Run for a political office.
Ask HN: How to earn over $250K a year?
11–20 of 32 posts
Re: Ask HN: How to earn over $250K a year?
#12At a certain point it becomes important to be attached to the revenue of a company. Whether that is by direct billing as a consultant, being a founder, or a principal, or some other position where your income is not dependent on salary. Moving to management in and of itself does not accomplish this, but in many organizations managers are easier to tie to revenue, which is why it seems that way. At the end of the day,…
I wish, I wish I could The Economist article on this, but searching online for "how millionaires become rich" and similar things is an awful way to find useful info. :) However, I remember reading in The Economist that the majority of millionaires (you can debate if that's real wealth or not) become that way through PROFESSIONAL jobs: law, management consulting, investment banking rather than entrepreneurship. Arguab…
Sure, but becoming a millionaire and earning more than 250k per year are different things.
If you want to make more money per year, you need to take on more risk. If you want acquire wealth you need to spend less than you make. Becoming a millionaire over the course of your career is relatively straight forward if you make even half of what the question is about.
Re: Ask HN: How to earn over $250K a year?
#13I recommend you read the Mr. Money Mustache site[1], it has some great tips (although a bit US related). But one of the insights which is relevant to your question is this: Why work alone? Let your excess money work along side of you.
So yes, you have to learn to invest your savings so that they are growing in value while you don't need that money to live on. And because the rate at which they grow is proportional to how much you have saved, the more you have saved the more "extra" money you will get each year. Let's say you're 25 and you are banking $50K of your $155K salary every year, ($22K into 401k, and $38K into savings). If you're savings makes an average of 5 - 6% per year, then after the first year you are "earning" an extra $1,900, the second year ($39,900 + $38) an extra $3,895. Etc. 20 years later you are earning an extra $63K a year in interest on $1.3M in savings. Plus your 401K is worth another $1.3M so you're net worth is $2.6M and if you can start paying yourself about $100,000 a year for ever (nearly all money you keep since its taxed differently than regular income).
But if you want to live a lavish lifestyle and own a jet etc, better shoot for becoming an overpaid member of the C suite (CEO, COO, CTO, CIO, Etc).
Re: Ask HN: How to earn over $250K a year?
#14If you are anywhere other then NY or SF Bay area you are throwing money out the window on other expenses. I make 185k a year and support a family of 2 young kids and a stay at home wife in the SF Bay area.
Sure we manage money and things are tight but we get by so I'm having a hard time thinking how 155k can't support a family if you live in cheaper areas.
Maybe look at cutting expenses first.
Re: Ask HN: How to earn over $250K a year?
#15One thing you didn't really bring up is the sort of life you want to have. Generally speaking, people think of an annual salary as a end in itself, when it is really a means to an end. For example, if you are living in a small town and making $155K/year, your standard of living is likely significantly higher than someone making $250K/year but living in Manhattan or Soma. You can double your salary by finding a second…
> You can double your salary by finding a second job. You'll make $310K/year, work 80+ hours a week. That's not even as easy as you mention it though, is it? If it's a regular office job, that implies you won't be in the office at the same time everyone else is. Which means you won't be getting the job (or will be fired).
OP says they work remote. One could get two remote jobs, and choose employers based on their time zone such that their business hours don't overlap much. But the point stands: this would be a terrible way to live.
Re: Ask HN: How to earn over $250K a year?
#16Run for a political office.
A house of reps person only makes $174k
Re: Ask HN: How to earn over $250K a year?
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
> You can double your salary by finding a second job. You'll make $310K/year, work 80+ hours a week. That's not even as easy as you mention it though, is it? If it's a regular office job, that implies you won't be in the office at the same time everyone else is. Which means you won't be getting the job (or will be fired).
OP says they work remote. One could get two remote jobs, and choose employers based on their time zone such that their business hours don't overlap much. But the point stands: this would be a terrible way to live.
It would be hell imho. I worked 2 '9-5' jobs for a brief moment in my high school years; strawberry picking in the morning (5-14ish without break) and working in a distribution center (16-1ish with a break); that was hard, but it made a lot of money and was mind numbing so I was doing assembler in my head (ah to be young :) and writing assembly / drawing game sprites on scraps of paper in my pocket. It was ok.
Many years ago (have no deadlines as such.
Offtopic;
What I took from it is that when I first worked those hours; a) it was physical work which kept my body ok (strawberry picking is hell on some people though; I didn't mind it) b) because my programming target (MSX with Z80) was completely kept in my head; all assembly instructions (I still know most of the hex codes and all assembly codes), VDP (video display proc), relevant parts of the BIOS and sound processor instructions were easily kept in my head so I could code during walking. This became impossible around the end of the 80s.
Although I do still program the MSX (and others) for fun, my personal goal is not to go back to the 80s but to make programming in my head possible again. Not sure if i'll ever get there but I will die trying.
Re: Ask HN: How to earn over $250K a year?
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
> You can double your salary by finding a second job. You'll make $310K/year, work 80+ hours a week. That's not even as easy as you mention it though, is it? If it's a regular office job, that implies you won't be in the office at the same time everyone else is. Which means you won't be getting the job (or will be fired).
OP says they work remote. One could get two remote jobs, and choose employers based on their time zone such that their business hours don't overlap much. But the point stands: this would be a terrible way to live.
I'm saying finding such jobs is hard even if it sounds like heaven to you. It's not like the only significant issue is willpower.
Re: Ask HN: How to earn over $250K a year?
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
OP says they work remote. One could get two remote jobs, and choose employers based on their time zone such that their business hours don't overlap much. But the point stands: this would be a terrible way to live.
It would be hell imho. I worked 2 '9-5' jobs for a brief moment in my high school years; strawberry picking in the morning (5-14ish without break) and working in a distribution center (16-1ish with a break); that was hard, but it made a lot of money and was mind numbing so I was doing assembler in my head (ah to be young :) and writing assembly / drawing game sprites on scraps of paper in my pocket. It was ok. Many y…
make programming in my head possible again. Not sure if i'll ever get there but I will die trying
Is it due to age that you can no longer do this, or something else? Good luck with it! I've never actually "programmed in my head", but I definitely think about my projects while out hiking or whatever.
Re: Ask HN: How to earn over $250K a year?
#20There is more demand for engineers than managers and you won't be able to work remotely if you're a manager, in most cases. Meaning you'll need to move to a major urban centre so even if you manage to pull in a bit more the cost of living will swallow any gains.
Why do you need more? Instead consider changing your lifestyle habits. Try living on half your take home pay (still very healthy) for the next 6 months. Track your spending. Save the rest. Read up about money management and investing. ETF funds have lower fees but you can still easily lose your savings if you're not careful. Start small and keep going.
Take up a side project, when you feel you have the energy and pull back when you don't.