At what point does your salary become “good enough” where you stop chasing every incremental increase? Or does that point never really come in accounting because progression is so structured?

I got there when I hit $150k. At that point I hit the brakes and started to focus on the trade off between work and personal time.

I don't think my lifestyle changed materially after I hit $180K (family of 4, dual income), although that was before everything got hyper expensive.

I never "chased" incremental increases - they just seemed to find me as a progressed in my career. Now that I have been a partner for longer than I was a staff, I can tell you that the drive for an increase never stops. However, as a B4 partner for over 20 years, the money does become less important. I'm more interested in job satisfaction and helping the next generation make it to the levels they aspire to.

Family of three here. When I can reasonably contribute to my daughter’s education fund, drive a fairly new Honda civic, buy some video games, eat healthy, and not have to worry if my wife has to take time off work. Oh, and perhaps a nice weeklong vacation every year. Is that too much to ask?

Mine was when I hit manager, was making around $130k. SINK. Finally felt like I could do whatever I want as long as I wasn’t being irresponsible

A lot of people in accounting assume the $120–150K career path will stay the same for the next 20–30 years, but that’s not the reality anymore. AI isn’t “coming” — it’s already replacing most of the routine work: AP, AR, reconciliations, invoice processing, payroll, and even parts of tax. That’s why accounting departments and CPA firms are shrinking.

The field isn’t disappearing, but the structure is changing. There will be fewer entry‑level roles, fewer mid‑level roles, and fewer people needed overall. The work that remains is oversight, controls, exceptions, and system management — not the traditional accounting tasks people expect to build a long career on.

If AI is used as an assistant, great — but people still need to recognize that the profession is shifting fast. The old assumption that accounting guarantees stable pay and long‑term security just isn’t true anymore.

Two family income live in midwest. $180k can live fine family of 4. House purchased too long ago.

For me it’s 190k. I no longer care about my title or career trajectory I’m just enjoying my role as much as possible and trying to focus on work life balance

There is no magic number. The number differs for every person. In my experience for the first 20 to 25 years of your career you are chasing the money and titles. After that, you even out and prefer more of a work life balance.

I’m dual income no kids yet, and I finally felt that when I hit $140K. My husband makes about the same and we are comfortable in a very high COL area. When we have kids we’ll have to buckle down on expenses for sure, but I think we’d still be good and not necessarily chasing the next increase.

I never chased increases. In fact I turned down offers that would have doubled my salary as a manager and SM because I was focused on my career trajectory.

Just really depends on you and your financial comfort. Every title bump comes with money bump so what works for your life goals and how much you want to grind? I was making $250k for many years but grinding, bought my toys, took trips but now I'm at $150k or so but working half as much as before and remote. Plus my wife does well, she comp 2x but was low when I was at $250k so now we're still the same, more or less (combined). So just depends on your financial equation. You'll figure out what works for you.