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These salaries that I see on Glassdoor are seriously frustrating me. People making 160k with barely 10 years of experience based on what's shown on LinkedIn.
I get that we should always be grateful for what we have, but these six figure incomes are seemingly impossible to obtain. Is there an element of luck or what? The only reason I'm where I am at is because of successful, relentless job hopping. Waited another year and can't get anyone to pay six figures.
I'm in corporate training and my comp is at 90k. I have 4 years of experience and about to finish my master's.
You should be grateful for that. I'm 15 years in just under that ...
$160k year isn't that much money. After taxes in my state that is only $4,556 semi monthly. It's very easy to spend every penny of that money before your next check going into the bank.
A married coule making that type of money each is when you are starting to make some serious money.
A person at the $160k level that is married to someone that makes $60k/year isn't just middle class and in some cities will still not able to afford a good home.
OP, I did not see you mention what your job in, or maybe I missed it. Anyway, sometimes it's just luck that you land a job that meets all your variables: good pay, good benefits, good location.
There's absolutely nothing wrong with wanting more money. You live a more comfortable life knowing you have money to buy something you want, like a kitchen remodel, new furniture, private school for your children, retail therapy for yourself, eating out several times a week, and still have plenty in your bank account. If that's your goal, then go for it.
Reddit has a subreddit about FIRE, so maybe you should go there. It's a ton of highly driven people and I think you'll find it useful.
Thank you for getting where I am coming from. I'll take a closer look at the subreddit.
Well when it compares to a low paying job sure, but I've personally found between my wife and I that the more we make at our jobs the easier they become. She ended up getting reports below her that do most of the heavy lifting that she doles out and now works from home, and for me my job description somewhat stayed the same but I'm getting paid twice as much. My biggest stress in life is my commute which I only do once a week anyway lol. Between her and I we are in the mid-300's in our 30's.
And yes a lot of that disappears before you even get a chance to touch it. Taxes are the big one, we pay more in taxes than our living expenses are. By at least 50% greater margin. Then there is 401ks, IRAs, company ESPP, etc. Our mortgage is around $85k, so that isn't really a factor and we own our cars and have never made car payments.
It was certainly way more work when I worked my first few jobs out of school for lower pay, and she making in the $30k-$60k range at entry level type jobs. You tend to take a lot more crap from those superior to you at your jobs. Now, not so much. Life is way better.
You're in that salary range that I originally posted. What do you both do to be making in the mid 300's with your years of experience (assuming 10 to 15)?
Being able to put so much toward retirement must feel really nice. I want to be at that level. I don't really have a lot of expenses. Really just want to max everything out like you said (401k, IRA, ESPP, etc). Even go toward other investments that can later create passive income. There are only so many dollars that can go around and the lower the salary the more limitations there are.
Well when it compares to a low paying job sure, but I've personally found between my wife and I that the more we make at our jobs the easier they become.
How do you explain the fact that the vast majority of Americans never make a 6-figure individual income in their entire lives?
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Originally Posted by rummage
wheelsup is correct. You have to be realistic. Going from whatever to $160K doesn't make you a billionaire. It makes things a little bit easier for you. It isn't like you will be living without questioning the cost of anything ever again. Also, keep in mind, if you are making $160K a year so are many of your co-workers, and some making even more. So where you live will be more expensive unless you want to travel 2 hours or more to work each day. The more expensive salaries increase the real estate prices too. That also increases the property taxes. All that increases the cost of living.
Making $160K a year living in an $80K house in the US Midwest, yes, that's a lot of money. But $160K living in a major city, that doesn't go as far as you think. You will still be better off, but you won't be living a rich and famous lifestyle because of it.
Exactly. In fact it's not just a major city, but the suburbs close enough for reasonable commutes. An income of $160,000 is just middle class in our city, where the median family income is $157,000. The median home price here, after a recent slight drop is now $911,000. That's very tight and would require a down payment of $180,000 to qualify for a loan at 4.5%.
I found in my 30 year career so far, that promotions do not come in your base 40 hours a week or by saying "That's not my job". You have to do more. Learn everyone's job in the office. I know so many people that got passed by for promotions that worked at companies for ten years, frustrated. they were so beholden to a job description they held themselves back. What they do not realize is that they are literally doing year one...ten times in a row. They never grew their skill set. When someone is staying late, see if you can help them. Rather then gossip at the water cooler help solve a coworkers issue they are having. ...Find ways to learn everyone's job.
It took me a few years to learn that lesson. No college degree and I have kids with Master's degrees working for me. If you know something about everyone's job, you know the business. You'll get promoted or find a job people will pay you for. It's not really complicated.
You're in that salary range that I originally posted. What do you both do to be making in the mid 300's with your years of experience (assuming 10 to 15)?
Being able to put so much toward retirement must feel really nice. I want to be at that level. I don't really have a lot of expenses. Really just want to max everything out like you said (401k, IRA, ESPP, etc). Even go toward other investments that can later create passive income. There are only so many dollars that can go around and the lower the salary the more limitations there are.
It took many years of working lower paying jobs to get to this point. We didn't really start our career launch until age 33. Our work prior to that was more focused on gaining experience. Also do not be afraid to job hop as that is how we both got large increases in pay.
The best way to help snowball your savings is greatly reduce monthly expenditures. Keep housing costs low by living with roommates or even better owning the house and using roommates to cover your expenses. Keep transportation costs low - drive an older car with liability only insurance for example, or even better live somewhere where you don't even need a car. Older cars have cheaper parts and can be fixed yourself.
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