I really don’t feel like Audit is for me. I just feel like a lot of what we do is like not clearly right or wrong, and we shoot for just “good enough” which stresses me out. I’ll want to do something right and my manager is just that’s fine just prepare it and if partner wants it changed then we change it. I do enjoy accounting but I’m always so confused at interpreting client files. I’m an A2 and to me (whether right or wrong) I feel like a failure until I reach $120k in salary (cont).

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I feel like most people struggle the first two years and find financial success down the road, see Publics turnover and your starting salary for reference.

You started out making the average household income, after 2 years you can probably leave for 80k+. You could likely coast the rest of your career and probably hit your $120k target with COL raises and eventual promotion to manager in industry or job hopping if you want it faster.

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That’s a good point. Have you ever heard of experience abroad being discounted?

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Standard of living that I grew up with (family, relatives). It’s also the number which I feel is the sweet spot for leadership roles, master of your craft positions (manager and up). Has anyone ever struggled in their first two years and found financial success later on? I really feel like I should have studied finance, I’m both struggling with this job and simultaneously bored with the content. I don’t mind the hours or the collaborative effort being on a team to hit deadlines. I do feel like I am technically proficient. I have my cpa and I am generally well liked by my peers and managers+ but I don’t feel like I am being the best person I can be in this field.

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Why is $120k the magic number? What if you were at a firm that you really liked, doing work you really like, in a city you really liked but only made $100k. Would you still be unhappy?

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What would make me more happy than anything is 50-70k of completely passive income so I can have the freedom to pursue my hobbies and start businesses with a safety net under me.
So to answer your question 100k-150k is how I can make that happen but anything less and it becomes a very slow process to amass that level of passive income (through real estate rentals and dividend investing)

I am in the same boat and I’m taking a break from public accounting for a while. S2 and I’ve never really enjoyed it, for a lot of the reasons you listed in your first part of the thread. Just not for me!

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