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So deciding on between applying between two careers. One career I have more interest in, comfortable environment, low stress, great lifestyle, however for the tuition vs income ratio it doesn't make sense. Tuition would be 100-150k for 3 years and income would be starting at 50k to 70k if you are lucky. Now I can get a job right now making 50k that doesn't require a degree lol. Career caps out at 85k or if you are top 10 percent 100k. those are people who have been in the field for awhile probably have some managerial role. I live in a saturated area and cost of living is expensive. Schooling shouldn't be that hard and people even work part time.
The second career has lots of upsides starting is probably at 85k and can cap around 160k. Schooling is only 2 years and tuition is at 90k. The job is high stress, the environment makes me uncomfortable (but I assume if you get more experienced you will be comfortable) has a high learning curve. The future of the profession is positive. The studying is not exactly my greatest interest, but its okay. Schooling is really rough and demanding.
So this is really between a chill life style, low pay or a career with high pay and great future outlook. From your experience after working a job and such, which is more important? Some people say if you do what you like money will come while for me its do what pays the most and do what you love on your spare time. Which school of thought do you agree with?
You've given some pretty extreme differences in pay, lifestyle, and cost to get in. So it's pretty hard to say from just that information. IE is the extra stress worth the trade for the double/triple pay is seems one job has?
For me, had the stress, don't need the stress, though the pay wasn't that extreme either.
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Originally Posted by goingbald42
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So this is really between a chill life style, low pay or a career with high pay and great future outlook. From your experience after working a job and such, which is more important? Some people say if you do what you like money will come while for me its do what pays the most and do what you love on your spare time. Which school of thought do you agree with?
Here's the real kicker. If you pick the high stress/high pay job, will you have spare time to do what you love or will you be so exhausted you spend it collapsed in front of the TV?
I know, it is practically between chill lifestyle low pay vs good money but high stress.
#2 sounds like PA. That is a competitive field to get into and is NOT as simple as '2 years of school'.
It sounds like you are quite young. I would get life experience and figure out how much money you need.
Be careful not to base your idea of low pay and high pay on some Payscale.com or US News chart. There's a woman at my office who does admin work and probably makes around 40K. The top paid person at my company probably makes somewhere ~200K. Both are married and have kids. Their lifestyles (except for one having a bigger house in a nicer area) are probably more similar than you would think. Do you need that bigger house/McMansion in the rich neighborhood? If you do, then be a doctor or dentist.
If you can get a 50K job right now, then why don't you scoop that up and start figuring how much it costs to live? That's what I would recommend.
Regardless, the absolute worst thing you can do is pick a career based on salary ranges from Payscale. Trust me on that.
So deciding on between applying between two careers. One career I have more interest in, comfortable environment, low stress, great lifestyle, however for the tuition vs income ratio it doesn't make sense. Tuition would be 100-150k for 3 years and income would be starting at 50k to 70k if you are lucky. Now I can get a job right now making 50k that doesn't require a degree lol. Career caps out at 85k or if you are top 10 percent 100k. those are people who have been in the field for awhile probably have some managerial role. I live in a saturated area and cost of living is expensive. Schooling shouldn't be that hard and people even work part time.
The second career has lots of upsides starting is probably at 85k and can cap around 160k. Schooling is only 2 years and tuition is at 90k. The job is high stress, the environment makes me uncomfortable (but I assume if you get more experienced you will be comfortable) has a high learning curve. The future of the profession is positive. The studying is not exactly my greatest interest, but its okay. Schooling is really rough and demanding.
So this is really between a chill life style, low pay or a career with high pay and great future outlook. From your experience after working a job and such, which is more important? Some people say if you do what you like money will come while for me its do what pays the most and do what you love on your spare time. Which school of thought do you agree with?
Or option C, find something that pays better yet still has a good/work life balance. Life is hardly ever boiled down to A or B, go seek out C.
This will depend a lot on individual circumstances and risk level. I am trying to do something of a hybrid by squirreling enough money away so that I can retire early and spend several days a week volunteering at the Human Society. I can only volunteer there one day a week now, but I absolutely love it. They recently offered me a paid position but as of now I can't afford the pay cut.
Also keep in mind not all expenses are foreseen. My early retirement will likely have to be postponed since this weekend I learned I will have to start paying about $350 / month for my mother to receive medication assistance in independent living. Glad I didn't take the Humane Society job now - I don't know what I would have done.
Are you planning on taking out that grad school tuition as student loans? And your goal is to have a low stress job that pays well vs. extreme interest in these prospective grad school subject areas?
I'd stop right there. There are plenty of careers that will get you 100k+ with no grad school degrees - with varying stress levels. Go get a job, save yourself the grad school debt, invest early and wisely...
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