- Joined
- Jan 12, 2005
- Messages
- 23,580
- Reaction score
- 12,388
- Location
- New Mexico
- Gender
- Female
- Political Leaning
- Independent
I made exactly that choice several years ago. I chose knowledge. I gave up my lucrative corporate career to get back into academics, making about 1/10th what I was making. I would give up even more than that. Money, in a very real sense, complicates and confuses people like nothing else. A certain amount is necessary for basic survival plus a little more. But most people will do things they know to be wrong and invent all sorts of justifications for doing so, to get more money than they need. It's a very strange thing.
I did the same giving up a near six-figure income working for the other guy to go back into business for myself earning a fraction of what I was earning before, and I was a whole lot happier. BUT. . . .I will still earning enough to cover all the basic necessities--food, clothing, shelter, transportation, maintenance, etc. plus a few nice wants. Had we returned to a life where you had to juggle payments for necessities, do without, worry about whether you would cover the rent or mortgage coming up, etc. it would not have been as happy an experience.
Nobody need despise the rich or the poor, but given a choice between the two, rich is almost always better.