I was mostly self-employed. Those time I worked for someone else were not among the happy times. Large corporations are the very worst. I avoided those entirely.
.”Large corporations are the very worst. I avoided those entirely.”
I never directly worked for large corporations. But I did consulting for them. What would take a multi billion dollar company with thousands of engineers and designers years I would do in weeks on my own. They are so stuck in the culture of “dynamic inaction” they think they are accomplishing something when all they accomplish is wasted time in endless meetings and email chains. I didn’t have to participate so had time to actually work. AND I had no union rules. If anyone wonders why an aircraft by the big makers is so expensive, spend a day on the shop floor and watch how the unions operate.
“Large corporations are the very worst. I avoided those entirely.”
I did the opposite. I worked for or consulted to these. They paid big bucks which I promptly invested. They sent me on assignments abroad while paying me my bare salary which increased my investment. Nothing flashy, but by 40 my portfolio returns rivalled my income.
Covid reduced that, but I am close to FIRE’s end game.
The key for me was not to succumb to lifestyle inflation and to be content
Publicly traded corporations tend to make decisions based on a quarterly timeline, despite the happy talk about 'strategic plans'. And then you get to middle management, where its rare to have a manager who has the best interests of the business in mind. Some of the worst cases in that 'mucky middle' are those who make grandiose promises to senior management (aka your mouth writing checks your a** can't cash) , gambling that they'll be on to their next position before the consequences catch up.
In those large, publicly traded corporations its my opinion that more often than not the Pareto Principle is applicable.