Author Topic: What's your job title and how much do you earn?  (Read 348167 times)

Breck

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #250 on: February 04, 2016, 09:07:53 AM »
Semiconductor Customer Quality Engineer
106k (salary + cash bonus + profit sharing)

Some stock RSU/options too, but might not stick around long enough to get the payout

BS EE + 3.5 years experience
Age: 26

chemistk

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #251 on: February 05, 2016, 06:13:09 AM »
Job Title: Research Scientist for a major US Food Company
Experience: 2.5 years
Age: 24
Salary:  $60k plus ~$2k in bonus
Education: Bachelor's in Chemistry

TheBeardedIrishman

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #252 on: February 05, 2016, 08:39:39 AM »
Automotive  sales 100k
Age 26
Bachelors Degree in Health Sciences
Experience  3 years

Gondolin

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #253 on: February 05, 2016, 10:05:35 AM »
Title: Senior Systems Engineer
Age: 25
Salary: $86K plus 2.5% bonus employer 401k contribution
Education: Bachelor's in Materials Science and Engineering
                Master of Science in Systems Engineering
Experience: Almost 3 years.

JordanOfGilead

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #254 on: February 05, 2016, 10:29:18 AM »
Automotive  sales 100k
Age 26
Bachelors Degree in Health Sciences
Experience  3 years
Is that in the corporate sales department for a supplier/manufacturer, or a salesman at a dealership? If it's the latter, I think I might jump ship as an engineer and apply at my local dealership!

zephyr911

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #255 on: February 05, 2016, 10:30:15 AM »
Woo, December raise added $2K+ to my total.... almost $82K now on the base job, and a whopping 1% raise on #2... lulz
« Last Edit: February 05, 2016, 11:18:29 AM by zephyr911 »

Kenbo

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #256 on: February 05, 2016, 11:05:39 AM »
26 years old
Registered Nurse
About 55k last year plus a 6% match
4 years of experience
I have an Associates in Nursing. 

Live in a LCOL area and I enjoy the small hospital I work at.  It's much better working conditions then the big hospitals close by.
« Last Edit: February 06, 2016, 01:10:58 PM by Kenbo »

Lexaholik

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #257 on: February 05, 2016, 11:26:53 AM »
Title: Associate Attorney
Age: 31
Salary: $135k plus bonus ($10 - 30k?) (former biglaw, now smaller firm representing nonprofits)
Experience: 6 years
Education: BA (liberal arts, fun, useless), JD 

I live in one of the highest COL areas in the U.S.

I did biglaw for four years and left.  Probably took too big of a paycut, but my life is better now and my chances of partnership were low.  I was inspired about working with nonprofits, but now sometimes I get cynical and think I would prefer to just work with companies, just fewer hours than I used to.  But I am not sure if that deal exists for lawyers unless you go in-house (I've been trying).  Not sure what the future will hold.

Title: Attorney with Solo Practice
Age: 32
Compensation: $14,000 annualized (it's my first year so I barely make anything)
Experience: 5.5 years (former federal clerk, Biglaw, mid-sized firm)
Education: BS + JD

Nice to see other Biglaw refugees on the board. When I was a clerk I was earning $65k-$75k. The firm I spent my 2L summer with paid me $60k to return as a third year. As a third year I earned $205k. Left shortly after I became a fourth year to a mid-sized plaintiff's firm. Spent a bit over a year there making about $160k (including bonuses). Left to start my own practice and now make peanuts.

I didn't like working in Biglaw because I didn't like the lifestyle or work environment. I never wanted to make partner because their lives seemed just as terrible unless they were on the Management Committee. My health deteriorated due to the demands of work and me constantly eating out. My only goal while I was there was to accumulate my FU money ASAP.

« Last Edit: February 05, 2016, 11:43:08 AM by Lexaholik »

aprilchem

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #258 on: February 05, 2016, 11:41:00 AM »
Title: Associate Professor of Chemistry
Age: 40
Experience: 15 years
Certificates: none
Salary: ~$70k base + another $15k or so in grant-related compensation.  Should get a $5-7k raise once I make full professor next year.
Medium COL area

Education: BS Chemistry, Ph.D. Chemistry.  I was lucky enough to get a full ride (+ spending money) for my undergrad education, and my Ph.D. was covered by assistantships and such, so no cost for school from me.

TheBeardedIrishman

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #259 on: February 05, 2016, 12:47:20 PM »
That is working as a sales consultant  at a local ford dealership
Age 26
Bachelors Degree in Health Sciences
Experience  3 years
[/quote]
Is that in the corporate sales department for a supplier/manufacturer, or a salesman at a dealership? If it's the latter, I think I might jump ship as an engineer and apply at my local dealership!
[/quote]

JordanOfGilead

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #260 on: February 05, 2016, 12:51:08 PM »
That is working as a sales consultant  at a local ford dealership
Age 26
Bachelors Degree in Health Sciences
Experience  3 years
Is that in the corporate sales department for a supplier/manufacturer, or a salesman at a dealership? If it's the latter, I think I might jump ship as an engineer and apply at my local dealership!
[/quote]
[/quote]
What does that entail/what are the requirements for a job like that? You've still got my interest. The chances of me hitting 6 figures as an engineer in the Midwest by age 26 are virtually zero.

TheBeardedIrishman

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #261 on: February 05, 2016, 12:59:20 PM »
Sorry I'm new to this site but love it my wife turned me on to that. . .I also live in midwest however I would not go quit your job. . Sales can be the hardest working most earning job in the world or easiest lowest paying job. . I had a great mentor who showed me how to build my clientele  take care of clients  getting  referrals and building a strong reputation . And I am extremely  dedicated  to my professional  career 
That is working as a sales consultant  at a local ford dealership
Age 26
Bachelors Degree in Health Sciences
Experience  3 years
Is that in the corporate sales department for a supplier/manufacturer, or a salesman at a dealership? If it's the latter, I think I might jump ship as an engineer and apply at my local dealership!
[/quote]
What does that entail/what are the requirements for a job like that? You've still got my interest. The chances of me hitting 6 figures as an engineer in the Midwest by age 26 are virtually zero.
[/quote]

squirrel1

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #262 on: February 05, 2016, 01:17:46 PM »
Title: Sr. Software Developer
Age: 24
Experience: 4 Years
Education: Bachelors done in 2.5 years in comp sci
Salary: $71,000 + 28 PTO days + 7% employer 401k contribution + Bonus (between $4000 - $6000)

Tabaxus

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #263 on: February 05, 2016, 07:33:48 PM »
Nice to see so many biglaw (and former biglaw) people floating around.  I walk around the office and get the emphatic feeling that almost everyone else takes their cash home and burns it as if this gig is anything other than a short-lived cash volcano before things die down dramatically.  Makes me feel like the odd duck. 

Yaeger

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #264 on: February 05, 2016, 09:58:59 PM »
Title: US Military Naval Officer, LT
Age: 33
Experience: 12 years
Education: BS in Comp Sci, MBA
Salary: ~120k (78k base, 10k bonus, 30k housing, 2k special pay)

veloman

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #265 on: February 05, 2016, 10:33:06 PM »
Wow, reading the first page so far and I feel like a poor bloke. And this is after recently starting a new job where I'm making more than I ever did.

Mortgage loan servicer (not my official title, but this is more accurate). It's basically data entry and I'm incredibly bored, looking for something else.
Age: 31
$45,000/yr
Education: they wanted a BS in accounting/finance and related experience. I had it. But I don't use any of it. I could have done this job when I was 14. UGH.

I wish I could figure out what I want to stick with and stay on a course.

As for those of you who make over 80k/yr.... I can't imagine it. I'd be FI in only a couple years with that kind of money.

But this is a good reality check. A lot of people make a lot of money. What's the point in saving $500/yr on gas by biking if the main goal is just to save money? That makes sense for someone who makes 20k/yr but not the bigger earners.  I sold my car almost two years ago and us my homebuilt ebikes, save money and enjoy it mostly.

randymarsh

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #266 on: February 06, 2016, 12:30:10 AM »
Graduated 2014 BS MIS

Technology Coordinator / 45K / NO room for growth

New Job

IT Service Desk Analyst / 50K / LOTS room fo growth / Dog friendly office (that's worth something right?) / No drive commute



Larabeth

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #267 on: February 06, 2016, 12:53:10 AM »
911 dispatcher
40K/year

Balance

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #268 on: February 06, 2016, 01:19:50 AM »
38 years old
Real Estate Appraiser - Sole Proprietor single person business
13 years in the business.  First 7 years I worked for a bigger firm
$75k per year but only work 20 hours per week on average
I consistently made $125K+ per year but I hated working everyday 40 hours a week. Since I work from home it's just way too hard to stay focused that long with so many different hobbies. We have a 2 year old son and another on the way and so far we haven't needed to use any babysitters.  I could definitely work more without having to watch children but I think its a great tradeoff as our work balance is great.  I can probably work at this pace for many more years since I have a lot of flexibility.

My wife on the other hand is a Registered Nurse and makes $175k per year.  Her benefits are amazing and she can pick up more shifts whenever she likes. Luckily her company pays healthcare for the entire family.  It definitely helps since health insurance was pretty expensive as a small business owner.

goosefraba1

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #269 on: February 06, 2016, 07:13:33 AM »
Title: physician assistant (currently occupational medicine in transition to orthopedic surgery)
Salary: 89k with up to 20% bonus current
           New contract is 108k with up to 20% bonus
           After 1 year at new office, 108k base with rvu bonus (current PAs in the office average between 40 and 60k in bonuses on this conract)

Experience: 1.5 years

Education: BAS in psych, MS in PA studies

Age: 28

hedgefund10

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #270 on: February 06, 2016, 05:11:15 PM »
Title: Audit Senior ( CPA, Big 4 Public Accounting)
Experience: 2.5 Years Public Accounting
Salary $68.2K and 5-10% bonus

jim555

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #271 on: February 06, 2016, 06:06:15 PM »
Title:  Specialist of Leisure
Salary: N/A

LeRainDrop

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #272 on: February 06, 2016, 06:24:51 PM »
Nice to see so many biglaw (and former biglaw) people floating around.  I walk around the office and get the emphatic feeling that almost everyone else takes their cash home and burns it as if this gig is anything other than a short-lived cash volcano before things die down dramatically.  Makes me feel like the odd duck.

LOL, then I guess I'm an odd duck, too! 

PeachFuzzInVA

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #273 on: February 06, 2016, 06:47:57 PM »
Title: online retailer store owner
Salary: ~ $15,000/month
Experience: 1.5 years

PeachFuzzInVA

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #274 on: February 06, 2016, 06:55:29 PM »
My wife on the other hand is a Registered Nurse and makes $175k per year.  Her benefits are amazing and she can pick up more shifts whenever she likes. Luckily her company pays healthcare for the entire family.  It definitely helps since health insurance was pretty expensive as a small business owner.

How in the world does she make that much as an RN, especially with benefits? Nurses around here can work PRN doing weekend nights in DC and still barely crack $100,000 but get no benefits. My wife is an RN and makes $65k working ft locally.

mit

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #275 on: February 06, 2016, 09:13:05 PM »
My wife on the other hand is a Registered Nurse and makes $175k per year.  Her benefits are amazing and she can pick up more shifts whenever she likes. Luckily her company pays healthcare for the entire family.  It definitely helps since health insurance was pretty expensive as a small business owner.

How in the world does she make that much as an RN, especially with benefits? Nurses around here can work PRN doing weekend nights in DC and still barely crack $100,000 but get no benefits. My wife is an RN and makes $65k working ft locally.

its cause she works as a nurse in the bay area. the starting pay for new grads is close to $65/hr. with a little bit of OT it would be easy to get up to $175k

obstinate

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #276 on: February 06, 2016, 11:23:55 PM »
Title: Software engineer
Total comp: $450k
Years experience: 8

FlyJ

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #277 on: February 06, 2016, 11:33:16 PM »

Title: Software engineer
Total comp: $450k
Years experience: 8

Is that a salary or income from your startup/app?

obstinate

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #278 on: February 06, 2016, 11:54:35 PM »
Salary bonus stock. It's not a startup and I'm not an executive. I'm actually nobody special.

Balance

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #279 on: February 07, 2016, 12:02:44 AM »
My wife on the other hand is a Registered Nurse and makes $175k per year.  Her benefits are amazing and she can pick up more shifts whenever she likes. Luckily her company pays healthcare for the entire family.  It definitely helps since health insurance was pretty expensive as a small business owner.

How in the world does she make that much as an RN, especially with benefits? Nurses around here can work PRN doing weekend nights in DC and still barely crack $100,000 but get no benefits. My wife is an RN and makes $65k working ft locally.


its cause she works as a nurse in the bay area. the starting pay for new grads is close to $65/hr. with a little bit of OT it would be easy to get up to $175k

That is correct. It's because she works as an RN right in the heart of Silicon Valley in the Bay Area. They have a really strong union at her hospital.  And in order for nurses to live even remotely near the hospital they need to be able to pay for adequate housing.  A 2 bedroom/2 bathroom apartment in Silicon Valley (Sunnyvale/Mountain View area) is around $5k per month. When we were looking to relocate to Southern California a couple years ago for the same hospital (Kaiser), in her same specialty, her pay would have been cut by over 50%. 

BTDretire

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #280 on: February 07, 2016, 08:01:41 AM »
Fantastic, thanks for all the replies!

What I’ve learned:

1.   Salaries in the US seem higher than in the UK

My view on this is that most of these are pretty high salaries.
The median US household income is $54,000 (could be two wage earners).
 The posts could be biased in that lower earners aren't posting after seeing
$200k+ incomes.

But, I'm responding to a first page post so lower incomes may come later.

  My wife and I are self employed, no employees, we retail a single product,
Together we earned between $75k and $138K over the last 5 years. Although,
some of that income is return on savings. (10% to 15%)


« Last Edit: February 07, 2016, 08:07:32 AM by Qmavam »

Lexaholik

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #281 on: February 07, 2016, 10:14:32 AM »
Nice to see so many biglaw (and former biglaw) people floating around.  I walk around the office and get the emphatic feeling that almost everyone else takes their cash home and burns it as if this gig is anything other than a short-lived cash volcano before things die down dramatically.  Makes me feel like the odd duck.

Haha nice. I had the same feeling while I was working there. I wonder if everyone just puts on the show because that's what's expected. After all, I never talked to anyone at work about my frugal habits.

Tabaxus

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #282 on: February 07, 2016, 10:21:54 AM »
Nice to see so many biglaw (and former biglaw) people floating around.  I walk around the office and get the emphatic feeling that almost everyone else takes their cash home and burns it as if this gig is anything other than a short-lived cash volcano before things die down dramatically.  Makes me feel like the odd duck.

Haha nice. I had the same feeling while I was working there. I wonder if everyone just puts on the show because that's what's expected. After all, I never talked to anyone at work about my frugal habits.

Hard to fake new cars, ski vacations, new houses, and private school tuition for the spawn, unless people are flat lying about these things (which seems unlikely).

Lexaholik

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #283 on: February 07, 2016, 10:28:42 AM »
Nice to see so many biglaw (and former biglaw) people floating around.  I walk around the office and get the emphatic feeling that almost everyone else takes their cash home and burns it as if this gig is anything other than a short-lived cash volcano before things die down dramatically.  Makes me feel like the odd duck.

Haha nice. I had the same feeling while I was working there. I wonder if everyone just puts on the show because that's what's expected. After all, I never talked to anyone at work about my frugal habits.

Hard to fake new cars, ski vacations, new houses, and private school tuition for the spawn, unless people are flat lying about these things (which seems unlikely).

That's a fair point. I also recall a lot of lavish weddings and vacations, so you're probably right.

LeRainDrop

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #284 on: February 07, 2016, 10:38:20 AM »
Nice to see so many biglaw (and former biglaw) people floating around.  I walk around the office and get the emphatic feeling that almost everyone else takes their cash home and burns it as if this gig is anything other than a short-lived cash volcano before things die down dramatically.  Makes me feel like the odd duck.

Haha nice. I had the same feeling while I was working there. I wonder if everyone just puts on the show because that's what's expected. After all, I never talked to anyone at work about my frugal habits.

Hard to fake new cars, ski vacations, new houses, and private school tuition for the spawn, unless people are flat lying about these things (which seems unlikely).

Agreed.  Like me, the other attorney in my group who I know is also frugal and has saved for financial freedom is single and childless.  Not that either of us would not want a family -- to the contrary -- but it just seems like most of the attorneys with families have gone down the path of private school, big vacations, big fancy homes plus expensive renovations, luxury cars, etc.  We had an associate in another group a  few years ago who was vocal (among friends) about aggressively paying down his student loans.  So many people were impressed, like that was just a wonder to them.  I had finished mine a little ahead of his schedule and privately gave him encouragement.  Conversely, a 40-year-old partner, who went straight through school and had been practicing in biglaw for about 12-15 years at the time, mentioned in passing once that she was still working on her law school loans (plus her husband was another biglaw attorney who became GC at a large business).
« Last Edit: February 07, 2016, 10:42:04 AM by LeRainDrop »

Tabaxus

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #285 on: February 07, 2016, 10:43:01 AM »
Nice to see so many biglaw (and former biglaw) people floating around.  I walk around the office and get the emphatic feeling that almost everyone else takes their cash home and burns it as if this gig is anything other than a short-lived cash volcano before things die down dramatically.  Makes me feel like the odd duck.

Haha nice. I had the same feeling while I was working there. I wonder if everyone just puts on the show because that's what's expected. After all, I never talked to anyone at work about my frugal habits.

Hard to fake new cars, ski vacations, new houses, and private school tuition for the spawn, unless people are flat lying about these things (which seems unlikely).

Agreed.  Like me, the other attorney in my group who I know is also frugal and has saved for financial freedom is single and childless.  Not that either of us would not want a family -- to the contrary -- but it just seems like most of the attorneys with families have gone down the path of private school, big vacations, big fancy homes plus expensive renovations, luxury cars, etc.  We had an associate in another group a  few years ago who was vocal (among friends) about aggressively paying down his student loans.  So many people were impressed, like that was just a wonder to them.  I had finished mine a little ahead of his schedule and privately gave him encouragement.  Conversely, a 40-year-old partner, who went straight through school and had been practicing in biglaw for about 12-15 years at the time, mentioned in passing once that she was still working on her law school loans.

A partner still working on loans?  Jesus.  Depending on the firm, the first partnership draw should be enough to wipe that out easily (setting aside the fact that it should be paid years in advance of getting the brass ring).

I graduated in 2011, clerked for a year, and the bonus check at the end of 2013 paid off the last of my loans (plus mostly funded IRA contribs for the next year) (the fact that I held strong and applied almost 100% of my clerkship bonus to the loans helped, admittedly).  I don't get why anyone would do anything other than kill that debt as soon as possible.  As long as the debt is still there, you have no freedom, and I've found that freedom has emboldened me to make biglaw a heck of a lot less miserable for me than it is for most people. 
« Last Edit: February 07, 2016, 10:44:32 AM by Tabaxus »

onlykelsey

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #286 on: February 07, 2016, 10:43:50 AM »
Quote
Agreed.  Like me, the other attorney in my group who I know is also frugal and has saved for financial freedom is single and childless.  Not that either of us would not want a family -- to the contrary -- but it just seems like most of the attorneys with families have gone down the path of private school, big vacations, big fancy homes plus expensive renovations, luxury cars, etc.  We had an associate in another group a  few years ago who was vocal (among friends) about aggressively paying down his student loans.  So many people were impressed, like that was just a wonder to them.  I had finished mine a little ahead of his schedule and privately gave him encouragement.  Conversely, a 40-year-old partner, who went straight through school and had been practicing in biglaw for about 12-15 years at the time, mentioned in passing once that she was still working on her law school loans.

I think an obscuring factor for understanding spending in BigLaw is that lots of people in BigLaw come from money, or at least upper-middle class homes where their parents pay for weddings, maybe took care of college and/or law school, etc.  Like, a junior associate here spent three weeks on a yacht in the mediterranean.  But it's her COUSIN's yacht, so I don't know how much she's actually coming out of pocket.  Not that coming from money means you get a pass on bad financial choices, just a sort of obscuring factor to understanding how much people actually spend.

Lexaholik

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #287 on: February 07, 2016, 11:01:03 AM »

Agreed.  Like me, the other attorney in my group who I know is also frugal and has saved for financial freedom is single and childless.  Not that either of us would not want a family -- to the contrary -- but it just seems like most of the attorneys with families have gone down the path of private school, big vacations, big fancy homes plus expensive renovations, luxury cars, etc.  We had an associate in another group a  few years ago who was vocal (among friends) about aggressively paying down his student loans.  So many people were impressed, like that was just a wonder to them.  I had finished mine a little ahead of his schedule and privately gave him encouragement.  Conversely, a 40-year-old partner, who went straight through school and had been practicing in biglaw for about 12-15 years at the time, mentioned in passing once that she was still working on her law school loans (plus her husband was another biglaw attorney who became GC at a large business).

It just blows my mind that unlike most people who earn far less, biglaw lawyers have this huge opportunity to save a ton of money very quickly. If you play your cards right you can squeeze a decade or more of savings from a normal job by doing biglaw for a few years.  And yet so many choose to buy luxury items instead.  When I was a junior associate, it was expensive dinners, nice vacations, and lavish weddings. Now it seems that people have moved on to private school for their kids and 30 year mortgage for a bigger house than they need. (Although I'm certain they're justifying the school/mortgage as an investment.)

I graduated in 2011, clerked for a year, and the bonus check at the end of 2013 paid off the last of my loans (plus mostly funded IRA contribs for the next year) (the fact that I held strong and applied almost 100% of my clerkship bonus to the loans helped, admittedly).  I don't get why anyone would do anything other than kill that debt as soon as possible.  As long as the debt is still there, you have no freedom, and I've found that freedom has emboldened me to make biglaw a heck of a lot less miserable for me than it is for most people.

Very nice. Your career path sounds a lot like mine. I'm c/o 2010 who also clerked, and clerkship bonus really helped knock out my debt. I really, REALLY did not like the biglaw job though, but having a big enough capital base reduced my stress level because I could walk away from the job at any point.

I think an obscuring factor for understanding spending in BigLaw is that lots of people in BigLaw come from money, or at least upper-middle class homes where their parents pay for weddings, maybe took care of college and/or law school, etc.  Like, a junior associate here spent three weeks on a yacht in the mediterranean.  But it's her COUSIN's yacht, so I don't know how much she's actually coming out of pocket.  Not that coming from money means you get a pass on bad financial choices, just a sort of obscuring factor to understanding how much people actually spend.

This is true. One problem is that many junior associates who come from less wealthy families don't realize this and assume it's okay to live a high consumption lifestyle because everyone else is.

Incidentally I once had a buddy tell me about his financial plan for the upcoming year. He was a first year associate making $160k, but had over $300k in student loans, AND he was planning to finance his wedding ($100k+) and engagement ring ($30k+).  A few years later he bought a big house in a high COL city with a 30 year mortgage.  I really hope he makes partner.  Or that he married into money.

EconDiva

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #288 on: February 07, 2016, 11:09:28 AM »
I read this entire thread this weekend. Is no one on MMM working in pharma?

Me:
Age: 36
Title: Associate Manager (something like that...I fudged it a little)
Education: BA Econ o.o
Salary: ~82k with ~8% bonus

I work for a pharma company doing clinical trial research. I used to work on the hospital side as a research coordinator.  Title above mine is Project Manager and thats when you hit the 100k mark typically.

Cathy

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #289 on: February 07, 2016, 12:21:33 PM »
I don't get why anyone would do anything other than kill that debt as soon as possible. ...

Maybe the terms of the loan are highly favourable, such that a rational person would not prepay it. I have never had a negative net worth, but I still have student loans. When I took them out, I could have immediately paid them off. Some of them were from public sources but others are private loans. The effective interest rate across all of the loan money is about 2.7% for the next 15 years. I could pay off all the loans at any time and, as mentioned, that has always been the case -- there has never been a point where I was not able to pay them off, even when I first took them out.

So why don't I pay them off? Because I understand math and I'm risk averse. Prepaying these extremely generous loans would be overwhelmingly risky as it would reduce my liquid assets and hence reduce my level of freedom. Prepayment would also likely result in me ending up with less money overall, but even ignoring that, it's just too risky to prepay loans this favourable, so I keep them outstanding. (Also, the loans are denominated in CAD while almost all my money is in USD so the loans are also a way to short CAD/USD, which has worked out well so far, although I do not advise anybody to keep loans outstanding for the purpose of currency speculation!)
« Last Edit: February 07, 2016, 12:25:20 PM by Cathy »

Tabaxus

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #290 on: February 07, 2016, 12:26:19 PM »
I don't get why anyone would do anything other than kill that debt as soon as possible. ...

Maybe the terms of the loan are highly favourable, such that a rational person would not prepay it. I have never had a negative net worth, but I still have student loans. When I took them out, I could have immediately paid them off. Some of them were from public sources but others are private loans. The effective interest rate across all of the loan money is about 2.7% for the next 15 years. I could pay off all the loans at any time and, as mentioned, that has always been the case -- there has never been a point where I was not able to pay them off, even when I first took them out.

So why don't I pay them off? Because I understand math and I'm risk averse. Prepaying these extremely generous loans would be overwhelmingly risky as it would reduce my liquid assets and hence reduce my level of freedom. Prepayment would also likely result in me ending up with less money overall, but even ignoring that, it's just too risky to prepay loans this favourable, so I keep them outstanding. (Also, the loans are denominated in CAD while almost all my money is in USD so they are also a way to short CAD/USD which has worked out well so far, although I do not advise anybody to keep loans outstanding for the purpose of currency speculation!)

That's fair.  Student loan rates are much higher in the U.S. than in Canada  (and our balances tend to be higher, too; mine were about 30% 6.8%, 70% 8.1/8.5%, at about $200k all-in).  Those rates apply to everyone, though in recent years, some student loan refinancing options (e.g., Sofi) have sprung up that make it possible to refinance those down to lower rates for high-income people.  I'm not sure what the floor on those SoFi rates are, but I think it's still closer to the 4% range than the 2.7% range. 

kozz1984

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #291 on: February 07, 2016, 12:39:20 PM »
I think it would make more sense to express earning in terms of dollars per hour instead of a yearly salary.

For example someone in "big law" may earn 300k a year but work 80 hrs/week while another lawyer may earn 150k a year but work 40 hrs/week.

LeRainDrop

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #292 on: February 07, 2016, 12:48:14 PM »
I think it would make more sense to express earning in terms of dollars per hour instead of a yearly salary.

For example someone in "big law" may earn 300k a year but work 80 hrs/week while another lawyer may earn 150k a year but work 40 hrs/week.

That is very true.  Lots of us say we would gladly take a pay cut for a lower hours requirement (and by requirement, I'm not just talking the policy, but also the practice and pressure).  I suppose that's probably why so many of us crank it out for a few years or so to save up and then get out of dodge!

Tabaxus

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #293 on: February 07, 2016, 12:59:18 PM »
I think it would make more sense to express earning in terms of dollars per hour instead of a yearly salary.

For example someone in "big law" may earn 300k a year but work 80 hrs/week while another lawyer may earn 150k a year but work 40 hrs/week.

Absolutely true.  Ton of folks would flip to the kind of lower pay, lower (and more predictable) hours kind of gig.  Unfortunately, there aren't many of those out there, and the competition for them is incredibly fierce.  In-house folks work fewer hours than biglaw, but still a ton of hours, and the pay cut is quite significant; hanging a shingle is incredibly risky, doesn't always equate to fewer hours, and often equates to incredibly low pay (also, biglaw work doesn't remotely prepare you for hanging a shingle--totally different worlds); government work is (a) very difficult to get and (b) a bigger pay cut than a lot of people are willing to take (the potential pension benefits are huge on the government side, but anyone entering now is at pretty big risk of having that cut/eliminated, and it requires a very, very long-term commitment).

I'm sure this dichotomy plays out in many careers.

RedMaple

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #294 on: February 07, 2016, 08:24:19 PM »
Title: Assistant Controller
Experience: 8 years
Age: 31
Salary: $90K
School: BS in accounting. I need an MS to be able to sit for CPA. Went to cheap state school.
« Last Edit: February 07, 2016, 08:28:14 PM by RedMaple »

Grog

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #295 on: February 08, 2016, 04:19:54 AM »
this is kind of a misleading discussion because not only the average pay per hour is not given but even the average "year load"

I'm a function developer/control system engineer in Switzerland. Pay is around 80k chf/usd, 4 year experience.

But my company requires 44 hr /week (minimum in ch is 42) and I have ~7 weeks vacation. My weekend are absolutely job and stress free - so without taking in account cost of life, one should at minimum divide the yearly salary by the effective worked hour.

I am at the office 220 day per year, if I'm never sick, and work 8hr45 minutes per day (lunch and pause not included). That gives me 80000/(220*8.75) = 41.56 chf/hr. And a lot of free time.

hollis

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #296 on: February 08, 2016, 06:35:07 AM »
Title: Bicycle Mechanic
Pay : $13 / hr + commission
Experience: 1 year
I work at a small 3 person bike shop.  The pay is good in the summer with all the bike sales but dwindles in the winter

lemonlyman

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #297 on: February 08, 2016, 06:43:40 AM »

Title: CFO
Experience: 6 years
Age: 31
Salary: $60,000
School: BS in Accounting/BS in IT

I work for a friend's company that has tripled in size since I've been there. A CFO wasn't really necessary in the beginning, but I've grown into the role. I could make a bit more at other places, but I have loyalties to the company and plan to retire from it in 12 years. Also, $60k in West Virginia buys a lot.

pumen

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #298 on: February 08, 2016, 07:08:04 AM »
Title:  Specialist of Leisure
Salary: N/A

nice one:)

Kashmani

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Re: What's your job title and how much do you earn?
« Reply #299 on: February 08, 2016, 07:59:29 AM »
Partner in a mid-sized law firm in a relatively large city on the Canadian prairies. 10 years of legal experience. Income fluctuates but has been around $315,000 CDN the past two years. No pension or any type of retirement benefits. Deduct approximately $8,000/yr for professional corporation administrative costs.

Work hours are six days a week with an average of three evenings per week. Far from pleasant, but the income goes a long way and I was able to pay off my mortgage in my mid-30s as a result.

I second what other lawyers said on this blog. The money is great, but the stress level and the hours are very high.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!