Feeling burned out and underappreciated? Tired of managing people and just want to focus on your craft? Thinking about going back to school to do something more meaningful? If any of this resonates, don’t quit your job. Instead, it might be time to consider a strategic descent down the corporate ladder to take back control of your life.
Don’t see it as a failure, but as a way to improve your longevity, well-being, and overall happiness. Drastic changes aren’t always necessary.
In this post, I want to explore whether descending the corporate ladder might actually be a great solution for achieving a better work-life balance. It’s a similar concept of feeling relief once you overcome the downer of no longer making maximum money. If you can swallow your pride, good things tend to happen.
My Desire to Get Ahead As A Young Man
One of the reasons I left my career was my ambition to climb the corporate ladder, an ambition that ultimately hit a ceiling. After being promoted to VP at 28 and Director at 31, I failed to make Managing Director by 34. Yes, I only tried for a year before negotiating a severance package, but it still stung to fall short. That unmet goal was a key catalyst in my decision to retire from finance.
Looking back 13 years later, I sometimes wonder if I could’ve been content staying a Director. If I had been satisfied with my role, I could have continued earning a handsome salary for years.
As a Director, I had one and a half direct reports and ran a business covering the West Coast. Had I been promoted to MD, I likely would’ve had to relocate to New York City or Hong Kong and manage a much larger team—something every experienced manager knows comes with significantly more stress.
Ultimately, I didn’t want to descend the corporate ladder, because progress meant happiness to me at the time. Asking for a demotion was unheard of in the cuthroat world of banking. Meanwhile, staying in place would’ve also meant slowly falling behind as my colleagues got promoted. I had too much pride to just run in place.
Ultimately, I decided to kickstart the modern-day FIRE movement in 2009 and chronicle my journey out of a lucrative career just three years later.
The Health Benefits of Descending the Corporate Ladder
Whether you choose to get demoted or simply stay in place, stepping back can have big health benefits as your responsibilities lighten. With fewer demands, you’ll have more flexibility to work from home, play pickleball midday, and even enjoy a nap after lunch.
Your day should also have fewer meetings—a relief for many. And even if you do attend a meeting, you’re less likely to be called on to lead or contribute as often, making it easier to keep a low profile.
If you have young children, you’ll have more time to spend with them during standard work hours, e.g. attending their soccer practice at 3:30 pm. With a lower paycheck, the guilt of blending family and work time fades. As long as you get your responsibilities done in a timely manner, you’re good to go.
More time with family and friends, more exercise, and greater freedom can all do wonders for your mental health. Chronic pain—like lower back pain, sciatica, or golfer’s elbow—may lessen or even disappear. Your hair might even stop graying and falling out at such a rapid pace.
Ultimately, descending the corporate ladder can lead to a healthier, longer life. Isn’t that worth more than a pay raise or added status thanks to a promotion? I think so!
In a survey by Randstad, a global HR consultancy, nearly half (47%) of respondents reported no interest in career progression. Instead, talented workers prioritize work-life balance (93%), flexible hours (81%), and mental health support (83%) over career ambition (70%).
Unless you’re doing something amazing like caring for baby pandas, it may be hard to feel truly passionate about work. Many people I’ve spoken to feel disgruntled because they don’t see their work making a meaningful difference in society.
Gone are the days when everyone aspired to be the “big boss” with a corner office furnished with a huge desk, a leather chair, and a sofa for power meetings. I remember being awed by the large, glass-walled offices at Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs in New York City. The ambition to one day reach that level was exciting.
But as I climbed higher, I realized the toll it could take. When I didn’t reach Managing Director in 2011, I let go of the dream, and maybe, just maybe, I dodged a bullet. If I’d made MD, my chronic pain might have worsened, and I may still be stuck today.
Promotions can trap you with the allure of higher pay and prestige. Sometimes, not getting promoted might be the best thing for your life.
Descend To Remove A Target On Your Back
Back in finance, I noticed that Managing Directors—the highest earners—were often the first to be let go. The man who recruited me from Goldman to Credit Suisse, Myles, was laid off just a year later, which was disappointing because he was a fantastic leader. My biggest supporter was gone, and I had to find a way to ingratiate myself with a new boss.
Over my 11 years at Credit Suisse, I went through four heads of desks and even more heads of products. If your MD salary didn’t align with your productivity, you were gone. And if you didn’t get along with a few fellow MDs, consensus could turn against you. Once you reach the highest levels, navigating those dynamics can be just as critical as performance.
By descending the corporate ladder, you may improve your chances of staying employed. As the old Japanese saying goes, “The nail that sticks out gets hammered down.” In addition to practicing stealth wealth during economic downturns to avoid getting hated on, adopt a stealth career for increased longevity.
Maybe Younger Generations Are Less Ambitious
In the same Randstad’s survey, Gen Z respondents were more likely than Millennials or Gen Xers to say, “I don’t want career progression.” How interesting, given Gen Z tend to be the most junior employees in most organizations. This generation doesn’t want senior leadership roles due to concerns for long hours and too much pressure.
But the funny thing is, almost another generation ago, I posted my now classic post, Are There Really People Who Work 40 Hours A Week Or Less And Complain Why They Can’t Get Ahead? Ah, it seems like Gen Z is simply mirroring the feelings about work that Millennials felt at their age.
Older generations will attribute the lack of desire for career progression to laziness or lack of ambition. But in today’s world, where layoffs are common and lifetime pensions are largely a thing of the past, why be overly ambitious? With globalization and tech-driven competition, job security feels more elusive, making the pursuit of senior roles less attractive.
Might Be Harder To Get Motivated As A Young Adult
It must feel strange to be a young person fresh out of high school or college today, knowing that AI has a decent chance of making your skills obsolete. You can either throw in the towel and YOLO your way through life, or you can embrace the challenge and leverage AI to supercharge your productivity and creativity. The choice is yours—disruption or evolution.
For my children’s sake, I’m investing aggressively in artificial intelligence as a hedge. If AI ends up displacing millions of jobs, I want to get rich from my AI investments. Then I’ll use the proceeds to support them, just in case they struggle to find meaningful work in the future.
At the same time, I hope they never need the help and instead figure out their own path to financial independence.
Managing People May Not Be As Fun as Producing
Many companies promote their top producers into managerial roles, but excelling in production doesn’t automatically make someone a great manager. Sometimes, climbing the ladder means giving up what you’re good at to manage others. It’s a tradeoff that may appeal only to those who genuinely enjoy wielding more authority.
When I joined a startup part-time in November 2023, I learned a term I hadn’t encountered before: IC, or “individual contributor.” At first, I was baffled—aren’t we all supposed to contribute? If not, then what, just tell people what to do? My colleagues laughed and said, “Yes, that sounds about right.”
In startups, everyone is expected to contribute meaningfully because survival depends on it. But in larger companies, where individual contributions are harder to tie directly to profitability, it’s easier to coast.
Personally, I’d far rather earn a handsome $500,000 working a mere 30 hours a week at a big tech company like Google, with three days a week at home, than work 60+ hours a week in the office at a startup with the slim chance of a huge IPO windfall. Goodness knows you don’t need to earn a top 0.1% income to be happy.
Maybe the FIRE Movement Is Making a Difference, Too
It’s strange there is a rising popularity in descending the corporate ladder. However, perhaps the rise of FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) blogs, podcasts, YouTube channels, and books may also be influencing people to downshift their career ambitions. At first, early retirement with a smaller nest egg may seem risky. But as more people successfully navigate this path, it fosters a sense of possibility.
Even if not everyone takes the extreme step of retiring in their 50s, 40s, or even 30s, the FIRE movement may encourage people to ease up on the grind. Coast FIRE, a subset of this movement, is a popular approach that allows people to grow wealth passively after an initial savings phase, rather than through relentless effort and career climbing.
That said, Coast FIRE is also the most dangerous early retirement movement to follow as it might lead to complacency. Thanks to life circumstances that can change unexpectedly, I encourage people not to remain in Coast FIRE land for too long.
Thirteen years after leaving the traditional workforce, I’ve shared as many of the ups and downs as possible. Given that I’m not lying on the street every night as DUPs, I’d like to think I’ve helped others to find more courage to enjoy life a little more.
When you see what’s possible, it makes the possibility a greater reality.
The Soonest You Should Start Descending Or Coasting
Strategically, the earliest you should consider descending the corporate ladder is when you’ve accumulated the minimum investment amount needed to take things easier. This threshold is calculated by taking the inverse of the historical return of your primary asset class and multiplying it by your gross annual income.
Once you’ve reached this number, work should start to feel less stressful. Based on historical returns, your investments now have a reasonable chance of covering your income if you were to lose your job entirely. That peace of mind can make a step down feel less like a risk and more like a smart move.
The Hardest Part of Descending the Corporate Ladder
If you’re convinced that descending the corporate ladder could be great for your life, the hard part is actually doing it. Staying in place or opting for a demotion requires swallowing your pride and watching as your peers keep climbing. Unfortunately, comparison truly is the thief of joy.
You’ll need to be okay with not driving the luxury car your ascending peers have. You’ll have to accept your current home as your long-term dwelling while others climb the property ladder. And, hardest of all, if you have children, you might not be able to provide everything you want for your children.
Is it any wonder, then, that many keep pushing for more money and titles?
Quitting the money chase is one of the hardest things to do. For me, it took a failed promotion to walk away. I then figured out how to get a severance package so I could leave with financial security.
Afterward, I consulted for fintech companies and earned online through Financial Samurai. I did so partly out of a lingering fear of descending too far. Now, I’m focused on building back our passive income so it can fully cover our desired living expenses by December 31, 2027.
So yes, descending the corporate ladder is tough. But it just might be the best thing you’ll ever do for your mental health, finances, and overall quality of life.
Readers, what do you think about descending the corporate ladder for greater happiness? When does the drive for raises and promotions finally lose its grip? Is it possible to coast in your career, if you can shake off the guilt of not always pushing for more?
Alternatively, Leave Your Job For Something Better
Sometimes a clean break is the better path. After 13 years in finance, I negotiated a severance and left. Burned out from the pressure, long hours, and travel-induced pain, all I really wanted was to write and explore. And that’s exactly what I did until my son was born in 2017. Then I became a stay at home dad.
If you’re looking to break free from a job you no longer enjoy, check out my bestseller, How To Engineer Your Layoff: Make A Small Fortune By Saying Goodbye. Now in its 6th edition, it shares all the strategies I used to successfully negotiate a severance.
You can either descend the corporate ladder or take a leap toward a better life. I chose the latter—and years later, I know it was the right decision for my health, happiness, and soul. Use the code “saveten” at checkout to save $10.
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Source: Descending The Corporate Ladder: A Great Solution To A Better Life
