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Anyone ever regret "playing it safe"

F

foidulus

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 15, 2007
904
1
So here is my situation:

A little while ago, I told my boss I was going to resign from my current position at the end of the year. He just offered me a 25% pay increase, but the thing is while I like the job, I hate, hate, HATE the place I am living in.

Now I was planning to go to grad school, but paying for it is kind of daunting at this juncture(I wasn't offered any aid right off the bat)

And my 3rd option is to go to Afghanistan, and at $9k a month plus free apartment(its guarded!)

I am tempted to just play it safe and stick with my current job, but has anyone ever had any regrets about playing it safe their whole life?
 
Are you married? Do you have anyone else that is dependent on you? If you answer no to those questions, I would suggest against playing it safe. Now is the time in your life for risks, adventure, and wanderlust. If you have a family, I would suggest playing it safe or at least discussing all the risks with them.
 
9k a month????? plus your in afghanistan? You can't pass that up. You'll save enough to pay for grad school in no time. Plus living in another country is always a huge + in my book.
 
imac/cheese said:
Are you married? Do you have anyone else that is dependent on you? If you answer no to those questions, I would suggest against playing it safe. Now is the time in your life for risks, adventure, and wanderlust. If you have a family, I would suggest playing it safe or at least discussing all the risks with them.
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Nope, just me right now. Having a wad of cash certainly wouldn't hurt when it is time to start a family though :D
 
I just resigned from my current job too. But as my boss knows I've been miserable here for a year and a half, no offer was made.

Which is good because I wouldn't have accepted it anyway.

In my experience (and given my vastly escalated age, I have a lot of experience) once you've given notice, you're going to leave. So leave. I'm not going to tell you what to do, or which of your options you should go with, but if you've gone as far as tendering your resignation, you don't want to be there any more.

I worked with a guy that resigned, the company offered him more money, he stayed but 6 months later he was gone.

If in your mind you've decided to leave, money won't make you want to stay, especially once you're used to the money.

We spend too much of our time at work to be unhappy there, and money isn't everything.

Cheers.
 
If you're comfortable with going, based on your most recent post, I'd suggest taking the first flight overseas. Having a family, while wonderful and something I wouldn't trade for anything, has forced me to reconsider my own options. It's not something that you are forced to do, but something you want to do. I had an opportunity to get on the path to a career spent primarily overseas, but with a young child and the likely places I would have ended up living in, it just isn't worth it.

Enjoy Afghanistan!
 
I agree with everything everyone else is saying, but I would wonder how close your new wage would be to the Afghanistan danger pay, to make an informed risk versus reward decision.

Also, it really doesn't matter that the compound you'll be in is guarded, if you plan on stepping outside of it once in a while.
 
The few times in my life that I decided not to play it safe are some of the most memorable and important decisions I have ever made. I don't normally regret playing it safe, but great rewards are not often discovered without taking risks.
 
i think the Steve Miller Band has a song where the chorus says:

"Go on take the money and run"

single....no attachments...needs money. $9K a month!!!? see you later. i'd be gone.

the biggest challenge for young couples these days is building enough equity to buy a house and establish a foothold. Not saying you'll get married, but if you're thinking about it, then whammo! that 9K/month is alot of cash to get started. and not even about marriage - grad school, which may lead to other stuff.

And someone else mentioned living outside your country a +....they are right. experience another culture on someone else's dollar is never a bad thing. Plus you see and live in a different culture period, which will give you a different perspective when you come back.

if i didn't have a wife and kids, i'd take that afghan job in a heartbeat.

your next post better be from a mac laptop in afghanistan :)
 
latergator116 said:
I can't really comment on your situation, but most times that I "play it safe" I usually regret it later on.
Click to expand...

I'd be inclined to agree...

Having said that, it could have been blind luck so far. ;) Then again, I wouldn't say every time I've made a decision that involves stepping off the edge it's been the right one, but it's never been regrettable, and that's perhaps the important bit.
 
Playing it safe with driving - Nope
Playing it safe with gambling - Nope
Playing it safe with stock market - Yep
Playing if safe with relationships - Sometimes
Playing it safe with parenting - Nope
Playing it safe with life decisions - Haven't so far :D
 
I've done a fair amount of damage to myself personally from playing it safe. Earlier this year I took a leap to a job where I had no idea what would become of it but there were a few factors that led to my move one main factor being more experience. It is not what I love nor am I entirely happy, however, I'm in a place now where the longevity of the company is in serious question and most, if not all of us are simply buying our time. My future plans are to take a 30-50% pay cut and work in an industry that will offer some sort of stability and it will be exactly what I want to do. As vanmacguy stated, money is not everything and it will not always be everything so you must do what is right by you. I can tell you though a 25% increase in pay does not even cover the downfalls of being miserable in your job.

On a side note, as an employer if I had someone who wanted to leave I would let them. There is no sense in paying them more because the circumstances aren't going to change regardless of pay. If pay was the only reason the person were leaving that may be another story, but it will also tell me they will leave the second a better paying job came along. After the first threat of resignation comes my way the employee has already proven that they are no longer engaged and I will never get anything more out of them and yet I'm going to have to pay them more.
 
jessica. said:
On a side note, as an employer if I had someone who wanted to leave I would let them. There is no sense in paying them more because the circumstances aren't going to change regardless of pay. If pay was the only reason the person were leaving that may be another story, but it will also tell me they will leave the second a better paying job came along. After the first threat of resignation comes my way the employee has already proven that they are no longer engaged and I will never get anything more out of them and yet I'm going to have to pay them more.
Click to expand...

It should also tell you that maybe you weren't paying them fairly in the first place. Ever think of that? Unfortunately, many employers don't. That says to an employee that their services aren't valued.
 
MarkCollette said:
I agree with everything everyone else is saying, but I would wonder how close your new wage would be to the Afghanistan danger pay, to make an informed risk versus reward decision.

Also, it really doesn't matter that the compound you'll be in is guarded, if you plan on stepping outside of it once in a while.
Click to expand...

I would earn about 50% more in Afghanistan(if you subtract my expensive rent for a really basic apartment...)
 
What would you be doing in Afghanistan?

I say take that opportunity. Free apartment, 9k a month. Do it until you feel like you've had enough, have saved enough. Come back and do grad school.

Unless you're doing something dangerous/life threatening, I'd do it.
 
When I deployed to Saudi Arabia with the Air Force, I kept thinking to myself, "This would be a whole lot of fun, if I wasn't missing my wife so much." Meeting new cultures and seeing different parts of the world is great.
 
i'm 21 and i've played it safe for 21 years.
i'm getting tired of it.
playing it safe gets really stale after a while.
go to afghanistan, experience something new!
you can always come back and play it safe if it doesn't work out.
 
I have had it go both ways. I have regretted playing it safe and other time regreted taking the risk. Then there are times when I played it safe and turned out I was very glad I did it because the risk fell through.
 
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