is work realy worth it?

I do a worthwhile job (care), which gives me a sense of pride/worth, but the pittance I'm paid nowhere near reflects the many ridiculous/dangerous situations I've had to deal with over the years (tackling knife wielding teenagers etc). Luckily I'm very good at (and enjoy) living economically

I started in 1999 with my life savings, a grand total of £14,000 !!!
In my first year my turnover was almost £800,000 and never dropped below £1.3m since then, peaking at £2.5m when I took over a failing Nissan dealership a few years ago.
I was always very strict though, I took as little out as I needed and put everything back into the pot to make the business grow.
I never borrowed anything, the business has been self funding from day one and has always owned all it's stock outright, simply from re-investment and growth.
This has meant in the lean times I have had no re-payments to make, which have put a lot of competitors out of business.
The recession has slowed things down a lot - I probably won't see £1m this year for first time since year one !
So I have reduced my overheads to the minumum and I am set to ride out the storm until the business picks up again.
My problem is that I am very ambitious and although I am happy right now I am sure I will start pushing for growth again in the future.

You sound like you know exactly where you want to be, which is excellent and I wish you all the best with your plan.
What business are you in ?

I also respect those who work hard everyday and have very little to show for it, and also despise those who rip off the government /plan working people, hence why i work hard at making my business a success. But theres still that niggle at the back of my mind sayin 'live life to the max!'. I am only young tho, 22

My girlfriend is a carer, she visits old people in their homes, helps dress them, takes them to the toilet etc.
She starts at 6,30am every morning - including weekends - works till about 1,00pm, then has a break till about 4,30pm and works till 10,30pm.
She has alternate weekends off, and worked Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Years Day the works.
She is on minimum wage and even has to use her own car, claiming the fuel back from the Tax man.
I think it's ludicrous to be honest, but she loves the job and genuinely loves the people she cares for, to the extent that she will even go to Asda and do their shopping during her afternoon break !

She sounds like a great person Dan

And then to add to that it depends on the amount of hours that you are working. Someone doing 60 hours a week or more and earning £40k is much worse off than someone working 37.5 (normal working week) and getting £40k imo.

Back on topic though, working in IT if you specialise in anything then £50k+ is pretty easy to earn, same goes for any half decent project manager.

Yes I feel this. But laws have been put in place to stop you doing anything else. They want your money, so they force you to work in their monetary system.There's no way a group could fight for their independance now like the American colonists did, before they adopted the same methods of the bank of England they so happily didn't like. You're not allowed to shelter yourself from the elements, eat what nature provided or even heat yourself with fire anymore unless you pay toll to do so.

She is far too good for me Wayne
Over Christmas we went to visit a couple of her clients in Hospital - she is not paid to do this of course but genuinely cares about these people.
She also attends the funerals of anyone who passes away.
Really top girl.

After graduating university i went back to the same job i did, and enjoyed, before going to uni and have progressed as far up the career ladder as i could in the search for more money to cover outgoings.
In doing so i have gone from enjoying the daily work to counting hours, working 60+ hour weeks to cover outgoings and debt, dealing with an inept boss who is just biding his time until retirement and does less than nothing while ensuring i am up to my neck with work and responsibilities.
I am now on antidepressants, battling suicidal thoughts, and struggling to get up every morning because when i do it means i have to go to work.

Some, including me at times, may think this is over the top and blowing things out of proportion but this is my version of living to work.

But many would not consider £50k a year to be a "lot of money".
It's a decent living, but not enough to make anyone rich.
It's all relative I suppose, a lot of people with fairly small businesses will regularly earn £50k in a MONTH.
There won't be many employees earning that.

Its wank, but i have a 1 out of 5000 made car that does 21 MPG, i bought my own pendlay bar and bumpers, just bought a brand new (v. good) push bike, i buy clothes everyweek and when i go and get pissed, i buy champagne looooooool


i couldnt do that without my job.

That said, i dont HATE it, id just rather not do it.

I think if work got as bad as some of you have had it i'd just jack it in, declare myself bankrupt and do something enjoyable

What car

Do you not save at all? For a house etc etc

Just f**k it off mate. Don't go back if it makes you that unhappy.

Whats stopping you?