“Corporate” and “9-5” are not job descriptions. There are all kinds of companies that do all kinds of work and hire all kinds of employees to do all kinds of jobs. An architect, investment banker, sales rep, software engineer and magazine editor are all “corporate 9-5 jobs” but they are all very different.
I’m sure it’s possible in all of corporate America to find a job doing something you enjoy or at least tolerate. Or find a job doing something else. The point is you need to pay for rent and food somehow and I
Your Accenture friend apparently elected to choose a very demanding and lucrative career so that he can retire early with a minimalist lifestyle. That’s fine. Some people choose careers in consulting or banking or law because they like the challenges. Others choose them for the money and power.
The point isn’t how much money you make. The point is that you want the freedom to choose what kind of lifestyle you want. You don’t (or shouldn’t) want to be like your other friend mooching off people’s couches well into his 40s and never having a real job.
And if he’s not paying the rent and food on the salary he’s making and moving isn’t an option, then yes he needs to think about getting a higher-paid job.
But he said nothing about not being able to pay rent or buy food. In fact, he has expressed no desires about making more money. You are the one making this into a financial crisis, not the OP.
Who are you to tell someone what they don’t want to be like?
Well, I have to agree that nobody should want to live their adult lives crashing on other people’s couches. If you manage to never have a “real job” and can still pay your way through life, well good for you. But I don’t think you can be a grown-up until you are legitimately paying your way one way or another, whether with cash or services (ie. the stay-at-home parent).
It wouldn’t be the life for me and I wouldn’t go out of my way to befriend such a person, but if the people involved don’t have a problem with it, then obviously it’s a situation that can work. If Red or anyone else reading this thread can find happiness following such a path, then why not?
Of course, there’s a whole lot in between “Let’s aim to make $100K before we’re 30, damn whatever kind of job we’re doing” and “Let’s be an aimless drifter with no address”.
Actually he did. He agreed with me that he doesn’t want to be at the same dead end job at the same salary when he’s 30.
It’s not about “making money”. It’s about not working the same job for 10 years with no growth or advancement. It’s about not looking back on your life and saying “why the fuck am I 43 and living in the same dump with the same industrial cable spool table and ratty beer-soaked furniture that I had in my college dorm?” Not to mention that when or if the OP gets married and wants to have kids, he’s going to need more money.
Or you can spend your entire life not doing anything, not acomplishing anything, no responsibilities, drifting from job to job living paycheck to paycheck. What do I care?
I agree with your overall point, but when you’re talking about living in Boston and NYC, well… yeah, you do have a skewed perspective. Most people in this country live in cheaper areas. 40K around here can get you a decent 1 bedroom, a decent used car (say, a 3-5 year old non-beater) and money enough to go out a few times a month and buy shit for whatever hobbies you do. No, it’s not the high life (and not where I’d want to be past 30, like you say), but better than Boston.
Other areas you could practically live like a king on 40K. I know someone in Ohio who has a mortgage payment of $300 a month. Yeah I know, it’s Ohio ;). But when your experiences are all in the cramped big-city East Coast, your financial perspective is a lot different than for other areas of the country.
Again, I agree with your overall point (and it’s way too easy to just stick in a stagnant job and then it’s too late to do anything about it). Just wanted to talk about cost of living differences.
True, however, since the OP lives in San Fran which is a similar market to NY and Boston, I thought it relevant. Obviously, the actual dollar amounts can be adjusted to your particular market.
Maybe it’s why those of us who live in and around major cities are so pissed off and cynical all the time and why we place such a high importance on having money.