Q&A: "I’m 26 and No Longer Motivated by Money. Am I Unemployable?”

Paula Pant (0:00)

Joe, did you ever totally lose your motivation for making money?

Joe Saul-Sehy (0:04)

I lose my motivation every fourth day. Oh, for making money, specifically.

I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_3 (0:10)

Yeah, yeah.

Joe Saul-Sehy (0:10)

No, even after becoming financially independent, I still think of money as a source of value. If somebody's willing to pay you more for it, then that means you're more valuable.

Paula Pant (0:21)

Oh, you're more valuable, wow.

Joe Saul-Sehy (0:23)

Well, whatever you're offering is more valuable.

Paula Pant (0:27)

You're worth as a person, Joe.

Joe Saul-Sehy (0:31)

And that statement, Paula, will be 20 bucks.

Paula Pant (0:33)

Oh, well, Joe, we're going to talk to somebody today who is 26 Their financial position is a lot better. They're not quite at financial independence yet, but they're doing well enough that the motivation to make money has subsided. Oh, cool. What does that mean? What does that mean for their career choices? What does that mean for the job choices? Today's episode is largely a career slash jobs episode. That's at the beginning of the show. At the end of the show, we're going to answer a different question also about career.

We're going to field a question from someone who wants to make a career change in which his new career is going to probably initially pay him 60 percent of what he currently earns. So he's going to take a big pay cut.

There's young kids in the picture. There's a lot of factors to consider. So it's very much the what do I do with my life episode. Oh, good.

Joe Saul-Sehy (1:26)

All right. Because I've been wondering what I do with my life.

Paula Pant (1:29)

Welcome to the Afford Anything Podcast, the show that knows you can afford anything, not everything. The show covers five pillars, financial psychology, increasing your income, investing, real estate, and entrepreneurship, acronym double I fire.

I'm your host, Paula Pant, every other episode ish. We answer questions from you. And I do so with my buddy, the former financial planner, Joe Saul-Sehy. What's up, Joe?

Joe Saul-Sehy (1:52)

I've been contemplating this story problem, Paula, that I think I've finally solved.

Paula Pant (1:57)

What is that?

Joe Saul-Sehy (1:57)

So there's this boat, and there's three people in it, but four cigarettes. And they're trying to figure out how to split those. So you know what they did? They threw the fourth cigarette overboard and the boat became a cigarette lighter.

Paula Pant (2:14)

Oh, and with that, we go to our first question, which comes from Anonymous.

SPEAKER_3 (2:22)

Hi, Paula and Joe. Thanks for taking this call. I'm 26 years old living in the United States, and my net worth is roughly 10 times my annual spending. I have been listening to your show for years now, and it has been very helpful in me reaching my current financial state. Oftentimes, the questions you and Joe answer start off about finances, but the answer you give ends on the lifestyle needs and wants of that person. Today my question will start and end on that lifestyle aspect. On the internet, there is plenty of advice on how to work your way to financial independence. But what I can't find is how to work after achieving financial independence. I have not done this yet, but I have enough so that I am not as motivated by money anymore. I don't find working on someone else's time schedule acceptable, and I wish I could determine what projects I work on and not my employer.

It feels like I have this negotiation piece that other employees don't have, and my potential employers can simply avoid it by not hiring me and instead hiring those workers who are motivated by the money and who are forced to work on someone else's time schedule.

I am not at place in my career where entrepreneurship is a good option yet. Because of my investments, I don't think I can accept a job doing anything other than what I want to do.

And that is very clearly not what my co-workers are doing and not what employers expect of me. I'm starting to worry that I am becoming unemployable. I would appreciate any thoughts you can share on this topic. Thank you.

Joe Saul-Sehy (3:51)

She is 100% unemployable to a bunch of employers. If you tell them that.

Paula Pant (3:56)

You know, I disagree.

Joe Saul-Sehy (3:58)

Oh, I think a bunch of employers would be like, yeah, you're not motivated by money. You're not motivated by the same stuff everybody else's, like Lee, but we got to give her a name first.

Paula Pant (4:08)

All right.

Joe Saul-Sehy (4:09)