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Pro
We all sound so professional in our posts. Lol.
Any 🐠 go to fyre? 😂
Chief
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Word of advice:
A number like “annual income” is too easy to just push up every time you surpass your previous goal. Instead, decide on the lifestyle you would be looking for to be wholly happy, and then back out into what your annual income would need to be in order to sustain it.
Rising Star
Yes. I’m there. I’m making $171K a year in a market where houses are fairly affordable. My wife does about $75K, give or take a few for bonuses.
We have two kids, we both drive nice cars (plus I have a toy car), the kids are in good schools, and we are still saving about 17% of what we make.
If we want to do a nice week-long vacation, we can. We eat out at nice restaurants when we do date nights. If I want a cool pair of Nikes, I can buy them.
But mostly, it’s just that we are comfortable. The kids have what they need, and we get to spend our time together doing things we enjoy. I love being able to take my kids to the zoo and see them light up when a giraffe walks by. I love teaching my son to skateboard or ride a bike. I love being able to take him out in my convertible for a “boys day” with dad where we watch football and eat chicken wings.
I grew up dirt poor in a single wide trailer in rural West Georgia, so being able to live in an affluent neighborhood is a dream to me.
I know I’m getting a raise in January. But it won’t really change my life. It will just go to savings, so when my kids are out of college I can help them with a down payment on their house, or maybe even help them support their dreams. Maybe my son will want to be in a rock band. I’d love to support that.
The money isn’t for me anymore. I wear the same Levis and the same band t-shirts everywhere. The money is for them and their future.
Where do you live that has affordable housing in this market?!
Pro
I’m at $200k and unhappy. Looking at jobs that provide more WLB even if I take a pay cut to 150k
You can even make $200k TC at big 4 ACN at manager in 5 years. It’s not a crazy amount in this market.
I was at 115k and jumped companies. Now I make 160k and do less work than I did at 115k. I think the sweet spot, when a couple has two kids, is 500k HHTC. Once daycare is over, a couple can scale back to 400 or so and be very very happy.
Daycare / child / month in Switzerland is 3000$ on an average, mid-scale 3 bed apartment is about 1 million Swiss francs (1.2 million USD) in Switzerland. But you get to live in one of the best countries on this planet - even in small towns, so I am not surprised !
I think this also just stems to the fact that I know people (who I used to work with) who make 40-50K in HCOL and somehow make it work and still find happiness. I just want to focus on happiness and work that I enjoy and enjoy life out of work as well.
This is the way. Don't chase more and more $$.
Personally, I think you should aim for a job that delivers a good WLB with, let's say, 40-45h/week. No weekends.
Paywise, as you pass 150k towards 200k and your SO brings about the same, there's enough to have a good financial foundation to save, splurge a little and raise a couple of kids.
1Million is my number. Once I get to 7 figures I will be happy compensation wise.
And $100K 10 years ago was not so bad.
Happiness comes from within. If you make it about numbers (salary), just know numbers are never ending - so you will always be on the chase after numbers.
Chief
Honestly mine is like 200-250k for myself and if my wife keeps working then something like 100k from her end and we will live like royalty in TX. Are we ever gonna fly first class no - but we can vacation twice / 3x a year lol.
That's the sweetspot right there!
350k HHTC in MCOL.
Yes. I left my firm and went to industry and the change in WLB is unbelievable. I can actually keep weekdays plans, not cancel vacations, have hobbies. And if you calculate my per hour pay it’s probably better now. I was consistently working 65+ hour weeks and up to 18 hours in a day and it took a toll.
All said, I also loved the work and the grind, and may consider trying another firm later on. You can feel bitter about bowing out. However, the higher compensation isn’t guaranteed, but my well being now is.
Last year, at age 60, I left for a 30 hour work week position (3 ten hour days) with an $85k salary decrease. Just here for the health insurance. My husband is fully retired and I’m counting down to it. I don’t need the extra money or the stress at this point in my life.
My wife and I are at about 500k HH income.
This is enough that I don’t even really think about money anymore. There’s always enough to do what we want and still save a lot.
200k more “to live the same way.”
We’ve got a 3000 sq. ft. condo in the heart of the city. A comparable apartment would be at least 6-7k more per month in Manhattan. 84k post tax is about 140k pretax.
The rest would be for increased cost of restaurants/shopping/etc.
Yes ($180) for a minute until inflation heated up.
WLB and the type of work you do is very important but that doesn’t mean you should “settle” on a salary that’s high enough. You gotta believe in yourself and test out to see if you can make even more than you even imagined. Money doesn’t equal happiness but more of it can create a lot more options for you than can make you happier
SC1 I think you have it backwards in your first post above
Rising Star
I used to think the number for me was $200k. Then when I surpassed it, it became $400k. Now I’ve cleared that, I think the number is $750k.
Tbh, one of my biggest expenses is mortgage (I live in a VHCOL city), and seeing the way mortgage rates are going, I’m balking at 80% of the $8k/mo of my hard earned money simply going to interest payments. So feel like I need to earn way more just to offset that.
Obviously this is entirely circular, and this is a first world problem, but you asked.
Sure, because we actually just bought it.
Went from paying about $3200 for our apartment lease to a little over $6K for mortgage + taxes + insurance. Managed to lock in at 6%. I'll caveat that we are in one of the most expensive tax counties in the US.
When you say size, do you mean sqft? If so, 2600.
I was making 150k as a senior and now making 200k as a manager. I am miserable as a manager and miss the senior life, would go back in a heartbeat if allowed.
I’m a childless adult, ~$250K TC, MCOL city. I have a partner, and we split current housing costs, but are otherwise financially independent - I have good WLB now, and would say that point, for me in this city, is plenty. I’d put my “number” at 200-250 - I buy what I want, I max out retirement and 2-3k extra a month.
Two factors that DEFINITELY influence this:
- do you need the largest, most expensive house you can afford? For me, I could easily have kept up with the Jones’ and spent in the 700-1M range. Instead, sitting happily in a nice 2000 sq ft house with 2k total monthly payment for ~$400K.
- cars - I’ve never paid more than $25k for a vehicle. If you’re regularly buying newer, $50k+ vehicles, or leasing with $600+ monthly payments, that adds up
@Assoc Principal - yes; this is like 6 weeks late - but if still interested: not at all trash schools, though yes - I don’t have children. Great schools in fact, but that’s because I live in NYS, with unusually high per student public school funding levels (and yes, with associated high property taxes). Taxes on the house are about $6k per year - high for the country, low for NYS.
If you're sad at $200k, highly likely a million won't make you happy either.
There was a point where I no longer needed more money to do what I needed to and I started considering if working harder or on things I didn’t like doing was worth it. But I still am motivated by making more now, saving more, and setting myself and my family up for the future.
I'm roughly $225k TC (not at KPMG anymore) in a MCOL city and have amazing WLB. I won't be leaving any time soon.
Yes and it feels great. Actually took a pay cut to go to slalom 5 years ago. It's really nice to just focus on fulfilling work and colleagues, and to be able to be present in my personal life/the moment rather than weighing options and looking for 'something better '