AllyS

As a footnote to my Canniversary thread, I am in a bit of dilemma.

Living in Calgary is expensive (not as much as Vancouver), but in order to keep the coffers healthy I am doing something I absolutely hate. I would LOVE to be back working in Science again, but it pays about HALF what I currently earn.

Just not sure what to do, as I know I can get work in science again and pursue a funded PhD, but it will mean our income is drastically reduced because of such a move.

Any advice welcome.....

Almost Canadian

You need to decide want you want: money and being unhappy or happiness with little money

scrubbedexpat091

Sometimes its better to make less and be happy.

Best job I ever had that made me happy and look forward to, was also the lowest paying. I left a job making almost double, but the higher paying job was making me miserable.

AllyS

its sickening really because we could pay off our mortgage in about 5 yrs if I bricked it.

JonboyE

I agree.

To condense thousands of years of Buddhist teachings into a sentence: happiness is not about having more, it is about wanting less. Make a log for a month of all the things you spend money on. How much was absolutely necessary? How much was discretionary. If you are doing stimulating and fulfilling work you will probably find that you can cut out 90% of the discretionary stuff without noticeably affecting your quality of life.

AllyS

thanks so much for your responses.... will be mulling your comments over.

I have been cobbling together a science resume, and have set up talks with some scientists at the company I work at. It is encouraging what I have gleaned so far, but I was also able to find out (because of what I currently do) the charge out $rates of a range of grades of scientist and that wasn't so encourgaging. Even a senior scientist (15 yrs experience) doesn't earn as much as I do.

ann m

Could you downsize and release some cash for a decent "rainy day" pot (taking into account potential realtor fees of course). If you had some pocket money, you might not feel that you were having to do without all the time, and that you could occasionally splurge if you really wanted to...

And having a shiny new and stimulating job might be all the tonic you need.

Good luck.

AllyS

There is also the small matter of my parents being financially dependent upon us which has to be taken into consideration.

Novocastrian

Well yes, that is a bit of a wrinkle. But leaving that aside, may I ask two questions? What scientific field and how old are you?

AllyS

Geologist and approaching middle age

AnneMarieC

To play devil's advocate ... whilst yes it is indeed a better quality of life when what you're working on gives you pleasure, satisfaction and selfworth ... if all you're talking about is 5 years in order to gain the financial freedom of being mortgage free could it indeed be worth waiting just that little bit longer in order to attain it? Then its a cake and eating it situation, no? If it was longer than 5 yrs then I'd say its not worth it to wait, but 5 years goes by very quickly and there's a lot of plusses to just hanging in there and then after that final payment the bottle of champagne is for being beholden to no bank and also shedding the shackles of your current employment hell.

Just to play the other card

Novocastrian

Geologist is clear enough and I would think a field which is in demand, especially in your part of the country.

"Approaching middle age", is OTOH somewhat vague. I think I'm approaching middle age but I'll retire in a couple of years: I expect your POV is different.

AllyS

AnneMarieC - funny you should suggest that, as thats what I mentioned to my hubby yesterday as another possibility. I guess what concerns me is that the longer I wait to do this, a) I'll be even more middle aged, and b) the more time will have elapsed since I did my MSc and not be up-to-date with current scientific analytical techniques etc., etc., or any of that stuff.

Former Lancastrian

There are lots of middle aged geologists working in the Red Lake/Balmertown area of Northern Ontario and probably lots of others in the NWT and Nunavut areas.

AllyS

As luck would have it, and by pure chance, this job has put me in contact with one of the World leading experts in the field of Geology I am interested in. I emailed him just a few moments ago! God knows what will come of it, but my fingers are crossed.....