You make $65,000 (USD 🤢) in a dead end career...

Are you happy?

How has nobody suggested the obvious yet? Keep your current job while you interview, test the waters and see what's out there. You might find something you enjoy more with a big enough raise to cover the college credits. You don't have to quit to start looking elsewhere. I know you're talking about career, not just job, but I'd argue the same still applies.

Ride it out. No question. You have unlimited opportunities to grow outside the job.

No employer is going to hire a 47 year old. Too old to train and not enough experience in the field to be a good manager.

If you aren't getting enough excitement from the job, go out and start dating or find a hobby.

Heck, the the year's salary you have saved there are dozens of businesses you could start.

As somebody who is quickly coming up on 2 years of unemployment, my recommendation is not to fuck with the job market right now even with a year’s expenses covered.

Dude, that job pays THREE TIMES as well as the equally-dead one I currently have (even more if you include benefits). Just accept the good fortune bestowed upon you, get paid to do practically nothing, and find a new hobby to invest all your new free time into. Like, how is this even a question?

Edit: I redid the math and turns out you're making 3x what I do, not the 2x that I originally said

virtually unlimited sick days as long as you don’t call out too often (>3x month)

"virtually unlimited" = 36 days a year

Finish the PhD, then get a new job.

$65k will be worth half of what it is or less in 10 years. You will, at best, get a raise of about 5% per year. You will see a 20% - 30% raise if you jump ship with the PhD provided you go for corporate positions (you'll barely be treading water if you decide to teach).

The stability of the current job is an illusion - they will let you go the moment it becomes profitable for them to do so. The only person who can ensure you stability is you, and the only way you can do that is by maximizing your earning potential so you have enough wealth to survive a jobless period. Do not rely on unemployment benefits - they're a joke and often arrive as much as a year late.

Source: I took the stable route at that same salary number. Was laid off after 10 years during COVID, while I was sick. My next position I jumped from 65k to 90k, and with the next to 110k within three years. It took over 18 months for me to receive my unemployment benefits.

Companies have no loyalty to you. You are a resource to be exploited. Treat them the same way, and you'll be much wealthier and likely happier for it.

If you are already doing a PhD you are probably lucky to have a job that pays reasonably without requiring much. But even if you decide to change jobs, don't leave till you are guaranteed another job.

Holy shit I would realize I no longer have any real problems in life and figure out what makes me happy with all of that free time

So, what am "I" hoping for, I guess? More money, more possibility for advancement? What other jobs could I get?

Not to be a dick, but the median personal income for a full-time employee in the US is ~$55,000, and half are definitionally below that. If you live in San Fransisco and are working towards your PhD in data science, I guess sure, vomiting face, but that detail wasn't in there.

You’re focusing too much on what you are supposed to do and too little on what you could be doing.

I would grab this with both hands. Max out the education, and work on side projects that don’t impact the day job. I mean, that is what the “show up sometimes” means, right? Ya gotta warm the seat but you don’t have much to do? So fill that time with things that improve your skills!

I would kill for that level of financial stability. Ride it out and find passion in hobbies outside of work.

Are you looking for advice? Cause that's how it sounds lol. The answer and reasons are different for everyone.

Ultimately the question is, how does the job make you feel? If I hate getting up everyday to go to work, I'm probably going to at least look at my options if not straight run out of there crying.

If it's ok but nothing too exciting. I don't dread it but, I also don't look forward to it, I might stay. But only if I can find a way to spice it up a bit. Maybe that's a new podcast to listen to while working. Maybe it's finding something to do in my down time, maybe it's researching a new hobby or something.

If I like the job but I'm not going anywhere but I'm that close to retirement, I'm going to probably stay. Until they give me a reason to hate it. Then, I'm out.

If they allow remote work, I'll take it since I'm about to lose my job and, with the shitty USD <-> JPY rate, I only made slightly under that last year.

Were I you, though, I'd be looking.

Disclaimer: No idea what amout of wealth that translates to in your specific location.

I think the work itself really does matter, what use is wealth if the job is destroying your mental or physical health? What you'll do with that depends on what other (theoretcially) marketable skills you have, how the actual market for those skills is right now, and how long it would take to take any relevant training (that's on your own time, not while you're already employed). Do you have any idea what you'd do instead of your job?

Also, how certain are you that you actually get to retire at 62? 15 years is a long time for some asshole politician to decide that whatever retirement plan you may have isn't worth the paper it's printed on ...

52,832 more dollars a year than I survive on. Unless you think your job will evaporate soon you have a pretty good thing. Get your PhD. Keep your job as long as you can. Jumping at somthing new has a very good chance of blowing up in your face in this market. Caveat, I don't work so what do I know? But if you aren't severely depressed about it I'd stay

retirement in 15 years at age 62

Zero dependents.

or do you seek a career change before it's too late.

Whatever is driving this feeling... lean into it bro.

Thing is for me personally I have a dependent and im in the red if I make somewhere under 90k unless they pay all medical expenses. It would not work for me it would be a slow death.

Unless your salary is inflation adjusted over those 15 years, you are going to end up in a bad place if you ride it out. I personally couldn't make it on $65k and would be looking to either supplement my income or find a higher paying job ASAP. If it was a reasonable income for where I live and covered my bills, and resulted in me being able to still afford retiring at 62, I might stick with it if it wasn't driving me totally crazy with boredom.

65k without even Inflation adjustment could be rough...

But this is at 47, much depends on what happened up to this point. For example if you had a very strong run and had 2 mil on a 401k already.. I might be tempted to ride it out. I actually kind of like the idea of taking classes that I just feel like taking. Also depends on the family situation.

I've actually been imagining this sort of scenario for finishing out my career. I keep imagining my luck running out and needing to find something, anything to bridge me to retirement. Ideally with less office politics. Working at a university for access to classes has been on the list of fallback careers, under the hope that my 401k can largely take care of itself now.

Seems like you already made your decision.

Lets say you change careers and want to come back to your current career at this or another company. Would that be feasible. If yes, you literally have nothing to lose.

If not, you have to be a bit more careful picking your new path but also little to lose

No dependents? Big.

Do you have shelter and food accounted for in a reliable way? That’s really what matters.

I would spend all the time I can contributing to open source projects.

Strictly me with my life experience, at 20 I would try and find something else more exciting and fulfilling, today in my mind theories I would stay especially with my phd in progress it would give me time to do it properly, and give me enough money to at least stay alive, and not be pressured into any bullshit stressful situation at work which has been my experience with jobs so far.

What does showing up entail here? How many hours a week? Use the time to slowly build towards another career, something that uses both so you don't start at square one maybe.

Just submitted a resume yesterday. Almost exact situation I'm in.

My 2 cents, these jobs don't last forever. The type of companies with unlimited PTO or sick plans usually will lay off people in this position eventually, or get acquired, shutter offerings etc. Best to improve yourself while you have the time. Prep for a career change, get an MBA or another cert. Check out WGU and see if you can commit the time. Ride it out sure but once it dries up you're kind of assed out man. Much harder to find a job in your 50s even in mamagement

Career change. Better to try improve than to do the same thing over and over. Not even about the pay just the change.

I’d shoot my shot. If I’m working towards a PhD I am too smart to waste my life working a boring job for a comfortable but not great salary.

Despite having your needs satisfied, you sound unfulfilled. More money won't necessarily change that.

People say, "Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life," but the truth is the opposite. When you do something every day, you become good at it. That skill, that proficiency fosters enjoyment and leads to us loving what we do. I'm not in my career field because I love it, I love what i do because I'm very good at it and mastery is its own reward.

Are you certain there's no way to monetize your PhD? Surely you could teach with those credentials?

Depends, of course. I'm not personally wildly ambitious about work so that would be fine with me. If no raise though, that money will not be enough in 15 years. So it would need to come with raises to meet inflation at least.

Retirement at 62 would be a big upgrade from what I expect to be able to do, but I did raise a lot of kids.

Is it work from home? Might be able to swing a second job during the do nothing 8-5 to bump up the numbers if you’re able.

Do you absolutely LOATHE your life right now the way it is? Do you regret EVERY choice you ever made in your life that steered you to where you are now? If yes, then you are probably part of the majority of Americans your age. Go ahead and look for change, because no matter what happens, you won’t miss where you are now.
BUT if you answered no, then congratulations, you are happier than most people your age, and keep looking for other ways to find joy because more than likely you’ll end up in a worse spot for you and regret ever shaking things up.

I would ride it out assuming inflation and rising cost of living didn't exist. Well, those things do exist. The question you need to ask yourself is if you would be unhappy living with the spending power of ~60% of what your spending power is now. If the answer is anything other than a solid yes then you should be looking.

Finish up any schooling and get a new job lined up before you leave your current job. The current job market is incredibly toxic and near impossible to navigate. People are posting vague job descriptions they have no intentions of hiring for to make it look like they are growing when they are really stagnating. AI is being used to push highly skilled workers back into the market.

This pretty much was my job up until recently, though we get better leave than that in Australia.

Sounds a hell of a lot better than the dead end job I just left. Are they hiring?

I don't think I'd bother working on a PhD 15 years from retirement

That sounds a lot like freedom, if you're working on a PhD idk why you'd risk losing up that source of income

Keep an emergency fund and put the rest of the savings into a low fee ETF

You are working on a PhD, depends on the subject and your effort, you likely will have a better job in no time, right :)

Another word for scholarship is leisure.

Enjoy it while it lasts.

Never hurts to look.

I think the better question is "What offer would cause you to leave the position?"

You live comfortably and have 1 year’s salary saved.

At 47? That sounds pretty bleak from a retirement perspective. If I could find a job in the six figure range, I'd bounce in a heartbeat.

I had a job kinda-sorta similar to this when I was in my 20s. Best decision I every made was to jump to a higher paying job at a faster growing company in the O&G sector. Ultimately tripled my salary over ten years, and I'm sitting on well more than one year's salary with all the same benefits and some additional perks.

You are given 6 college credits per semester to use at the local university. You’re currently working on a PhD.

What are you even going to do with a PhD once you've finally got it? This seems like a hobby more than a career plan.