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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?

#151

Post by danssig »

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…

This a million times over. I've tried to explain this so many times to my friends who insist on making sub $80k in backwater places citing cost of living "advantages". Uh, no. A BMW or iPhone will cost about the same in Tulsa as it does in New York City.

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

#152

Post by [deleted] »

oniTony wrote: post #30
baddox wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$100K baseline? That sounds like you're talking about entry-level, which can't be right regardless of where you live. I believe that the mean annual income for a software developer in the USA is about USD 75k. I found one estimate as high as 90k. In non-coastal areas (even big cities in the Midwest, Texas, etc.), entry level positions requiring a 4-year CS degree are commonly 45k-60k.

Entry level at top tier companies such as Google/Facebook/Amazon/Microsoft will break $100K if you include signing bonuses and stocks. I suppose those are the exception though.

[deleted]

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

#153

Post by retube »

jasonkester wrote: post #150
retube wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$100k puts you in the top 15%. Maybe that doesn't fit your definition of successful, but I'd argue that having a good, stable, professional job was not only successful, but being, in the majority of cases, off the back of a decent education, pretty fortunate too. Source: http://www.americablog.com/2011/01/us-income-distribution-20...

That list includes everybody in the US, gas station attendants and CEOs included. Computer programmers live in a tiny slice of that graph, way over on the right.

Well that's sort of my point. You're pretty fortunate if you've got that kind of job no? The problem is everything is relative. The banker who takes home a million probably thinks he's underpaid when he compares himself to a hedge bond boss. But sometimes you have to a look at the bigger picture.

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

#154

Post by jasonkester »

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 hope you realize that most of those numbers are either entirely optional, or have been inflated to suit your tastes.

If you were willing to downgrade your lifestyle, you could surely find an apartment for $1,500/month, DSL for $20/month (and no cable tv), a prepaid phone that runs you more like $20/month (but doesn't let you throw birds at pigs), a car that costs you less than $200/month to run (and sits in your driveway instead of commuting you to work), and no other debts whatsoever.

That still leaves you with your expensive health insurance and kids wearing monogrammed blazers to school. And an extra grand for beer money.

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

#155

Post by _delirium »

tastybites wrote: post #75
philwelch wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can easily imagine how to invest anywhere up to tens of billions of dollars. Spending a $100k salary for personal enjoyment is another question.

A nice place to live, a nice car, and frequent restaurant meals. Easily done once you escape the gripping fear going broke and never making money ever again (irrational).

Strangely, I felt like I was doing all that when I was a grad student making a $30k stipend, and I actually didn't spend all the $30k. Nice condo in a nice location, recent car, ate out all the time, spent a surprising amount on microbrews. Granted, Atlanta wasn't the world's most expensive city.

I could've easily imagined being much more frugal in almost every aspect of my life, if I actually needed to save money. But certainly by other standards I was already living very cheaply. I can think of some other things I could've spent money on, but even now that I make more, they don't seem that appealing. Maybe it's just my tastes, but I prefer brewpubs to $50/plate restaurants; you would have to actually pay me to convince me to start eating regularly at high-end places (I currently go if I'm entertaining someone, or occasionally as a novelty, but it's not really my thing). And I could upgrade from "recent, fairly nice Honda" to "new BMW", but I don't really care very much about that. Maybe I'll take more trips or something, but of course I actually have less time to take trips now than I did as a grad student. =]

I honestly am not that sure what I can do with the extra money that would really improve my life, so so far it's mostly being saved, maybe for possible future self-financing, if an idea arises that I want to work full-time on. I guess I could upgrade my microbrew hobby to a Scotch or fine-wine hobby, but again, that doesn't actually appeal that much; it feels like something I would do just to spend money "because I can".

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

#156

Post by rmundo »

alwaysagoodtime had one piece of advice that really resonates: Find the right woman/(man) or don't have one at all.

And I recently reread a PG article where he says he only had a gf two months in the three years he was working on Viaweb. Good to keep in mind, but I read it, and then promptly forgot. Lesson learned!

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

#157

Post by jasonkester »

retube wrote: post #153
jasonkester wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That list includes everybody in the US, gas station attendants and CEOs included. Computer programmers live in a tiny slice of that graph, way over on the right.

Well that's sort of my point. You're pretty fortunate if you've got that kind of job no? The problem is everything is relative. The banker who takes home a million probably thinks he's underpaid when he compares himself to a hedge bond boss. But sometimes you have to a look at the bigger picture.

Indeed. As you say (and I tell every dev I find whining about it), computer programming is the single best job you could ever hope for.

Where else can you convince people to pay you well into six figures to sit at home in your boxers and solve puzzles?

Of those industries, how many of them not only allow, but encourage you to work short contracts at your whim, allowing as much free time in between as you'd like to spend that massive overpayment.

A good developer can produce so much value in such a short time that companies can afford to pay you pretty much any number you can say with a straight face. And if they balk, the bad/cheap developer they hire in your place will teach them such a lesson that when they finally come back you can double your figure again and they'll probably take it.

I tell ya, I used to bag groceries for a living. It was nowhere as good as this.

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

#158

Post by redthrowaway »

biot wrote: post #116
cheez wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I lived in Vancouver for 15 years." Translates to: "I bought a place 10 years before the epic bubble of bubbles." Vancouver real estate is INSANITY.

You mean spending $700K for a house a half notch above a fixer-upper isn't sane? :)

700k? What dream world are you living in? What I wouldn't give to be able to buy a house for 700k. Relevant:

http://www.crackshackormansion.com/

The worst part about that site: It's a year old. It's worse now.

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

#159

Post by redthrowaway »

jamesshamenski wrote: post #77
redthrowaway wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vancouver here. 100k is really only enough for a very middle class life.

Totally disagree. I've lived in Van for 15 years and it's hilariously more affordable than LA or NY (where I am now). The Mercer 2010 survey put Van at #75 in the world which was surprisingly one spot ahead of Toronto. Sidenote: the job market of Vancouver is much slower and lower paying than what's happening state side.

Saying a city isn't expensive because it's less expensive than New York isn't exactly a great argument.

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

#160

Post by dansingerman »

andr wrote: post #120

Perhaps this is off-topic, but going from $0 income and $0 savings two years ago to mid-6 figures has not affected my happiness. The things that have made me happier have all been free or fairly cheap.

Money doesn't make you happy, but not having money _can_ make you unhappy.

Not that it always does; it depends on your dependencies, in both senses. With a wife, child and mortgage I would be pretty unhappy if my income dropped to 0.

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