28, decent salary at a Big 4, but the golden handcuffs are starting to feel heavy
Throwing this out there because I don’t know who else to talk to about it.
I’m 28, working at one of the Big 4 consultancies. Not quite HENRY territory but earning a solid wage for my age. On paper I should be grateful, and I am, but I’m completely depleted.
The work feels meaningless. I haven’t been staffed on a genuinely good project since I joined. Now they’re pushing me to come into the office more, except I don’t even have a team there. Just me, in a building, doing work I don’t care about, surrounded by people I don’t work with. I’d much rather be remote.
Here’s the thing: I’m not chasing director. I don’t want the grind to partner. What I actually enjoy is time with my family and being relatively stress-free. So I keep asking myself, is this what I want to do for the rest of my life? And I genuinely don’t know.
The problem is the salary. I’ve got a mortgage, a family, a life built around this income. Golden handcuffs are real and they’re tight. Walking away feels reckless. Staying feels like slowly giving up on something.
Anyone been here? How did you think your way through it? Did you jump, pivot internally, downshift to industry? Or did you stay and make peace with it?