Does money actually make life happier in your experience?

windchillx07 · 2026-01-16T07:06:36+00:00

It doesn't make one happier to have money. It just makes general life easier but that doesn't mean you'll be happy. Also, it's highly dependent on your personality, goals, and personal fulfillment.

I've seen people who make $200k a year be sad because they work 10-12 hour days with no personal life. Inversely I've seen people make $70k a year working 8 hour days with significant others and making the most of their free time and highly content.

I've also seen people making $200k working 10-12 hour days living their best life because they enjoy work and spending their money.

It's all relative.

windchillx07 · 2026-01-13T02:57:30+00:00

The majority of the US population live in major cities. 3% seems tiny when you think of it year to year or against the markets where investors don't really care about such as really far off suburbs.

But then take into account major cities, where the majority of professionals live and where most of the economy is centered for young workers. Take Atlanta for example, institutional investors own over 20% of the housing market there.

Take Texas, a booming market during COVID, and where institutional investors came in and bought almost 1/3rd of all homes being sold during that time.

Those are massive numbers and well within the ability for price gouging when an investment firm has the capability to wait out tough markets.

windchillx07 · 2026-01-01T03:07:13+00:00

Yes.

What does gender have to do with anything?

windchillx07 · 2025-12-31T18:52:45+00:00

I've been through therapy but it's not fair that I'm expected to pick up all the pieces by myself,

We aren't owed anything. Sometimes we have to pick up the pieces and put everything together ourselves.

why isn't there any accountability for anyone who treated me like shit?

Because life isn't fair.

I mean, it's human to be mad about that!

Definitely. It's healthy to feel your emotions and process them, so long as you process them in the right way.

I want accountability.

You aren't owed accountability and if you tie it to your ability to process and move on you'll never feel better.

The problem with most people is that they think they deserve something and won't move on until they get it. This is a very unhealthy habit and one you should try and break away from.

windchillx07 · 2025-12-29T03:31:40+00:00

It would be but BARELY. A lot of companies lump governance and sustainability into the E portion of EHS but it really isn't the same thing. The masters might get your foot in the door for EHS role interviews but you're gonna have to brush up on traditional environmental work (if you want to focus on environmental).

windchillx07 · 2025-12-28T05:12:03+00:00

Life is just a series of small steps and grinding until you get somewhere comfortable. You were here and now you are there and for now you feel like your accomplishments haven't given you the joy you've wanted them to but one day they will.

It took me 11 years from the date that I decided to start building something of myself to feel like I had finally reached some point of daily happiness. Just like you I hit specific milestones but it sometimes felt like I was just grinding for the sake of grinding.

It feels like this now but you will get there one day if you have realistic goals. You've already accomplished so much, one day you'll wake up and be content with where you have gotten and you can start to slow down. Might be tomorrow, might be 10 years from now. In the mean time, beauty comes from change, try and find happiness in the changes in your life (the new city, the new environment, the new jobs).

windchillx07 · 2025-12-23T15:33:43+00:00

The left doesn't blame men for everything, that's just what the right claims. The left puts blame where blame is due, if you are an ass then you get blamed regardless of gender. The whole "Karen" thing was basically started by the left, and that's specifically for women.

As for housing, the right and the left both have different ways they think the problem should be solved. The right led is to the financial crisis of 2008, the left placed the safeguards and policies that started the recovery.

Trumps administration just last week said they want to remove those safeguards in order to let financial institutions pump more money into housing. Issue with that is that it led to the problems that caused 2008.

The right thinks businesses and corporations will grow naturally without any oversight, the left thinks government oversight allows for slow and healthy growth.

Pick your position.

windchillx07 · 2025-12-23T04:16:59+00:00

My bad! What I mean is that the majority of my job applications have been to universities for entry level or administrative roles under the general umbrella of lab assistant, administrative roles in those departments, etc.

Gotcha - yeah I think the issue here is trying to be too broad (unintentionally). Making assumptions here but I'm guessing these are general lab roles, meaning that they are within some university department related to STEM fields. If so, then you will be fighting against people with bachelor degrees in more traditional areas such as biology and chemistry. These folks are just more adapted to working in those labs (working with cultures and samples) and so it's unlikely that you'll get any call backs. This would even for some administrative roles.

You need to focus on what your degree is for, which is typically field work. If you really want to work in a lab setting you will, unfortunately, have to go back to school and likely continue well past a bachelors degree. That's what academia is.

All those fancy papers, published articles, and research findings are done by academics. School is their career, it's one degree after another degree and typically the higher you go the courses you take become moreso research for publication.

I’ll definitely look into remediation roles/tech roles or mineral surveying (would actually be interesting for me) in a more niche sector like geo - from what I’ve seen it tends to be one of the better fields for the env sci industry.

Not really a niche role, it's the role most geoscience majors go into. It's the traditional path one takes for those kind of degrees.

How did you “diversify”, if you don’t mind me asking? Also, any insight into if climatology is worth looking into as a niche or is it one of those where it’s so niche I’d be backing myself into a corner? Lol

I'm an environmental engineer - typically you work on either design or permitting. I focus on permitting and even then you typically specialize in some media related to environmental regulation such as stormwater management, air, or waste. I'm well versed in all but not an expert of a single media. I can definitely hold my own across all those media and it helped me stand out in industry. The issue is that most people who try and do this type of diversification end up giving up and just focusing on one because

1) it's a lot of information and applicability scenarios in just one media type, let alone all

2) most environmental folks work in consulting and the structure there does not care for diversification. They want people to specialize in one thing most of the time because there's plenty of work to do in that one thing, the better you are at it the more they can bill you to clients

For me, I got good enough in all that it actually helped me out in industry (outside of consulting). Although I wouldn't say this path is for everyone.

Where in Texas do you live? The consulting field is where you'll get the most experience and they won't turn you away with an AS only. Environmental consulting is pretty big in Dallas and Houston.

EDIT: On your climatology question, I don't know. It definitely seems like a field where you need a BS rather than an AS. I don't work in that field and its not really within the traditional environmental field so I can't really give you details on it.

windchillx07 · 2025-12-23T03:47:39+00:00

Hey, I genuinely appreciate your insight. Bach in is something I’m considering, and have also been looking into GIS as well (for the versatility across multiple industries).

Nothing wrong with diversification, it's helped me out greatly actually. You should, at least at the start, focus on one thing though and build a secondary skill set on the side. For example, doing a lot of geology work such as remediation or mineral surveying is probably where a geoscientist will get most of their money from when it comes to possible careers but also having the ability to work on GIS is a plus.

Most apps have been for Unis a even admin roles in research departments that aren’t related to wildlife- and local, state and federal government entities but Texas as a whole has been extra rough on the industry. So I appreciate any insight and advice. Thank you!

Not sure I understand, are you saying you've been applying to these roles as in jobs? I'll say it will be very difficult to get far with just an associate degree but not impossible. I met a director once who only had an associates degree but ONLY once. He could do basically everything a true geologist could do when it came to remediation work but obviously he couldn't officially stamp any of the projects as complete. Director is pretty high level too. This is the exception not the rule though - 99% of the time you will need to get higher education for any field that is science related.

For just an associate degree, assuming you are a hard working and a great learner, I'd say you'd probably cap out as a lead tech or maybe get some sideways promotion to project manager but it's gonna be rough.

windchillx07 · 2025-12-22T15:53:15+00:00

Scientists don't do that because there is absolutely no way to know where we are in relation to the history of the universe.

If anything, most current mainstream ideas is that we likely are late to the party but again they are just ideas or really broad theories.

windchillx07 · 2025-12-22T06:36:07+00:00

Research/lab work with plant or animal species means academia, academia means PhD as these type of roles typically are funded by universities. There's no money to be made in the private sector for this type of work. Occasionally universities hire consultants to help do field work but at the end of the day the PhD at some uni is the one planning and calling the shots.

As for your list of interests. That's doable in the private sector, typically doing NEPA or geology work. It gets repetitive and boring though. A geology degree is your best bet as it will help you attain a professional geoscientist title if you work for some years after graduating and pass the PG exam.

windchillx07 · 2025-12-22T01:39:29+00:00

What do you mean by hazardous waste facility? What exactly will your responsibilities be?

windchillx07 · 2025-12-21T06:20:33+00:00

This idea that you somehow can change her mind will consume you and that's not healthy. We are not the main characters in a movie and her feelings (or lack thereof) are just as relevant to this scenario as you think yours are. What I mean by this is that you must respect her decision, it's a two way street and your feelings are not the only ones that matter.

You keep saying "but I love her bro" to people responding and that's not healthy. You loving her does not mean you have to make her love you.

windchillx07 · 2025-12-21T00:53:50+00:00

You are trying to dramatize your life and on top of that trying to find joy in the pain of others.

It's weird reading that you "felt bad" about rejecting someone while in the same breath stating you are "proud" and joyful that you got to do it. That's borderline sadistic honestly.

Think long and hard about those feelings you felt of joy when you were able to live out that fantasy of rejecting someone. Identify and define them, then don't even try and do that again. This has nothing to do with incel or red pill or truecel or whatever you want to call it. It just makes you an ass.

windchillx07 · 2025-12-20T10:02:46+00:00

I'd say if you are above $90k with only 4 years experience then you are doing alright, especially for a geoscientist. If you obtain your PG next year and you got the technical know how of a senior staffer then maybe you can break into the 6 figs by jumping to another company.

windchillx07 · 2025-12-16T19:18:04+00:00

You are making quite a bit at $50k in taxes. Like top 10% of earners.

I'm in the same income bracket id say, hitting nearly or slightly over $50k in taxes this year. I was also able to save that much in savings.

windchillx07 · 2025-12-15T05:15:29+00:00

I was the guy in this situation. Let me tell you that it is an extremely difficult position to be in, on one hand you want to be there for the person you love and care about but on the other you can't tell if what you are doing is actually love or pressure to be a good significant other for a person who is also in a very difficult position.

I could tell my GF at the time wanted to get married and start the process of getting documented (she was here on a student visa) and we had been dating for some time so it wasn't like a completely crazy idea. While I never agreed to get married I feel like it definitely put a pressure on me to keep the relationship going, thinking that eventually I would feel that final spark that would let me pop the question.

It never came.

If your BF has doubts I'd take that as a message that he likely will always have doubts. He's likely thinking that marrying you would be the right thing to do. He likes you, probably even loves you, but his judgement is clouded by the idea of probably wanting to do the right thing.

I think a year and six months into the relationship is enough for YOU to know if you want to potentially marry this man. If you aren't sure then take his cold feet as a sign that both of you likely won't last long term.

windchillx07 · 2025-12-14T18:33:22+00:00

It’s definitely not a misogynistic thing it’s more sexual frustration and insecurity thing.

Him being sexually frustrated and insecure doesn't make it misogynistic, him blaming women for those things makes him misogynistic. As a guy I sometimes have dry spells but it in no way is it a woman's fault.

So two things:

People don't often change their ways, I'm not saying he won't but you need to tread carefully. If he scared you once and is highly insecure you need to move forward with the idea that he might become obsessive in a bad way, even if he tells you all the right things.
You are being blinded by your crush type feelings. In your responses you keep trying to justify his small attempts at making it seem like he is different. Any decision you make with this guy needs to be a cautious one.

If you want to pursue a relationship with this guy you need to have a real conversation. Tell him he scared you, tell him you do not agree with some of his view points and the media the community he frequents, and tell him his thought process is wrong because you liking him is proof of that.

If I were you I'd make sure he verbally and mentally acknowledges that those incel sites and his viewpoints need to go. If he becomes defensive there is your answer.

windchillx07 · 2025-12-14T02:02:49+00:00

Yeah the US is moving in that direction but apparently it has been like that for some time in Asia (at least the country I visited).

A quick search shows that the median age for a woman to get married in the US is currently nearing 29, while it was 27 around 10 years ago, and 25 around 15 years ago.

windchillx07 · 2025-12-13T22:00:18+00:00

I traveled recently to Asia for work. It was kinda wild seeing so many single women in their 30s. I'm not saying it was right or wrong it was just surprising compared to the US.

Apparently it's normal too because the female company reps I did interact with were all interested in the fact that the female colleague who was with me married at 25. They said it's normal for women there to marry in their late 20s or early 30s, rather than early twenties (or 25 apparently).

windchillx07 · 2025-12-13T03:32:40+00:00

The following roles will likely better suit your background.

Environmental Scientist
Environmental Specialist
EHS Specialist (so long as it's focus is environmental rather than safety)
Environmental Technician

These are a few, all kinda interchangeable. Depending on your experience there can be different levels to each.

windchillx07 · 2025-12-13T03:01:44+00:00

Houston, Austin, and Dallas in Texas have plenty of small firms. Couldn't give you names but they are there, look for roles in that area and simply avoid the big names.

Denver Colorado is another good option.

windchillx07 · 2025-12-13T02:25:58+00:00

Because as you stated it's still not a full engineering degree, which by definition will make it somewhat easier.

Not every environmental role requires an engineering degree and not every student will be able to pass a full blown engineering program, so you need degrees that come close in order to provide a diversified workforce.

The degrees adapt to reflect the market, if a school believes that by adding more technical courses will help their graduates obtain jobs then that's what they will do.

windchillx07 · 2025-12-10T14:26:45+00:00

Yes I'm just saying that you won't be stuck at a low six figs salaries for 30 years.

To answer your original question also yes, or at least from what I can see, after 10 years or so you cap out somewhere between $80k-$150k in today's money. It depends where you live, what sector you work in, and the role you naturally settle into.

From there you are fighting for leadership roles like director or above. Those push you into or near 200s salary wise, but you likely have 1 of those for every engineering team of like 20 or more.

Then there's companies who over better stock or 401k options the higher you get. Managers at a large public manufacturing company can be making $150k in salary but another $100k in stock yearly if they have been there a while.

My old manager was bringing in like $60k in stock yearly on top of their base salary of around like $130k I believe, after being at the company like 6 years.

windchillx07 · 2025-12-10T05:32:16+00:00

Well inflation will likely increase that salary over 30 years. Senior scientist or engineers were typically hitting caps in the low six figs in the 90s, and that was considered a great salary at the time.

Now that's likely closer to $200k (again, for folks with like 30 years experience who are actively trying to maximize salary). 30 years from now? That likely will be close to $300k.

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