Question Wednesday

It’s Wednesday, which means it’s time to ask those meaningful financial questions.

Today’s question is inspired by a recent Harvard Business Review article: 9 Out of 10 People Are Willing to Earn Less Money to Do More-Meaningful Work (and no, the question is not about why there is a hyphen between “more” and “meaningful”):

On average, our pool of American workers said they’d be willing to forego 23% of their entire future lifetime earnings in order to have a job that was always meaningful.

Twenty-three percent of your earnings is a lot, and I’m not sure that a job that’s always meaningful even exists. Every job has its scut work, and even the best jobs have their days when you’re like “awwww, I can’t believe I have to do this task I usually love again, all I want to do is sit on my couch and eat leftover Halloween candy.”

But it’s worth asking yourself:

• Would you take a pay cut to get out of a terrible job? (Yes, and I’ve done this.)
• Would you take a pay cut to get out of a job that was no longer fulfilling, or would you hold out for a position that offered more pay? (This is more complicated.)
• Would you take a pay cut to go from a good job to a dream job? (IT DEPENDS ON THE JOB AND THE MONEY AND OTHER FACTORS LIKE THE COMMUTE, OKAY?)

Discuss — or ask your own questions — in the comments.

Photo by Manasvita S (cropped) on Unsplash.

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