David Bach The Automatic Millionaire

Last month, I wrote a column called "Five Steps to Getting a Bigger Raise." I've had a lot of people stop me on the street this summer to talk about that article.

The feedback (both good and bad) has been incredible. One woman named Barbara told me that she literally followed the steps to the letter and was able to increase her income by nearly 50 percent.

She had a meeting with her boss that lasted less than an hour, and after laying out her reasons for feeling she deserved a raise and adding a specific dollar amount to her request, her boss said "yes"! She was shocked, thrilled -- and mad, because she regretted not meeting with her boss sooner.

Knowing When It's Time to Get Out

I had the opposite experience with a gentleman named Fred. Fred noticed me in a New York airport and proceeded to tell me I was "outta touch with reality." He said, "David, my boss is never going to give me a raise. I work for a jerk, the company is poorly run, and they don't care about their employees. So what do you think about that?"

My response was simple -- "quit." Fred didn't like my response, and that reminded me that often, what we know we need to do is sometimes the hardest thing to actually do.

Friends, summer is almost over. Hopefully yours has been fantastic and you're recharged to hit it hard this fall. If you're going back to a job you love, try to get a raise by using my five steps, just like Barbara did. They could change your life.

But if you're really not excited about going back to work this fall, it may be time to rethink what you do or where you do it. These signs can help you decide whether it's time to quit:

1. You truly hate what you do.

Let's start with a simple question: Do you hate what you do? If the answer is yes, the next question is not should you quit your job, but when will you quit your job.

I have no idea what your financial overhead amounts to or what your debt is. What I do know is that even though life is short, doing something with it that you hate will only make it seem very long and very miserable.

I've dedicated my life to teaching others how to be smarter with their money because I believe that money frees people to live great lives. And I've learned that, for many people, the goal of setting aside six months' worth of expenses is often enough to free them from a job they hate.

But it can often take even less than that. Sometimes you simply need to quit your job before everything is perfect, because life is worth more than money.

2. You asked for a raise and the answer was "no."

If you're truly working your butt off week after week, month after month, and year after year, and you're not getting raises or growing your income, something is wrong. You can attempt to rationalize the situation, or you can do something about it.

Even if you get just the national average annual raise (a little less than 4 percent), in five years you will have increased your income by over 20 percent. You need these increases to be able to keep your head above water financially. The increase in the cost of gas alone requires that you earn a raise.

However -- and this is important -- the key is that you earn it. I'm not talking about taking the attitude "give me a raise because of inflation." That will get you nowhere.

3. You work for a company you don't respect.

If you're not being paid well and not getting raises, and on top of that you don't respect the company where you spend 40 hours or more a week, that's a pretty amazing sign that it's time to come up with a plan to quit.

So be honest with yourself right now: Do you respect the company you work for? Do you like what it stands for? Do you like what it does? Does it care about you and its customers? Does it have a plan for the future, or is it living in the past?

4. You work for a company that doesn't respect you.

The fact is that not all companies are created equal. There are bad, good, and great companies, and they all treat their people in radically different ways.

Does your company respect you? You pretty much know the answer, don't you? Here's a powerful list of the top 100 companies to work for. Year after year, these companies win awards for treating their employees with respect.

5. You're bored to death and not challenged.

This is the hardest sign to recognize because it can change over time. You may be one promotion away from new opportunities, but things can be pretty brutal if you've been bored out of your mind for years.

It can happen, by the way, even when you're experiencing tremendous success, getting raises, and working for a great company. It can happen when you run your own business. It can happen when you've worked for 5, 10, 20, or 30 years and achieved all you ever dreamed of achieving. And, yes, it can happen even sooner than that.

Plan Before You Go

Often, we reach a point where what we do simply doesn't work anymore. We're not fulfilled. At that point, you have to ask yourself if it's time to change where you are, or what you do where you are.

I'm not being cavalier here by suggesting that you simply quit your job today. What I am suggesting is that you think about these five signs. Ask yourself the questions. Talk them over with someone you love. If you already know that the answer is "yes, it's time to quit," then it's time to start planning the "I quit" date.

Be smart, think it through, and once the decision is made, congratulate yourself for not settling on the status quo. Quitting a job often requires that you step outside your comfort zone -- not always an easy thing to do. But once you've done it, new and exciting opportunities await. Good luck.