Most people will seek high-paying jobs, but did you know that such occupations have strings attached? Here we discuss the pros and cons of high-paying jobs of which being aware of can help you choose better jobs and career decisions.  

PROS

You can buy more
Obviously, if you earn more, you can buy more. You gain more purchasing power than your peers who earn below the minimum wage or those folks earning less than a digit of yours. Earning twice the minimum wage or more can help you buy your desired gadgets, rent a good apartment, afford to buy a condominium or a car, avail insurance plans and elevate your lifestyle. But such goodies of a fat wallet or savings account depends on how you spend and budget. Even if you’re in the high-income club, if you’re a spendthrift, you’ll end up broke.

Engage more in investments
Investments are the way of making your money grow by spending it on products, stocks or properties with potential returns. You’ll have more power to join Forex trading, mutual bonds and stocks since you have a steady or stable stream of high income that serves as a surplus. Investing can help you grow your money more than keeping it in your treasure chest or low-interest rate banks.

Enjoy more savings
You probably know how hard it is to save if you’re maintaining monthly bills and house rent. If you earn more, you can set aside money for the next months or years without downgrading your current lifestyle. Again, this boils down to your financial skills.

Get more attention or privileges
Positive attention means getting more privileges when joining clubs or deals. For example, you can get more loans as per salary bracket, avail rewards and perks. For loans, most lending companies and banks set limits to borrowers depending on their capacity to repay.

Shop for more gifts
Of course all of us can gift someone regardless of the price tag. But one of the perks of earning a big fat paycheck is you can afford to buy gifts for more people outside your family. You can afford to give away high-end smartphones, laptops and branded clothes, help others, and make them happy.

CONS

Experience more stress
Remember that a high paycheck always comes with big responsibility. Most of the time you have to work hard and make hard decisions everyday to earn it. Job-related stress is prevalent in high-paying jobs such as pilot, surgeon, and high-ranking corporate official.  Stress includes:

• Making critical decisions
• ​Managing tight deadlines
• Dealing with a perfectionist boss
• Pilling tasks
• Dealing with major company setback 
• Handling changes within the organization

Another drawback of elevated stress is the risk of failing health. Psychological stress has its toll on the heart, stomach, blood flow and brain. When you’re earning a big paycheck, you’ll always rely on counter-stress measures such as binge eating and overspending which lead us to the next point.

Spend more
A drawback of stress-related work due to high paying jobs is spending more. Here you may buy more anti-stress medications, engage in expensive habits or rewards to reduce stress and comfort yourself. On top of that, an elevated stress could compromise your health which means more clinic, hospital visits and medications that can chomp on your big paycheck.

Luxuries become necessities
Because of your salary, you get more confidence and capability to buy things that are luxuries or wants. They become items that you can live without. Luxuries include video streaming services, a condominium from an affluent neighborhood, jewelries and monthly spa service.  

Pay more taxes
This is a common problem that high-income earners face. The government will tax you more for earning more.

Your health declines
The more stress you experience the more your health suffers. An article pointed to the relation of stress on body function and weakening of the immune system. If you have a heart problem and diabetes, stress can worsen your condition. Work-related stress caused by tight deadlines, toxic colleagues and company policies can impact your health. The ill effects of stress can negate what you can earn from your work.

Expect you’ll be axed first or have your salary reduced 
Earning more and having a high salary means your boss or company management is expecting more from you. Unlike your low paid colleagues, you are likely to be blamed if mistakes happen.  Since you earn more than the rest of your team, you’re always on the radar of your company’s budget reduction scheme. When the economy is bad (such as the COVID-19,  slow business and bankruptcy), the organization can decide to trim its workforce. You can be in a hot seat since it can be costly to retain employees with high salaries.

Get fewer job opportunities
Finding your next job can be difficult especially if your skills are very special, low in demand or your previous position is in management. Hiring personnel could reject your application due to overqualification. Unless you can settle for less salary or position than your former role, you can have a hard time finding a better job.

Earn more schooling and experience
High-paying jobs mean more education, degrees and hundreds to thousands of hours of training and experience. You can’t just get a nice paycheck by being content or relying on less knowledge and skills. A good salary requires:

• A solid experience required by the position
• Promotion (depends on the company structure and size)
• More education and training (Post-graduate degrees, Special training and certificates from recognized certification bodies)