jobs that eat up your life, but pay good money

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There are jobs out there that pay good money but don't give you a great quality of life. By that I mean, you work long hours, have to travel, work with scumbags, the job is dangerous, you have no time or energy to do anything else etc. but you make or can make $100K/year from them. I work as a pipefitter in industrial construction, and this job definitely fits the description. The thing is, as an AS guy, I find life very difficult socially and outside of work anyways. I am single, no kids, not much family, etc. and it is lonely and frustrating at times. This leads me to want to change jobs. On the other hand, I can probably retire pretty early in this type of work, and I am becoming more of a loner as I go on adulthood. I am torn on the issue. Sometimes these jobs seem worth it, other times not. I do feel lucky just to be employed though, as I am not a good conversationalist and have not had lots of other job opportunities really.

my advice to you, would be to work and save as much as you can right now, for as long as you can, while investing as much as you can spare into prudent investments. one never knows when sudden [accidental or due to disease] disability will give you a nasty surprise that will put a spanner into the works and you won't be able to make any more money. anybody working in a dangerous job also needs serious disability insurance.

With $100,000 per year you'd have taxes, and if you're frugal you might spend 20,000 of what's left. You might be able to save $50,000 per year. After 15 years or so with investments that pay interest, you could be a millionaire at 41 or so. In any case you're better off having and saving the money than not. If you didn't have the job, what would your social life be like anyway, and do you think your opportunities with women would improve?

I really don't think the actual choices life gives, are portrayed accurately in the movies. The decision to take advantage of an opportunity to save money, while it lasts, is made unilaterally. Would you rather be poor and have no social life too?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Family_Man

My theory about Scrooge is that, if Scrooge were an idealist, he'd have trouble finding someone to marry because he'd have no money. So because he wouldn't be able to marry anyway, he sets out to make money, which is hard to do and involves sacrifices. But then he realizes that social opportunities open up only because he has money, and not for who he is as a person, which makes him bitter, so he takes comfort in at least having the money. There's a paradox in there somewhere.

someones overthinking things a little.

I work in Russia, flying from Australia, month on month off. Socially is hardly ideal, and time away from my Wife and life does not make it easy. But the financial rewards are huge, and allows me to save, invest, and pursue my interests. It is true, money is the key to freedom, but there are the prices of responsibility and sacrifice to get it.

The work suits my AS absolutely, and I love it. My advice is to never knock back an opportunity, and everythig has a price. there is no surprise that the big dollars come from sacrifice, my standard joke is that the big money comes with being either frozen, burnt, or shot at.

Just do it, as the ad says