Would you rather have an interesting job that was badly paid or a boring job that was paid very well?

[malificent7]

When I was young I went for the "interesting" worthwhile jobs like teaching/now NHS. Now I am older I wish I had gone into something that paid a lot better like accounting etc.
My interesting job is the average uk wage and tbh honest is not that interesting day in day out and the environment is toxic. Id rather be loaded. Anyone else feel the same?

I think we find jobs boring because they don't challenge us so the answer is going for a job that's a stretch and is better paid! So I'm going to say I want both!

I’ve always done jobs that are worthwhile and help others. I’d like them to pay better than they do but I made a decision to prioritise my values, passion and social responsibility over money.

There was a point where I had to make a specific and conscious choice of which way I went and I’m glad of the path I chose.

I work in education. I'm a HLTA and I work with SEN children. I definitely don't do it for the money 😂 but I love my job and I love the children I work with.
DH and DS both work in office jobs and earn so much more than I do. The thought of sitting down all day staring at a screen bores me.
I'm still waiting to win the lottery though!

Boring and well paid. Stressing over money is no fun. Spending money on hobbies and holidays is very fun.

I have a really interesting poorly paid job, i would much prefer to be bored with disposable income.

This is a bit like being asked if you'd rather be deaf or blind! Neither! An interesting enough job that is well paid enough that you can afford to have a decent standard of living, surely?

Similar and also on about UK average. All jobs get a bit tedious at least some of the time, but I just don't think I could stand to do a job that demanded thinking about but was boring. I could do all manner of jobs that didn't need thinking about. I think I'd enjoy driving around all day for example. But an accountant or something like that that really demanded attention to something I really didn't want to do - I just don't think I could hack it so I wouldn't end up well off after all. I worry mostly though, because dd is even worse and I cannot see how on earth she is ever going to be financially independent in her chosen path. I find myself wanting to steer her to more financially stable options - and wishing I had more money to help her. I do wish I had considered money more - thought more about savings, pension, that sort of thing.

I work self employed and sporadically now as we both early retired with public health pensions. It would have been hard to have given up a really well paid job. It was easier to give up a middle paid job. I do enjoy a simpler life and living on less is doable. I love my freedom more than what I can earn. I am not sure I could have retired early knowing my potential future earnings would have been mega bucks! Knowing I was never going to earn mega bucks in my job made it easier.

This is the debate my husband and I are having. At the moment he is applying for jobs and could do a 3 day week in an area he find tedious or, for the same money, a five day job in an area he finds rewarding…… he wants the full time job. I think he’s mad 🙄

I'd go for the high salary every time.

I work to live, not live to work. What happens in the 35 hours a week I'm working is far less important to me than the other 130 odd hours that week!

I left teaching for a similarly paid but quite boring role.
With flexible hours, mainly remote and nothing to bring home and work that is simply over when I finish it it’s just a different life. Teaching was not only stressful when there, it was the never ending aspect, always more you could be doing.
I miss the actual work with children, but I couldn’t do it to my own children again and go back. I’m present and I have a life now, and I want to live it. It’s a shame, I’d like to have the stimulation and fun of teaching. It’s just not livable.

I'm a paramedic, been in the nhs in some form since 18, 44 now.

If i had done something lucrative I'd now be able to comfortably switch to a dream job (garden designer), or consider early retirement but instead I'm just facing another 24 years of NHS and it sucks.

I will be certainly be discussing, with DD , the merits of a high salary less appealing job combined with good financial and future planning as a valid career choice.

I'm a (secondary) teacher and I probably like my job as much as any teacher in England can realistically expect to. I still enjoy teaching after 30 years and my school has very minimal behaviour issues, great colleagues and only intermittently difficult SLT. The only real problem is the workload, but it's a big problem!

If there were a really boring job with a significantly lower workload that I could walk into at 53 and which would pay me a lot more than my UPS3 + Head of subject salary, I would certainly be very tempted, but I don't think such a job exists, especially where I live (rural-ish NW)!

I like my job, but I'm not sure how long the full time workload will be doable tbh. Dh quit teaching 3 years ago but took a salary cut.

Boring and well paid 💯💯💯. Being poor is no fun!

I'm trying to make sure my daughter understands that💝

Being poor must be pretty boring anyway, so I'd rather boring and well paid.

My job is boring but well paid, some days it’s soul destroying and I find myself day dreaming about doing something more interesting but I have a lot of flexibility and a great team plus I wouldn’t want to earn less so I trudge on (and book holidays to lessen the boredom).

I fantasise daily about two things:

• My preferred job (minimum wage, shit hours, working on Christmas Day etc)
• Early retirement

Can you tell I picked a well paid corporate job!?

It is at least very interesting and related to my wider interests most of the time. It's just that I don't enjoy office work.

Then I remember working outside in a field in the freezing cold probably isn't fun either and if work was supposed to be truly enjoyable, noone would need to be paid increasing amounts to do it.

The way I see it, I am paid X for Y hours of my time. During that time I'll do what my employer wants, to the best standard I can. More money means less hours or an earlier retirement. The higher pay means I'm buying freedom.

I used to do boring and well paid. (People made up for it.)

Then I stopped working after having dc2, went back to work in a very low paid but interesting and worthwhile job part time. Dc2 is now secondary age and logic suggests I should now go back to full time dull but well paid roles, but I don’t really want to and it’s been too long to just go back to what I was doing before and are looking at a restart.

I recognise I am very very lucky that dh has found a job that’s relatively well paid but interesting to him so he can cover me earning next to nowt and us having a good lifestyle.

I guess the key is to find a job that is boring, well paid AND has a decent annual leave policy!

Depends on life stage.

I instinctively go for the interesting but badly paid jobs but at the moment I have large outgoings and have to prioritise money.

The older I get the more I realise how important money is. Doing an incredibly important and interesting job is wonderful but if you are on the bones of your arse you are so limited in other aspects of your life.

I am looking forward to a time when I am no longer constantly on the hook for money to support my daughter and can then be a bit more selfish about how I want to work.

I also work as a support member of staff in a school- it’s not well paid or glamorous!! BUT I work in a fabulous team and really enjoy my time with the students.

On a separate note I’m lucky that my husband earns a good salary so my wages are mostly ‘fun money’ but I don’t think anyone feels fulfilled if they work really hard but cannot enjoy their time outside of work. We all want to have fun, spent time doing our hobbies and buy the occasional treat. There’s nothing immoral in that, at least in my opinion x

Interesting but badly paid, which is why I've worked in welfare rights for 18 years.

I've had well-paid but boring jobs, and they sucked the life out of me to the point where the money became irrelevant.

I have a boring but well paid job. Every few years I get so bored I start looking to change but after I've had a few interviews it puts in to perspective how good I have it where I currently am and I have yet to find a job that will tempt me away from the current one. I am a single parent so I do feel like I have to earn more to be able to give my son the same quality of life that his friends have. If we were a two income household I think I would feel differently but for now money has to be a priority.

Boring, definitely.

I'd be more than happy to have a job where every day was the same - emails, phone calls, data inputting, spreadsheets and every morning you knew exactly what the day would hold.