From a financial POV, it sounds like you are doing great and are on a good track in either case.
In terms of weighing your choices, as you put it it sounds like the trade-off is really about quality of life vs experience/long-term career prospects. I’m not saying 175 isn’t better than 120-130 or whatever, but my point is it’s not going to be a major difference for yourself necessarily given the fact you are already saving at a good clip.
My personal suggestion to you (as a random person on the internet) is to think about what your longer term goals are. Do you want to be a CPA as a long term career? Do you want to become a partner? Is the title the goal, or the type of work / client mix as you put it more important? Something else?
Eg, 5-10 years from now, where do you want to be? And which opportunity / choice sets you up better for that?
Then on the flip side, what are your general life goals? The set up you have today sounds very attractive from a work life point of view (coming from someone who is in a job w extremely demanding hours which takes away from non-work time), and there is something to be said for that. If you have hobbies / passions / pursuits outside of work that make use of that time, then losing that can be a detriment as well.
In short, it sounds like your options are a solid path (with maybe less exciting/challenging long term prospects, but even then I’m not sure - it would be interesting if you have insight into what partner life is like at your firm and how that might compare to some of the bigger places), or switch to more of a grind (with hope for potential long term.) Either path will work - the question is really more of what kind of work vs life balance do you want to pursue and what kind of work do you want to be doing in 5-10 years+.
Sorry if this is reinstating the obvious, but I will say as a tangential anecdote thinking in that way helped me in a similar time. (Not cpa related, but) I burned out of consulting at 28 when I realized becoming a consulting partner (and that lifestyle) did not appeal to me. I wanted to feel more personal satisfaction from building / operating things and switched to tech, and despite an initial big pay cut and long hours to upskill in a new area i am significantly happier now. And it was thanks to realizing I should think about where I wanted to be 5-10+ years down the road …
In terms of weighing your choices, as you put it it sounds like the trade-off is really about quality of life vs experience/long-term career prospects. I’m not saying 175 isn’t better than 120-130 or whatever, but my point is it’s not going to be a major difference for yourself necessarily given the fact you are already saving at a good clip.
My personal suggestion to you (as a random person on the internet) is to think about what your longer term goals are. Do you want to be a CPA as a long term career? Do you want to become a partner? Is the title the goal, or the type of work / client mix as you put it more important? Something else?
Eg, 5-10 years from now, where do you want to be? And which opportunity / choice sets you up better for that?
Then on the flip side, what are your general life goals? The set up you have today sounds very attractive from a work life point of view (coming from someone who is in a job w extremely demanding hours which takes away from non-work time), and there is something to be said for that. If you have hobbies / passions / pursuits outside of work that make use of that time, then losing that can be a detriment as well.
In short, it sounds like your options are a solid path (with maybe less exciting/challenging long term prospects, but even then I’m not sure - it would be interesting if you have insight into what partner life is like at your firm and how that might compare to some of the bigger places), or switch to more of a grind (with hope for potential long term.) Either path will work - the question is really more of what kind of work vs life balance do you want to pursue and what kind of work do you want to be doing in 5-10 years+.
Sorry if this is reinstating the obvious, but I will say as a tangential anecdote thinking in that way helped me in a similar time. (Not cpa related, but) I burned out of consulting at 28 when I realized becoming a consulting partner (and that lifestyle) did not appeal to me. I wanted to feel more personal satisfaction from building / operating things and switched to tech, and despite an initial big pay cut and long hours to upskill in a new area i am significantly happier now. And it was thanks to realizing I should think about where I wanted to be 5-10+ years down the road …
Statistics: Posted by Staythecourse123 — Sat Jun 29, 2024 12:47 am — Replies 1 — Views 305