I think something that I didn't think about until I got into the field was quality of life in conjunction with place of employment. I took a staff psychologist job at a state hospital at first when i moved home, and was a bit lower in salary than I would have initially liked; however, the flexibility (essentially flexing whenever I want, as long as it hits 40 hrs per week), union protection, only have to work 40 hours per week there, health/dental/life/vision benefits, all of the ancillary perks of working for the state, and state pension retirement all sold me with the totality of the job. Throw in that in 6 years I would be maxing out at where I would want to salary-wise, the overall relaxed nature of the job, and the fact that I have a 7 minute commute to work, all were enough for me to justify the lower salary initially. (I also was doing PP at the same time, so I had that other income).
