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Comment by IceMetalPunk | Hacker News Reader

So I've heard. But I don't really care. I'm single. My current salary is enough to pay my mortgage, all my bills, all my student loans, my food bill, etc. and still have enough to not only save, but donate. I give a minimum of $1,200 to St. Jude's every year, plus assorted charities and even random Twitch streamers who make music if I like what they do and they seem like decent people. In other words, despite everyone saying "you should try to get more money!", I'm currently making enough that I'm literally giving large amounts of it away to people who need it more than me.

TL;DR: I don't care about making "as much money as possible". I only care about making enough money to survive comfortably and help others when I can, which I'm already doing. In fact, I'm currently working towards switching careers, and in the process I'm more than willing to take a pay cut if the new job is more fulfilling; I can afford to.

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I'd never fault someone for being content, and if there's a specific tradeoff you're making for that paycut, then more power to you

But otherwise- there's a difference between "trying to make as much money as possible" and "keeping a casual eye out to see if you could be making more money doing roughly the same thing you're already doing". Imagine if you could give twice as much to St. Jude's, or pay off your student loans completely, or both. There's a huge gap between being greedy and letting money rule your life, vs not giving it the slightest attention. It's worth putting in the baseline effort, especially if you're not having to sacrifice any of your other life priorities in the process.

Oh, sure. But that's the big caveat, isn't it? "If you're not having to sacrifice any of your other life priorities in the process." If attempting to go for the bigger paycheck leads to unemployment, then I won't be able to survive myself, let alone help others. Everything is a risk-reward analysis, but such an analysis requires an understanding of how likely each outcome is. If chasing the dollars is more likely to lead me to fewer opportunities, then it's not worth doing.

There should be no risk, though. Don't quit your job, just look around while you're still employed. Put in your notice if/when you accept another offer

The risk I'm concerned about isn't that my current employer will fire me. It's that if I switch to another job, I might not last long at the new employer.

That said, I'm doing the job switch thing anyway; not to get more money, but because I've grown to hate my career and am hoping to switch into a more creatively fulfilling one. If I can find such a job with a larger paycheck, of course I'll take it; but I'm also willing to take such a job with a pay cut if that's what's available to me in the new industry.

Fair enough, best of luck

Thanks! Good luck to you, too, in whatever endeavors are on your plate these days.

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