Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

reddit.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

201–210 of 216 posts

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

#201

Post by rayiner »

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…

Cost of living calculators are probably not that misleading for people in the $100k range.

Your after-tax income in Houston on $100k salary is $73k. Your after-tax income in San Fran on $186k salary is $111k.

So taxes alone reduce the initial $86k difference to $38k.

A similarly nice apartment in San Fran will easily run you $2k/mo more than in Houston, reducing the difference to $14k.

The difference will be further reduced by other location dependent expenses: property and sales taxes, food, insurance, gas, entertainment, etc. A Big Mac in New York costs 50% more than a Big Mac in Miami.* Movie tickets in New York are about $12.50 versus $7.50 nationwide. A drink at a bar is about double in New York versus in Atlanta (where I used to live).

) http://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/review/03/11/pak..., p. 24.

*) http://jabcatmovies.com/2010/01/movie-ticket-prices-new-york...

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

#202

Post by rayiner »

danssig wrote: post #151
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…

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.

For people in typical earnings ranges, the majority of your income is spent on location-dependent costs: taxes, rent, insurance, food, entertainment, etc, not on discretionary spending like BMWs* or iPhones.

*) Also, BMW's only cost you the same everywhere if you pay sticker for a new car. Used cars have significantly different prices in different zip codes.

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

#203

Post by rayiner »

klbarry wrote: post #181
kai-zer wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FYI, no one is paying $1,000/month for rent in NYC... At least not anywhere reasonably close to Manhattan.

I pay 1150 for a one bedroom with a one hour commute to Manhattan via subway.

One hour each way or total?!

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

#204

Post by mdolon »

cheez wrote: post #115
Tyrant505 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, I still don't know what 100k feels like.. :)

How did you fund yourself for so long? One of my friends who is a consultant doing nothing special makes $100K in 6 months. If you really want to see $100K, just be a consultant for a while.

What does this mean though? What is he consulting people/companies on and how is he finding clients? That is the hardest part of getting into any consultancy (in my opinion): finding clients.

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

#205

Post by nerfhammer »

jonah wrote: post #68
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…

My lifestyle-biz friends working over wifi at the beach in Thailand are making 1/4 - 1/2 million/year. Just like any other job, you just have to know what you're doing and do it well.

I'm amazed, what kind of work is entailed by that exactly? I don't have a clear concept of what lifestyle biz work even is!

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

#206

Post by jasonlotito »

phlux wrote: post #195
nostrademons wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're married with kids, presumably you have a second income. The great-grandparent poster did figure in $1000/month for childcare. That $6k/month becomes $12k/month if your wife makes as much. Anyway, my parents raised my sister and I on a single teacher's salary that was a lot less than $100K. Yes, kids do cost more than being a bachelor. However, a lot of the expenses I see batted around as justification for w…

>...Anyway, my parents raised my sister and I on a single teacher's salary that was a lot less than $100K Sure, when? 15+ years ago? Also, why would you assume that my SO also makes 100K? She doesnt, as a hair stylist - she makes very little comparatively. What egregious expenses did I have in my post if anything? The ONLY luxury items I had in my list were a beer with friends and a bottle of wine. The problem I thin…

But 15 years ago was only 95. I mean, that's not old... that's only....

Dear god. >_<

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

#207

Post by biot »

redthrowaway wrote: post #158
biot wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Apparently the insanity hasn't spread to the North Shore to the same degree.

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

#208

Post by bradya »

sokoloff wrote: post #189
_delirium wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.…

In the US, good software engineers or sysengineers get a "senior" title with 2-4 years experience, and probably closer to the 2. So, it's a "senior" position in title only.

Yes, I can vouch for that.

I've worked with several "senior" developers who had "decades" of experience but had no idea how to write good code.

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

#209

Post by jonah »

nerfhammer wrote: post #205
jonah wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My lifestyle-biz friends working over wifi at the beach in Thailand are making 1/4 - 1/2 million/year. Just like any other job, you just have to know what you're doing and do it well.

I'm amazed, what kind of work is entailed by that exactly? I don't have a clear concept of what lifestyle biz work even is!

These two are doing affiliate marketing but there are many other ways.

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

#210

Post by cheez »

mdolon wrote: post #204
cheez wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How did you fund yourself for so long? One of my friends who is a consultant doing nothing special makes $100K in 6 months. If you really want to see $100K, just be a consultant for a while.

What does this mean though? What is he consulting people/companies on and how is he finding clients? That is the hardest part of getting into any consultancy (in my opinion): finding clients.

He works through an agency and has some skills that are rare (though not rare like diamonds...)
Post reply on HN