Genuine question for highly paid fish: Are you happy with your life? What are the negative aspects that come with the high salary?

I see a lot of people making $300k-500k+/yr and curious to hear some unfiltered opinions about how your life is going. I know sometimes I think it would be nice to be making bank but I imagine there are things which come with the territory that I don’t consider.

(Including your salary would be helpful.)

My life style hasn't changed much, but I am happy that my income has enabled me to help others more easily. I currently support the college education of 13 orphans.

I am a happy partner at 35. My income is solid.

I have no concerns about money, and as a result can be generous. I'm happy with the choices I've made and have a fulfilling life. However, I have exceptionally limited discretionary time.

I spend a good chunk of time working, spend evenings with my young kids (we have 4), and when they're asleep I am often getting more work done. I usually find time 5 or 6 times a week for a run, and am on the board of directors for my church. I have an amazing spouse who stays home with the family and makes sure our house stays intact.

After all this, I'm done. I don't get any time to play games (civilization is.. Was. A hobby). If something interesting comes up, I likely can't pursue it. And, I watch next to no tv or sports or pop culture.

All in all, I'm happy and wouldn't give up the list above. But, I would love the chance to breathe occasionally!

How are senior managers making $250 or $300?!? I am making 175$k as a senior manager 5. Those of you making these numbers are in BIg 4? What am I missing here? :( diverse women here... could that be why I am so significantly underpaid???

I make $330k now and $120k 5 years ago. I don’t think I’m nearly as happy.

I remember years ago a partner asking me if serving wealthy clients made me want what they have. The answer was no, because some of the most miserable people I knew were my wealthy clients. A couple worth $33 mill and still growing that fought, separated, got cops called on them, got back together, rinse and repeat. A plastic surgeon making $450k+ a year who couldn't get enough money together to open a personal checking account and paid $3-4k a month in bounced check fees. His wife thought they were poor and was just waiting for her mother to die so she could have her inheritance. I only make $130k in a MCOL city, but I'm thinking about cutting my hours next year because it feels like all I do is work. I want more time to enjoy my life, and putting it off until retirement may mean that my health won't allow me to do the things i am putting off now.

More money, more problems.

Earn decently well for my age and geography but full bonus goes into debt heavy family business which has been keeping the family purses oiled for past many many many years, just under 40% of monthly income goes into family house expenses. Hardly able to save much since the wedding and things are always up and down with wife. She earns but we don't share any finances....she pays for things she usually buys in the house (groceries, other consumables), I pay for large tickets like rent, or anything new we buy, travel etc. Just at the cusp of realising that damn, mental peace and happiness is indeed a little bit more important than money but it's a bit like chicken and egg too if you think about it. Always wanted to start a business but now feel if I really have it in me to start? And with all the responsibilities will it ever look prudent to leave the steady income and take the plunge.

Boy, looks like I've ranted! Sorry.

$305k not including bonus. I feel incredibly lucky to not have to worry about money. I can provide my kids with the best education, take awesome vacations, eat amazing food, and generally not worry too much about bills. This is an incredible blessing that is not lost on me.

I am often stressed out, but so are people who make a lot less than I do.

Also, I’ve always been stressed out. In high school I worked all the time because I was stressed about college opportunities; in college, it was stress about getting into a top law school; law school was stress about first job. Now I’m stressed out about keeping my job and advancing up the ranks. I just try to mitigate the stress by meditating, trying to be present in the moment instead of worrying about work I should be doing, being grateful for the what I have, going to church to keep perspective, and getting lots of exercise.

If you’re a writer in an agency, $350-$500 is very high. You’d have to be at exec creative director or at the very least group creative director. Or an outrageously fantastic concept writer. If you freelance, different story. Those higher levels are just going to come with more political and creative pressure. I’m a mid level creative director, been in the biz a long time, make upwards of $200 and enjoy it. Pressure is there but not over the top... I have a fairly decent work/life balance. Figure out your own priorities and go with it.

As with most things...it's all relative.

I used to have a high-income career (IB), but left to pursue an entrepreneurial opportunity.

Ultimately that didn't come to fruition, so I had to pivot and was unable to make my way back into a role similar to what I previously had.

I landed in a relevant, though much more mundane, role and it's been a struggle.

My wife and I make about $200k per year, so we aren't hurting for money, but that doesn't necessarily relieve the anxiety of financial security.

I often think about how I could be making 3x-4x more and have a positive net worth instead of negative (student loans). I could also be plowing money into investments that would compound, instead of balancing loan payments with the need to save cash for a potential job loss situation.

Admittedly, I'm a bit of a workaholic and would gladly trade my 40-hour workweeks for 80-hour weeks in banking...and not just because of the money, but because the sense of accomplishment (both current and future) that is associated with such a role.

Being back in banking would be infinitely more stressful than my current work, but at the same time, the money and trajectory would eliminate the tremendous stress I currently encounter about whether I'm learning and growing, and whether the next potential employer is going to value my current work.

Currently I feel like I'm languishing in a role that doesn't have a very clear future, which adds to the stress of life (settling down, buying a house, kids etc.).

Financially, I'm not as high as I would like to be, and to make matters worse, my trajectory appears to be flat for the foreseeable future. That's all a challenge in its own way and a very difficult pill to swallow when you're the type of person who is capable of being...and previously was...on a high-income career path.

Complaining aside, the real takeaway is that life is life and it's rarely a perpetual, stress-free dream state, even if you do have a high income.

With that said however, having money is like a magic wand that can erase a long list of stressors that the average person struggles with on a day-to-day basis...so it's a great super power to have.

Anyways, wanted to add a perspective from someone that's sitting in the middle, but has been exposed to both sides.

The busyness is my way of compartmentalizing my depression. Does that mean I’m happy? I cofounded a startup and freelance at 2 agencies at the same time.

I’m a 33 y/o single woman making about $200K in comp and investments yearly, + anticipated 15% increase YOY. I don’t track a budget but live well below my means, and I’m lucky to not need to think deeply about most expenses.

Minus relationship troubles, yes I am happy with where I am, especially the ability to be freely generous to friends and family at leisure. However I have truly amazing work life balance for the first time in my life. If I always had my current schedule, I’d be content making half.

I’m a female, age 25 living in NYC. I’m looking for advice for some more seasoned fish - When will I start to see the money? It seems hopeless and depressing at this point. I’m actively looking for a new job - what moves are good to consider? I do like consulting!

It wont ever be enough.

Late thirties, $ 325k and happy. I have really good work life balance and work with great people that makes my job enjoyable. I enjoy being able to (pre-Covid) spend most of the evenings and almost all weekends socializing with friends and family. That was not the case with my job prior to this. I don’t spend that much more money day to day than I did when I earned $150k, but I do enjoy splurging on nicer vacations, meals, experiences or luxury items now and then without having to worry. And I’m also able to save quite a lot that helps me not to worry about the future. I started daily meditation some years back and that has really taught me how to live more in the “now” and being more appreciative and I also think this has helped to increase my level of happiness.

I’m at +300k as a contractor.

I just have more options to do whatever I want. I highly value a ‘stress free’ life. That’s my goal. I work pretty hard towards it. I wouldn’t say I’m unhappy at all.. But also not happy. I’m ok. 🙃👍

I’m 31

No - I’m little under your level but much cheaper cost of living

Had I to do it over I would have chosen less stressful job and lower expectations - a nice house and a few vacations are not worth 1000 hours of OT every year

500k combined, 700k left on mortgage ($1.8mm market value). We are very very fortunate, we bought our first place during the RE bubble, our ROI was 85% within 6 years. We then moved into a neighborhood with top school district that we never thought we would be able to afford, at least not during our 30s.

I would say that we are generally content and very grateful with what we have, we did not come from families with money. We both worked our way through college so we feel fortunate to have the opportunities that propelled us into this income category. It’s definitely nice to have the financial freedom, enough savings to cover living expenses for one year if one of us don’t have a job, don’t have to budget much for expenses, vacations, etc. I don’t need to work but hubby never pressured me to be a SAHM, he knows how much I love my job. During the last few years, while our kid was younger and required more attention from us, I took on jobs that were lateral move but provided flexibility of working from home.

Cons: Hubby works long hours so weekends are sacred to us spending family time together, but there are times when he works weekends too. We don’t get to have dinners together during weekdays. Kid is usually asleep by the time he comes home.

27/$1.1m. Consider myself lucky to be in a position to get paid on what I generate and it’s great - can afford a nice apartment in a nice part of town, no worries about wanting to eat out at nice places whenever I want and can treat my friends and family without concern. Large downside is feeling the need to work draining hours every day of the week in order to ‘keep up’ - feel the extreme pressure to perform to maintain this freedom of lifestyle.

My husband and I together pulled $600k (I was $275k) before taxes. I was extremely unhappy but it was nice to have zero money concerns and not think twice about dropping $5k on international business class (on the rare occasions we could take time off). Now we’re on a real budget and had to drop our $2k/month DoorDash habit.

If I. Ughuip

I was able to make 6 figures and that allowed my wife to quit her job and be a stay at home mom and home school our boys. She is now an author and releasing her new book in September. The only change in my life is not having to worry if my bills will be paid of if there will be food in the fridge. I still live in the same house that we bought 9 years ago and drive the same 2007 Crown Victoria and 2014 Durango.