The biggest reason is time. You only live once and basically no one looks back on life and says "I wish I spent more time at work."

Second is benefits. Lower pay in exchange for benefits. These can be literal benefits like health insurance, or quality of life benefits like shorter commutes or work from home or paid travel, whatever you value.

Third is feeling valued. I've left better paying jobs that treated me badly for work that made me feel appreciated every day! This isn't just an ego thing, it can affect your health and general happiness in positive or negative ways. Work satisfaction is really important.

Fourth is growth potential. My spouse hit a pay ceiling where raises were basically never going to happen. Took a pay cut for 2 years and now makes more than before.

And there are probably more reasons.

[removed]

Income is great but no one values their $100,000th dollar the way they value their first.

At some point intangibles like work life balance, stress, commute time, and regular old enjoyment of the job drive the bus.

I'd make a ton more as a consulting engineer than I do now but I don't mind straight 40 hour weeks vs 50+ and all hours on call and no travel now that I have a family.

Surely it would be nice to invest more/save more/have more but at some point you have 'enough' and for my family my wife is down to 3 days a week and I'm in a much more relaxed industry. We should be able to get the kids through school/retire reasonably if she goes back to 5 days. We do without some luxuries friends might have but that's life. We've come to terms that a bit of simplicity is worth a whole lot of time together and less stress.

Op wouldn't have a deductible to pay if they didn't have collusion coverage

As it turns out I was you a few years ago. I went from nuclear power, where I made $95k base and $130-150k with OT, to cybersecurity where I started at about $60k/year (government job).

Some things I considered before making the leap (in no particular order):

1. Long term prospects. In nuclear, in order to get paid more I would have to go through two more years of training, at which point I’d get about $10/hr more. The government job, however, was a career ladder, meaning I get promoted every year, giving me a $15k pay raise each year until I hit the top of the ladder which pays about $110k (this would take about 4 years) with no overtime. The new position also has bonuses for certain certifications, mine happens to be 25%, which leaps over nuclear without OT

2. Quality of life. Nuclear is rotating shift work, 12 hours long, while the cyber position is M-F, “9-5” (roughly). While having a 7 day weekend every 5 weeks is nice, transitioning from days to nights every week is painful. Other benefits are also something to consider here. That includes telework, health insurance, PTO, etc.

3. Can I afford it? Fortunately I have a military pension coming in to pay the rent because northern Virginia is on the expensive side for a family of 5. I won’t lie, the first year was tight, the second wasn’t much better

TL;DR answer: ultimately only you can decide, but if you’re unhappy where you are, it might be worth taking the risk. If you can leave in good terms it gives you a fall back plan

Assuming you are putting other money into higher yielding assets then no I wouldn't pay more other than to just be done with it.

Take what extra you would pay in hysa for now or something similar that will outperform currently. Then when rates do drop make lump sum payments to these.

Of course the argument could be made to pay the mortgage off sooner than later regardless. My mortgage is 2.5% but I still pay extra per month

I talked with my bank, Charles Schwab, and they asked me to provide more documentation. Basically what happened is I was approved but I never 'reserved' the apartment. The apt is charging me because they're saying that I 'reserved and then reneged'. I checked our email convos and this didn't happen. I'm guessing they'll claim that I 'reserved' the apartment over the phone or something.

Yes, lesson learned. Got a credit card recently.

If you like the Plat Honors, you can put the money in a ladder of 4 week t-bills (currently getting over 4%) with Merrill Edge. They’re advantageous if you live in a state with high income tax rates.

1. 22%. Income like 150k combined (me 80k, her 70k)

2. I am hoping to max the HSA. Not exactly sure about how much we hope to contribute to the FSA.

Good to hear a happy ending!

My state sent me a tax refund of less than I was supposed to get. I have no idea if this was a clerical error, but they never sent me a letter explaining any adjustments on why I would be receiving a lesser amount. As a practical matter, is it better to deposit the check and fight them for the remainder or have them void the check and send a replacement for the correct amount? Of course all assuming they ever respond to my contacts on why they're underpaying me...

The other unusual thing is they sent it via check even though I selected DD (and federal + the other state I lived in part of the year sent it via DD). Perhaps more room for clerical error.

I wouldn't fault logic that prioritized investment over paying loans at an APR less than most HYSAs. I will let go of my 3.125% mortgage on my death bed.

[removed]

Good response, all things I think I have considered.

I do appreciate you saying that "what is valuable to you may be worthless to someone else" I think that's something I really need to determine for myself.

If it's on a public roadway, a police report is usually a legal requirement - but it's not going to help with the insurance side. On private property, like a parking lot, cops won't do a report at all 99% of the time because they have no jurisdiction.

No. It worked out exactly like I intended. I really got the 80% reduction in stress that I was looking for. I couldn't have stayed at the old job due to the stress.

That’s not true. The police report is an official document stating what happened.

Do you regret that decision?

Like everyone said. This is scumbaggy.

I've been hit before and I've never used my insurance. In fact the first time I ever got hit and called them, they told me to go with the at fault person's insurance first. And that's worked out for me.

Now if they start stalling and giving you BS, I'd call your insurance for consultation and at their advice use your policy. They will then go after the at fault party's insurance.

It's very odd that the at-fault insurance company would not want to control the cost of the repair. You may have either misunderstood or they communicated it wrong.

It seems more likely they were offering to repair through a facility in their own repair facility network, in which case you wouldn't have to pay your collision deductible, and they would not dispute the length of time you need a rental.

Agree. But they are super useful if the other party reports a hit and run.

It's justifiable to take a pay cut (to me) when:

- The pay cut is offset by something of similar or greater value. That may mean more work/life balance, a shorter commute, fully remote work, you name it. What is valuable to you may be worthless to someone else so it's an entirely subjective thing.

- It's a pivot into something that will have an eventual payoff. For instance, someone may be a general manager at a grocery store making $100,000, but make a career pivot into an entry-level software development position making $85,000.

- The higher paying job is taking a toll on my physical or mental health. Most jobs are going to carry some sort of stress, but if that stress is hurting me physically or mentally, the pay isn't worth it.

- The pay cut wouldn't impact my standard of living. I'd be totally fine taking a small pay cut if it didn't cut into my standard of living. The dollar amount depends on your income, of course. Taking a $5,000 cut making $200k is a lot different than taking that kind of cut making $25,000.

I’m pretty sure they just automatically increase them? I’m still getting an account there.

I wouldn't even do that. What if their (at fault) insurance company goes "idk why they're making us talk to you when they're at fault".