individual contributor, I think. Full time remote for the last 5 years, low cost of living state, and my annual income is somewhere between $350-$450k depending on how the market does (or much higher if things really turn around). I'm on year 1 at this new gig, so I won't feel that amount until bonus time comes around early next year, but man, it's bringing me a lot of joy, I can tell you that.

The only question is, do I buy a boat, a beach house, or a lake house? I live near a lake and already have a jetski and a friend with a boat, maybe I should just buy a tract of land to drive my jeep and some ATVs. I mean, maybe people get a lot of happiness out of work, I certainly don't. I like to have fun.

[marssaxman]

Ah, well! Congratulations on finding a life that works for you.

There is nothing I can spend any amount of money on which will make my free time happy enough to make up for the misery of a job I do not care about. It cannot be done. If a better job means I have to take a pay cut, no matter; it's worth it for a happier life. Any job I could possibly take at this point in my career will pay enough to live well, anyway, so I don't see much point in trying to maximize income. Hedonic treadmill, diminishing marginal utility, etc.

[linuxftw]

> Any job I could possibly take at this point in my career will pay enough to live well, anyway

I mean, we all hope that, but that could change without a moment's notice. For people outside the tech field, the last year's inflation, gas prices, and skyrocketing rents, their lifestyle went from 'enough to live' to 'short about $1k a month.'

If you live in a major western European city, yeah, you don't have to worry too much about money, there's a lot of social services available for you to fall back. Elsewhere, it's much more competitive.