Comments on: How We Managed To Survive Financially After I Left My Corporate Job.

By: Does Your Salary Match Your True Hourly Wage? | My Two Dollars

Does Your Salary Match Your True Hourly Wage? | My Two Dollars — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:31:30 +0000

[...] have no use for more than I need to have a decent lifestyle. And that is one of the major reasons I left my high-paid corporate job 3 years ago – I didn’t want to trade all those hours for dollars anymore. I wanted to make my [...]

By: Kate

Kate — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:42:08 +0000

I am glad you posted your story. I went through the same thing 2 years ago when I left my corporate law job, burnt out, without a clue where I would be heading. 2 years later, i have not gone back to law, but i survive on interest from the money i saved from working my butt off as a lawyer, and from doing odd-jobs online and for friends. I have no intention of ever going back to law nor working for anybody else.
And I am HAPPY. The happiest I have been in a very long time. I make a fraction of the money i used to make, and I dont have a job title, but I have my sanity back, I have my health, and supportive family and friends. Freedom feels wonderful!

By: hank

hank — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 22:58:00 +0000

I would consider it a lot more if I didn’t have the kids to worry about. I am in the mortgage and kids situation where it’s not just my wife and I anymore. I still am considering cooking it up, but it has to be a much less risky strategy and the Work From Home benefits are keeping me around certainly, but bravo to you!

By: Frugal Babe » Archive » Carnival Of Personal Finance #148

Frugal Babe » Archive » Carnival Of Personal Finance #148 — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:55:28 +0000

[...] Little. Lots and lots of good reading to be found. I enjoyed the post from My Two Dollars about surviving financially without a corporate income. Five years ago, I left a corporate job where I was making pretty good money and on a fast track [...]

By: 148th Edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance!

148th Edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance! — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 17:12:58 +0000

[...] Two Dollars presents How We Managed To Survive Financially After I Left My Corporate Job. – David talks about how he left his corporate job, after he felt like it was killing his spirit. [...]

By: Carnival of Personal Finance up at Gather Little By Little | Girls Just Wanna Have Funds

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 13:59:17 +0000

By: david

david — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 00:18:09 +0000

@Funny About Money – Not unless I 110% had to and was down to my last nickel. And I already have a profitable business – the money I make from blogging, writing, editing, graphic design work all has a tiny overhead of internet access and my rent.

@Wess Stewart – My wife doesn’t “let” me do anything…we are partners, not bosses of each other!

By: Weekly Roundup - M-Network Website Edition

Weekly Roundup - M-Network Website Edition — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 21:48:17 +0000

[...] You don’t need a corporate job to survive. David from My Two Dollars shares how he and his wife made the leap away from corporate employment. [...]

By: Wess Stewart

Wess Stewart — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 20:55:22 +0000

I’m glad you’ve been successful. My wife would never let me do that.

By: Funny about Money

Funny about Money — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 17:17:17 +0000

Do you think you would ever go back? I assume that you, like most bloggers, are relatively young…mid-30s? That would leave you plenty of time to re-enter the corporate world. Or, for that matter, to build a profitable business of your own. If you owned a f/t business, would that feel to you like being back in a job situation similar to what you left?

For us old bats, the picture is slightly different. At this time, my concern is whether I can hang on to a decently paid job (not great, but more than good enough for government work, which it is) until I’m 66 (full retirement age) or 70 (the longest I think I can bear it). It’s a year-to-year nonexempt contract, meaning I can be canned at will, for no reason whatsoever. So in the back of my mind I’m always thinking (well, “worrying”) about what I will do if & when that happens.

In some respects, I don’t care. If I were really confident that I could get away with it, I’d give notice today…not because I don’t like the job but because I’m sick of commuting, tired of working and distrust an employer that has treated many of my coworkers in a way most kindly described as “scurrilous.” But a) I’m not convinced that a half-mill in savings will support me for the rest of my life, and b) it darned sure won’t do that unless I sell my home and move someplace lots cheaper, a major upheaval that doesn’t appeal much.

I have very strong editorial skills, but those are neither as marketable nor as well-paid as your technical skills — it’s unlikely I could make enough to supplement retirement income so that I could stay in my home and maintain a middle-class lifestyle. Besides…I can’t expect to keep working into my 80s or 90s.

Two friends are significantly younger but still middle-aged. They hate their jobs. Like me, they’re in academic fields that don’t translate readily to the real world, despite (between the two of them) proven fund-raising skills, supervisory experience, and track records as strong self-starters. At mid-life, it’s not so easy to find a new job in a culture permeated with bias against age.

I think all three of us feel trapped. Only one seriously plans to take a walk, and she has a spouse with a good income and health insurance. The other two of us have quietly made the conscious decision to disconnect psychologically from the workplace, to stay under the administration’s radar, and to do as little work as possible. It would be good to KNOW that we could market our skills on the freelance market for enough to keep the wolf from the door. At least.