[2ndGoat]

I was in a similar position a year ago. I ended up quitting my job, which would not have been quite as lucrative as yours (50k out of college, but would taken ~8 years to get to 100 unless I went into consulting), but also wasn't quite as terrible (40 hours weeks, just still hated the corporate atmosphere).

I ended up hopping off the "smart career decision" path and have just played poker for 9 months now. It has been fantastic.

The money has not been what I thought it would be. I figure to make 65k my first 12 months instead of the 200k I honestly projected when I left work. Most of this is due to the fact that I can't seem to make myself play more than 20 hours a week, on average. The rest is because I'm not quite as good at poker as I thought. 65k on my own is just slightly less compensation than the 50k+amazing benefits at my previous job.

Waking up whenever I want and not thinking about facing traffic has made me happier than I could imagine (and I imagined it would make me pretty damn happy). Being able to fly wherever, whenever, and do so on one-way tickets with no definite return plan is also really nice. Dealing with 15k downswings with no paycheck backing me up (I've had 2) has made me a little more frustrated than I imagined (and I imagined it wouldn't really frustrate me THAT much). And to be honest, it's pretty fun to answer the "what do you do?" question now- whether the questioner responds with envy or looks at me like I'm delusional. The 20 hour a week job is pretty nice too. I haven't necessarily spent the extra time on productive activities (often video games and such) but sometimes I have.

The real benefit? Getting away from the world where I always had the next step (that is, the next carrot) laid out before me has given me time to figure what I think I actually want to do. I didn't plan on that. Over these past 9 months I've determined I want to be a teacher. Eventually. I'll still likely take another year or two off of life because it's a pretty good time. The other great thing is I know I can support myself with poker, so even if teaching doesn't pay anything, I can help support myself with 2 months of poker in the summer (assuming I teach high school) and part time play during the year.

Part of this comes from seeing how close "the money" is. If I *did* force myself to work more hours, and take the game more seriously, I still think I could get to the 200k mark within a year or two- at 24/25. I also see my buddy, the phenom, make 6 figures on a TV show, or close to it in a 48 hour span at a cash game, at the age of 22. It's rather absurd- almost like a cheat code for life. I never thought money was a huge deal, but I've realized even more how little it really means to me now. Sure it would be nice to have "ftw" money, but I really would like to do something where I feel like I'm making a positive impact on the world, AND like what I do, and it seems more important than the cash.

Hope that has helped you some. While the decision is obviously one only you can make, it seems real obvious to get the hell off wall street if it's going to steal your soul. Also, I highly recommend "What Should I Do With My Life?" by Po Bronson. He interviewed a thousand or so people and put maybe 30 of their career stories into a book. Has lots of investment types in it.

2nd