How does everyone here make 6 figures. I make 54k at 24. What am I doing wrong.

I made the same at that age. Build up tech or strategy skills, move to consulting, and grow your earnings. You will eventually get to 6 figures and more

Real talk, we probably went to better schools

Can you provide more details on your current role? What company? Are you in FP&A? Industry?

I made $44k TC when I was 24, I’m 32 now and make ~$275k TC. I’m certainly not making the most for people my age here, but I’ve always been comfortable and had fun along the way. If you would have told me I’d be making this much at 32 I would have laughed in your face. All that to say, focus on what you want, if it’s money, then focus on getting money. Always be looking for a job that pays higher and building your skills to reach that next level. Be prepared to jump and constantly be starting over/proving yourself (this is the hard part). I jumped a few times, got promoted a few times and finally broke $200k last year and added another $75k this year. You got this 💪🏼 and I’m sure faster than I did.

I barely made $31k at 24 because I had to work entry level positions after UG. Breaking into consulting has helped bring my salary up significantly. But remember, comparison is the thief of joy. Everyone will have their time.

$60k - 22 $105k - 23 $250k - 26 Switch jobs!

24 - $53k 25 - $75k 26 - $95k 27 - $120k Jump around and build up in demand technical skills

You need to progress your job responsibilities from supporting (low value work) to owning/decision maker. Reporting can be automated, analysis and recommendations cannot be. You should probably combine up-skilling with job hopping, but job hopping alone will also not help you if you are not growing your skills at the same time - If there’s a lot of manual work in your job, figure out how to automate it - As you automate your work, dig deeper and provide recommendations to improve whatever end KPI the report helps support - Once you can execute your day to day work at max efficiency, then focus on deepening your knowledge of a particular industry or technology. Deep technical expertise + the right perspective to make decisions is your best shot at breaking into 6 figure job - As you gain trust in your recommendations, this is the point where you really need to have strong soft skills and organizational skills. This along with your deep technical/domain expertise gets you into decision making roles and where you start getting closer to a 200k job - Once you show you can own something smaller, it’s about continuing to grow into bigger and bigger ownership. Your leadership skills will matter a lot, because the company is paying you not only to make the right calls, but to also build more “clones” of you, since up till this point you have been very impactful to the organization - Once you have the high in-demand skills to be the go to person to solve “any” problem, then focus on getting a job where you get significant equity. To earn big money, you have to embrace variable comp

Switching jobs will probably be the easiest. Keep on building up leadership experience and technical skills. I honestly didn't care about money until children came into my life. 18-25 Poor! 26 $45k 28 $60k 30 115k 32 130k 35 160k

I didn’t make $100k until I was 30. I’m making $240k TC at 35. Everyone has a different way and comparing yourself to others is the most toxic thing. Learn from them, but don’t doubt your path if you have a strong conviction on what you want and how you want to get there.

Also don’t forget to take into effect CoL. 54k at 24 (depending where you’re at) can be a fine salary that enables you to have a great quality of life. Source: I make 58k in a medium-low CoL city and turn 24 in a couple weeks.

How does everyone here make 6 figures. I make 54k ...

a year

HIGHLIGHTED

Your 20s are for experience, your 30s are for making leaps in compensation.

FWIW I wasn’t making very much, 37k at 24 in 2007. When the market crashed, my friends in private equity, consulting, and fin svcs were mostly laid off. I kept my job at a fintech startup and because of that experience(working my arse off, wearing so many hats, and managing teams in my early 20s), I had an easier time getting interviews for, and growing into, more senior leadership roles starting in my late 20s. I also followed my curiosity rather than The Path, and that gave me experience with things like human-centered design before it became really popular so I could make a career change. When it became popular, I was very fortunate to already have experience.

Note: When I began earning multiples of my starting salary, I was not very smart and lived paycheck to paycheck. My spending was compensating for being miserable in my new job and the very toxic environment that went along with it... and I didn’t have much to show for it. Many of your peers earning more than you are, and likely many of the people here in this app, are suffering from really toxic work environments and lots of stress.

I ended up leaving, taking a temporary pay cut for a different job, hired a fee-based financial planner who I had to be accountable to, and found a few hobbies that helped me channel job stress into feeling and looking better(running, cooking, biking). Guess what? I saved more and enjoyed my life a lot more even though I was earning less. When I took my next big job with a much bigger paycheck, I was able to do a lot more with my income, take better care of myself and establish my FU Fund. My FU Fund was several months of living expenses saved specifically to give myself options when I managed to take a position reporting to a total sh*thead in an extremely dysfunctional organization. The confidence I got from my FU fund, plus all of those skills I acquired in my 20s while not earning very much opened up some amazing opportunities while being a relatively happy and healthy human.

I hope this helps.