What's your job title and how much do you earn?

[EchoStache]

Job Title: Echo tech(I do ultrasound exams of the heart); currently traveling, similar in nature to travel nurse but for my job.
Age: 50
Experience: 5 years
Salary: $130k but this varies based on contract rate and how much I want to work.  I will take 5 weeks(unpaid) vacation this year for this income.
Education: Associates degree, under $10k total cost.

Spouse: Medical Lab Technician(traveler)
Age: 48
Salary: $115,000 also varies based on contract...this will be her income this year with 36 weeks worked.
Experience: 7 years
Education: 2 year degree

We both work Monday-Friday 7:30 am-4 pm. No weekends, no holidays, ever.  No OT, no call.  40 hours/week, the end.

Important to note is that our federal tax liability on our roughly $250k gross income is under $5,000.

I think a good estimate is that our pay will likely vary between 200-$300k/year combined depending on how much we want to work and how well our contracts pay.  Until we are ready to FIRE we would like to work at least 44 weeks/year.

Annual savings rate goal is 40% of gross.  I am achieving 50-60% during months we are working but average for the year will be much lower due to unpaid time off.

I see this as astoundingly excellent gamemanship!!! Two well paying gigs with reasonable schedules and low $$$ to enter that specialty. You two are MMM superstars. Compare this to a typical pediatrician with 11 years of postsecondary training, 200K in debt, and a 175K salary.

Thank you!  We are quite excited about how drastically the switch to traveling will affect our financial situation, ability to retire early, and take more time off while working towards said retirement.  We will even have the ability to semi-retire and work only 3-6 months per year if we choose not to fully retire.  I do feel we are legally "gaming" the system to our advantage as much as possible given our circumstances/careers/education.  Fortunately, I stumbled onto MMM/frugality/FIRE shortly before the switch to traveling.

Wife took 4 weeks off this year before her first assignment.  Taking another two weeks in May.  Then we plan to take a month off Dec-Jan.  Little tough to realize we are paying $5k/week to take time off so just have to find the right balance.

[2sk22]

I am retired now but the highest I ever earned in a year was a hair below $400k in 2020, the year I retired. I had the title of senior AI engineer (not a manager.)

I have a PhD in computer science and completed one of the early dissertations in machine learning back in the 1990s.  It's hard to believe now but I used to get blank looks when I told people that I worked in neural networks (usual response was "I didn't know you worked in biology!"). One of the dangers of being a bit too early in a field. To be fair, I was always able to find work in other areas in advanced computing and was generally very well paid.

Then, round about 2010 when deep learning started to take off, I realized that I had valuable qualifications. I had about ten really good years in the AI/ML field and then retired when I started feeling burnt out.

[Gronnie]

Job Title: Echo tech(I do ultrasound exams of the heart); currently traveling, similar in nature to travel nurse but for my job.
Age: 50
Experience: 5 years
Salary: $130k but this varies based on contract rate and how much I want to work.  I will take 5 weeks(unpaid) vacation this year for this income.
Education: Associates degree, under $10k total cost.

Spouse: Medical Lab Technician(traveler)
Age: 48
Salary: $115,000 also varies based on contract...this will be her income this year with 36 weeks worked.
Experience: 7 years
Education: 2 year degree

We both work Monday-Friday 7:30 am-4 pm. No weekends, no holidays, ever.  No OT, no call.  40 hours/week, the end.

Important to note is that our federal tax liability on our roughly $250k gross income is under $5,000.

I think a good estimate is that our pay will likely vary between 200-$300k/year combined depending on how much we want to work and how well our contracts pay.  Until we are ready to FIRE we would like to work at least 44 weeks/year.

Annual savings rate goal is 40% of gross.  I am achieving 50-60% during months we are working but average for the year will be much lower due to unpaid time off.

Why is your tax liability so low?

About $90,000 of our annual income this year will be in the form of tax free lodging and meal stipends.  Our W-2 wages are therefore much lower, along with $60k of pre-tax retirement contributions.  We bought an EV so actually switched tIRA to Roth for the rest of this year(contributing monthly) and will have to do a Roth conversion as well in order to get our tax liability up to $7500 for the tax credit.

Interesting.

Would you actually spend $90k on meals and lodging otherwise?

[L2]

Job Title: Tax Manager - Regional Public Accounting
Age: 26
Experience: ~ 4 years
Salary: 78k, expecting an annual raise to ~82k in November.
Other: 3% 401k match, profit-sharing, but I just started here a few months ago so I have no idea what to expect.

I'm located in Ohio and started out my career at a much larger firm. Took a promotion and 22% raise to come to the new place. A ton more flexibility is also a plus. Its sort of unfortunate, but it seems the only way to really get market rate is to jump ship, at least in accounting.

Age: 27
Experience: ~ 5 years
Salary: $83,352

Age: 30
Experience: 8 years
Salary: 150k + somewhere between 5 and 10k annual bonus.

Prior salary (raises after previous update) was $94k. Made a lateral move in terms of title to a new firm. It would appear to be an employee's market.

Age: 30
Experience: 8 years
Salary: 200k + somewhere between 8-15k annual bonus.

Promotion as well. Just an incredible year.. Don't know how I pulled it off LOL.

After some more unexpected back and forth (both parties were doing their best to not let me say no), ended up with $225k + $15k signing bonus + 8-15k annual bonus estimate.

[poxpower]

I am retired now but the highest I ever earned in a year was a hair below $400k in 2020, the year I retired. I had the title of senior AI engineer (not a manager.)

That's impressive, so easy to just keep working at that wage :O

[2sk22]

I am retired now but the highest I ever earned in a year was a hair below $400k in 2020, the year I retired. I had the title of senior AI engineer (not a manager.)

That's impressive, so easy to just keep working at that wage :O

Its definitely not easy! When you are highly paid, a lot is expected of you and at some point, you reach "enough".

[Undecided]

I am retired now but the highest I ever earned in a year was a hair below $400k in 2020, the year I retired. I had the title of senior AI engineer (not a manager.)

That's impressive, so easy to just keep working at that wage :O

Its definitely not easy! When you are highly paid, a lot is expected of you and at some point, you reach "enough".

This is a big part of the reason that increases in comp become so seemingly outlandish as one moves farther up the scale. I thought last year was my last year, but some surprising developments mean I can save 3 kids' worth of full-freight college costs in a single year (and I only have two kids), so....

[Fomerly known as something]

Special Agent, in the federal government for 21 years, now in San Francisco.  $176,300.

[MMMarbleheader]

Construction Asst. Project Manager (Large Commercial Construction Manager firm), 12 year experience, Boston

$145,000 Base
$8,000 Car Allowance
$8,000 Bonus

[EchoStache]

Job Title: Echo tech(I do ultrasound exams of the heart); currently traveling, similar in nature to travel nurse but for my job.
Age: 50
Experience: 5 years
Salary: $130k but this varies based on contract rate and how much I want to work.  I will take 5 weeks(unpaid) vacation this year for this income.
Education: Associates degree, under $10k total cost.

Spouse: Medical Lab Technician(traveler)
Age: 48
Salary: $115,000 also varies based on contract...this will be her income this year with 36 weeks worked.
Experience: 7 years
Education: 2 year degree

We both work Monday-Friday 7:30 am-4 pm. No weekends, no holidays, ever.  No OT, no call.  40 hours/week, the end.

Important to note is that our federal tax liability on our roughly $250k gross income is under $5,000.

I think a good estimate is that our pay will likely vary between 200-$300k/year combined depending on how much we want to work and how well our contracts pay.  Until we are ready to FIRE we would like to work at least 44 weeks/year.

Annual savings rate goal is 40% of gross.  I am achieving 50-60% during months we are working but average for the year will be much lower due to unpaid time off.

Why is your tax liability so low?

About $90,000 of our annual income this year will be in the form of tax free lodging and meal stipends.  Our W-2 wages are therefore much lower, along with $60k of pre-tax retirement contributions.  We bought an EV so actually switched tIRA to Roth for the rest of this year(contributing monthly) and will have to do a Roth conversion as well in order to get our tax liability up to $7500 for the tax credit.

Interesting.

Would you actually spend $90k on meals and lodging otherwise?

Most we are likely to spend over and above our normal living expenses is around $2k/month for lodging away from home.  We don't spend any more on food than we normally would since we just buy groceries and cook as normal.  The place we are in now is $2k/month...its a very nice 2 BR 2k square foot fully furnished apt...actually the basement of someone's home that was remodeled just for travel nurses.  So the most we would probably spend yearly of the 90k expense stipend is about $20k.  To be clear, we get the $90k stipend regardless of how much or how little we spend.  We could live in a tent for free and still get the stipend.

[Gronnie]

Job Title: Echo tech(I do ultrasound exams of the heart); currently traveling, similar in nature to travel nurse but for my job.
Age: 50
Experience: 5 years
Salary: $130k but this varies based on contract rate and how much I want to work.  I will take 5 weeks(unpaid) vacation this year for this income.
Education: Associates degree, under $10k total cost.

Spouse: Medical Lab Technician(traveler)
Age: 48
Salary: $115,000 also varies based on contract...this will be her income this year with 36 weeks worked.
Experience: 7 years
Education: 2 year degree

We both work Monday-Friday 7:30 am-4 pm. No weekends, no holidays, ever.  No OT, no call.  40 hours/week, the end.

Important to note is that our federal tax liability on our roughly $250k gross income is under $5,000.

I think a good estimate is that our pay will likely vary between 200-$300k/year combined depending on how much we want to work and how well our contracts pay.  Until we are ready to FIRE we would like to work at least 44 weeks/year.

Annual savings rate goal is 40% of gross.  I am achieving 50-60% during months we are working but average for the year will be much lower due to unpaid time off.

Why is your tax liability so low?

About $90,000 of our annual income this year will be in the form of tax free lodging and meal stipends.  Our W-2 wages are therefore much lower, along with $60k of pre-tax retirement contributions.  We bought an EV so actually switched tIRA to Roth for the rest of this year(contributing monthly) and will have to do a Roth conversion as well in order to get our tax liability up to $7500 for the tax credit.

Interesting.

Would you actually spend $90k on meals and lodging otherwise?

Most we are likely to spend over and above our normal living expenses is around $2k/month for lodging away from home.  We don't spend any more on food than we normally would since we just buy groceries and cook as normal.  The place we are in now is $2k/month...its a very nice 2 BR 2k square foot fully furnished apt...actually the basement of someone's home that was remodeled just for travel nurses.  So the most we would probably spend yearly of the 90k expense stipend is about $20k.  To be clear, we get the $90k stipend regardless of how much or how little we spend.  We could live in a tent for free and still get the stipend.

Ah ok that makes more sense now -- I thought you were just counting huge expenses because of being on the road as income :)

[Undecided]

Job Title: Echo tech(I do ultrasound exams of the heart); currently traveling, similar in nature to travel nurse but for my job.
Age: 50
Experience: 5 years
Salary: $130k but this varies based on contract rate and how much I want to work.  I will take 5 weeks(unpaid) vacation this year for this income.
Education: Associates degree, under $10k total cost.

Spouse: Medical Lab Technician(traveler)
Age: 48
Salary: $115,000 also varies based on contract...this will be her income this year with 36 weeks worked.
Experience: 7 years
Education: 2 year degree

We both work Monday-Friday 7:30 am-4 pm. No weekends, no holidays, ever.  No OT, no call.  40 hours/week, the end.

Important to note is that our federal tax liability on our roughly $250k gross income is under $5,000.

I think a good estimate is that our pay will likely vary between 200-$300k/year combined depending on how much we want to work and how well our contracts pay.  Until we are ready to FIRE we would like to work at least 44 weeks/year.

Annual savings rate goal is 40% of gross.  I am achieving 50-60% during months we are working but average for the year will be much lower due to unpaid time off.

Why is your tax liability so low?

About $90,000 of our annual income this year will be in the form of tax free lodging and meal stipends.  Our W-2 wages are therefore much lower, along with $60k of pre-tax retirement contributions.  We bought an EV so actually switched tIRA to Roth for the rest of this year(contributing monthly) and will have to do a Roth conversion as well in order to get our tax liability up to $7500 for the tax credit.

Interesting.

Would you actually spend $90k on meals and lodging otherwise?

Most we are likely to spend over and above our normal living expenses is around $2k/month for lodging away from home.  We don't spend any more on food than we normally would since we just buy groceries and cook as normal.  The place we are in now is $2k/month...its a very nice 2 BR 2k square foot fully furnished apt...actually the basement of someone's home that was remodeled just for travel nurses.  So the most we would probably spend yearly of the 90k expense stipend is about $20k.  To be clear, we get the $90k stipend regardless of how much or how little we spend.  We could live in a tent for free and still get the stipend.

Good arrangement. Is this in some kind of government service? I thought lodging was only tax-free to the employee when provided on the employer’s property (among other conditions).

[EchoStache]

Job Title: Echo tech(I do ultrasound exams of the heart); currently traveling, similar in nature to travel nurse but for my job.
Age: 50
Experience: 5 years
Salary: $130k but this varies based on contract rate and how much I want to work.  I will take 5 weeks(unpaid) vacation this year for this income.
Education: Associates degree, under $10k total cost.

Spouse: Medical Lab Technician(traveler)
Age: 48
Salary: $115,000 also varies based on contract...this will be her income this year with 36 weeks worked.
Experience: 7 years
Education: 2 year degree

We both work Monday-Friday 7:30 am-4 pm. No weekends, no holidays, ever.  No OT, no call.  40 hours/week, the end.

Important to note is that our federal tax liability on our roughly $250k gross income is under $5,000.

I think a good estimate is that our pay will likely vary between 200-$300k/year combined depending on how much we want to work and how well our contracts pay.  Until we are ready to FIRE we would like to work at least 44 weeks/year.

Annual savings rate goal is 40% of gross.  I am achieving 50-60% during months we are working but average for the year will be much lower due to unpaid time off.

Why is your tax liability so low?

About $90,000 of our annual income this year will be in the form of tax free lodging and meal stipends.  Our W-2 wages are therefore much lower, along with $60k of pre-tax retirement contributions.  We bought an EV so actually switched tIRA to Roth for the rest of this year(contributing monthly) and will have to do a Roth conversion as well in order to get our tax liability up to $7500 for the tax credit.

Interesting.

Would you actually spend $90k on meals and lodging otherwise?

Most we are likely to spend over and above our normal living expenses is around $2k/month for lodging away from home.  We don't spend any more on food than we normally would since we just buy groceries and cook as normal.  The place we are in now is $2k/month...its a very nice 2 BR 2k square foot fully furnished apt...actually the basement of someone's home that was remodeled just for travel nurses.  So the most we would probably spend yearly of the 90k expense stipend is about $20k.  To be clear, we get the $90k stipend regardless of how much or how little we spend.  We could live in a tent for free and still get the stipend.

Good arrangement. Is this in some kind of government service? I thought lodging was only tax-free to the employee when provided on the employer’s property (among other conditions).

.

No, its basically how all travel medical jobs work i.e. travel nursing, etc.  Since as travelers on temporary assignment, we have duplicate living expenses i.e. temporary lodging away from home, meals away from home, we are paid a portion of our wages as meals and lodging based on the amount allowed for whatever city we work in.  We are in a low cost of living area so lodging allowance is roughly $96/day and meals are $50/day.  So we each get $1052.45/week tax free stipend to cover lodging and meals.  So for my current assignment, my wife and I both get the $1052.45/week, I get the remainder of my pay as taxable wages $41.85/hour, and my wife gets $48/hour.  OT rates are much higher but we almost never choose to work OT.

[cooking]

Doesn't the travel aspect of the jobs mean that you each have to get some type of lodging in the places you travel to work in, though?  Or do you only accept assignments where you are both offered a job? Sounds like a good way to get to FIRE at any rate.Wishing you well on your journey!

[EchoStache]

Doesn't the travel aspect of the jobs mean that you each have to get some type of lodging in the places you travel to work in, though?  Or do you only accept assignments where you are both offered a job? Sounds like a good way to get to FIRE at any rate.Wishing you well on your journey!

We only choose assignments nearby or, in a perfect world, at the same facility.  We are currently at the same facility and have matching schedules.  Yes it is assumed that we each have to get lodging.  However, it is a flat stipend; no one cares how much is truly spent.  Same as mileage reimbursement.  50c/mile is reimbursed even if someone were to manage to only *actually* spend 10c/mile by having a really cheap highly fuel efficient car.  You still get the allowed rate.

[cooking]

I understand the part about it not mattering how much you actually spend vs the per diem alloted. I guess what I find a little confusing is what they define as a "travel" position. Does it just boil down to being a temporary assignment, in essence? Because you did mention it being nearby, and also it seems like you've been in the same job for awhile. However, maybe I made the wrong assumption on that. I was just trying to figure out what defines a job that's considered a travel position in the medical field, as opposed to a regular non-travel job in the same field.

[EchoStache]

I understand the part about it not mattering how much you actually spend vs the per diem alloted. I guess what I find a little confusing is what they define as a "travel" position. Does it just boil down to being a temporary assignment, in essence? Because you did mention it being nearby, and also it seems like you've been in the same job for awhile. However, maybe I made the wrong assumption on that. I was just trying to figure out what defines a job that's considered a travel position in the medical field, as opposed to a regular non-travel job in the same field.

Travel assignments are typically 13 weeks in duration, and most facilities have a requirement that travelers have a permanent residence that is greater than 50-75 miles away.  As travelers, we are not employees of the hospital or facility but rather of the travel agency.  It is also very common to extend while on assignment.  Hospitals bring on travelers because they are unable to fill positions quickly enough.  Travelers are a quick, temporary fix until they get enough staff.  However, it is very common that the facility is not able to fix staffing issues so its an easy win win scenario to extend.  Traveler avoids downtime between contracts and all the hassle involved with finding new lodging and all of the onboarding paperwork involved in working for a new facility.

In my case, I started with a 14 week assignment that would have ended 3/18 of this year.  My wife took an assignment in February but the facility offered 6 months right off the bat if she was interested.  Before she accepted, I verified my department was willing to extend me.  So I did a 5 month additional extension out to 8/12.  Typically, it is recommended or advised not to stay at the same facility beyond 1 year as the IRS could consider that as permanent employment and demand back taxes be paid on all of the non-taxed travel stipends.  We will take a couple weeks off in August and then possibly extend here once more out to December.  Then its a month off and figure out where we want to go next.  I'm thinking the beach.  Or Hawaii.  :)

[cooking]

I can imagine how inviting an assignment in Hawaii sounds.  Are the work opportunities fairly evenly distributed around the country?   
Or say, rural vs urban/suburban?                                                                                               Thank you for enlightening us to this intriguing stuff, and for your thorough explanation.

[EchoStache]

Yeah there's a pretty good balance of rural and big city jobs available.  My job is very specialized so there are usually only around 250-300 assignments available at any given time around the country to choose from.  My wife's job as medical lab tech usually has quite a few more positions available.  One of the best assignments available for my position, just as an example, is a 26 week assignment in Albuqeurque, NM for $3850/week split up into $1071 stipend and $69.57 hourly.  I'll be looking out for an assignment like that when I'm done here!  Can't see myself hiring in as normal staff again.  I could work 6 months with 6 months vacation and make the same or more.  In fact we may do that once we get close to FIRE.

[Undecided]

I understand the part about it not mattering how much you actually spend vs the per diem alloted. I guess what I find a little confusing is what they define as a "travel" position. Does it just boil down to being a temporary assignment, in essence? Because you did mention it being nearby, and also it seems like you've been in the same job for awhile. However, maybe I made the wrong assumption on that. I was just trying to figure out what defines a job that's considered a travel position in the medical field, as opposed to a regular non-travel job in the same field.

Not suggesting Ultrastache is up to this, but it seems the boundaries of "travel" and the boundaries of the reasonably expected duplicative cost of housing (justifying its tax-free status) are uncertain (and subject to some audit risk).

[cooking]

Just to be perfectly clear, my post had nothing to do with the tax status re the stipend. I'm just grateful that UltraStache has been so open with us. It's kind of rare that you get that firsthand window into a given career.

[w@nker]

Wow - there are some crazy impressive posts in here.  Y’all are killing it!

[jrhampt]

I can imagine how inviting an assignment in Hawaii sounds.  Are the work opportunities fairly evenly distributed around the country?   
Or say, rural vs urban/suburban?                                                                                               Thank you for enlightening us to this intriguing stuff, and for your thorough explanation.

Just FYI, Hawaii has a remote worker program now intended to incentivize remote workers to come stay for 30-60 days in Hawaii.  You can apply for the program and get free round-trip airfare plus some housing subsidies...I'm considering doing it.  Either through the program or just on my own for a month or two around January/February.

[haflander]

I can imagine how inviting an assignment in Hawaii sounds.  Are the work opportunities fairly evenly distributed around the country?   
Or say, rural vs urban/suburban?                                                                                               Thank you for enlightening us to this intriguing stuff, and for your thorough explanation.

Just FYI, Hawaii has a remote worker program now intended to incentivize remote workers to come stay for 30-60 days in Hawaii.  You can apply for the program and get free round-trip airfare plus some housing subsidies...I'm considering doing it.  Either through the program or just on my own for a month or two around January/February.

Wow, this piqued my interest. Would you mind naming it or adding a link? This is worth looking into! I'd consider similar incentives for other locations too, anywhere fun in the Western Hemisphere or possibly Europe. This would be a great way to learn about a different area or culture.

[jrhampt]

I can imagine how inviting an assignment in Hawaii sounds.  Are the work opportunities fairly evenly distributed around the country?   
Or say, rural vs urban/suburban?                                                                                               Thank you for enlightening us to this intriguing stuff, and for your thorough explanation.

Just FYI, Hawaii has a remote worker program now intended to incentivize remote workers to come stay for 30-60 days in Hawaii.  You can apply for the program and get free round-trip airfare plus some housing subsidies...I'm considering doing it.  Either through the program or just on my own for a month or two around January/February.

Wow, this piqued my interest. Would you mind naming it or adding a link? This is worth looking into! I'd consider similar incentives for other locations too, anywhere fun in the Western Hemisphere or possibly Europe. This would be a great way to learn about a different area or culture.

https://www.afar.com/magazine/hawaiis-new-remote-work-program-includes-free-flights

https://www.moversandshakas.org/

[poetdereves]

Me
Title: Registered Nurse (Surgical/trauma ICU)
Salary: $66k + 15% into pension vesting after 8 years
Experience: 2 years
Age: 33
Education: BS In nursing; BA in unrelated field. Various nursing certifications.
Side Hustle: ~$10k
Wife
Title:  Project Manager (WFH) in healthcare IT field
Salary: $97k + 3% 401k  + $1,400 in HSA + bonuses ($10-20k possible)
Experience: 10 ish years
Age: 31
Education: MS in Healthcare Administration and PMP

Total: ~$180k annual compensation

[Btag84]

Still Corporate Controller but at a different company. Salary is now $180,000 with 20% bonus potential in the Midwest

[mizzourah2006]

Title: Principal Data Scientist
Salary: $160k + $10-$20k bonus
Education: PhD in Industrial/Organizational Psychology + self-taught programming/ML/DL
Experience: 5 years in I/O + 2 years in Data Science
Age: 35

Work remotely in a low cost of living area. It’s funny being one of the few I/Os with a strong DS skill set as many I/O firms are attempting to incorporate the power of ML/DL into their products. I definitely got very lucky.

Figured I'd give an update. Still in a relatively low cost of living area.

Not much has changed. Still with the same company.

Salary: $189k + bonus ~$20-$25k and now I get about + ~$25k/yr in private equity.

Recently I've been getting pinged by FAANGs and I'm considering it, but right now my job is pretty ideal. They've been saying that working remotely is a reasonable expectation, but so far they've been vague on comp. They basically say it's a senior level role, but that compensation is based on experience, interview success, etc. Which I guess makes sense, but it's a bit frustrating as the interviews aren't exactly easy convos. I'd like to know if its even worth the time or not.

Just turned down an offer from FB last week. It was for a remote work IC6 role:
Base: $165k
Target Bonus: $33k
$200k equity vesting quarterly over 4 years, so $50k/yr.

So ~ $248k total compensation. I did tell the recruiter that it was way low on base and would be about a $25k/yr pay cut. She suggested it might be possible to get that up to $180k, which would have brought the target bonus up by $3k, so potentially $266k.

A couple updates from this.

I got an ~$11k raise at the beginning of the year, bringing my base to $200k even, same bonus, but now closer to $25k and ~$30k/yr in private equity, but they had told me that $200k was probably about my cap because it was a small company and I was one of the highest paid employees at that point.

I'd remained in contact with my previous boss and colleagues since I left and a friend of mine reached out to me about backfilling his role when he left. I'd actually be working under my boss from ~6 years earlier, but he'd just moved up over time. I was getting a bit bored in my current role and had moved more away from day-to-day machine learning and more to SE product management. So I decided to make the move back to the original team I started my career with, only now I run the team.

I took a bit of a base pay cut, but total comp is higher and 401k match went from 1.5% to 6%. 

So now my base is back to $190k, target bonus is 30% and RSUs are $50k/yr. Also got $35k in RSUs and $25k cash sign on bonus. But I'm no longer directly in "data science". That part was kind of tough, I'd made a bit of a name for myself in the DS area of our field, where I'd been asked to be a special guest editor on a journal focused on machine learning and have 3 journal articles in press in one of our top journals on ML/DL and now I'm just a normal I/O again. But I've found ways to leverage my skills to help our team provide more meaningful insights to the business so far.

I also do go into the office 2-3 days a week now too, whereas I've been fully remote in my old role for the past 4 years. But I can bike to work when the weather is nice and I often schedule my gym days around going to the office as the company has a nice gym that's around the corner from the office.

Still in what I would consider a LCOL area. Small metro in the mid-south.

Also very glad I turned down that Facebook offer. I saw the table of names and positions on layoffs.fyi and I saw more than a few that were in the same position I would have taken.

[afuera]

Job Title: Production Engineer
Salary: $107K/yr + Yearly Profit Sharting + 6% 401K match + Pension + Free HDHP w/ HSA contributions.  Total comp probably around ~135K.
Experience: 3 years at current company (1st job out of college), 2 relevant part-time jobs and 1 relevant internship while in college.
Education: BS in Chemical Engineering.

Job Title: Senior Process Engineer
Salary: $140K +10% Bonus
Experience: 8 years
Education: BS in ChE.

[mm1970]

Job Title: Production Engineer
Salary: $107K/yr + Yearly Profit Sharting + 6% 401K match + Pension + Free HDHP w/ HSA contributions.  Total comp probably around ~135K.
Experience: 3 years at current company (1st job out of college), 2 relevant part-time jobs and 1 relevant internship while in college.
Education: BS in Chemical Engineering.

Job Title: Senior Process Engineer
Salary: $140K +10% Bonus
Experience: 8 years
Education: BS in ChE.

Sigh.
I'm working for the wrong company.

[Loretta]

My nude art modeling side hustle earns me $25/hour at a local art school. 

[JLee]

Title: Technical Manager (IT)
Salary: $97k + annual bonus
Experience: 3 years
Education: AA

Title: Director (IT)
Salary: $170k
Experience: 9 years
Education: AA

I would never have predicted this but I'll take it :)

Title: Director (IT)
Salary: $187k + annual bonus ($15k 2022)
Experience: 10 years
Education: AA

[sailinlight]

Software Engineering Manager (spend most of my day writing Python code)
Years at company: 14 years, since undergrad: 16 years
Salary 187k + ~20k bonus per year

[tacticalteam4]

Med device rep
$310,000 last year
Experience: 1.5 years in this role, 2.5 years as a clinician before this
Education: clinical MS

Primary duty is taking specialized clinical folks out to dinner.

[2Birds1Stone]

Med device rep
$310,000 last year
Experience: 1.5 years in this role, 2.5 years as a clinician before this
Education: clinical MS

Primary duty is taking specialized clinical folks out to dinner.

Yessss!! I looked to see if this post existed after you commented in my journal.

Congrats, that's quite a freakin income vs. job description :)

[bryan995]

I recently moved from a large pharma to a startup.

Title: Principal SWE
Field: Health Startup
Salary: ~$240k/yr base
Bonus: 20% (~$50k/yr)
Stock: options (could be $$$$, could be $0)
Education: PhD
Experience: 7 years post phd (3rd role after graduating)
Age: 36
Hours Worked: >60 (hopefully is my final role)
Location: CA

Wife is Sr Manager in marketing at a fintech.
 
Title: Sr Marketing Manager
Field: Fintech
Salary: $152/yr base
Bonus: 25% ($38k/yr)
Stock: $24k/yr
Education: MBA
Experience: 8 years post MBA
Age: 35
Hours Worked: 40
Location: CA

[tacticalteam4]

Med device rep
$310,000 last year
Experience: 1.5 years in this role, 2.5 years as a clinician before this
Education: clinical MS

Primary duty is taking specialized clinical folks out to dinner.

Yessss!! I looked to see if this post existed after you commented in my journal.

Congrats, that's quite a freakin income vs. job description :)

Can’t believe it most days. I still sometimes find myself on that hedonic treadmill complaining about trivial things. Was making 40k/year as a special Ed teacher when I found MMM in 2014. Found someone on Reddit posting about a niche clinical degree that required no experience and paid new grads $100k+. Then found another guy (🙂) on some forum talking about sales as a well paying career path. If this luck continues I’ll stumble onto the winning lottery combo in some corner of the web.

I’d be happy if this post ends up being the catalyst for someone looking to increase their income, like yours was for me!

[afuera]

Job Title: Production Engineer
Salary: $107K/yr + Yearly Profit Sharting + 6% 401K match + Pension + Free HDHP w/ HSA contributions.  Total comp probably around ~135K.
Experience: 3 years at current company (1st job out of college), 2 relevant part-time jobs and 1 relevant internship while in college.
Education: BS in Chemical Engineering.

Job Title: Senior Process Engineer
Salary: $140K +10% Bonus
Experience: 8 years
Education: BS in ChE.

Sigh.
I'm working for the wrong company.

I just switched companies for the first time since I started working.  Overall, its been a fantastic experience so definitely take the leap!

[valsecito]

Only tangentially related question. How low can you get taxation and social security contributions in the US if being frugal?

In my native Belgium, you pay 25% fed tax up to 14k€, 40% up to 24k€, 45% up to 42k€/year, and 50% above that. These percentages do not include:
- local tax (typically 7% of federal tax amount)
- employee side social security contributions (typically 13.07% on pre-tax amount)
- employer side social security contributions (typically between 25 and 28% on top of pre-tax amount)

Belgium doesn't have a very interesting roth/ira/401k system of voluntary pension contributions to lower the taxed amount either. A tax deductible pension fund contribution is possible up to 990€/year, but that's only valid for expensive investments run by the local banks. Little room for optimisation, except if running your own llc.

So I'm curious... When people here mention say a $100k salary, what does that amount usually include, and what not? Employer side social security contributions for example, probably not included? Employee side social security contributions, probably included? And how much of that can you expect to take home in a typical populous state like California if going for the most frugal route in terms of retirement savings and fiscal optimisations?

I'm probably asking for the impossible. Just being curious...

[lifeisshort123]

So here’s what I include when I say my salary:

- The wage my employer gives me regularly every two weeks before taxes are taken out.

Here is what I don’t include when addressing that number:

- The amount of money I pay in taxes (Federal, State, etc.)
- The amount of money my employer pays in taxes (Federal, State, etc.)
- The cost I have to pay for any insurance products I may purchase
- The cost my employer may have to pay for any insurance products
- The amount I am “deferring” by contributing to Defined Benefit and/or Defined Contribution Plans paid by myself and/or my employer
- Any additional one-time-payments or bonuses (in my line of work at present, these are not guaranteed and rarely equal 5% or more of my income).  In other jobs I have had, I would include this amount because it was up to 30+% of my income.

Your social security in the US will be lowered for any medical insurance plans you purchase or “cafeteria plans” - when purchased from your employer, or purchased by you when self-employed. For example, make 100k, but have to contribute 1k toward’s your healthcare, SS calls that 99k in income.  Your 401k/403b contributions are income tax deferred, but you do pay social security tax on that amount.  So for many people here putting in their $22,500 for the year, that does count.  Also, social security has a maximum benefit cap and maximum taxation cap, which means only the first $160,200 you earn annually is subject to social security tax.

So, let’s say you have a household income of $100k, one person earns $60k, another person earns $40k.
Easiest way to reduce taxable income would be for both of you to contribute $22.5k into your 401k (or equivalent).  That would allow for 45k (or 45%) of your income to be tax deferred.  There are other tricks if one of you happens to be a business owner which can lessen your burden - for example if you open a SEP IRA, Solo 401k, or defined benefit pension plan for yourself/your company.  There are additional pre-tax deductions all individuals qualify for medical insurance, tuition, student loan interest, and other things. 

So much of taxes depends on where you live.  Forbes has this little game you can play, though it has some errors (for example it won’t allow for higher than $19,500 in contributions to 401k).  It might be a good starting place.

https://www.forbes.com/advisor/income-tax-calculator/california/100000/?filing=married&deductions=0&k401=19500&ira=0&dependents=0

[Must_ache]

Actuary, 25 yrs of experience.  $115k salary + bonus of about $35k = $150k.

Certainly you can do much better than that, but I am in a good low-stress situation. 
I pay almost nothing out of paycheck for benefits
6% retirement benefit plus 3% 401k match yields another $10k
15% discount on stock purchase yields 1.5k
Outside of maxing my 401k and HSA I can also defer 15% of salary and 100% of my bonuses to be paid out in five annual installments immediately following retirement, to help sustain me pre Social Security.
28 vacation days plus good number of holidays.
Work from home 2 days per week.

[Tyson]

Only tangentially related question. How low can you get taxation and social security contributions in the US if being frugal?

In my native Belgium, you pay 25% fed tax up to 14k€, 40% up to 24k€, 45% up to 42k€/year, and 50% above that. These percentages do not include:
- local tax (typically 7% of federal tax amount)
- employee side social security contributions (typically 13.07% on pre-tax amount)
- employer side social security contributions (typically between 25 and 28% on top of pre-tax amount)

Belgium doesn't have a very interesting roth/ira/401k system of voluntary pension contributions to lower the taxed amount either. A tax deductible pension fund contribution is possible up to 990€/year, but that's only valid for expensive investments run by the local banks. Little room for optimisation, except if running your own llc.

So I'm curious... When people here mention say a $100k salary, what does that amount usually include, and what not? Employer side social security contributions for example, probably not included? Employee side social security contributions, probably included? And how much of that can you expect to take home in a typical populous state like California if going for the most frugal route in terms of retirement savings and fiscal optimisations?

I'm probably asking for the impossible. Just being curious...

I make base salary of $132k per year, so that's $11k per month.  My take home, after taxes, 401k, medical insurance, is $6400 per month. 

[SpaceCow]

Despite being a little intimidated by the earnings in this thread, here goes:

Title: Federal Investigator
Education: BA in Economics
Experience: 3 years as a fed, 6 months in this role
Pay: $53k. GS-07 step 2. I am now on a GS-12 ladder, though, so it will go up significantly on a yearly basis.

While I am very happy with what I do now, I took a pay cut to get here. I might struggle to max out the 401k and IRA this year.

[valsecito]

I'm a humble teacher. I make about 59k€ gross per year. That translates into a hair under 36k€ a year net, bonuses included.

My public sector work qualifies me for a defined benefits government pension. At 67, not at 56 like my parents. From a financial perspective, FIRE is penalised very heavily for government employees. I don't participate in our humble 401k equivalent (990€/year of partially tax deductible pension fund investment). Especially for young mustachians, the tax advantage gets eaten by high fees.

My health insurance is federal government provided, like almost all Belgian residents except for some international institution employees. The membership for the non-profit organisations handling the administrative side is about 70€ per year. I also have additional private health insurance costing me about 150€/year.

One nice benefit some of you might find interesting. I get a tax free cycling allowance per km of home-work travel of 0.21€ at school A and 0.24€ per km at school B . I am tempted to start cycling to work on a 45km/h electric bicycle instead of by train plus bicycle. Time wise, that evens out. Money wise, that would net me between 2.5k€ and 3k€ per year extra though. Plus a better physical health.

Labour may be very heavily taxed in Belgium, but it is post tax investment heaven. No capital gains tax at all if you're a tiny bit careful. That is why most of my tiny nest egg goes into accumulating etf's with a low total expenses rate.

[poetdereves]

Me
Title: Registered Nurse (Surgical/trauma ICU)
Salary: $66k + 15% into pension vesting after 8 years
Experience: 2 years
Age: 33
Education: BS In nursing; BA in unrelated field. Various nursing certifications.
Side Hustle: ~$10k
Wife
Title:  Project Manager (WFH) in healthcare IT field
Salary: $97k + 3% 401k  + $1,400 in HSA + bonuses ($10-20k possible)
Experience: 10 ish years
Age: 31
Education: MS in Healthcare Administration and PMP

Total: ~$180k annual compensation

Update about one year out. Really crazy to see our trajectory because in 2017 we were making $41k combined.

Me:
Title: Organ Recovery Coordinator
Salary: $70k + 10% 401k match
Experience: 8 years
Age: 33
Education: BS In nursing; BA in unrelated field. Various certifications.
Side Hustle: ~$10k

Wife
Title:  Program Manager
Salary: $150k + 3% 401k match + $1,400 in HSA + bonuses ($10-20k possible)
Experience: 10 ish years
Age: 32
Education: MS in Healthcare Administration and PMP

Total: ~$230k annual compensation

[Dicey]

Actuary, 25 yrs of experience.  $115k salary + bonus of about $35k = $150k.

Certainly you can do much better than that, but I am in a good low-stress situation. 
I pay almost nothing out of paycheck for benefits
6% retirement benefit plus 3% 401k match yields another $10k
15% discount on stock purchase yields 1.5k
Outside of maxing my 401k and HSA I can also defer 15% of salary and 100% of my bonuses to be paid out in five annual installments immediately following retirement, to help sustain me pre Social Security.
28 vacation days plus good number of holidays.
Work from home 2 days per week.

Wow! That list is worth a lot!

[dandarc]

"Consulting Services as an Applications Architect for State of . . . "

My end after the contracting firm takes its cut is $100 / hour for as many hours as I want to work (technically a cap of 2080 per year, but the handshake deal I have is for 1200 / year). This is 1099 / Corp-to-Corp rate - it flows through my personal LLC which pays me a $60K annual salary, reimburses my health insurance, and periodically makes profit distributions or employer 401k profit-sharing contributions. Knowing the salaries (public record) state employees get paid to do similar work in my state, I feel like that is actually a pretty healthy salary for about a 60% time position.

Been doing essentially this job under different titles for this state since 2008 except for 2018-2021 when I went off to another state to do a big implementation project for the same government program. The part time thing + pay has be back at state #1.

[mistymoney]

Special Agent, in the federal government for 21 years, now in San Francisco.  $176,300.

good god! are you going to have to kill us now! 8O

[Gronnie]

Med device rep
$310,000 last year
Experience: 1.5 years in this role, 2.5 years as a clinician before this
Education: clinical MS

Primary duty is taking specialized clinical folks out to dinner.

Yessss!! I looked to see if this post existed after you commented in my journal.

Congrats, that's quite a freakin income vs. job description :)

Can’t believe it most days. I still sometimes find myself on that hedonic treadmill complaining about trivial things. Was making 40k/year as a special Ed teacher when I found MMM in 2014. Found someone on Reddit posting about a niche clinical degree that required no experience and paid new grads $100k+. Then found another guy (🙂) on some forum talking about sales as a well paying career path. If this luck continues I’ll stumble onto the winning lottery combo in some corner of the web.

I’d be happy if this post ends up being the catalyst for someone looking to increase their income, like yours was for me!

Makes me wonder why anyone would go to Med school?

[Michael in ABQ]

Me
Title: President
Salary: $36k/year
Experience:1.5 years in this position (bought the business 1.5 years ago, had a couple of years of related experience from a side hustle)
Age: 38
Education: BA in Business Administration

Title: Captain (Army National Guard)
Salary: ~$19k/year for one weekend a month and 2-3 weeks a year of full-time duty. Includes a 100% match on first 5% contributed to my 401k - plus a pension of 2% per year times number of years of equivalent active duty. So after almost 20 years of part-time service (including two overseas deployments) I'm at the equivalent of about 5 years of active duty. I can retire starting about a year from now, but my pension won't start paying out until I'm 59 and 3 months. If I retired as soon as I can (not planning on it) I would get basically 10% of my full-time salary for my rank at the time I retire. That's currently $101,052 for a Captain but will go up to $110,524 once my promotion to Major goes through later this year. With another 20 years of annual increases until I hit the age it starts paying out, it will probably be $150-175k/year by the time I can start collecting at age 59 years and 3 months (normally age 60, decreased by 9 months for some service in a combat zone).
Experience: 19+ years in the Army
Age: 38
Education: BA in Business Administration + a year or two worth of military education over the last 19 years.

Wife
Title: Vice President
Salary: $24k/year
Experience:1.5 years in this position
Age: 38
Education: BA in English


We're self-employed with an S-Corp so pay ourselves a very modest salary of $60k/year combined. We're trying to keep as much money in the business to grow by investing in our infrastructure and purchasing more inventory. Since I have additional income from the National Guard and some side hustles it's enough for us to live on. We basically pay nothing in income taxes at the state or federal level and usually get a significant refund since we have 6 kids.