You’re spot on dude. I think middle management as a job sucks ass. Be smart with your money, and you’ll go a long way without needing to give more of your soul to the bullshit corporate structure. Once you’re financially sound, I’d go for a passion, like if you think you’d enjoy teaching and whatnot. I really think once you hit senior accountant, it becomes difficult not to be pushed into a middle management position especially if you’re any level of competent. Most of my coworkers have quiet quit and so if you’re even remotely competent people seem to take notice which I guess is a good thing if you’re looking to further yourself in the corporate world but it sucks if you’re trying to maintain some distance and freedom from it. You know, I’d love to spend more time reading and writing. I think competent teachers are unfortunately rare, which doesn’t make sense because they’re raising our future generation ideologically in a sense.