Frugality Magazine - Frugal Living Tips for Financial Freedom

Why I Accepted A Job I Hate (And Why I’m Still There Now)

I may have a degree in biology but what nobody told me before I graduated was that:

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  • Jobs involving biology degrees are few and far between
  • If you want one, you’ll probably need a further degree and will therefore have even more student debt as a result
  • Even the people who do land those jobs don’t get paid very much
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So I left university, fresh-faced and eager to land my dream job, only to discover I’d been heading down the wrong path for the last few years. Oh sure, I’d had a blast. I’d grown up a lot. I’d met loads of new people and had plenty of fantastic experiences.

But career-wise I was clean out of luck. What to do?

As it was, I’d met a girl at university and we were keen to move in together. She wanted to stay near her family while I was rather more adventurous so I moved away from my family and we started looking for work.

To make ends meet I found a job in a pet store, though at the time I only really expected it to be a stop-gap.

Sadly, I hadn’t realized that you can very quickly get typecast when it comes to careers. After a couple of years there, recruiters saw me more as a store manager than a scientist.

So, over the years I moved from one company to another, taking on ever bigger stores and greater responsibilities, but on the whole enjoying myself even if I wasn’t feeling intellectually stimulated.

But working in retail doesn’t pay too well on the whole. My student debt was still looming. My credit card bills were growing. And my overdraft was reaching it’s limit. Over time, as my debt grew – and with them my monthly repayments – I started to feel the squeeze.

Something had to change.

Which is when a certain job – the one mentioned in the title of this article – reared it’s head.

The question was really how I could use my existing skills and experiences to try and land the most highly-paid job around in order to get out of debt once and for all.

After all, once I was debt-free I could always bow out of the highly-paid yet high pressure job and go back to an easier, more relaxed way of life in a role I enjoyed. All I needed, really, was to earn some serious coin for a few years to get myself back on an even keel.

So I bit the bullet and applied for the most highly paid retail job I could realistically land – as a manager for a supermarket. In doing so I increased my income by about 40% overnight, but all this money came at a price.

Several times during the recruitment and induction phase I nearly gave up. As time went on and I found out more and more about the job I was taking on I was less and less enthused.

We’re talking long hours (50+ per week) and a very physical role which meant I’d pretty much be tired all the time. Crazy shifts starting as early as 4 am and finishing as late as midnight meaning even less sleep and even more disruption to my lifestyle.

We’re talking working every weekend, every back holiday and the only guaranteed day off each year being Christmas day. The rest had to be requested, earned, negotiated and prayed for.

So that’s where I was. No time or energy for socializing. Five days a week totally blocked off with 12 hour shifts. Even having the time and energy to check my emails is a struggle some evenings. Constant stress and unreasonable expectations from the company. It’s not pretty and I wouldn’t recommend it.

But it does pay well – and that’s what I wanted it for. Over the last few years I’ve landed several pay rises without any noticeable increase in my responsibilities or workload and I’ve worked hard to put as much of my salary into debt repayments as possible.

Now, thanks to this job, I’m now debt free.

It hasn’t been a pleasant journey but I’ve achieved the goal I was aiming for – even if I feel I’ve missed out personally from all the work.

So I could, in all honesty, quit the job I hate so much tomorrow and go back to an easier and more pleasant life. I could boost my energy levels, I could restart my social life and I could wrestle a few weekends off again.

Yet oddly, bearing in mind how much I claim to hate my job, I’m not doing that.

But why?

The answer is the wonderful world of financial independence. During the process of paying off my debts and sticking with a job that I find so distasteful, I have read a lot of books, subscribed to a lot of forums and discovered the concept of financial independence or early retirement or financial freedom – whichever title floats your boat.

The thing is that the concept of financial independence so thrilling (yet believable) to me that I find myself in something of a quandry. You see, if I quit my job and go back to my easier way of life, my earnings will also drop considerably. Yes I’ll be more relaxed, probably enjoy life far more and have more time to focus on my passions.

But the dream of FI, at least in the near term, vanishes.

What I need is essentially a nest egg that I can invest. And that’s exactly what I’m trying to build up right now. So I’m sucking it up and planning for one more year of the job I hate so much. Too much longer and I think I’ll go mad. But one more year – I should be able to cope with that.

Then, with some decent savings under my belt, I’m ready to take the next step towards FI. What will that be? What’s the plan? Well that’s a story for another day. So if you’re interested in following the journey, make sure you subscribe so you can see my plan unfold in real time.

Have you ever had a job you hated? What kept you there? What sacrifices have you made to achieve a stronger financial life? Please leave your experiences in the comments below…

Sometimes when you want to be frugal and take control over your finances you need to make some tough calls. One that I took was accepting a job I hate. Read on to discover exactly why I did it, and what I gained from such a seemingly crazy idea! #thrifty #frugal

Richard

Sun-worshipper and obsessive frugality blogger. For loads more money-saving advice come and join us on Facebook.

10 comments

  • Hats off to you Richard for sticking it out at a job which sounds like a hard slog. I totally get the reasons you’re sticking with it for another year. Just be careful though that extra year doesn’t turn into two or five! Time is too precious!

    For me personally, I’ve been there – stuck at a job I hated for seven years. The pay was excellent. My mental health and wellbeing was not. I’ve paid more debt off this last year on half the salary I used to earn oddly enough. I just think the timing wasn’t right for me back then.

    I wouldn’t compromise my time like that again, but I do get why you’re deciding to stick it out.

    • Thanks for the support Hayley! You’re right about time slipping away – I know a number of people who considered my current company a “stopgap” and are still there years later. I think the salary just tempts people into lifestyle inflation and overspending that they struggle to imagine life without after a while.

      I feel fortunate that I have a “plan” which I hope will keep me there for a limited time only.

      Interesting how you’ve increased your debt repayments on a lower salary – I’d love to see an article over at A Disease Called Debt explaining this further – it sounds fascinating 🙂

  • I have had some really lousy jobs, including one that I got up and left after only 2 hours (after it literally caused me to regurgitate my breakfast).
    After having increased my own pay some 45% over a 10 year period, and also found that my expenditures increased (although part of that was due to the addition of 4 kiddos to our family). Having the kids is something I wouldn’t change no matter what, but the unnecessary expenditures I allowed are something I’d try to avoid).

    • Chris – isn’t it “funny” how our expenses increase over time with the income we receive?! We managed just fine years ago with what we earned but as our income increases, so do our needs – or at least our “wants” 😉

  • I’ve never hated my job but I do work long hours with no additional pay. I’m trying to manage this better because it really grinds you down.

    I really admire that you’ve got yourself to the position of no debt. Does that include mortgage debt and how long did it take you, if you don’t mind me asking?

    • It’s shocking just how many companies unofficially “expect” you to work overtime with no additional pay. An honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work I say!

      As for the debt free aspect; I currently rent rather than owning a home – though this may change soon.

      This aside it took me around 4 years of serious work to pay off all the various debts I had accrued. It’s funny that I spent years *wanting* to pay off my debt but when I really made it my focus it was far quicker and easier than I’d expected.

  • Stephanie says:

    I could have written the title of the article myself! I wanted to change careers but found myself choosing to continue to work in a job that pays well in the hope that I won’t have to work as long. The benefits of my job are great – they contribute 10% of my base salary (tax free) to my 401K which allows me to save 8K over and above the IRS limit of 17500. I wouldn’t have that if I started working for myself, so I’m sucking it up. I keep telling myself it’s the grown up thing to do. But, it is a choice and it’s one I’m glad to be able to make, frankly.