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I'm 30 and ever since I started working, I have always placed a very high priority on investing as much of my paycheck as I can for retirement. I readily admit that if a couple million dollars suddenly landed on me and I was at work when it happened, I would immediately run out the door and never look back. I wouldn't even bother saying goodbye or telling them I quit. I would just leave. That is how I have felt about all of my jobs. I am only there for the money. Deep down, I could really care less about the work I do or the people I work with. Sure I pretend to be enthusiastic about my job and I'm polite to my coworkers, but really the only reason why is so I will continue to be paid. Yep, my goal is to retire as early as possible (I'm aiming for age 50), and then I'll forget everything about the working world. Good riddance.
I always worked for money, but I was fortunate to find a career with lots of satisfaction, where I could make a difference, accomplish something worthwhile for others and which was something I could enjoy at least some of the time, if not most of the time.
At 30 if you are unhappy with your job and career, you should consider a change.
I hated working but stuck with it for 25 years and was able to get out at age 47. Then, I became a stripper and LOVED what I was doing. Did that for 10 years until back surgery put a screaming halt to it. I actually had withdrawls - was all depressed for about 2 years because I missed it so much. So in one sense, you are fortunate to have a job you don't care about. you won't miss it
Yes, find something that you get some satisfaction from doing in some way because you probably have about 30 years more of doing it, give or take, & you'll probably have children that will also have to be accommodated for in your plans. Also those 30 years will probably have it's share of bad bosses, really annoying coworkers, bad working conditions, loss of employment & other things that you can't predict or change & it truly helps when you are engaged in your career.
I'm 30 and ever since I started working, I have always placed a very high priority on investing as much of my paycheck as I can for retirement. I readily admit that if a couple million dollars suddenly landed on me and I was at work when it happened, I would immediately run out the door and never look back. I wouldn't even bother saying goodbye or telling them I quit. I would just leave. That is how I have felt about all of my jobs. I am only there for the money. Deep down, I could really care less about the work I do or the people I work with. Sure I pretend to be enthusiastic about my job and I'm polite to my coworkers, but really the only reason why is so I will continue to be paid. Yep, my goal is to retire as early as possible (I'm aiming for age 50), and then I'll forget everything about the working world. Good riddance.
I feel sorry for you; your toxic attitude, or perhaps the toxic conditions which created the attitude, can't be good for you health-wise.
As for your thread title question "Do you miss working at all?", the answer is no. But the reason I don't miss it is because I am still doing it at age 71 - if this weren't the case I think I would probably miss it quite a bit. Actually the situation is more nuanced:
I retired from my career as a high school teacher ten years ago at age 61 after working full-time for 34 years. Within months I was asked back to do some special projects - running the standardized testing programs for the high school (state-required testing, high school exit exam testing, and the annual testing of limited English proficient students). None of the assignments lasted more than three weeks and after a few years, when I tired of them, I gave them up. But I had continued, as a volunteer, to run a middle school lunch-time chess club in the school district which I didn't tire of.
A little over five years ago the school district asked if I would volunteer to read aloud in elementary schools; I chose fifth grade and agreed to try it for the remainder of the school year. I found I enjoyed it tremendously, so I continued with that, took on a second fifth grade class at the same school, then expanded into another school where I read first the two fifth grade classes and the following year to all four of the fifth grade classes. I did lunch-time chess at the two elementary schools and expanded that to a second middle school.
Immediately following retirement 10 years ago, I was also asked to teach chess in a summer school enrichment program to third through eighth graders. While this was paid employment (for five weeks) it was so much fun it felt like I was cheating getting paid. I am looking forward to beginning my eleventh year in a row in that summer school.
I count it as my immense good fortune to have stumbled almost by accident onto these (mostly) volunteer activities which are so gratifying. Although I "work" less than half as many hours as I did when working full-time, and although I "work" three or four days a week instead of five, it feels like I never left my career in education. Plus there is no stress and no on-going responsibility, other than to show up when scheduled. It is the best of both worlds.
Last edited by Escort Rider; 05-25-2015 at 10:56 AM..
I retired in April 2014. Worked at the same large company for 21 years. If I look back at my job five years previous to my leaving, yes I do miss it somewhat. The job was interesting and sometimes a bit fun, pay and benefits were good, most people on my team had been doing the job for several years, everyone got along very well and management was pretty much hands off. They respected that we knew what we were doing and just left us alone to do it.
Then it was decided to move us to a new division. New VP and new Director, both of who were control freaks and out to make a name for themselves. Suddenly our experience meant nothing, we had no input on anything. Procedures were changed, changed back when that didn't work and then changed again. Productivity fell as there seemed to always be confusion, which meant that of course, people were being written up for poor productivity. We were suddenly bad employees who could not even be trusted to properly take our lunch times or break times without constant supervision.
Three of us retired at the same time and one year later there are 4 people left out of the 18 who were there when I left. Even the manager took a demotion to go to another department.
Do I miss that? I wake up every day feeling grateful that I was lucky enough to get over the wall!!!
I don't miss working per se, I do miss the feeling of respect that I got from my managers and co-workers who appreciated my knowledge and experience in my field. I enjoyed when I was asked to join a team because I had background information or skills that they needed. In retirement so few people know of my work life and it's frustrating to have others start to lecture me with false information about my own area of expertise. At this point in my life I am not interested in arguing with anyone, and I don't think I would be changing their minds anyway.
I do miss my work friends, many of whom I worked closely with for over 20 years. They were closer to me than my own brothers and now we live too far away to visit.
................ So in one sense, you are fortunate to have a job you don't care about. You won't miss it
What a great point! That's a surprising upside that hadn't occurred to me. On the whole, however, I'd prefer to enjoy my work.
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