I'll answer honestly, with the understanding that there will be some manure flipped back at me for saying this.
When we lived in California, our combined income was in the range of $1.3 million a year at its peak. I got tired of working so much and having that level of pressure just to make someone else even richer so I went solo, then started a non-profit, and my income dropped by about 90%. My wife was a bit late to that way of thinking and she was the one pulling in more than half of the income, but she also got tired of living her life so others could be billionaires (and she was working longer hours than I was, with a 3+ hour commute each day).
So she's now mostly retired and most of my work is non-profit. We make less than 10% of what we used to, but we have WAY better quality of life in Montana, lower costs of living, lower taxes and more freedom.
There's a time and place to put up with the rat race, but if you spend too much of your life chasing wealth you won't be happy.
Eliminate qualified immunity and you'll eliminate cops who act like they are above the law.
I am a high school teacher with my master's degree and 27 years of experience in Fairbanks, Alaska. I work in June on a Per Diem basis and my annual salary is 125,000 per year. A lot of that goes to Uncle Sam. I also work 20-30 hours per week as a camping associate at Sportsman's Warehouse with a top salary that I can't publish without getting into trouble but I can tell you that I make about 14K on that job. My wife is an artist and runs a gift shop that generally makes about 10K per year. It is expensive up here and I am stacking money into savings and into commodities. I have a dividend yield 501 K that is low six figures that is heavily leaning towards energy stocks. I have a paid off pickup and a suv. I am still paying on the mortgage but I abide.
Remson, your truthful reply I find very interesting.
My sister is a lawyer in the bay area and she used to make major cash. But she tired of the crazy calls at 2AM from the higher ups and finally couldn't take it any longer.
She now has a M-F job where she does legal work for one of the counties down there and she is much happier.
Same deal with my brother. He is a dentist and went from running his own practice in southern CA to working for a practice in South Dakota. He is also happier.