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Money

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Pringle, Feb 14, 2011.

  1. Stitch

    Stitch Active Member

    Talking about money is like talking about politics. Remember the thread where I mentioned talking about salary? As for me, I'm looking for a public policy job in two years where I likely won't be on food stamps or have the kids qualify for Medicaid. Yep, I'm a sell out for dumping journalism because working full-time was still not enough to qualify for public assistance.
     
  2. JackReacher

    JackReacher Well-Known Member

    Not me. I would have laughed. All the way to the bank, where I cash my inflated paycheck after "working" 40 hours a week with every other Friday off and every holiday off as part of a work schedule just littered with three-and four-day weekends. Then, I'd call them a few weeks later, on a Saturday night, after about 6 beers with friends at the bar, and ask them how cool is it to be stuck in that dungeon of a newsroom taking calls from JV coaches and awful parents.

    Kicking them in the pills wouldn't be nearly as fun.
     
  3. Captain_Kirk

    Captain_Kirk Well-Known Member

    I liked the early stuff like "Two Tickets to Paradise', but felt "Take Me Home Tonight", despite being eminently riffable, smelled of selling out.
     
  4. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    I like this topic. I sometimes read threads on here, and even though I feel empathy for people talking about what sound like ridiculously low salaries or hard times, I have trouble relating. I try to stay away from those threads, because I don't want to inadvertently come off as a prick when someone is struggling, just as I hope I don't come off as a prick on this thread. I really do feel empathy.

    I can easily understand a feeling inside that you just don't want to do anything else except the job with the low salary. It's a calling. Even if it is an industry that is dying around you, you just can't give it up easily. I get that if it really describes someone. And for that person, I want to see them do whatever they can to be true to their calling. It's too important. But I see so much helplessness on here too -- people wanting to leave newspapers, for example, and just having a helpless mindset about what they can and can't do. And I really do have trouble relating.

    I am like anyone. A buck is a buck. But it's not the end all, be all of my life.

    I am also entrepreneurial by nature, and I get bored easily doing one thing. I always have. It has definitely worked to my benefit. I can have two or three different "mini careers" going at once and that keeps me more interested. For the most part, it has been, "One thing I love to do and need to do (publishing-related), one thing to make as much money as I can (finance related)." Sometimes my work has elements of both of those things. But nothing that ever makes me miserable; in fact just making money for the sake of making money can be fulfilling in an odd way if you feel like you anticipated something or made a right decision on the spot. I also try to do things in a way that allows me to be my own boss (even though you never really are; you are always answering to someone, even if it isn't without a boss/employee structure). I need that or I end up rebelling. It also works out that you just earn more for your effort that way. I have always had trouble understanding people who don't think that way or at least understand it.

    I am also happy with relatively modest amounts of money, if need be, which helps a lot. I don't need to be the guy with the biggest dick in the room. But I will never allow myself to live at the point where I am going paycheck to paycheck, or worse, not getting by without piles of debt, or living at the level where I am constantly worrying about having enough to live and have a nice thing or two along the way.

    That said, even though I think I have always been pretty good with money, and have a confidence about it that freaks out some people who worry constantly about it -- I feel like I can always figure out new ways to make money (and legally too!) -- I have my limits. I have left money on the table, because I just couldn't find it in myself to do the work. That is why I say it isn't the end all, be all in life, and I don't believe it should be for anyone.

    I know that is a bit of dancing around it in my usual long-winded way on here, but for me, money will only ever be an issue if I don't have any. I can't imagine that happening (even though my confidence about money has some limits, because for example, I can't imagine someone who loses everything and finds himself homeless ever having envisioned his life that way). I just see too many opportunities around me at any given time to make money, and I am constantly at it.

    For some things, I do have an expertise. But for a lot of things I believe it is simply a way of seeing the world that comes more naturally to me than some others, not anything extraordinary I actually do.
     
  5. dooley_womack1

    dooley_womack1 Well-Known Member

    Life for the Taking as the second album was a major misstep
     
  6. Stitch

    Stitch Active Member

    Hey, I should have been lucky to make $32,500 at my last job. Why would anyone want more?
     
  7. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

    Whoever the richest man in the world is right now wants more money. But that doesn't mean you can't live a good, happy life on $32,500 per year.
     
  8. Stitch

    Stitch Active Member

    That's living paycheck to paycheck, which isn't good for anyone.
     
  9. Inky_Wretch

    Inky_Wretch Well-Known Member

    Depends on where and how you live, I guess, as to whether that's paycheck to paycheck.

    How many times have we seen stories of janitors or schoolteachers donating a million dollars to a school or hospital? They aren't knocking back a ton each paycheck, but they've learned to save a lot of it.
     
  10. shockey

    shockey Active Member

    have NEVER looked down on anyone who left journo in search of more money or to take a job outside the biz for more money. as i noted on the other post, the money for many of us is fine when we're single and changes when there are mouths other than your own to feed.

    'cause when you're and working full-time you always find a way to make ends meet, enjoying the tradeoff fulfillment of the work brings. once your bachelorhood ends, if becoming a parent is your next step(s) your responsibilities and priorities demand that you adjust -- sacrifice your own contentment and job fulfillment for the beneit of your family.

    if you're every luck, as i was, you can have your cake and afford to eat it too (at least until recently). for most journos in most markets you probably have to inevitably 'take one for the team,' more often that.

    it comes for many people in many walks of life. i'm the guy who posted a link to 'the pretender,' remember? here's to all the 'happy idiots' who 'struggle for the legal tender.' 8) ;) 8)
     
  11. The Big Ragu

    The Big Ragu Moderator Staff Member

    I might be happy, but I am not sure how good my life would be on $32.5K a year. I wouldn't be living where I am, but that isn't necessarily a key to my happiness. But how do pay even the most basic expenses, go out for a nice dinner every once in a while, take a nice trip occasionally, own a small luxury or two (even something as basic as cable TV with a few movie channels), save for a good retirement and have a chunk money put aside for emergencies?

    I won't question anyone who is happy without those things. Happiness is what the game is all about. But how many people are truly happy with that salary (putting a "good life" aside, which is even more subjective)? Aren't most people getting by on that doing it b/c they don't see a way to earn more than that, not b/c they are comfortable and content with that salary?
     
  12. mustangj17

    mustangj17 Active Member

    I think the $32,500 post leads to an important point. $32,500 is good if you were previously making $30,000 or $25,000. Just as $35,000 is good for the guy who used to make $32,500.

    What all of us pretty much want is a rising standard of living. The ability to afford and save a little more each year.
     
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