Is there any alternative to working for the rest of my life?

[jameswestport]

You can live on very little if you know when to put the work in, where to live and are happy to make a few sacrifices.

Would you recommend putting the work in at a job that I hate. Sitting at a desk all day on laptop but would probably present better opportunities later in life. Or quit and and try and find a job I don't hate as much even if the money/opportunities would be less?

 

[jameswestport]

Probably already been said, but "find a job you enjoy and you'll never have to work a day in your life".

Easier said than done, though.

Has anyone on here found a job that they love? Or is it just a pipe dream?

 

[Uncle C]

The sad reality is that if you have to ask others this question, then you don't have the drive, determination or intelligence required to make it happen.

Do you think Alan Sugar and the like started their fortune by asking others how to do it?

 

[jameswestport]

http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20150827-how-i-quit-my-job-to-travel-the-graphic-designer

Fascinating! Very interesting! Would want to brush up on my English skills

 

[OzMike]

Spend a year in Oz. You might still have to work, but you won't have to work long hours in perpetual darkness and crap weather and rely on shitty unreliable expensive trains. I promise you, it won't even SEEM like work. Do it before you get tied down. You won't regret it.

I still average 50 or so hours a week.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

I still average 50 or so hours a week.

I'll bet you still work to live rather than live to work tho eh?

 

[jameswestport]

I don't have time to read the whole thread right now (ironically enough due to work!!) so it may already have been mentioned. The incoming automation of whole tranches of jobs in the next 10-15 years will be fascinating, or rather scary, for the future of the economy and human leisure time. The whole concept of everyone having a job, or everyone working full time, will simply have to disappear. The jobs just won't exist for humans.

Sounds good to me!

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I still average 50 or so hours a week.

**** that

 

[OzMike]

I'll bet you still work to live rather than live to work tho eh?

That's true, but it seems to be a bit of a trap for the self employed as you never know when it could all stop.
Make hay etc..... without band practice, jamming and weekend gigs, I would probably feel worse about it.

 

[nwgull]

The sad reality is that if you have to ask others this question, then you don't have the drive, determination or intelligence required to make it happen.

Do you think Alan Sugar and the like started their fortune by asking others how to do it?

I disagree with this opinion, strongly. I think that the fact that he has considered this enough to ask the question at the relatively young age of 23 is a good sign. For me, at 23, all I cared about was how much I was earning that year, and I didn't give much thought to the prospect of having to work 5/7ths of my life for the next 42 years. I didn't start questioning the potential to earn enough to retire early until I turned 30, and then started trying to do something about it a year later.

 

[OzMike]

**** that

It could improve once the kids have found their own way, though that would seem to be some distance away.

 

[Trufflehound]

Good question! If only I knew! Try and do whatever makes me happy I guess. Play Fifa .... find a wife..

.

I think you may find these two ambitions are mutually exclusive.

 

[jameswestport]

The sad reality is that if you have to ask others this question, then you don't have the drive, determination or intelligence required to make it happen.

Do you think Alan Sugar and the like started their fortune by asking others how to do it?

We'll see. I always heard it never hurt to ask questions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eb9sHvM2ues

 

[Uncle C]

The jobs just won't exist for humans.

We used to regularly have this discussion and concerns at school 50 years ago. It wont happen in any of your lifetimes.

 

[jameswestport]

I disagree with this opinion, strongly. I think that the fact that he has considered this enough to ask the question at the relatively young age of 23 is a good sign. For me, at 23, all I cared about was how much I was earning that year, and I didn't give much thought to the prospect of having to work 5/7ths of my life for the next 42 years. I didn't start questioning the potential to earn enough to retire early until I turned 30, and then started trying to do something about it a year later.

Cheers NWGull I blame the drugs.

 

[jameswestport]

I think you may find these two ambitions are mutually exclusive.

Haha I think you right!

 

[Bozza]

Watch "How to find and do work you love" by Scott Dinsmore (who tragically died on Kilimanjaro recently)...

 

[jameswestport]

Watch "How to find and do work you love" by Scott Dinsmore (who tragically died on Kilimanjaro recently)...

Will do Bozz

 

[Arthritic Toe]

One trap (or choice) that many people fall into is to constantly stretch themselves financially to get the biggest possible house, best car etc at the cost of having very little disposable income. An alternative may be to live cheaper than you could afford - minimise those outgoings. If you are able to build up enough savings to cover the possibility of being out of work for a few months, you are then able to take on riskier, but potentially higher earning employment - e.g contract work or starting a business etc. Contract/temp work can result in having much more time off than the equivalent salaried job for the same income. Obviously this approach depends on your field of employment/expertise.

 

[Garage_Doors]

Has anyone on here found a job that they love? Or is it just a pipe dream?

I love my job, but then i don't have to do it, which probably makes it attractive.

The other option of course is that you can live on benefits, it won't give you a lavish lifestyle or expensive holidays but it will support you and feed you.