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Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?

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Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?

#121

Post by defen »

nostrademons wrote: post #98
defen wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends where you live. In San Francisco or New York, 100K isn't going to go very far. In Houston or a rural area, it will. According to a cost of living adjustment calculator I found online, 100K in Houston is equivalent to 186K in San Francisco. http://swz.salary.com/costoflivingwizard/layoutscripts/coll_...

That is so incredibly misleading. The problem with these cost-of-living adjusters is that they don't consider which goods are location-dependent and which aren't. So yes, your rent will probably be double in SF what it is in Houston. However, if you make $100K, rent is only a small portion of your income. And a dollar of savings in SF is just as good as a dollar of savings in Houston. The way COL-calculators should w…

You have to factor in taxes also:

186000 SF Income -46497 federal income tax - 8170 FICA tax - 2697 Medicare tax -15473 California state income tax -40000 Living expenses ------ 73163 Savings

100000 Houston income -21709 Federal income tax - 7650 FICA tax - 1450 Medicare tax -25000 Living expenses ------ 44191 Savings

SF still comes out on top, so I imagine the breakeven point is somewhere closer to 160K in SF.

Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?

#122

Post by rorrr »

nepenthe wrote: post #105
rorrr wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Professional is almost any area that requires either higher education or some hard to learn skill.

I used to associate professional and one's education or income until I realized that often the most professional people I've encountered don't make much money. Professional to me means excellence at a service for which someone is paid to perform. Improving the human condition or chasing money both attract professionals of a completely different definition.

It's true, there are idealists out there who don't care for money.

However if you're skilled and/or educated, getting $100K shouldn't be a problem.

Now getting $500K/year is a much more serious problem. I'm failing to get to that level by just being professional (and good). It requires more of a business type of mindset (or lots of luck).

Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?

#123

Post by HaloZero »

tastybites wrote: post #32

$100k isn't successful, it's the bare minimum as a professional. If you're an engineer, all that's required to earn that much is show up on time and be good at your job. The cold, hard truth is if you don't earn at least that much, you either suck at your job or suck at negotiating. Your bosses and many of your peers earn twice as much as that. Edit: IF you work in the corporate world. Clearly if you're a lifestyle-b…

being a little pretentious aren't u? 100K a year is damn good. It's not "Fuck you" money but it's a damn good and a comfortable life. That's successful in my book.

Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?

#124

Post by _delirium »

nandemo wrote: post #101
jhamburger wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This post is a good example of a phenomenon I keep seeing when it comes to how people view incomes- People pay much more attention to their own circle and to those making more money than them, so they get a skewed outlook on what is 'normal' and 'average'. That's why everyone in America thinks they are 'middle class', whether they make 30k or 500k. Lawyers and i-bankers are a different story, but you won't find any s…

Here you are: http://www.indeed.com/salary?q1=%22senior+software+engineer%... http://www.indeed.com/salary?q1=%22senior+system+administrat... http://www.indeed.com/salary?q1=dba&l1=san+francisco%2C+...

Those all seem to be senior positions, and only in certain cities. So I would agree that $100k+ is a common salary for an engineer, especially a senior one. But the original post was talking about the bare minimum as a professional, which should include various kinds of professionals, at different levels of seniority and various locations.

For example, I'd consider jobs like this to be "professional" --> http://www.indeed.com/salary?q1=electrical+engineer&l1=c... http://www.indeed.com/salary?q1=software+engineer&l1=sea...

Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?

#125

Post by phlux »

nostrademons wrote: post #98
defen wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends where you live. In San Francisco or New York, 100K isn't going to go very far. In Houston or a rural area, it will. According to a cost of living adjustment calculator I found online, 100K in Houston is equivalent to 186K in San Francisco. http://swz.salary.com/costoflivingwizard/layoutscripts/coll_...

That is so incredibly misleading. The problem with these cost-of-living adjusters is that they don't consider which goods are location-dependent and which aren't. So yes, your rent will probably be double in SF what it is in Houston. However, if you make $100K, rent is only a small portion of your income. And a dollar of savings in SF is just as good as a dollar of savings in Houston. The way COL-calculators should w…

>....if you make $100K, rent is only a small portion of your income.

I'm not sure what you are thinking here.

If you make 100K, your take home pay after taxes is ~$6,000. For any reasonable place to live in SF - your going to be between 1800 and 2500 for a two bedroom.

Thats not "a small portion of your income"

Additionally - you may have health care costs of as much as 750 per month if you have a spouse and child on your plan.

Figure as much as 400 to 600 per month for a car. 100 for cable, 150 for an unlimited family cell plan. School costs for your kid, and god-forbid you. like me, have child support to an ex.

So:

6000 Income

750 insurance

2000 rent

100 internet/tv

150 cell

100 power

1000 kids school/child support

250 other debts

600 car+insurance

== 4950

That leaves 1050 for the remainder of the month. Which is ~260 each week for expenses such as food, gas, savings, a beer with friends, date night, a bottle of wine etc...

100k is literally the bare min in SF to live moderately comfortable.

Now assuming you didn't have the school/child support, you can replace that with savings, which is great. but for a lot of people it is a 1K expense not savings.

Additionally - this doesn't account for a lot of other potential monthly expenses that are common.

Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?

#126

Post by oldstrangers »

jberryman wrote: post #81
tastybites wrote: post #32

$100k isn't successful, it's the bare minimum as a professional. If you're an engineer, all that's required to earn that much is show up on time and be good at your job. The cold, hard truth is if you don't earn at least that much, you either suck at your job or suck at negotiating. Your bosses and many of your peers earn twice as much as that. Edit: IF you work in the corporate world. Clearly if you're a lifestyle-b…

> $100k isn't successful, it's the bare minimum as a professional. As a professional what? Man this place can be a fucking drag sometimes.

$100k might not be "successful" to anyone living in SF or NYC, but in 98% of the rest of the country, it is certainly a nice income. Don't buy into the ego.

Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?

#127

Post by crocowhile »

rorrr wrote: post #122
nepenthe wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to associate professional and one's education or income until I realized that often the most professional people I've encountered don't make much money. Professional to me means excellence at a service for which someone is paid to perform. Improving the human condition or chasing money both attract professionals of a completely different definition.

It's true, there are idealists out there who don't care for money. However if you're skilled and/or educated, getting $100K shouldn't be a problem. Now getting $500K/year is a much more serious problem. I'm failing to get to that level by just being professional (and good). It requires more of a business type of mindset (or lots of luck).

my wife has my same background (PhD molecular biology). a couple of years ago she decided she didn't want to stay in academia for pressure and competition are too high and moved to a company, making 2-3x times as much as she was making before (and than I am making).Funny thing is that the common silent opinion in academia about those like her is that they are dropouts....

Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?

#128

Post by juiceandjuice »

cookiecaper wrote: post #117
DannoHung wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Things shift significantly when you start looking outside the 10 most populous cities in America. I'd even bet that if you exclude SF/The Valley, Seattle, and New York, you'll find a pretty decent cliff.

Agreed. As a software engineer around here (Utah), $100k-$120k is a senior position. Just look at the job listings or Glassdoor ranges from companies in the area if you don't believe me. In fact, most senior positions start around $70k-$75k, so if you make $100k-$120k you're doing better than many of your peers. In Kansas City or other midwestern localities, the salaries are even less.

I was just gonna comment about Utah. I'm 25 and I just moved out of SLC to the Bay. I'm starting out at 85k in sort of a mid-level position, and I was hoping just to get 60k coming from Utah. I had absolutely no clue what to even ask for. I asked for 60, hoping to get 55, the HR person put it in as 60-70, and they came back and offered me 85.

Put in in perspective from a working student: In my 2009 taxes, I filed for 13k. 2008, 12k, 2007 15k.

Average salary of my friends is probably somewhere around 40-60k, with educations varying from some college to a masters degree.

I work at a national lab, but I'm completely within the confines of the Office of Science. I make 30k more than the Research professors I worked for at the U.

On the other hand, I'm thinking of saving up to buy a house back there and just renting it out because there's no way I could buy one here unless I was making 150+.

Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?

#129

Post by rdouble »

phlux wrote: post #125
nostrademons wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is so incredibly misleading. The problem with these cost-of-living adjusters is that they don't consider which goods are location-dependent and which aren't. So yes, your rent will probably be double in SF what it is in Houston. However, if you make $100K, rent is only a small portion of your income. And a dollar of savings in SF is just as good as a dollar of savings in Houston. The way COL-calculators should w…

>....if you make $100K, rent is only a small portion of your income. I'm not sure what you are thinking here. If you make 100K, your take home pay after taxes is ~$6,000. For any reasonable place to live in SF - your going to be between 1800 and 2500 for a two bedroom. Thats not "a small portion of your income" Additionally - you may have health care costs of as much as 750 per month if you have a spouse and child on…

I was one of the poor, unprofessional slobs who only made $100K or so in SF and NYC. I thought I was living a pretty good life, but maybe I should be ashamed that I'm not a millionaire CPA (huh?).

Here's a typical programmer bachelor situation.

I made about $6000K after tax and contributions to retirement account in SF and NYC.

car = $0

insurance = $0, paid for by employer

other debts = $0

iPhone = $80

rent = $1000 studio or share

utilities + wifi = $250

metro card/transit pass = $80

You can fudge those numbers a bit for a better apartment/room and maybe zip car or even your own beater car, and you're still usually under $2K. I didn't put food in there because that was highly variable, even for me. I saved $24,000 a year without thinking about it, and still experimented with motorcycles, snowboards, music gear, travel, etc.

You essentially have $4000 - $4500 a month to save or spend on food + whatever you want.

Re: Redditors earning $100k+ a year, what are your secrets to your success?

#130

Post by catch23 »

oldstrangers wrote: post #126
jberryman wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> $100k isn't successful, it's the bare minimum as a professional. As a professional what? Man this place can be a fucking drag sometimes.

$100k might not be "successful" to anyone living in SF or NYC, but in 98% of the rest of the country, it is certainly a nice income. Don't buy into the ego.

According to WSJ, the average developer in the bay area makes $99k:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870343950457611...

So if you're making $100k, you're just making what everyone else is making :-)

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