Why are we all so dumb?

College Majors Engineering Majors
141

<p>ME 76, I don’t think anybody’s whining. I think people are just saying that just because we accepted a lower-paying job than what we could probably hack, that we’re not “dumb” for doing it, and that job satisfaction is a priority to some people.</p>

<p>I personally don’t feel significantly disgruntled about being paid less than some other professionals. I get to do really, really cool stuff. I get paid a pretty good salary. I’d accept more money, sure, but who wouldn’t?</p>

<p>I have no interest in sympathy. I’m doing what I like and am happy about that. Money isn’t everything.</p>

142

<p>The happiest man is not he who has the most, but he who needs the least.</p>

143

<p>^ I bet whoever said that didn’t make a lot of money.</p>

144

<p>^ Does it matter how much that person made? That doesn’t make it any less accurate. I see a lot more truly happy people who are middle class than rich.</p>

145

<p>I come from a rich family. Now I’m an engineer married to a musician. We’re happier than my parents were. They forked over pretty much everything to unscrupulous lawyers in the divorce, anyhow.</p>

<p>Having <em>enough</em> money is all that matters. Having more money than you need to cover what you need to pay for in life doesn’t make a whit of difference in the long run. If you’re miserable and you live in a medium-sized house, moving to a bigger house will not make you happy. I’m lucky to have learned this early in life. Money isn’t the object of the game; it’s a means to an end.</p>

<p>This sort of thing kind of reminds me of women who say, “I thought he would change after we got married…”</p>

146

<p>I only require 4 things in life: my own home, stable food supply, ability to travel abroad, and a smart, hot wife. Anything else is optional.</p>

147

<p>Enginox, what else is left after getting what you require?</p>

<p>Own Home - Need money
Food supply - Need money
Travelling abroad - Need good health , money and free time
Smart/Hot wife - Need everything.</p>

<p>I want that too. Heck, who doesnt’?</p>

148

<p>Own home - Don’t need THAT much money. If I can afford a decent home on an RA stipend, then it can’t be that hard.</p>

<p>Food supply - again, RA stipend and I am not losing weight any time soon</p>

<p>Traveling abroad - by far the toughest on the list… its easy to get enough money, but then you don’t have time and vice versa</p>

<p>Smart/hot wife - trust me, if you are going after the women who only want money and nice cars, you aren’t going after the right women</p>

149

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<p>@boneh3ad
What are you a monk? If you want to follow that path, drop out from your PhD program and go live on a mountain. </p>

<p>love how injustice for engineer salary topic deviated to meaningless debate of self satisfaction.</p>

150

<p>$60K a year isn’t exactly “injustice”. Adjust your reality tuner! ;)</p>

151

<p>@CSmajor5</p>

<p>You clearly didn’t catch the point of that quote. It isn’t something I came up with, its just a saying, and it means that you don’t need to be filthy rich to be happy, you just have to have all your needs met. Greedier people tend to be less happy because they “need” more.</p>

152

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<p>Umm… what? Yes you do. When I talk about a “home” I mean something in a nice neighborhood with working faucets to say the least and how does 30K a year pay for a 400K house? Owning does not mean financing .</p>

153

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<p>Look at where he’s living. He’s not in Los Angeles. He’s in rural Texas, and he’s not going to be an RA forever. When I lived in Champaign-Urbana, I paid $500 a month for a two-story 1500-square foot apartment. A pretty nice house in most cities is quite affordable on an engineer’s salary, and few people buy their houses outright with cash up front… You have a mortgage, probably even if you’re a lawyer earning $200K a year.</p>

<p>We’ve gone from the sublime to the ridiculous here…</p>

154

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<p>You said own a home, not buy a house with cash. No one buys with cash unless you are a movie star or something. Owning a, say, 3,000 square foot home with an engineer’s salary and paying down the mortgage within about 20 years is easily doable… add in a spouse’s salary and you will be even more comfortable (not to mention what is the point of 3,000 square feet if you don’t have anyone to share it with?).</p>

<p>If you don’t count financing, then probably 90% of America doesn’t own a house.</p>

155

<p>I understand your point when it comes to just living. But if you want to live “large” as they call it, one would have to make more than 100k in big cities like LA/NY. I live with my dad and the house is paid off. Life is much easier with an empty mailbox sometimes :)</p>

<p>airbarr, what’s life when a person has to drive 5 miles to get breakfast (or milk a cow every morning, lol) ? Talk Metropolitan. Now that’s life (arguable I know, just dont shoot me).</p>

<p>-In that case 90% of Americans dont own anything actually.</p>

156

<p>Your dad is one of a few lucky people, and you need to figure out what “average American” means.</p>

157

<p>I’m familiar with the term. The reason we came to this point is because of what Enginox wrote about his requirements. Many of the problems associated with the average american is directly related to his/her financial status. So with that regard, having a boatload of cash will make life easy ( theoretically speaking).</p>

158

<p>isn’t the starting salary in LA/NYC/San Fran 70K and up for engineers…the only one of my brother’s friends that went to a super big city (NYC) started at 75K…but he said it’s equiv. to 40K in midwest as far as standard of living goes…but I don’t think it’s fair to compare, obviously you can’t expect to go to a crowded place like NYC and expect to live like you’re in Bettendorf, IA</p>

159

<p>And yet, the point we are making is that you don’t HAVE to “live large” to be happy.</p>

160

<p>But you still need a lot of money just to ‘live normal’ in places like LA…which is kind of lame</p>