302-Q&A: I Make $200k/yr. and I'm 30 Years Old and Single. And I'm Miserable. Please Help!

Radical Personal Finance

Joshua J. Sheats, MSFS, CFP, CLU, ChFC, CASL, RHU, REBC, CAP

Finance, Retirement, Insurance, Business, Money, Education, Self-improvement, Financial, Independence, Growth, Advice, Investing, Family, Personal, Radical, Christian, Faith

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 2 March 2016

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today on the show we answer this question:

"Hey Joshua,

"I'm a fairly new listener and have been going through some of your older podcasts to absorb as much info as possible. I think you could potentially provide some good advice that I'd love to hear answered in an upcoming podcast if possible...

"Since discovering your podcast I've completely changed my thoughts on savings and consumption. I've always lived pretty frugally (I thought) but it turns out I was making poor decisions all along. I bought a house last year thinking that was a fool proof way to hang on to my money. I only just ran the numbers this month since I've discovered your podcasts on homeownership, and I've discovered I would have been much better off renting. I've also cut my cell phone bill in half (still $70/month though) and cut back on my weekend golf habit which I was spending about $200/month on. In place of that I've decided to train for a triathlon which is free since I already have a decent road bike. So thank you for all those tips on saving! I'm continuing to find ways to save.

"My situation that I'd like your advice on is my current job. I'm an engineer making just south of $200,000/year. I'm working at a nuclear power plant in the middle of no where in Georgia. The closest town is Augusta which is still a 50+ minute commute each way (I'm single, 30 years old, and living in a trailer in the woods near the plant wouldn't going to help that situation). I'm working 50 hours/week plus the commute and 30 minute unpaid lunch break. My entire week is consumed by work and travel to work. This is a paperwork heavy desk job which brings me zero fulfillment. I would love to quit and chase short term seasonal outage work but my dividend/investment income isn't nearly enough to live off and I can't justify turning down this kind of steady income stream. I'm miserable but well paid. I'm afraid that if I quit, my experience level isn't enough to land me the highly sought after seasonal work I'd be trying to get. I believe you were likely in a similar pay scale when you quit your job and since your situation was similar to mine is I'd like your advice as to how to get more enjoyment out of life and work.

"Love the podcast!"

Enjoy the show!

Joshua

Get a $100 bonus when you open an account at TradeKing: www.tradeking.com/radical
Support Radical Personal Finance on Patreon! www.radicalpersonalfinance.com/patron

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Today in Radical Personal Finance we answer a listener question goes like this.
0:05.0	Joshua, I'm making $200,000 a year and I'm miserable.
0:11.7	Can you help me build a plan to escape? Welcome to the Radical Personal Finance Podcast. My name is Joshua Sheets. I'm your host. I'm your escape artist architect trying to help you design a plan to live a rich life now while also building a plan for
0:44.7	complete financial freedom in 10 years or less.
0:48.3	I've gotten a little bit away from doing Q&A on the show.
0:50.5	I love doing it and today we're bringing it back with a doozy of a question.
1:07.0	Question goes basically like this. Listen to write in, we're going to call this listener, Brian, Brian says, Josh, I'm a fairly new listener and I've been going
1:10.4	through some of your older podcasts to absorb as much info as possible.
1:14.4	I think that you could potentially provide some good advice that I'd love to hear answered in an upcoming
1:18.7	podcast if possible.
1:20.6	Since discovering your show, I've completely changed my thoughts on savings and consumption.
1:24.5	I've always lived pretty frugally I thought but it turns out I was making poor decisions all along.
1:30.0	I bought a house last year thinking that was a foolproof way to hang on to my money.
1:34.0	I only just ran the numbers this month since I've discovered your podcasts on home ownership
1:38.8	and I've discovered that I would have been much better off renting.
1:42.0	I've also cut my cell phone bill in half and I've cut
1:44.7	back on my weekend golf habit which I was spending about $200 a month on. In place of that I've
1:49.4	decided to train for a triathlon which is free since I already have a decent road bike.
1:53.3	Brian be careful the entrance fees on those triathlons are huge or they can be if you're going to
1:57.8	Iron Man. So thank you for all those tips on savings. I'm continuing to find ways to
2:01.5	save. My situation that I'd like your advice on is my current job. I'm an engineer making just south of $200,000 a year. I'm working at a nuclear power plant in the middle of nowhere, Georgia. The closest town is Augusta, which is still a 50-plus minute commute each way.
2:16.2	I'm single, 30 years old, and living in a trailer in the woods near the plant wouldn't help that situation.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Joshua J. Sheats, MSFS, CFP, CLU, ChFC, CASL, RHU, REBC, CAP, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Joshua J. Sheats, MSFS, CFP, CLU, ChFC, CASL, RHU, REBC, CAP and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.