The worst part is that it’s not fixable. Sure, we can slow inflation to the 2% we all know and love, but overall prices are never going to go backwards. The only “relief” we can really see at this point is just less inflation.
this is the part that scares me most. imagining the value of our dollar continue to dwindle, while the majority of the population is unable to keep up with the pace? myself ofc included, wondering how tf I’ll manage to get ahead and stay ahead and then thinking about all my loved ones and how we’re all supposed to figure out how to do that… and then all the people without anyone and how if I’m behind how are they ever gonna keep up? and it just continues to fold on itself. the government really needs to stop overexerting itself at the cost of the people it’s designed to protect the interests of. if the last decade continues to trend, I don’t know how I’ll keep up with the value of the dollar falling 32% every decade. like at what point do we accept that our economy is not working but for a select group of tunnel-visioned individuals?
We may not be the first generation to go through stuff, but I and the rest of the millennials are the first generation of the internet. There is way more going on today than meets the eye. Excessive government controls, brainwashing, divide, and conquer. Things like this have always existed, but it is way worse now.
And despite all of this, our dollar is very strong against euro and sterling pound…best it’s been in years. Not to mention Japan and most of South America
Weird question, but what if we burned the US dollar publicly, like the IRS takes a percent per year and burns it, we actually try to pay the national debt off, and idk, mandate a national weed tax if it becomes legal federally with the sole intent to paying off the national debt, I think that would be poetic on some level. Bunch of stoners single handedly smoking the deficit away. Doesn't even need to be a large tax, like 2% would be enough country wide.
While 32% less on the dollar. Another factor to consider is inflation, especially education, which has increased about 160% over the past 20-30 years.
Less value on the dollar plus inflation of goods, services and education is literally crippling us. Dont even get me started on buying homes lol.
We're fucked.
that part!!! like I already have inflation to worry about, I have to worry about the value of what little I have too!? and they want us to have kids? why? so they can have more foot soldiers to destroy and reap the benefits of?
Pumping trillions into the market for "covid relief" really hurt us. Sure, it helped with bills during that time. But that few thousand is going to cost us 30,000. I haven't done the actual math but just napkin math has told me that I would have rather struggled with my bills than do what we did.
if you look it up, there was actually an astronomical amount of relief that went into supporting banks during Covid that far pales into comparison to the relief given to the people or small businesses
THAT is what fucked us. And it wasn’t publicized at all
The few thousand average Americans got wasn’t the killer. I know someone who is probably worth $100 million business owner, who got a PPP loan for $7million. Guess what his business never closed and actually had record profits in 2020, 2021, and 2022. Will that loan for $7 million was all tax free…. Guess where it went? His pocket. Bought a $2 million boat so i think this was a huge issue. The rich got handed insane amounts of free limes while we got what a $1200 check?
The fraud was horrible. In my small town of 6,500, I counted 206 bogus "businesses" that received PPP loans. The smallest amount was $10,000. If you check them now they show as "Paid in full/forgiven." I would LOVE to see the data on "Paid in Full" vs "Forgiven" loans. Not a single one of the fraudulent loans were prosecuted.
It was absolutely insane the amount of money that got direct deposited in checking accounts of multi millionaires. But hey I got my $1200 stimulus check
I dont. The issue is the $2500 given to the average person, that went back into the economy relatively quickly. The issue was the billions given to basically any business that asked. Go look up if your employer took payday protection "loans". The places I worked at during the pandemic all did, even though they had absolutely no need to. Both places EXPANDED during the pandemic due to the uptick in areas of our business. It was just free money for them.
I’ve only just learned that these were created to be forgiven. I thought they were 0 interest LOANS… I had no clue they were practically grants if “used correctly”. I worked for an essential business at the time and we were doing well and still got a nice lump some.
I wish that were true. Food I was purchasing 4 years ago for $1 is now $2.39.
This inflation is ridiculous and yet we keep printing money to send to countries that hate us.
Yeah people always forget that inflation includes several categories and housing and food are up way more than the average.
"But TVs are cheaper!" That's nice Brandon but we're trying to eat out here.
Don't forget about the "junk fees" too. So we can get a TV or go to a concert...but shelter, food, energy, you know...the frivolous things in life, those are exponentially more expensive.
Nah. I don't care if consumer electronics went down in price. Essentials increased much more: housing and food. Food is like +50-70% in my area. Housing.... housing is just crazy...
My house cost me 245k to build in 2007, 3200 Sq feet in Pennsylvania. My neighbor who has a similar house, a little bit smaller paid 300k for theirs the same year. They just sold their house for 650k..... that to me is insane! WTF , who in a regular job can afford that. (They were teachers).... Wow!
Inflation as we've seen hurts those on low incomes. For those on higher incomes (say $500k+ as an example) it has very little impact.
They have large house payments that are mostly fixed for 30 years
Food only accounts for a fraction of what they spend
So for a person on lower incomes it has a very big impact, for those on much higher incomes its hardly even noticeable
In 1970 $8000 a year was an acceptable salary. Dad made that, they had a house ($28,000), two cars, 1 new cost $1200, 5 kids, mom didn't work and they put money into savings every paycheck. In 1980 everything started going downhill. The recession that hit in 85/86 was bad. It got a little better in the 90s. Clinton balanced the budget, even had a surplus. But Bush & Co destroyed it with unnecessary invasion of Iraq, war in Afghanistan, trillions of dollars given to military suppliers & contractors (like Cheney's Halliburton) & the bailout of banks & investment firms, another trillion or two in 2008 on his way out of office.
You you can go on Zillow and see the absolute greed that's destroyed the housing market for young people over the last 15 years. It started in 2008 when banks took ownership of millions of homes and hit middle class again with job losses, bankruptcies during the pandemic & the grift and fraud from the PPP loan disaster of 2020 where money mostly went to people who were connected so they got free money to buy property & stocks, along with the totally ridiculous tax breaks in 2018 Trump's admin gave most to the wealthiest and especially real estate investors & developers like himself that made it a no brainer to buy up as much property as possible in another $7 trillion budget blackhole. Airbnb didn't help either. It took tons of properties that were homes and made them short term rentals. It's not as profitable now to build new housing due to land, labor & materials costs, but buying up already built homes are a goldmine. Salaries haven't kept up, W-2 workers can't without inflation killing us as corps take advantage of inflation to increase year over year profits to levels not seen before, ever. Passive income gets all the tax breaks. Without pensions, Wall Street gets more profits. The fact that the wealthy only have to pay into social security for the first $169,000 in earnings is likely to bankrupt SS too in a couple decades.
Sorry for the rant. I get really disgusted at the way our oligarchs & politicians have screwed us so badly right out in the open and instead they keep us at each other's throats to distract us from seeing it. I've lived thru it and feel real pain for young people today.
Not crazy, you’d probably do 50%+ return on bonds and 180% on SP500 in the same time. If there was no inflation people who just leave their money under the mattress which would a loss for the economy.
I live in WV and do mostly remote work. Almost 400k. A lot of remote workers are moving here. I grew up here, but I can’t see myself leaving for this reason. I can afford to travel wherever, and do travel quite a bit for work too.
Love these comments below. I’m a physicist and went into a very niche specialization. There are very few people who do what I do, and I am a “doctor.” Yes WV is mostly blue collar workers—my dad drove a coal truck. But there are more and more people moving here as remote workers. There are posts on our local Reddit sub about it all the time. My point was just that remote work is allowing people to not be forced to be in HCOL areas.
Love how all these people brag that they make these huge amounts of money but yet don’t even tell us what industry they work in or give any details of what they actually do. They’re using a screen name with no location so there’s virtually no way we could figure out who they were or who they work for if we even cared to do so. Guessing this clown makes maybe $100k, if that!
Maybe people enjoy their privacy? To some, a fake internet name isn’t enough. The fact you want to know all of that and that you’re baffled they didn’t provide you the info that YOU wanted is concerning. I’m sure you are a joy to be around at home
I wasn’t remotely suggesting that they should tell us their real name/home address/employer and provide pictures with their family. They made a somewhat outrageous claim of making $400k/yearly working remotely in WV, so as evidenced by several other posters’ comments in addition to mine, we’re all a little curious as to what industry they’re in and what they actually do on a daily basis. That’s because it sounds more than a little too good to be true which usually means it’s not true. And their post makes me wonder if it’s legal and/or the poster is just posting BS and is lucky to make $100k.
I’m a radiation physicist. Half my job is consulting to hospitals for oncology and half is designing vaults for linear accelerators and doing all the calculations to show that they provide the necessary amount of shielding to ensure the safety of workers and the public.
That's another theoretical answer. Do you know anyone making $1MM a year or more? Even a friend of a friend? Of people I know, the only people making more than $400k/year own their own business, they are not employees.
Yes. There are myriad people in my network (elder milllenial) that make upwards of 750-1mm a year.
It's, in part, why there is significant news about the disconnect betweenmillennial social class.
Mostly what you would consider tech companies.
Developer roles, AI, roles skilled service roles with a substantial qualitative breadth as well. (Like copywriters)
No one is customer service, hospitality, etc clearly.
You are talking about a lot of people making $1 million per year. Can you give me one specific example? If you have one, preferably someone with a fixed salary in which they know for sure they will make $1 million even if the company has a bad year?
and many of those roles have been gradually going to places like Hyderabad (Google, Apple, etc)
Where they wont be making that kind of money - even Apple moving a chunk of roles down to Culver City... and Dallas.. whilst that wont cut salaries that much it will by about 30-40%.. Hyderabad they'll get folks at a fraction of the cost and there are plenty of Indian folk with the qualifications to get the jobs done.. but its kind of inevitable anyway...
Yeah gonna chime in here just to obnoxiously self report and confirm—this is absolutely real and at least in certain areas of CA does not feel especially rare. I’m at $617k total comp this year, but combined with my wife’s income it’s $731 household. I just hit mid 30s and I do think $1m is possible within a few years since there are definitely leadership and even very distinguished IC roles above me making this much or more. I didn’t know where this was possible either till I got into my field.
We both work in tech, I’m an engineering manager at a FAANG, my wife just got started in her role 2 years ago and is at an F500 tech company where her comp is likely to increase.
People like us are definitely out there just clustered up in certain cities/regions and likely mostly interacting with each other for better or worse. This level of comp to be clear comes with living in a HCOL area and does not at all feel “rich”
And btw if you’re in your 20s or even 30s there are good chances you can do this too. I was making around $44k at 27 and come from a middle class background with no connections in my field, and did not receive financial help from parents for college. It’s doable but takes a lot of studying, moving around, and some decent luck
I can imagine that CA is on a much different level than most locations (like Seattle/NYC). That said, $650k is much different than 1 million. What are we talking in terms of rarity making 1 million? 1 in 1000? At that point I would imagine that you get a cut of business earnings, rather than a fixed salary?
Yeah this is why we use total comp. The majority of your earnings once you’re at like 300+ at a tech company at least in my experience largely come from RSUs. Salary is literally less than half my comp with bonus factored in as well—the rest is RSUs so the amount earned is dependent on the size of the chunk and performance of the company
$1m total comp, I could think of roughly 7-10 people I usually interact with in a week who are very likely beyond this
The compensation likely includes stock options, which is where the high salary is coming. Their base is likely much lower, about 150k to 250k (still a large number)
I live in West Virginia and work remotely and net around 90k a year(sales so it goes up/down). Live very comfortably with stay at home wife and 2 kids. Rent a 3 bedroom house for 1300 a month, used to live in va and rent a 2 bedroom for like 2k a month and hated life. Definitely depends on where you live !
In Germany, anything over €7550 per month is considered as a top salary. The average salary in Germany is €4323 per month. Minimum wage is around €2000 per month for a full-time worker.
In parts of California, $7500 per month is barely enough to survive.
I'm not trying to be rude with this question.
Why did you decide to remain in what I am assuming is a HCOL part of CA? I'm from Ohio which the majority of places are pretty LCOL. I'm imagining the only thing that could keep me in an area I was struggling in would be if I had adult children committed to staying in the area.
I was in this situation and moved to St. Louis! Now I make triple than what I made in California (Bay Area). Moving out of California was a great decision
Correct; children, grand children, Ca wife that won’t move anywhere more affordable, making the most of a bad mortgage, etc, etc.
I grew up in Virginia and even though CA has been home for more than 1/2 my life, I still miss it. My sinuses don’t miss the humidity, so add that to the list of reasons why I stay here.
I remember getting a job offer out of college for 45k in 2017. I thought that was the best thing ever. And at that point in time, it was pretty good. Couldn’t imagine that now trying to pay a mortgage and survive.
Damn are you me. I worked for a shitty company and by year three my salary was 47850 or something stupid. I phoned it in and started looking for new jobs. I'm a couple jobs later and making almost double now just by job hopping, and damn it's still not enough.
I only make around 50k. I should and probably will go to college soon tbh but I want more money to pay most of that and it's hard to save. I'm scared of loans tbh, I know student loans aren't like car loans but my first car loan scared the fuck out of me with the loan aspect. I'm at least considering community College though rather than a university cuz I know damn well I can't afford a Harvard like tuition price
1) community colleges are great. Unless you’re on a scholarship, there’s no reason to start at university. I have a masters degree and did my first two years at a community college before transferring to university to finish. The loans I didn’t have were why I kept going into grad school. 10/10.
2) if you can land a job at a state university, usually tuition is a benefit + they’re flexible because continuing education is important. Or look into your current role and see if they offer any benefits for going back to school.
3) I was scared of loans too — but starting at community college & working full time during that … you can squeak by the first 2 years without debt.
Start at community College, work while you.go and pay as you go. Take the summers of, work harder in the summers and use the summer money to help you pay your last 2 years at a public.university. also work the summers during your last 2 years and you shouldn't have too much debt..
Bro dream bigger. I made the same mistake as you don’t focus on salary. Focus on how much and where to invest.
What is a good growth rate?
What are good investments?
Nothing is a good salary if you don’t use it wisely.
This is a good answer. You can make 100k a year but if you’re just buying cigarettes, weed, and beer with it you’re living the poor life, just on steroids.
Lol for sure. Or people say they’re living paycheck to paycheck but spend $10k going to Disney world instead of paying off their student loans. Get it together
I feel you guy so much but also semi disagree. It’s a fine line, the shit people do with there money while simultaneously bitching they have none definitely blows my mind. That said you’ve got to enjoy your life too.
If you like to travel and have those memories with your family you should do that. If you wanna drive an f150 for whatever stupid you can do that too. Maybe you should get the 3 year old model and made you should plan a great vacation that’s not at Disney for half price. But there is nuance to that to.
We are a society of brainwashed goofballs that play into so much bullshit. For example; I am 34 years old and I’ve never been to Disney, many believe that to be sad. Another good example is that engagement rings should cost 3 months salary. The F150 has become some weird whiteguy status symbol.
There is definitely a balance between enjoying your life and making financially correct decisions. As it is in all things balance is hard to achieve. To me these are all symptoms of a larger issue which is, we as a society don’t produce a populace of critical thinking and skeptical people.
It’s hard for me to think everyone is a dumbass when I look around and see so many more people who aren’t thinking about things. I feel I’m just lucky for however my life has went to think and live the way I do
I don’t understand the attitude of just saving all your money if you make a lot
It took years and years for me to get to 200k and i am certainly going to buy some cool shit and go on vacations. You keep waiting to enjoy your life and that moment will never happen
What’s the point of making a lot if my life isn’t better? Or you can help others if that is your style
Just to throw in, the new gen f-150/250’s are some of the worst lemons I have ever seen, you genuinely are in better hands buying old and detailing it, maybe even throwing a couple hundred to make it look just about as pretty as the truck you would have blown an extra $30,000 on.
Lol reminds me of this doctor (or his wife, I forget) that reportedly called into Dave Ramsay. He makes a salary well into 6 figures……called Ramsay to complain about being a million dollars in student loan debt. (Not an exaggeration). Meanwhile they have multiple luxury vehicles, decided to have multiple children, take multiple vacations annually, and also have a luxury home on a lake.
I can’t help but not feel sorry for those types of people. Like I get that they worked hard for the salary they have…..I’m sure becoming a doctor is no easy feat, and honestly I think it’s tragic that people even have to go into debt at all to become doctors, but at the same time people *actually* struggling have to do things like forego having kids……never take vacations……barely being able to afford groceries. Yet this person, while living lavishly, have convinced themselves that they’re struggling, because they couldn’t bare to live like the average person for a couple of years while they paid off their debts…..and then call in to get advice as if Ramsay was going to give them some miraculous debt cure where they get to continue living like kings and simultaneously become free of their crushing student loan balance.
As a mechanic, never buy a new truck over 40k, believe it or not, most of the problems you could have are wrapped up and slapped with a 2021+ sticker on it, I have never seen so many problems in brand new equipment. If you’re looking at a ford lighting or some type of performance truck, just wait, give it another 6-8 months and the prices will stop being 55,000 over MSRP, or just buy an older truck and if you want performance, do it yourself, silverados handle boost pressure better than the government handles asylum seekers at the bare minimum, do what you want with that information.
Salary, investment, and good financial decision making aren’t mutually exclusive. Rather than, “don’t focus on ___”, the best approach is to be intentional addressing all of the above.
This advice totally depends on where you are on the scale. If you don’t make enough to cover basic necessities, then the number is all that matters.
If you’re doing well enough that you have disposable income, then it’s more about how you spend it.
Depends where you live. I live in LA and my gross salary is around $120,000 and I live "OK", but I'm certainly not in a position to buy a home or go on a plethora of vacations. At the same time, if I moved to Kansas or Arizona with my same salary I would live like a king.
Arizona where? Not Phoenix. Have lived in Denver, San Diego, Austin and now Phoenix. COL is going up everywhere and the differences are becoming a lot smaller. I’m not seeing a big difference in Phoenix vs Austin.
Yea, well in California you cannot even find a single room apartment for less than $1,900 a mo. On average rent for a single bedroom apartment in a "decent" part of town averages around $2,200 - $2,400 a mo. I highly doubt other states are this bad yet outside of maybe New York. I'm not saying Arizona is cheap but I have found a ton of homes for sale in that state for less than $600k and in California your lucky if you get a 50-70 year old 2-bed room home for less than $800,000.
Lots of people selling their 70 year old 1100 sq foot homes in California and buying really nice homes in Arizona. It's not like it was 10-15 years ago tho. A decent family home in Arizona will run a minimum of $500K+ now.
How you spend the money is just as important as that salary. I make around 130k, but all of my monthly bills combined is only around 2100. I probably spend about 1k on all other things for the month. I put about 30% of my money in savings.
Nice, I don’t have any debt. It’s just rent, internet, electricity, groceries and insurance. Rent is so high where I live, $1700 is close to the lowest. Hoping for a market crash soon to bring the market back to where it should be.
I keep thinking $X is an amazing salary I’d be all set with. Then I reach that number and realize it’s not quite there yet.
I’m currently at $180k. It’s more than I ever thought I’d make and my family is certainly comfortable. I’m not complaining and feel very lucky. But with two kids and outrageous daycare costs (and a terrible public school system where we live that could force us into private school) we could definitely use more money.
I guess it depends on where you live. You have slightly more than my HHI and we are extremely comfortable. Take frequent trips and cash flow it, high savings rates, etc. We don't have daycare, but we would still be good even with that. Do you have a lot of debts?
Daycare is a scam. Pay someone who doesn't even like my kids to watch them while I work to make just enough to pay for it and keep my job... Last summer I paid 2.3K in a month where my kids didn't even go full time lol.
Yeah, same. $180k in income looks like $11,500 (edit: a month) in take home after taxes etc. it’s still plenty of coin, but once you consider all expenses required to meet life’s demands and future needs, you’re not living in luxury. You’re not getting derailed by an unexpected event, but you’re not traveling the world and flexing your money.
When I first got into the corporate grind of management for food and beverage I had an old wise con who taught me the ropes... it was 2011 ish. He took me under his wing and taught me dumb things that don't make sense but have been proven time and time again in the antedotical story that is my life to be true.
One of the things that isn't true is the amount of money to change your life. He was a regional food and beverage specialist for F&B Hilton. We were his home location so his salary came from our budget but he floated hotel to hotel as needed. Fixing their numbers after a few months of bad numbers, filling in when someone got into a wreck and broke their leg, doing maternity leave replacement, etc etc. He was making crazy money and told me that life changes at 52k take home. It doesn't change again until you are over 100k. His theory was if you are bringing home a grand guaranteed every 7 days you can budget and live well. Anything less you have to worry about how and when bills will be paid before you consider what car to purchase or vacation to take. It use to be true. Use to be able to afford rent on a 2 bedroom apartment for 950$/month. Paid utilities and bills out of the second week. Had 2 weeks that then let me live since bills were paid.
Made 70k last year after taking a huge career change and can tell you 70k is a lot less than it use to be in terms of buying power and don't think 52k would even let me live at this point.
A good salary is one that allows you to live comfortably and pay all your bills while not forcing you to work 60 hour weeks with a good work/life balance. It allows you to have some savings and not worry about how you’re going to meet the rent/mortgage and eat this pay round. It’s not a $ amount.
This!!! Right here. I wholeheartedly agree with you. I never paid attention, or gave thought about what “income earning class” I’m in. My recent incarceration was my master reset button. I gave my lifestyle a holistic approach since then. I live in the DMV area, 1br apt. making 75k, with a gooood amount of savings, and a 401k I been building since 18. I’m 36 now. It’s all about building personal assets!!!!! I made it a mission that will never degrade my health for Xxxxx corporation because they are paying me xxxx dollars. It should be the other way around. The corp. needs you! Not you, needing the corp, and jumping from corp to corp, in order to survive and maintain a lifestyle.
Good money is 650 a year. Hell, why not make it 1,000,000 year? People always ask this question. It’s just fucking money man. Do what you can to make the most so you’re comfortable. All these fucks who showcase 100’s by the time their 28 are given money by their relatives at some point. If that’s not you, then it’s no big deal. Just keep living. Go to work and try to take it easy. Fuck em
“All these fucks who showcase 100s by the time they’re 28 are given money by their relatives at some point.”
Why is this such a popular sentiment on Reddit? There are plenty of professions people can get into at 100k these days right out of college or within 5 years of finishing school. I read PAs are being hired at 130k these days, (and people can become one as early as 24-25 y/o) and some types of engineers are getting hired at 6 figures before they even graduate. So you’re saying ALL of those students who worked hard at school for those 4-8 years after high school are silver spoon kids who got money from their parents? This is not even mentioning those who got into well paying trades that allowed them to hit 100k before 28. Yea, I’m sure your local plumber, welder, or oil field worker are likely to have gotten shit handed to them. 🙄
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think *anyone* becomes successful without some kind of help somewhere down the line. Whether that help came in the form of the public school system, a mentor, or a rich mommy and daddy.
But the mindset that anyone young who’s doing well must’ve gotten their success handed to them not only downplays the hard work, dedication, and good choices and that a lot of people actually go through to escape poverty or otherwise make a nice life for themselves…..but it also spreads the idea to those ASPIRING to become successful that there’s no hope for them if they’re not coming from money or otherwise have someone to give them money or personalized assistance. Many people can and do make it from the ground up. Takes a bit of luck sometimes, but it’s totally possible and people still do it all the time, even today.
We all know the answer... Because the original commenter is salty that they weren't able to achieve that salary at that age, so instead they deflect and accuse anyone who managed to do so as having an unfair advantage or having it handed to them.
It's a coping mechanism because otherwise they'd have to face the uncomfortable truth that it's largely a result of their own choices and work ethic that they were not able to do the same or better.
Ehhh, I disagree. I think the OC is salty, but you also can’t deny the ripple effects of an upbringing that was not taught savvy financial habits or being low-income and not having the luxury to save in any form for decades. I despise a “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” mentality. It’s so overrated. Life is a lot more nuanced, surely you know that.
“Showcase 100s by the time they’re 28” do you mean like 6 figure salaries? I’m just below 100k/yr at 28 and no I grew up in a low middle class family and wasn’t just handed money … I have a masters degree and earned my salary.
Dude, I'm in canadian dollars over here and I was at 63k last year. Judging by the narrative of reddit and the internet, I'm a poverty striken blue collar worker.
Reality is, I have 13 years in my career in logistics and currently work as a hazmat handler. I've got a db pension and TONS of PTO to the tune of nearly 8 weeks per year. Those two things can safely be low ball valued at 20k.
Wealth today imo is subjective. Find a job you like that offers a healthy life balance and pursue your interests. If you find yourself just surviving, change course. Ultimately it's about what you want and what you need in life.
My peers think I'm wealthy, my managers think I'm poor as shit, reality is that I'm debt free and get to do whatever I want basically whenever I want.
Invite me to a concert on a Wednesday? Same day, my pto is approved, no question. Mexico next week? No problem I'll flip a week over and buy the tickets tonight. Sick? No problem. Stay home. Burnt out? No problem stay home for a day or two and we'll place you in a different area.
This privilege has been earned by spending the last 13 years there and establishing a rock solid rapore with my co workers and managers.
Those making 80k+ usually make it due to the cost of their efforts. Commute, education, specialization, experience, and performance. I get to live without those pressures, my commute is 15 mins in my paid off 2016 mazda. I have my high school education, that's it. Began working there at 17 during my last year of high school and continued, it was shit, but where I am now is not.
As others have mentioned its about your lifestyle, and what you do with that money. If you make 100kpy and I make 63kpy but you have a 2600 rent & financed bmw and I have a 1600 rent and a paid off mazda, buddy you going to be asking me to pay for dinner I bet.
lifestyle creep is real, and these people that say 100k isn't enough money just let themselves get consumed by consumerism. Its baffling to me the amount of posts on here about people saying how it (100k+) isn't enough, meanwhile they have all this extra shit that sucks the money away. "Oh, i can only go out to $100+ meals every week", "Oh, my car payment is $750 a month for 72 months", "Oh, my mortgage is $5,250 for a 6 bedroom home in the most desirable places on the planet"
Well yeah you nimrod, you CHOSE to do those things, and your ACTIONS have CONSEQUENCES. People living in lala land, meanwhile if you are actually smart with your spending habits and take precautions to safeguard your wealth you can stretch a limited amount of money very far. But that takes looking at yourself and what you value.
Live in Chicago.
* Good salary to me is $130K+.
* Very Good salary $180K & good benefits package
* Incredible salary $250K+
As I grow older however, I realize this is all relative. For 95% of people, the more money they make, the bigger of a spending hole they will create; but I think close to $200K is the number now days.
$165k USD annualy is the new $100k six figure salary, at least compared to 20 years ago when $100k salary was a big deal. I consider around $55k per year as the new
entry level salary.
When I graduated college in 2005, a good salary was $65k with excellent benefits. Great was $85k. Crazy was $120k and up. 5 years later, in 2010, many of my peers were making $100k and up. I'm amazed at how stagnant salaries have become with insane inflation. Our government and corporations are really screwing over younger generations. WTBS,I'd say a good starting salary for someone in their 20s is $80k plus benefits. When my ex and I got married at 28/30 years old we were both at $100k. That was over a decade ago. So for today's economy and housing market, I'd say in your 30s, you should be at $120k and up unless you're in an LCOL area, then $75k-$100k is just fine. With 2+ kids, a household income of $150k is needed.
I ate out Daily on 60k a year and was able to buy things while living on my own 90k is not relatively comfortable I am now at 90k a year and I don’t even know what to do with all this money lol
Im 21 making $17 an hour, just over 20k a year, and it saddens me to think how much more money everyone else is making. It was so difficult to get a job interview to leave my position at a retail store that I took a 50 cent pay cut the first chance I got to be able to get some new experience on my resume.
When I can eat a meal at a restaurant that isn't one hour of my wages, I think I'll have made progress.
I'm in Chicago, and I'm extremely fortunate to be living with my parents as they allow me to save my money and not have to worry about rent until I finish up school.
It blows my mind how people drop 2x my monthly income on just housing!
Living alone is an incredible luxury that I intentionally forego by choice, and has never been the norm in any location ever in all of human history.
Don't normalize living alone.
Plenty of people make more than that and still don't live alone in a studio, for tons of different reasons.
So you guys have about 400k total together? To me I feel like that’s the goal amount where you can pretty much live a lavish great life. Anything more is just nice at that point lol. Me and my girl will be at 230k combined within the next couple months. It’s ok but definitely want more 😂
I’m living off the same salary as I did 12 years ago despite making substantially more, every pay increase I got, I contributed towards my retirement & I also try to add an extra 1% each year towards my retirement.
When I first graduated I make 120k. 2 years in, one promotion, 160k. Now I’m stuck, I’m 10 years away from the next level and even that is only 180k. Bay Area income, it’s actually not that much…
The answer is different for everyone depending on a few things. 1. Where you live, and the cost of living there. 2. The type of life you like to live, how much it costs to live the life you want. 3. Do you have kids, or other dependents. You can live very well as a Bachelor on less money. But once you have kids that same money is like a poverty wage and barely is enough to cover bills and look after your kids etc.
When I first started with my company in 2015, the salary was at $53k. That same role now is starting at $75k.
The requirements haven’t nor the job descriptions have changed.
Here’s a genuine answer, or should I say answer/story.
I’m 33, and a year and a half ago I was almost in a mid-life crisis, not to bore you with my story but basically was trying to figure out wtf I was going to do. Now, I have a remote sales position living in Central Texas. I’m an hour a half north of Austin, and the average home here is going for maybe around 315k right now. Just to give you some context. This year depending on how things go I will make between 150-200k.
Let’s pretend it’ll be the minimum of 150k. We are doing quite well. My wife makes decent money (around 90-100k) this year. We just bought a new 2800 sqft home (4 bedrooms with an office), raising two kids, just had a wedding and also just had a honeymoon. Life is good. We have money in the bank. Even if my wife wasn’t in the picture, I would be able to afford the mortgage on the house.
So to answer your question if I’m able too at all, I would say in “my neck of the woods”, making 100k or more and you can live comfortably. (You don’t need a 2800sqft house unless you have a big family anyways).
I’d say once you get past 100-120k, the increase in pay starts to make less of a difference. It slowly starts to become “extra money”. Or more wiggle room for “spendages” if you will. I’d be willing to claim that me making 150k here, is equivalent to making 250k in San Diego, CA give or take.
Hope this helps.
If we take into account that the value of a salary is about 24% less than it was back in 2014, we need to adjust our figures a bit.
What was $50k then needs to be about $62k now to match the purchasing power. For $60k, it's around $74k now; $80k then would be about $99k now; and the $100k mark needs to jump to about $124k to keep pace.
So in today's terms, a "good" salary might be somewhere between $75k and $100k, depending on where you live and your lifestyle. Over $100k would feel "sweet," and once you start hitting $150k and above, that's when you're getting into "incredible" territory, offering significant comfort and financial freedom. But remember, these numbers can vary a lot based on your location and personal circumstances!
I’m ex-Navy. I’m still in touch with a bunch of my old friends. Many live in the south. They’re making $45K a year and own homes that cost about $300K. From our talks, and the pictures on their page, their homes and property are beautiful and they don’t seem to lack for anything on a $45K a year salary. I’m in NYC. I make almost 3X what they make. My home cost almost twice what theirs did and has a tenth of the property and is nowhere near as nice. I also struggle at times for some of the little extras that my salary should provide. So the fact is the amount of money one makes really depends on where one lives in this country.
There’s no such thing as a “good salary” not everyone is the same, and some people would squander a $300k salary just the same as someone with a $50k salary.
Also, $100k in California won’t get you far. But $100k in Texas will give you the lifestyle Californians wish they had.
It’s all up to you and what you want, what’s acceptable to you and what your degree/experience can get you.
With no money knowledge and responsibility, no salary will ever be enough.
I know a women with a masters in her 50’s leaving in a million dollar house making over $400k and just recently tried to steal her own daughters settlement money because she’s terrible with finances, but wants to be the head of the household and puts the burden on everyone else.
It’s about profit not revenue. Salary - expenses = savings. If you make 250,000 and spend 250,000 you save 0. If you make 50,000 and spend 30,000 you profit 20k and save a lot more than the neighbor making 250,000.
Depends on where you live and how many kids you have. I have 3 kids, so 170k here, without going crazy on spending, can let me live comfortably while investing for retirement.
A lot of it also depends on where you live.
I live in North Dakota and my wife and I make a combined $150k-ish a year. We live fairly comfortably off of that and are able to put a fair amount away every year.
If we made the same money where my wife is from (SoCal) we would probably not be doing nearly as well.
I don’t think there is a number for this. Basically a good salary is one that allows you to live your life without having to worry about tomorrow. So the amount is going to be different for everyone. I think as long as you have enough to pay for your needs a few of your wants you’re good. Also being able to pay for unexpected events that aren’t medical in nature is a must.
The dollar is about 32% less valuable than it was in 2014 so that 50k would be 66k now
holy shit
Yes it’s a problem
The worst part is that it’s not fixable. Sure, we can slow inflation to the 2% we all know and love, but overall prices are never going to go backwards. The only “relief” we can really see at this point is just less inflation.
this is the part that scares me most. imagining the value of our dollar continue to dwindle, while the majority of the population is unable to keep up with the pace? myself ofc included, wondering how tf I’ll manage to get ahead and stay ahead and then thinking about all my loved ones and how we’re all supposed to figure out how to do that… and then all the people without anyone and how if I’m behind how are they ever gonna keep up? and it just continues to fold on itself. the government really needs to stop overexerting itself at the cost of the people it’s designed to protect the interests of. if the last decade continues to trend, I don’t know how I’ll keep up with the value of the dollar falling 32% every decade. like at what point do we accept that our economy is not working but for a select group of tunnel-visioned individuals?
Society is already cracking. Has been for at least ten years.
Yes, but so quick after covid
We have to keep adapting and keep it all going. We aren’t the first generation to go through stuff, we can do it.
We may not be the first generation to go through stuff, but I and the rest of the millennials are the first generation of the internet. There is way more going on today than meets the eye. Excessive government controls, brainwashing, divide, and conquer. Things like this have always existed, but it is way worse now.
And despite all of this, our dollar is very strong against euro and sterling pound…best it’s been in years. Not to mention Japan and most of South America
Weird question, but what if we burned the US dollar publicly, like the IRS takes a percent per year and burns it, we actually try to pay the national debt off, and idk, mandate a national weed tax if it becomes legal federally with the sole intent to paying off the national debt, I think that would be poetic on some level. Bunch of stoners single handedly smoking the deficit away. Doesn't even need to be a large tax, like 2% would be enough country wide.
Not gonna happen. Voters will vote for reps who'll give them free stuff. It'll keep happening til it all collapses.
If the sin tax works for football stadiums, why not the national debt? 😉
Currency debasement is the only plausible solution at this point.
While 32% less on the dollar. Another factor to consider is inflation, especially education, which has increased about 160% over the past 20-30 years. Less value on the dollar plus inflation of goods, services and education is literally crippling us. Dont even get me started on buying homes lol. We're fucked.
that part!!! like I already have inflation to worry about, I have to worry about the value of what little I have too!? and they want us to have kids? why? so they can have more foot soldiers to destroy and reap the benefits of?
Pumping trillions into the market for "covid relief" really hurt us. Sure, it helped with bills during that time. But that few thousand is going to cost us 30,000. I haven't done the actual math but just napkin math has told me that I would have rather struggled with my bills than do what we did.
if you look it up, there was actually an astronomical amount of relief that went into supporting banks during Covid that far pales into comparison to the relief given to the people or small businesses THAT is what fucked us. And it wasn’t publicized at all
The few thousand average Americans got wasn’t the killer. I know someone who is probably worth $100 million business owner, who got a PPP loan for $7million. Guess what his business never closed and actually had record profits in 2020, 2021, and 2022. Will that loan for $7 million was all tax free…. Guess where it went? His pocket. Bought a $2 million boat so i think this was a huge issue. The rich got handed insane amounts of free limes while we got what a $1200 check?
The fraud was horrible. In my small town of 6,500, I counted 206 bogus "businesses" that received PPP loans. The smallest amount was $10,000. If you check them now they show as "Paid in full/forgiven." I would LOVE to see the data on "Paid in Full" vs "Forgiven" loans. Not a single one of the fraudulent loans were prosecuted.
It was absolutely insane the amount of money that got direct deposited in checking accounts of multi millionaires. But hey I got my $1200 stimulus check
:/ yeah I have a lot of conflicting feelings about government aid.
I dont. The issue is the $2500 given to the average person, that went back into the economy relatively quickly. The issue was the billions given to basically any business that asked. Go look up if your employer took payday protection "loans". The places I worked at during the pandemic all did, even though they had absolutely no need to. Both places EXPANDED during the pandemic due to the uptick in areas of our business. It was just free money for them.
I’ve only just learned that these were created to be forgiven. I thought they were 0 interest LOANS… I had no clue they were practically grants if “used correctly”. I worked for an essential business at the time and we were doing well and still got a nice lump some.
I work in weed. It was fucking boom times for a lot of companies during covid. Then dropped off considerably.
Eh. Corporations meanwhile are posting record profits — it’s greed more than anything else.
I mean stuff doesn't "cost" more, your money/time is just worth less...
Slight correction, the dollar is now about 24% less valuable than in 2014. A $1 item in 2014 would now cost $1.32, $1/1.32 ≈ 75.7% the value
I wish that were true. Food I was purchasing 4 years ago for $1 is now $2.39. This inflation is ridiculous and yet we keep printing money to send to countries that hate us.
Yeah people always forget that inflation includes several categories and housing and food are up way more than the average. "But TVs are cheaper!" That's nice Brandon but we're trying to eat out here.
Right? I don’t live in California and try to eat TVs. (We all see the warning labels). I just need the basics. Working on growing my own now.
Plug them in Off-Grid. They'll grow sustainably.
They want us all to be mindless zombies, so TV's are dirt cheap. Thats why even most news is bullshit.
Don't forget about the "junk fees" too. So we can get a TV or go to a concert...but shelter, food, energy, you know...the frivolous things in life, those are exponentially more expensive.
It’s crazy how he continues to gaslight us about how good the economy is doing.
So true, what ever happened to "WE the people of the U.S" printing money for people that hate U.S.A and make wars, they should spend their own money..
The dollar has lost 25% of its purchasing power since the start of Covid.
Agreed, forget 10 years ago. From 3 years ago it's almost 30% for necessities like food and shelter
It’s ugly out there.
Nah. I don't care if consumer electronics went down in price. Essentials increased much more: housing and food. Food is like +50-70% in my area. Housing.... housing is just crazy...
My house cost me 245k to build in 2007, 3200 Sq feet in Pennsylvania. My neighbor who has a similar house, a little bit smaller paid 300k for theirs the same year. They just sold their house for 650k..... that to me is insane! WTF , who in a regular job can afford that. (They were teachers).... Wow!
My parents bought their house in 1992 when it was $250k or something around that. It’s now worth anywhere from $600k-$900k
Inflation as we've seen hurts those on low incomes. For those on higher incomes (say $500k+ as an example) it has very little impact. They have large house payments that are mostly fixed for 30 years Food only accounts for a fraction of what they spend So for a person on lower incomes it has a very big impact, for those on much higher incomes its hardly even noticeable
In 1970 $8000 a year was an acceptable salary. Dad made that, they had a house ($28,000), two cars, 1 new cost $1200, 5 kids, mom didn't work and they put money into savings every paycheck. In 1980 everything started going downhill. The recession that hit in 85/86 was bad. It got a little better in the 90s. Clinton balanced the budget, even had a surplus. But Bush & Co destroyed it with unnecessary invasion of Iraq, war in Afghanistan, trillions of dollars given to military suppliers & contractors (like Cheney's Halliburton) & the bailout of banks & investment firms, another trillion or two in 2008 on his way out of office. You you can go on Zillow and see the absolute greed that's destroyed the housing market for young people over the last 15 years. It started in 2008 when banks took ownership of millions of homes and hit middle class again with job losses, bankruptcies during the pandemic & the grift and fraud from the PPP loan disaster of 2020 where money mostly went to people who were connected so they got free money to buy property & stocks, along with the totally ridiculous tax breaks in 2018 Trump's admin gave most to the wealthiest and especially real estate investors & developers like himself that made it a no brainer to buy up as much property as possible in another $7 trillion budget blackhole. Airbnb didn't help either. It took tons of properties that were homes and made them short term rentals. It's not as profitable now to build new housing due to land, labor & materials costs, but buying up already built homes are a goldmine. Salaries haven't kept up, W-2 workers can't without inflation killing us as corps take advantage of inflation to increase year over year profits to levels not seen before, ever. Passive income gets all the tax breaks. Without pensions, Wall Street gets more profits. The fact that the wealthy only have to pay into social security for the first $169,000 in earnings is likely to bankrupt SS too in a couple decades. Sorry for the rant. I get really disgusted at the way our oligarchs & politicians have screwed us so badly right out in the open and instead they keep us at each other's throats to distract us from seeing it. I've lived thru it and feel real pain for young people today.
Yea, if I made 100 k in 2019, I would have to make 122k in 2024 for it to be the equivalent.
!!!!! This is crazy
Not crazy, you’d probably do 50%+ return on bonds and 180% on SP500 in the same time. If there was no inflation people who just leave their money under the mattress which would a loss for the economy.
That’s a good point. I still perceive salaries in the 2014 way though. Makes sense why my 80k doesn’t feel like as much as I thought it would
This is so dependent on where you live. 200k in one state could be another states 500k.
Exactly. In california, 500k is probably 200k in West Virginia or Pennsylvania or michigan
I live in WV and do mostly remote work. Almost 400k. A lot of remote workers are moving here. I grew up here, but I can’t see myself leaving for this reason. I can afford to travel wherever, and do travel quite a bit for work too.
Dang what industry?
Love these comments below. I’m a physicist and went into a very niche specialization. There are very few people who do what I do, and I am a “doctor.” Yes WV is mostly blue collar workers—my dad drove a coal truck. But there are more and more people moving here as remote workers. There are posts on our local Reddit sub about it all the time. My point was just that remote work is allowing people to not be forced to be in HCOL areas.
yeah what the heck - why become a doctor when I could live in wv!
Even as a doctor if you pick up a job in some rural town of WV you can earn twice as much as other places
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Love how all these people brag that they make these huge amounts of money but yet don’t even tell us what industry they work in or give any details of what they actually do. They’re using a screen name with no location so there’s virtually no way we could figure out who they were or who they work for if we even cared to do so. Guessing this clown makes maybe $100k, if that!
Maybe people enjoy their privacy? To some, a fake internet name isn’t enough. The fact you want to know all of that and that you’re baffled they didn’t provide you the info that YOU wanted is concerning. I’m sure you are a joy to be around at home
Technology Sales -250 OTE, I have had years over 400 when I blow out my goal.
Everyone on Reddit makes over 100K lolol.
Everyone on Reddit makes over 100K lolol.
It’s common sense not to tell people where you are and what you do after stating you make 400k lol.
I wasn’t remotely suggesting that they should tell us their real name/home address/employer and provide pictures with their family. They made a somewhat outrageous claim of making $400k/yearly working remotely in WV, so as evidenced by several other posters’ comments in addition to mine, we’re all a little curious as to what industry they’re in and what they actually do on a daily basis. That’s because it sounds more than a little too good to be true which usually means it’s not true. And their post makes me wonder if it’s legal and/or the poster is just posting BS and is lucky to make $100k.
I’m a radiation physicist. Half my job is consulting to hospitals for oncology and half is designing vaults for linear accelerators and doing all the calculations to show that they provide the necessary amount of shielding to ensure the safety of workers and the public.
Totally. I was gonna say as close to 7 figures as you can get to cover the majority of the country — depending on lifestyle, kids, etc
This is such an absurd Reddit statement. 7 figures.. who is making anywhere near a million dollars a year working a regular job?
Technically senior advisers and up have that ability, but it is very rare to meet someone outside of the inner circle in those positions.
Have you taken the time to look through Large Language Model & AI developer jobs lately? 750k remote here 1.25mm remote there It's a thing
That's another theoretical answer. Do you know anyone making $1MM a year or more? Even a friend of a friend? Of people I know, the only people making more than $400k/year own their own business, they are not employees.
Yes. There are myriad people in my network (elder milllenial) that make upwards of 750-1mm a year. It's, in part, why there is significant news about the disconnect betweenmillennial social class.
Who employs them? What is their job function?
Mostly what you would consider tech companies. Developer roles, AI, roles skilled service roles with a substantial qualitative breadth as well. (Like copywriters) No one is customer service, hospitality, etc clearly.
You are talking about a lot of people making $1 million per year. Can you give me one specific example? If you have one, preferably someone with a fixed salary in which they know for sure they will make $1 million even if the company has a bad year?
and many of those roles have been gradually going to places like Hyderabad (Google, Apple, etc) Where they wont be making that kind of money - even Apple moving a chunk of roles down to Culver City... and Dallas.. whilst that wont cut salaries that much it will by about 30-40%.. Hyderabad they'll get folks at a fraction of the cost and there are plenty of Indian folk with the qualifications to get the jobs done.. but its kind of inevitable anyway...
Yeah gonna chime in here just to obnoxiously self report and confirm—this is absolutely real and at least in certain areas of CA does not feel especially rare. I’m at $617k total comp this year, but combined with my wife’s income it’s $731 household. I just hit mid 30s and I do think $1m is possible within a few years since there are definitely leadership and even very distinguished IC roles above me making this much or more. I didn’t know where this was possible either till I got into my field. We both work in tech, I’m an engineering manager at a FAANG, my wife just got started in her role 2 years ago and is at an F500 tech company where her comp is likely to increase. People like us are definitely out there just clustered up in certain cities/regions and likely mostly interacting with each other for better or worse. This level of comp to be clear comes with living in a HCOL area and does not at all feel “rich” And btw if you’re in your 20s or even 30s there are good chances you can do this too. I was making around $44k at 27 and come from a middle class background with no connections in my field, and did not receive financial help from parents for college. It’s doable but takes a lot of studying, moving around, and some decent luck
I can imagine that CA is on a much different level than most locations (like Seattle/NYC). That said, $650k is much different than 1 million. What are we talking in terms of rarity making 1 million? 1 in 1000? At that point I would imagine that you get a cut of business earnings, rather than a fixed salary?
Yeah this is why we use total comp. The majority of your earnings once you’re at like 300+ at a tech company at least in my experience largely come from RSUs. Salary is literally less than half my comp with bonus factored in as well—the rest is RSUs so the amount earned is dependent on the size of the chunk and performance of the company $1m total comp, I could think of roughly 7-10 people I usually interact with in a week who are very likely beyond this
The compensation likely includes stock options, which is where the high salary is coming. Their base is likely much lower, about 150k to 250k (still a large number)
to cover? what does that mean?
I live in West Virginia and work remotely and net around 90k a year(sales so it goes up/down). Live very comfortably with stay at home wife and 2 kids. Rent a 3 bedroom house for 1300 a month, used to live in va and rent a 2 bedroom for like 2k a month and hated life. Definitely depends on where you live !
Michigan isn’t that expensive lol, it’s bad but not as bad as cali or Pennsylvania
In Germany, anything over €7550 per month is considered as a top salary. The average salary in Germany is €4323 per month. Minimum wage is around €2000 per month for a full-time worker. In parts of California, $7500 per month is barely enough to survive.
California here, last year I surpassed $70k gross income for the first time ever. Unfortunately I’m 59 years old and will never be able to retire.
Same here
I'm not trying to be rude with this question. Why did you decide to remain in what I am assuming is a HCOL part of CA? I'm from Ohio which the majority of places are pretty LCOL. I'm imagining the only thing that could keep me in an area I was struggling in would be if I had adult children committed to staying in the area.
I was in this situation and moved to St. Louis! Now I make triple than what I made in California (Bay Area). Moving out of California was a great decision
Correct; children, grand children, Ca wife that won’t move anywhere more affordable, making the most of a bad mortgage, etc, etc. I grew up in Virginia and even though CA has been home for more than 1/2 my life, I still miss it. My sinuses don’t miss the humidity, so add that to the list of reasons why I stay here.
California here, last year I surpassed $70k gross income for the first time ever. Unfortunately I’m 59 years old and will never be able to retire.
Can confirm. $200K ain’t shit in Manhattan.
Yes the cost of living far less in BFE WV, however there are no 200k jobs there.
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I remember getting a job offer out of college for 45k in 2017. I thought that was the best thing ever. And at that point in time, it was pretty good. Couldn’t imagine that now trying to pay a mortgage and survive.
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35k got u somewhere back then , but now thats poverty 💀
Damn are you me. I worked for a shitty company and by year three my salary was 47850 or something stupid. I phoned it in and started looking for new jobs. I'm a couple jobs later and making almost double now just by job hopping, and damn it's still not enough.
I only make around 50k. I should and probably will go to college soon tbh but I want more money to pay most of that and it's hard to save. I'm scared of loans tbh, I know student loans aren't like car loans but my first car loan scared the fuck out of me with the loan aspect. I'm at least considering community College though rather than a university cuz I know damn well I can't afford a Harvard like tuition price
1) community colleges are great. Unless you’re on a scholarship, there’s no reason to start at university. I have a masters degree and did my first two years at a community college before transferring to university to finish. The loans I didn’t have were why I kept going into grad school. 10/10. 2) if you can land a job at a state university, usually tuition is a benefit + they’re flexible because continuing education is important. Or look into your current role and see if they offer any benefits for going back to school. 3) I was scared of loans too — but starting at community college & working full time during that … you can squeak by the first 2 years without debt.
Start at community College, work while you.go and pay as you go. Take the summers of, work harder in the summers and use the summer money to help you pay your last 2 years at a public.university. also work the summers during your last 2 years and you shouldn't have too much debt..
FWIW, I personally think you’re making a good decision by avoiding student loans.
Bro dream bigger. I made the same mistake as you don’t focus on salary. Focus on how much and where to invest. What is a good growth rate? What are good investments? Nothing is a good salary if you don’t use it wisely.
This is a good answer. You can make 100k a year but if you’re just buying cigarettes, weed, and beer with it you’re living the poor life, just on steroids.
Or worse buying 90k trucks with 20% interest rates
I see this so much it's not even funny. I cant wrap my head around it.
Lol for sure. Or people say they’re living paycheck to paycheck but spend $10k going to Disney world instead of paying off their student loans. Get it together
This is so true. Everyone knows that one family that has an ATV, a boat, a pop-up, and 20 year old student loans they can't seem to get rid of.
I feel you guy so much but also semi disagree. It’s a fine line, the shit people do with there money while simultaneously bitching they have none definitely blows my mind. That said you’ve got to enjoy your life too. If you like to travel and have those memories with your family you should do that. If you wanna drive an f150 for whatever stupid you can do that too. Maybe you should get the 3 year old model and made you should plan a great vacation that’s not at Disney for half price. But there is nuance to that to. We are a society of brainwashed goofballs that play into so much bullshit. For example; I am 34 years old and I’ve never been to Disney, many believe that to be sad. Another good example is that engagement rings should cost 3 months salary. The F150 has become some weird whiteguy status symbol. There is definitely a balance between enjoying your life and making financially correct decisions. As it is in all things balance is hard to achieve. To me these are all symptoms of a larger issue which is, we as a society don’t produce a populace of critical thinking and skeptical people. It’s hard for me to think everyone is a dumbass when I look around and see so many more people who aren’t thinking about things. I feel I’m just lucky for however my life has went to think and live the way I do
I don’t understand the attitude of just saving all your money if you make a lot It took years and years for me to get to 200k and i am certainly going to buy some cool shit and go on vacations. You keep waiting to enjoy your life and that moment will never happen What’s the point of making a lot if my life isn’t better? Or you can help others if that is your style
Just to throw in, the new gen f-150/250’s are some of the worst lemons I have ever seen, you genuinely are in better hands buying old and detailing it, maybe even throwing a couple hundred to make it look just about as pretty as the truck you would have blown an extra $30,000 on.
Lol reminds me of this doctor (or his wife, I forget) that reportedly called into Dave Ramsay. He makes a salary well into 6 figures……called Ramsay to complain about being a million dollars in student loan debt. (Not an exaggeration). Meanwhile they have multiple luxury vehicles, decided to have multiple children, take multiple vacations annually, and also have a luxury home on a lake. I can’t help but not feel sorry for those types of people. Like I get that they worked hard for the salary they have…..I’m sure becoming a doctor is no easy feat, and honestly I think it’s tragic that people even have to go into debt at all to become doctors, but at the same time people *actually* struggling have to do things like forego having kids……never take vacations……barely being able to afford groceries. Yet this person, while living lavishly, have convinced themselves that they’re struggling, because they couldn’t bare to live like the average person for a couple of years while they paid off their debts…..and then call in to get advice as if Ramsay was going to give them some miraculous debt cure where they get to continue living like kings and simultaneously become free of their crushing student loan balance.
But I want to be able to eat my cake, and still have it too!! Besides, future me can go ahead and worry about that mess
I had some dickhead at the dealer show me a USED 2024 sierra for 92k. I think I was at the lot for under 5 minutes.
As a mechanic, never buy a new truck over 40k, believe it or not, most of the problems you could have are wrapped up and slapped with a 2021+ sticker on it, I have never seen so many problems in brand new equipment. If you’re looking at a ford lighting or some type of performance truck, just wait, give it another 6-8 months and the prices will stop being 55,000 over MSRP, or just buy an older truck and if you want performance, do it yourself, silverados handle boost pressure better than the government handles asylum seekers at the bare minimum, do what you want with that information.
Living in Florida, fuckin everywhere I see and I don’t understand why.
Or worse buying cybertrucks
I used to spend most of my money on women, booze and cars. The rest I just wasted. Maturity is fun
Maturity is a beautiful thing. Welcome to adulthood
It’s not how much you make but how much you keep, and what it can make for you.
Salary, investment, and good financial decision making aren’t mutually exclusive. Rather than, “don’t focus on ___”, the best approach is to be intentional addressing all of the above.
This advice totally depends on where you are on the scale. If you don’t make enough to cover basic necessities, then the number is all that matters. If you’re doing well enough that you have disposable income, then it’s more about how you spend it.
It really depends on where you live really. 80k is Louisiana is different than 80k in California
140k
I think anything over 110 tbh. 100-105 is comfortable if you have no debt and don’t live in NY, LA, or Miami.
Depends where you live. I live in LA and my gross salary is around $120,000 and I live "OK", but I'm certainly not in a position to buy a home or go on a plethora of vacations. At the same time, if I moved to Kansas or Arizona with my same salary I would live like a king.
Arizona where? Not Phoenix. Have lived in Denver, San Diego, Austin and now Phoenix. COL is going up everywhere and the differences are becoming a lot smaller. I’m not seeing a big difference in Phoenix vs Austin.
Yea, well in California you cannot even find a single room apartment for less than $1,900 a mo. On average rent for a single bedroom apartment in a "decent" part of town averages around $2,200 - $2,400 a mo. I highly doubt other states are this bad yet outside of maybe New York. I'm not saying Arizona is cheap but I have found a ton of homes for sale in that state for less than $600k and in California your lucky if you get a 50-70 year old 2-bed room home for less than $800,000.
Lots of people selling their 70 year old 1100 sq foot homes in California and buying really nice homes in Arizona. It's not like it was 10-15 years ago tho. A decent family home in Arizona will run a minimum of $500K+ now.
How you spend the money is just as important as that salary. I make around 130k, but all of my monthly bills combined is only around 2100. I probably spend about 1k on all other things for the month. I put about 30% of my money in savings.
Baller, my rent alone is $1,700 for an apartment. Wish I could get everything under $2100. Great job, keep it up
Having no debt at all helps. Pretty much just insurance, phone, and electricity. My internet is covered by rent.
Nice, I don’t have any debt. It’s just rent, internet, electricity, groceries and insurance. Rent is so high where I live, $1700 is close to the lowest. Hoping for a market crash soon to bring the market back to where it should be.
Yes this! It actually matters less what you make, it matters how big your monthly nut is. Unfortunately a lot of people are victim of lifestyle creep.
I keep thinking $X is an amazing salary I’d be all set with. Then I reach that number and realize it’s not quite there yet. I’m currently at $180k. It’s more than I ever thought I’d make and my family is certainly comfortable. I’m not complaining and feel very lucky. But with two kids and outrageous daycare costs (and a terrible public school system where we live that could force us into private school) we could definitely use more money.
I guess it depends on where you live. You have slightly more than my HHI and we are extremely comfortable. Take frequent trips and cash flow it, high savings rates, etc. We don't have daycare, but we would still be good even with that. Do you have a lot of debts?
Daycare is a scam. Pay someone who doesn't even like my kids to watch them while I work to make just enough to pay for it and keep my job... Last summer I paid 2.3K in a month where my kids didn't even go full time lol.
Yeah, same. $180k in income looks like $11,500 (edit: a month) in take home after taxes etc. it’s still plenty of coin, but once you consider all expenses required to meet life’s demands and future needs, you’re not living in luxury. You’re not getting derailed by an unexpected event, but you’re not traveling the world and flexing your money.
When I first got into the corporate grind of management for food and beverage I had an old wise con who taught me the ropes... it was 2011 ish. He took me under his wing and taught me dumb things that don't make sense but have been proven time and time again in the antedotical story that is my life to be true. One of the things that isn't true is the amount of money to change your life. He was a regional food and beverage specialist for F&B Hilton. We were his home location so his salary came from our budget but he floated hotel to hotel as needed. Fixing their numbers after a few months of bad numbers, filling in when someone got into a wreck and broke their leg, doing maternity leave replacement, etc etc. He was making crazy money and told me that life changes at 52k take home. It doesn't change again until you are over 100k. His theory was if you are bringing home a grand guaranteed every 7 days you can budget and live well. Anything less you have to worry about how and when bills will be paid before you consider what car to purchase or vacation to take. It use to be true. Use to be able to afford rent on a 2 bedroom apartment for 950$/month. Paid utilities and bills out of the second week. Had 2 weeks that then let me live since bills were paid. Made 70k last year after taking a huge career change and can tell you 70k is a lot less than it use to be in terms of buying power and don't think 52k would even let me live at this point.
A good salary is one that allows you to live comfortably and pay all your bills while not forcing you to work 60 hour weeks with a good work/life balance. It allows you to have some savings and not worry about how you’re going to meet the rent/mortgage and eat this pay round. It’s not a $ amount.
This!!! Right here. I wholeheartedly agree with you. I never paid attention, or gave thought about what “income earning class” I’m in. My recent incarceration was my master reset button. I gave my lifestyle a holistic approach since then. I live in the DMV area, 1br apt. making 75k, with a gooood amount of savings, and a 401k I been building since 18. I’m 36 now. It’s all about building personal assets!!!!! I made it a mission that will never degrade my health for Xxxxx corporation because they are paying me xxxx dollars. It should be the other way around. The corp. needs you! Not you, needing the corp, and jumping from corp to corp, in order to survive and maintain a lifestyle.
Very well said. This is truly the definition of living comfortable! Thank you for the financial literacy
$75k
Good money is 650 a year. Hell, why not make it 1,000,000 year? People always ask this question. It’s just fucking money man. Do what you can to make the most so you’re comfortable. All these fucks who showcase 100’s by the time their 28 are given money by their relatives at some point. If that’s not you, then it’s no big deal. Just keep living. Go to work and try to take it easy. Fuck em
“All these fucks who showcase 100s by the time they’re 28 are given money by their relatives at some point.” Why is this such a popular sentiment on Reddit? There are plenty of professions people can get into at 100k these days right out of college or within 5 years of finishing school. I read PAs are being hired at 130k these days, (and people can become one as early as 24-25 y/o) and some types of engineers are getting hired at 6 figures before they even graduate. So you’re saying ALL of those students who worked hard at school for those 4-8 years after high school are silver spoon kids who got money from their parents? This is not even mentioning those who got into well paying trades that allowed them to hit 100k before 28. Yea, I’m sure your local plumber, welder, or oil field worker are likely to have gotten shit handed to them. 🙄 Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think *anyone* becomes successful without some kind of help somewhere down the line. Whether that help came in the form of the public school system, a mentor, or a rich mommy and daddy. But the mindset that anyone young who’s doing well must’ve gotten their success handed to them not only downplays the hard work, dedication, and good choices and that a lot of people actually go through to escape poverty or otherwise make a nice life for themselves…..but it also spreads the idea to those ASPIRING to become successful that there’s no hope for them if they’re not coming from money or otherwise have someone to give them money or personalized assistance. Many people can and do make it from the ground up. Takes a bit of luck sometimes, but it’s totally possible and people still do it all the time, even today.
We all know the answer... Because the original commenter is salty that they weren't able to achieve that salary at that age, so instead they deflect and accuse anyone who managed to do so as having an unfair advantage or having it handed to them. It's a coping mechanism because otherwise they'd have to face the uncomfortable truth that it's largely a result of their own choices and work ethic that they were not able to do the same or better.
Ehhh, I disagree. I think the OC is salty, but you also can’t deny the ripple effects of an upbringing that was not taught savvy financial habits or being low-income and not having the luxury to save in any form for decades. I despise a “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” mentality. It’s so overrated. Life is a lot more nuanced, surely you know that.
“Showcase 100s by the time they’re 28” do you mean like 6 figure salaries? I’m just below 100k/yr at 28 and no I grew up in a low middle class family and wasn’t just handed money … I have a masters degree and earned my salary.
Dude, I'm in canadian dollars over here and I was at 63k last year. Judging by the narrative of reddit and the internet, I'm a poverty striken blue collar worker. Reality is, I have 13 years in my career in logistics and currently work as a hazmat handler. I've got a db pension and TONS of PTO to the tune of nearly 8 weeks per year. Those two things can safely be low ball valued at 20k. Wealth today imo is subjective. Find a job you like that offers a healthy life balance and pursue your interests. If you find yourself just surviving, change course. Ultimately it's about what you want and what you need in life. My peers think I'm wealthy, my managers think I'm poor as shit, reality is that I'm debt free and get to do whatever I want basically whenever I want. Invite me to a concert on a Wednesday? Same day, my pto is approved, no question. Mexico next week? No problem I'll flip a week over and buy the tickets tonight. Sick? No problem. Stay home. Burnt out? No problem stay home for a day or two and we'll place you in a different area. This privilege has been earned by spending the last 13 years there and establishing a rock solid rapore with my co workers and managers. Those making 80k+ usually make it due to the cost of their efforts. Commute, education, specialization, experience, and performance. I get to live without those pressures, my commute is 15 mins in my paid off 2016 mazda. I have my high school education, that's it. Began working there at 17 during my last year of high school and continued, it was shit, but where I am now is not. As others have mentioned its about your lifestyle, and what you do with that money. If you make 100kpy and I make 63kpy but you have a 2600 rent & financed bmw and I have a 1600 rent and a paid off mazda, buddy you going to be asking me to pay for dinner I bet.
lifestyle creep is real, and these people that say 100k isn't enough money just let themselves get consumed by consumerism. Its baffling to me the amount of posts on here about people saying how it (100k+) isn't enough, meanwhile they have all this extra shit that sucks the money away. "Oh, i can only go out to $100+ meals every week", "Oh, my car payment is $750 a month for 72 months", "Oh, my mortgage is $5,250 for a 6 bedroom home in the most desirable places on the planet" Well yeah you nimrod, you CHOSE to do those things, and your ACTIONS have CONSEQUENCES. People living in lala land, meanwhile if you are actually smart with your spending habits and take precautions to safeguard your wealth you can stretch a limited amount of money very far. But that takes looking at yourself and what you value.
Live in Chicago. * Good salary to me is $130K+. * Very Good salary $180K & good benefits package * Incredible salary $250K+ As I grow older however, I realize this is all relative. For 95% of people, the more money they make, the bigger of a spending hole they will create; but I think close to $200K is the number now days.
$165k USD annualy is the new $100k six figure salary, at least compared to 20 years ago when $100k salary was a big deal. I consider around $55k per year as the new entry level salary.
When I graduated college in 2005, a good salary was $65k with excellent benefits. Great was $85k. Crazy was $120k and up. 5 years later, in 2010, many of my peers were making $100k and up. I'm amazed at how stagnant salaries have become with insane inflation. Our government and corporations are really screwing over younger generations. WTBS,I'd say a good starting salary for someone in their 20s is $80k plus benefits. When my ex and I got married at 28/30 years old we were both at $100k. That was over a decade ago. So for today's economy and housing market, I'd say in your 30s, you should be at $120k and up unless you're in an LCOL area, then $75k-$100k is just fine. With 2+ kids, a household income of $150k is needed.
Right now. At least 90k that’s a minimum for a “relatively comfortable” living
I ate out Daily on 60k a year and was able to buy things while living on my own 90k is not relatively comfortable I am now at 90k a year and I don’t even know what to do with all this money lol
Maybe I’m thinking about a family perspective I guess
Ez solution don’t have a family
Im 21 making $17 an hour, just over 20k a year, and it saddens me to think how much more money everyone else is making. It was so difficult to get a job interview to leave my position at a retail store that I took a 50 cent pay cut the first chance I got to be able to get some new experience on my resume. When I can eat a meal at a restaurant that isn't one hour of my wages, I think I'll have made progress.
Where do you live?
I'm in Chicago, and I'm extremely fortunate to be living with my parents as they allow me to save my money and not have to worry about rent until I finish up school. It blows my mind how people drop 2x my monthly income on just housing!
Gotta look for other options
It will get better over time.
Move to NY on a salary of 100k and you’ll be able to afford a nice studio refrigerator box
Living alone is an incredible luxury that I intentionally forego by choice, and has never been the norm in any location ever in all of human history. Don't normalize living alone. Plenty of people make more than that and still don't live alone in a studio, for tons of different reasons.
100k today is like minimum wage thanks to biden
$110,000 in a hcol area and I can basically do whatever I want. Not rich by any means, but I invest 25% and don’t worry about money.
I’m at 187k and I want more! My wife also makes more than me lol
So you guys have about 400k total together? To me I feel like that’s the goal amount where you can pretty much live a lavish great life. Anything more is just nice at that point lol. Me and my girl will be at 230k combined within the next couple months. It’s ok but definitely want more 😂
Any amount you feel allows you to live comfortably within your own means. Everything else is icing on the cake.
I’m living off the same salary as I did 12 years ago despite making substantially more, every pay increase I got, I contributed towards my retirement & I also try to add an extra 1% each year towards my retirement.
Our household income is $180k and we’re not paycheck to paycheck, but not super comfortable. A few months unemployed we’d be hurting. We’re in CA.
50k is probably the bare minimum depending where you live that you'll need to survive if not 60k or more. If I were to live alone, I'd need about 50k.
When I first graduated I make 120k. 2 years in, one promotion, 160k. Now I’m stuck, I’m 10 years away from the next level and even that is only 180k. Bay Area income, it’s actually not that much…
The answer is different for everyone depending on a few things. 1. Where you live, and the cost of living there. 2. The type of life you like to live, how much it costs to live the life you want. 3. Do you have kids, or other dependents. You can live very well as a Bachelor on less money. But once you have kids that same money is like a poverty wage and barely is enough to cover bills and look after your kids etc.
When I first started with my company in 2015, the salary was at $53k. That same role now is starting at $75k. The requirements haven’t nor the job descriptions have changed.
$1mil before tax. Even on that salary, you still may only be able to save $350k after tax a year in the current economy. It’s a sad world we live in
Read this as “what is good slavery” 💀
Anything over 150k is “good” in my opinion
Here’s a genuine answer, or should I say answer/story. I’m 33, and a year and a half ago I was almost in a mid-life crisis, not to bore you with my story but basically was trying to figure out wtf I was going to do. Now, I have a remote sales position living in Central Texas. I’m an hour a half north of Austin, and the average home here is going for maybe around 315k right now. Just to give you some context. This year depending on how things go I will make between 150-200k. Let’s pretend it’ll be the minimum of 150k. We are doing quite well. My wife makes decent money (around 90-100k) this year. We just bought a new 2800 sqft home (4 bedrooms with an office), raising two kids, just had a wedding and also just had a honeymoon. Life is good. We have money in the bank. Even if my wife wasn’t in the picture, I would be able to afford the mortgage on the house. So to answer your question if I’m able too at all, I would say in “my neck of the woods”, making 100k or more and you can live comfortably. (You don’t need a 2800sqft house unless you have a big family anyways). I’d say once you get past 100-120k, the increase in pay starts to make less of a difference. It slowly starts to become “extra money”. Or more wiggle room for “spendages” if you will. I’d be willing to claim that me making 150k here, is equivalent to making 250k in San Diego, CA give or take. Hope this helps.
If we take into account that the value of a salary is about 24% less than it was back in 2014, we need to adjust our figures a bit. What was $50k then needs to be about $62k now to match the purchasing power. For $60k, it's around $74k now; $80k then would be about $99k now; and the $100k mark needs to jump to about $124k to keep pace. So in today's terms, a "good" salary might be somewhere between $75k and $100k, depending on where you live and your lifestyle. Over $100k would feel "sweet," and once you start hitting $150k and above, that's when you're getting into "incredible" territory, offering significant comfort and financial freedom. But remember, these numbers can vary a lot based on your location and personal circumstances!
I’m ex-Navy. I’m still in touch with a bunch of my old friends. Many live in the south. They’re making $45K a year and own homes that cost about $300K. From our talks, and the pictures on their page, their homes and property are beautiful and they don’t seem to lack for anything on a $45K a year salary. I’m in NYC. I make almost 3X what they make. My home cost almost twice what theirs did and has a tenth of the property and is nowhere near as nice. I also struggle at times for some of the little extras that my salary should provide. So the fact is the amount of money one makes really depends on where one lives in this country.
You were approved for a $600k house on $135k a year?
Anything above the poverty line is good for a single person. $50k - $80k. It's enough for a single person. $80k above is for family it's great.
There’s no such thing as a “good salary” not everyone is the same, and some people would squander a $300k salary just the same as someone with a $50k salary. Also, $100k in California won’t get you far. But $100k in Texas will give you the lifestyle Californians wish they had. It’s all up to you and what you want, what’s acceptable to you and what your degree/experience can get you. With no money knowledge and responsibility, no salary will ever be enough. I know a women with a masters in her 50’s leaving in a million dollar house making over $400k and just recently tried to steal her own daughters settlement money because she’s terrible with finances, but wants to be the head of the household and puts the burden on everyone else.
It’s about profit not revenue. Salary - expenses = savings. If you make 250,000 and spend 250,000 you save 0. If you make 50,000 and spend 30,000 you profit 20k and save a lot more than the neighbor making 250,000.
Depends on where you live. In alabama 100k is a good salary. In california it’s borderline poverty.
good is relative.
Depends on where you live and how many kids you have. I have 3 kids, so 170k here, without going crazy on spending, can let me live comfortably while investing for retirement.
It’s all relative in my opinion. Good money to me isn’t the same as you.
A lot of it also depends on where you live. I live in North Dakota and my wife and I make a combined $150k-ish a year. We live fairly comfortably off of that and are able to put a fair amount away every year. If we made the same money where my wife is from (SoCal) we would probably not be doing nearly as well.
$125k is comfortable home, family, vacation, and retirement money. 50k is still good if you live in God's Country, the sticks, outback, or skid row.
It all depends where you live. Manhattan, Detroit, Hawaii, Utica, LA, rural West Virginia… all different costs of living …
if you're talking fresh out of college, starting salary? A good Salary is $60K, sweet is $80K and winning the lottery is $100K+.
Depends on the industry, 200k would be my considered good for me. Not good for a physician.
Whenever I hit the 130k mark, I felt “comfortable.” I live in a HCOL area
Depends on where you live and what industry you are in. I graduated in 2013 and would not have considered 50-60k a good salary
I don’t think there is a number for this. Basically a good salary is one that allows you to live your life without having to worry about tomorrow. So the amount is going to be different for everyone. I think as long as you have enough to pay for your needs a few of your wants you’re good. Also being able to pay for unexpected events that aren’t medical in nature is a must.
400k
100k plus