Is there a certain point in your career where you hit a salary level that you are happy with and not interested in chasing money anymore? Let’s say once you hit 150K you are good as long as you have good WLB/team. I have a good salary starting off in consulting with good WLB/team(from what I heard) and am trying to not chase the $$ and make me unhappy.

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.

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.

Honestly ~$200k is enough if the work life balance is good (40-45/wk avg) and your spouse is pulling in another $100k or so in the vast majority of areas, even most HCOL areas. Anything beyond that in most areas is largely going into investments and/or retirement anyway unless you spend pretty carelessly. But you're often trading away free time now to enjoy retirement more later (when you're old and likely less energetic, great plan) or you've foolishly made yourself house poor.

With toddlers, I want to maximize my time with them at this age. Plus all those investments won't mean shit if you croak at 50 unexpectedly. Life is too short to trade too much WLB for top dollar once you have kids, assuming you actually like your family and want to be a decent spouse who carries their weight parenting.

If you happen to find a job making even more than that without putting in lots of hours, congrats you won the lottery. But if we're honest, most jobs well past that amount require more of your time to succeed.

The hedonic treadmill is very real if you aren’t careful.

While I was working in strategy consulting, I bought a complex of 20 rental properties and managed it on the side with a network of subcontractors. After 4 years, the income generated surpassed what I made at my then-current W2 job, at which point I would say I was no longer interested in chasing money (in my case, prioritizing salary over substance). My career goals became much more driven by my own personal interests and what I feel I’m best at after this point.

While you didn’t explicitly ask about it, I wouldn’t say I necessarily found more “happiness” after this point, however..this occurred only once, at the point where my salary increase higher than what I needed each month and could start saving without compromise. That was around $72k/year for me, living in Boston back in 2011.

Think abt $350 was when I first was able to step back and say- ok my needs and wants are met and my family will be comfortable.

Gives you some extra room to think through what you want to do vs. have to do etc.

The point will come for me when it’s not about salary anymore but ownership stakes in businesses

I heard that post 150, happiness related to salary doesn’t increase

I was at < $200k for a long time, but I was happy, WLB was fair, clients were meh, but I was learning new stuff every project. Then Covid hit, and I hit ~$200k and I wasn't learning as much, had to play politics, teammates were basically checked out, I was unhappy so I started looking.
Reevaluated whole life plan, got an offer, decided wanted to retire in 10yrs thus will be chasing $$ from here on out. It's perspective OP, That whole where you wanna be in 5yrs, 10yrs thing is a good starting point.

i hit that around $90k. still kept getting raises, but they stopped mattering.

TC 100k here and feel like I’m barely getting by, not able to max out retirement accounts. HCOL city. I think I’d be very happy at 160k+

Never. But I have problems ever being satisfied with where I'm at. There's always the next level of achievement.

$300k in MCOL city. $400k in HCOL city.

The cost of living increases with earning more. Most people are never happy and settling down

When I was first hired, my salary was $87k. As a young single person living in a metro city, that is honestly already enough. I live pretty simply, so was still able to save quite a bit and donate quite a bit too. 1.6 years later, I've gone through two raises and am now expecting $100k for the first time come Dec 1!! A large chunk of that surplus will go into retirement savings, cuz I don't need it right now 😊

But if I get married in the next few years and start having kids then I'm sure I'll see my salary differently, lol

I'm at about $250k TC in L/MCOL and think I recently hit this point. Saving for retirement, saving to send 3 kids to college, tithe to the church. My own student loans recently paid off. Have a house that's big enough in a nice enough area that I don't feel any need to upgrade further... even if we could afford better a few years down the line, what would the point be?? Own 2 cars. Kids have activities (Scouts, dance, soccer, etc). We go out to eat once or twice a week (more than we should tbh). My wife and I are able to spend money on our hobbies without much worry. We take a vacation each summer.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but point is just that we have everything we want for a comfortable middle/upper middle class life here in my home town, where I was born and raised and fully intend to be put in the ground. Tough to imagine what more we would need, although that being said I fully acknowledge the reality of life creep, so we'll see what happens next eh?

I would feel more comfortable pinning down a number if I had a fixed rate mortgage on a place I was happy living in but as a renter facing astronomical mortgage rates and historically skyrocketing house prices it’s hard to feel like I could commit to a fixed level of income

I make about $200k (current title on here is wrong) and am not happy simply because my pay doesn’t watch the value I’m delivering. I think I can pretty easily get to $300k at my current firm with the same WLB once that’s fixed through a promo this year and another next year. It’s my own fault though. I should have stayed in consulting one more year, gotten experience as a manager, and then exited to a director level position instead of having to work my way up.

So for me the question is more like: can I get another job with equal or better pay, and equal or better WLB? If I think the answer is no, I’ll be pretty content. I think the higher up you get though, the harder that becomes to find.

The answer to this question varies wildly based on things that are unique to you. For example, the answer will differ depending on:

Whether you are single or have a family / kids

Whether you have a financial cushion (e.g., inheritance)

Where you live (e.g., LCOL vs. HCOL)

How simple vs. luxurious of a life you require

And a variety of other things…

While potentially helpful to pose such a question to a group like this, you will serve yourself better to reflect on the type of life that you want and the income/savings required to support that sort of life.

I don’t have answer to your question but $350k is not that amount.

The amount probably depends more on where you live and what the cost of living is there. I'm at 140k right now, and I feel comfortable, but still chasing one more promotion and some perks that go with it.

Live in financial security over excess. Don't keep up with your coworkers or neighbors especially if you are happy with what you have. It's easy to turn the dial up over turning it back. Seek to have your salary competitive for your position and the area you live in. Use your windfalls and extra income to build your net worth and for rainy days.