To think that you can be content working in a poorly paid job

[GandolfBold]

Because BIL thinks you cant, and that I am kidding myself (work as a support worker on just above NMW which I love) if I think I am content.

He said that people may think they are happy, but they would be happier if they earned more money.

As a bit of a back story, all my family work minimum wage-ish jobs, and BIL is quite snobby about it.

I cant be the only one, can I?

YANBU
I stay in a fairly low paid job because of the freedom I have.

It feels like everyone’s talking about slightly different things here.

On my ‘low’ salary I can afford to cover rent, bills, have enough food and even have the occasional meal or night out with friends if I budget carefully. I don’t, however, any any money leftover for savings and when unexpected expenses crop up it can be a bit tricky. I would say I’m pretty happy all things considered, but a bit of extra money would certainly ease some of my worries. However, I’m not struggling to the extent that I would take a less fulfilling job purely because it paid better.

Obviously if by ‘low paid’ we’re talking about struggling to keep the lights on and not being able to eat, then that’s a very different thing. But I got the impression that OP’s brother-in-law was probably thinking of people more like me and would be horrified at the idea that I might be ‘happy’ on 20k and wouldn’t take a highly paid job in, say, banking if one was magically offered to me.

It's interesting you should say that FaFoutis because I have always associated freedom with money. I know that when I was at my most poor I definitely didn't feel free. For instance the family friend I mentioned in a pp who works in a nmw job can't go and visit is family anywhere near as often as he would like because of the train fare. He is a good cook but can't really afford to eat whatever he fancies because it all has to be planned and budgeted for. I suppose it's different if you chose to work pt rather than ft as you would obviously have more time but pt nmw would be truly poverty wages I think.
Maybe I'm just more materialistic than I thought I was!

Indubious I do think there’s a threshold where you don’t really have to think too much about money day-today and I would love to be there again. I used to earn 40k and I wasn’t exactly rolling in it, but (within reason) I could spend money without really thinking about it. If I wanted to pop to M&S and grab some nice food and a bottle of wine on the way home, I could just do that without checking my bank balance first. If I fancied a trip home to see my parents I’d just book a ticket. Now I’m earning much less I can’t do those things without careful budgeting and planning.

The annoying thing is that I never really appreciated it when I had it! I thought I was ‘budgeting’ but I really had no concept of what that meant. I like to think that if I ever earn that much again I’ll know how to manage my finances much better this time around. I bet that’s what everyone says, though!

I earn a lot less than I used to and am much happier at work.

I earn a lot less than I used to and am much happier at work.

Are you reliant on your income alone?

It's not just money that contributes to a good work environment.

It's location, the people you work with, the environment I. E friendly, flexible hours etc. Along with the actual job you are doing of course.

I'm full time but I mainly work from home and I work when I want. That is worth the £20,000 more I would earn in the 'office based' version of my job. The stress comes from dealing with my own procrastination.

If this hasn't been linked to yet, recent research:

www.nature.com/articles/s41562-017-0277-0

It's an interesting read! Satiation point varies according to where you live, which makes sense since $30,000 in some countries goes much further than $100,000 in others.

It goes along with what I'd always heard though, which is that you stop being happier when you have enough to meet basic needs and then buy a comfortable but not jet setting lifestyle.

There's also massive variation in the importance people attribute to more time v more money. Obviously people who have lots of both are much better off than people who have little of either, and it's not necessarily the question of work more, get more money. But to the extent that it is, in that most people earn more if they do more hours I suppose, individual definitions of what constitutes freedom are important.

i've got a low paid job (a small handful below the national average salary) but i have do have a what i regard as a well paid spouse. if both of us were on my salary, it would be fine but we'd have to sell up / adjust ourselves and luckily we arent ones for luxury cars and other class signalling brands/ possessions.

im happy in my lower paid job, very happy in fact!