Why DONT you want to be well paid?

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Reply 20

username1044970

Karim brah, not every1 is motivated by ca$h primarily...

Reply 21

gr8wizard10

Original post by k3ro

I had a 'money is the most important thing' mindset for a long time. I recently realised that doing something you're passionate about and enjoying how you spend your life is more important than, say, spending your entire life doing something you hate (but for a lot of money).

In short, happiness > money

What is happiness?

What method do you use to reconcile a source of happiness with earning potential. How can you be happy earning less than what you can stand to earn. Seemingly seems like a loss of efficiency. Especially given one worked hard to achieve good grades, get to university etc.. Do you factor in personal well-being, family background, necessity to provide?

Reply 22

bertstare

Would never work for under £50k lol that's poverty time, but I would certainly much rather do something I genuinely enjoy and make £100k vs. say becoming an investment banker and making £300k but hating my job. Now adjust that £100k figure depending on how much each person feels they need to live a good life, and you have your answer I think

Reply 23

gr8wizard10

Original post by Adipoptosis

Don't get a job! Start your own business, work hard and you'll make way more money.

Approximately 90% of businesses fail. The probabilities are heavily swayed against you.

Original post by Dima-Blackburn

Karim brah, not every1 is motivated by ca$h primarily...

But it is a fundamental source of motivation, especially for those able enough to see the benefits.

Reply 24

gr8wizard10

Original post by bertstare

Very optimistic lifestyle. What do you plan to do as a career?

Reply 25

Awesome Genius

Original post by Anonynous

Approximately 90% of businesses fail. The probabilities are heavily swayed against you.
.

Well yea, no risk, no reward.

All roads are risky in a sense, its just not obvious.

Say I got 5As at A-level, double first from Cambridge, the chances of me earning £1m first 5 years after graduating are absolutely minute, probably 0%. So a huge amount of effort and a relatively modest salary for most people. I consider this a risky approach too.

Reply 26

hellodave5

Original post by Anonynous

Efficiency? Life isn't some kind of race to earn money.
I don't get your views mate. How can anyone only care about money. Surely its a balance between many factors, no?

An existence based on the accumulation of material wealth is a very superficial one. You find many people choose their jobs based on how much they enjoy it, and how much they can contribute to a specific cause which they choose to dedicate themselves to - be it health care, humanitarianism, teaching the next generation of children to be good and successful people, providing support to people that need it etc.

If you have enough money in life to be happy, and afford all that you need, then why should earnings matter any more than that?

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 27

Kaiju

Original post by Dima-Blackburn

Karim brah, not every1 is motivated by ca$h primarily...

Original post by Anonynous

But it is a fundamental source of motivation, especially for those able enough to see the benefits.

being able to see the benefits != becoming a part of the paper chase

Reply 28

Walt_14

What a stupid thread. For one 30 to 50k is more than a decent annual salary and for another money isn't everything as others have said... as long as you have enough to make ends meet and them some why does it matter how many cars you own or foreign holidays you take in a year? Stop being a bloody snob.

Reply 29

bertstare

Original post by Anonynous

Very optimistic lifestyle. What do you plan to do as a career?

Surgeon

Reply 30

maxi365

Original post by Anonynous

Approximately 90% of businesses fail. The probabilities are heavily swayed against you.

But it is a fundamental source of motivation, especially for those able enough to see the benefits.

Hopefully i want to start a business later in life (im 19 now) and i think that if everyone stopped starting their own business because of these figures, then there would be no business emoloying people and a collapse in the economy. So don't get discouraged by 90% of businesses failing, aim to be the 10%.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 31

username1044970

Original post by Anonynous

But it is a fundamental source of motivation, especially for those able enough to see the benefits.

Of course, we need money to survive in society. But the vast majority of smart intellectuals I've come across are simply not interested in the amount of money that, say, an investment banker makes, because they've most likely sub-consciously weighed the "benefits" against the "costs" of such jobs in terms of overall satisfaction and arrived at the conclusion those high-paying jobs are not worth it. It's that simple really.

Reply 32

mojojojo101

Original post by bertstare

£50k pa is poor??? Wow.

Original post by Anonynous

Education shouldn't be a means to accruing material wealth. The value of education is itself. That education has no concern with the development of human collective knowledge but puts all its emphasis on training and producing workers to turn the cogs of capitalist 'development' is an argument for elsewhere.

Reply 33

bertstare

Original post by mojojojo101

£50k pa is poor??? Wow..

Yeah **** that noise, ain't getting out of bed for less than £100k crew

Reply 34

k3ro

Original post by Anonynous

I'm assuming that someone who chooses a profession doing something they enjoy will, most likely, be happier with their life on a day to day basis.

Of course, it's not mutually exclusive. There are many people who earn lots of money doing a job they enjoy, but your question was specifically asking why people might choose to do something which doesn't pay well, and that was my answer.

Not sure how family background is relevant. As for personal well-being, I think that 'lower income' jobs provide perfectly adequate amounts of money to live on. It depends what you define as 'well paid'. I took your post to mean (since this is TSR)... £70,000+? If so, I'd argue that one person wouldn't have to worry about their 'well-being' with a yearly income of less than that.

Coming back to your title question, I think almost all people would want to be well paid. It's just that for some people, if it comes down to a well paid job they hate versus a lesser paid job they'd actually like to do, the latter is more attractive. I don't aspire to earn x amount of money per year, I aspire to obtain a job that I actually look forward to going to in the morning.

Reply 35

Noble.

Don't know why it's seen as a bad thing, I wish I wasn't concerned about having a high salary.

Reply 36

TheWaffle

Original post by Anonynous

I really find it hard to understand why people go for low paid jobs when they seem to have the intellectual capability to aim for industries which are relatively well-paid.

I see students who have the credentials and the profile potential to enter industries such as law, investment banking being etc.. but instead choose to go into places such as teaching. Are they just lazy?

So if you do intend to get out of bed for a job that pays less than £50k a year and you're smart (i.e flawless grades/credible uni/strong ECs), why? what's your motivation?

inb4, "it's my passion".

I have all of the above and I just think the main thing I want is to enjoy myself. So as long as my job pays enough for decent accommodation (and I'm not fussy on the size etc) and to put something away in savings then I'm not bothered about how much it pays. I don't have expensive tastes either. As the saying goes, 'Choose a job you enjoy and you'll never have to work a day in your life' :smile:

Reply 37

xylas

Original post by Chlorophile

I'm hoping this is a troll but anyway...

Some people actually care about achieving something in their life. If you genuinely think so lowly of yourself that you're willing to spend your life on a career you don't particularly enjoy or a career that doesn't actually improve the world, I think that's incredibly sad. I am perfectly happy to accept that I am never going to earn much in my life if it allows me to pursue the subject I love (Earth Sciences) and almost more importantly, make a positive difference to the world (by improving our understanding of the planet and helping humans to live more sustainably and create a healthier future for our species and others). If I went into an industry like Oil & Gas, I wouldn't be able to live with myself. Who cares if you're earning a ton of money if you know that you're spending your life screwing over future generations? I cannot understand how people are happy to spend their lives dedicated to the detriment of human welfare, just for the sake of some kind of short-term consumerist satisfaction. Having a job you feel is important and a job you enjoy is an infinitely stronger motivator than a fat paycheck. If you genuinely mean what you said in your OP you'll dismiss this as a load of BS but it's true.

If you're earning a ton of money then you are improving the world in some way. Who is anyone to say that someone is not improving the world if people are competing to pay them for what they are doing?

Actually I don't understand why I bothered replying to someone who says " If I went into an industry like Oil & Gas, I wouldn't be able to live with myself". You have benefited more from that industry than nearly every other. Do your parents drive? Exactly.

Reply 38

maxi365

Original post by xylas

Also, some people may just want a high earning job so as to provide financial security for their family and to give their children/grandchildren a better life.

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Reply 39

xylas

Original post by maxi365

Also, some people may just want a high earning job so as to provide financial security for their family and to give their children/grandchildren a better life.Posted from TSR Mobile

Wrong poster?