Poll

What's your yearly income (gross, single income)?

Over $0 and less than $10k, No S/O
1 (0.2%)
Over $0 and less than $10k, Have S/O
11 (1.7%)
Over $10k and less than $20k, No S/O
1 (0.2%)
Over $10k and less than $20k, Have S/O
11 (1.7%)
Over $20k and less than $30k, No S/O
8 (1.3%)
Over $20k and less than $30k, Have S/O
15 (2.4%)
Over $30k and less than $40k, No S/O
4 (0.6%)
Over $30k and less than $40k, Have S/O
22 (3.5%)
Over $40k and less than $50k, No S/O
15 (2.4%)
Over $40k and less than $50k, Have S/O
15 (2.4%)
Over $50k and less than $60k, No S/O
15 (2.4%)
Over $50k and less than $60k, Have S/O
30 (4.7%)
Over $60kand less than $70k, No S/O
28 (4.4%)
Over $60k and less than $70k, Have S/O
31 (4.9%)
Over $70k and less than $80k, No S/O
21 (3.3%)
Over $70k and less than $80k, Have S/O
40 (6.3%)
Over $80k and less than $90k, No S/O
17 (2.7%)
Over $80k and less than $90k, Have S/O
28 (4.4%)
Over $90k and less than $100k, No S/O
15 (2.4%)
Over $90k and less than $100k, Have S/O
38 (6%)
Over $100k, less than $120k No S/O
28 (4.4%)
Over $100k, less than $120k, Have S/O
53 (8.4%)
Over $120k, less than $140k, No S/O
10 (1.6%)
Over $120k, less than $140k, Have S/O
35 (5.5%)
Over $140k, less than $170k, No S/O
15 (2.4%)
Over $140k, less than $170k, Have S/O
40 (6.3%)
Over $170k, less than $200k, No S/O
9 (1.4%)
Over $170k, less than $200k, Have S/O
16 (2.5%)
Over $200k, less than $250k, No S/O
8 (1.3%)
Over $200k, less than $250k, Have S/O
20 (3.2%)
Over $250k, less than $300k, No S/O
4 (0.6%)
Over $250k, less than $300k, Have S/O
8 (1.3%)
Over $300k, No S/O
1 (0.2%)
Over $300k, Have S/O
20 (3.2%)

Total Members Voted: 508

Author Topic: (Improved) What's your individual income?  (Read 19094 times)

Ricky

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(Improved) What's your individual income?
« on: November 19, 2014, 07:46:54 PM »
A while back, someone started a poll similar to this one except it had no criteria and was too vague, making it hard to draw real conclusions.

Here's the criteria:

  • Tick your "single" income. As in, if you had no other support, what are you bringing in by yourself?
  • If you're married, simply tick another box for your spouse (if they aren't a forum member)
  • Choose your yearly GROSS income, including all bonuses, commissions, investments or any other income you have. Pre-tax, pre-401k, etc. Either use last years total or this year as an estimate if it's going to be significantly different.
  • Choose the income amount that correlates with your relationship status (No Significant Other (S/O), or Have Significant Other. Saying not married is too vague since you may be planning to get married). I think this will be interesting
  • Please convert your numbers to USD
« Last Edit: November 20, 2014, 09:31:28 AM by Ricky »

BlueHouse

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Re: (Improved) What's your income?
« Reply #1 on: November 19, 2014, 09:07:11 PM »
Is this per month or per year?

vagon

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Re: (Improved) What's your income?
« Reply #2 on: November 19, 2014, 09:12:21 PM »
$100k is a low threshold to top out the poll at. You might want to add a few more thresholds like $125k, $150k, $200k, $250k, or whatever.

+1

Also you should mention if its package, salary, including bonus etc.

Cheers

Ricky

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Re: (Improved) What's your income?
« Reply #3 on: November 19, 2014, 09:43:26 PM »
$100k is a low threshold to top out the poll at. You might want to add a few more thresholds like $125k, $150k, $200k, $250k, or whatever.

+1

Also you should mention if its package, salary, including bonus etc.

Cheers

I reset the poll and added the options. Good idea. I also clarified that this is yearly and includes all sources of income.

JT

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Re: (Improved) What's your income?
« Reply #4 on: November 19, 2014, 09:44:36 PM »
This is a really interesting post.  Thanks for putting it up.

My income breakdown - with no significant other is:

65520 salary
18200 rent
18356 other

102076 gross total

samburger

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Re: (Improved) What's your income?
« Reply #5 on: November 19, 2014, 11:01:55 PM »
  • Tick your "single" income. As in, if you had no other support, what are you bringing in by yourself?

Maybe put this in the title of the post so folks see it before they vote? I voted before I read the directions. How about "What's your individual income?"

goodlife

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Re: (Improved) What's your income?
« Reply #6 on: November 19, 2014, 11:12:22 PM »
I think it would be interesting to know net numbers too (taking out taxes only). I mean, yes, the majority here is US based I guess, but there are quite a few int'l people on here too, so for comparison purposes it would be interesting I think. Where I live right now, I don't pay income tax, so my gross=my net.

expatartist

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Re: (Improved) What's your income?
« Reply #7 on: November 19, 2014, 11:26:32 PM »
Gross income with bonus, rent paid by my employer, expected annual revenue from side hustle, plane ticket gratuity, etc. adds up to the 90-100K figure. My monthly take-home salary after local taxes, without the extras above, is under half that.
« Last Edit: November 20, 2014, 12:15:03 AM by expatartist »

forummm

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #8 on: November 20, 2014, 08:49:11 AM »
I'm confused. If I make $50k and my wife makes $30k, which boxes do I check? We both have S/O obviously. But do the S/O options mean it's a total of household?

Would it be
$50k single
$30k single
$80k S/O

??

Suggest making this much more clear.

Ricky

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #9 on: November 20, 2014, 09:29:37 AM »
I'm confused. If I make $50k and my wife makes $30k, which boxes do I check? We both have S/O obviously. But do the S/O options mean it's a total of household?

Would it be
$50k single
$30k single
$80k S/O

??

Suggest making this much more clear.

You check income individually, so you would check 50k and 30k under "Have S/O", so 2 checks. Each user is allowed to check up to 2 boxes for this reason.

The Architect

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #10 on: November 20, 2014, 11:04:57 AM »
This poll makes me laugh because I feel like I've done this over and over.  It still doesn't solve the basic problem of:
...

Gross income. What do you make a year from all work you do in that year? Seems pretty complete to me.

Question for the $100k+ individual earners - what do you do to earn that? Own businesses? Rentals? Manage? Portfolio earnings? Is it something I can get into with a degree but no specific technical capabilities right now (i.e.: Don't need an outlay of cash I don't have)? Is it something I can take a few inexpensive classes to get into? Anywhere specific I need to live where CoL doesn't necessarily make it make sense for me?

Thanks in advance.

TN_Steve

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #11 on: November 20, 2014, 07:17:59 PM »
The survey is fun to get an idea of what the posting community consists of, but it can only be for fun--even assuming a representative sample answers it. 

A huge variable that has only been touched upon (unless I missed it) is the age of the poll respondents.  Any analysis of income/wealth that omits age is going to be daunting for those who are just starting out.  My kids are in their 20s and cannot be compared to their parents on income or wealth.  Indeed, the parents are not really comparable to their younger selves.  For example, if DW and I had responded to such a poll in our mid-20s when we were in law/med school, the answers would be very different from now, when we are in our 50s and flourishing in our professions.  (So too, in the years where I was a SAHD with part-time fun job.)

Still, as the saying goes, you know the answer if any billionaire in his/her 80s were given the real opportunity to give it all up to be 20 again.  :-)

EngineerMum

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #12 on: November 20, 2014, 07:36:08 PM »
The survey is fun to get an idea of what the posting community consists of, but it can only be for fun--even assuming a representative sample answers it. 

A huge variable that has only been touched upon (unless I missed it) is the age of the poll respondents.  Any analysis of income/wealth that omits age is going to be daunting for those who are just starting out.  My kids are in their 20s and cannot be compared to their parents on income or wealth.  Indeed, the parents are not really comparable to their younger selves.  For example, if DW and I had responded to such a poll in our mid-20s when we were in law/med school, the answers would be very different from now, when we are in our 50s and flourishing in our professions.  (So too, in the years where I was a SAHD with part-time fun job.)

Still, as the saying goes, you know the answer if any billionaire in his/her 80s were given the real opportunity to give it all up to be 20 again.  :-)
Not always true. I'm an engineer, during the boom times, my parents were mildly horrified when I casually mentioned my salary, as it was more than theirs at near retirement age. And I was a little underpaid by industry standards. Before the GFC hit, there were loads of 20 somethings earning 6 figure salaries doing FIFO work. Not many older people are willing to accept that lifestyle, and thus miss out on the financial rewards.

TN_Steve

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #13 on: November 20, 2014, 07:47:06 PM »
Southern Saver,

That is undoubtedly true for small subsections of the population (professional athletes and entertainers as well).  Generally speaking, on a population-wide level, however, income/wealth tracks age until (from memory) age 60 or so for income, and beyond that for wealth.

(I too made far more in my 20s than my parents ever made, but statistically, that is unusual.)

__________________
Edit:  "AH, data.  (for USA):  http://www.advisorperspectives.com/dshort/updates/Household-Incomes-by-Age-Brackets.php
« Last Edit: November 20, 2014, 08:01:50 PM by TN_Steve »

wtjbatman

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #14 on: November 20, 2014, 10:13:20 PM »
Me and my fiance are in the same bracket but you can only select any single option once. Your poll is invalidated.

Future Lazy

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #15 on: November 21, 2014, 09:40:38 AM »
Interesting trend of people with S/O making more individual income. Hmm.

teen persuasion

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #16 on: November 21, 2014, 09:59:54 AM »
You asked for pre-tax income, but what about tax refunds?  We get a significant amount of money in refundable credits (not just refunds of withholding).  Should I add that in, too, and who do I report it under (me, DH, divide evenly)?
« Last Edit: November 21, 2014, 10:08:21 AM by teen persuasion »

Philociraptor

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #17 on: November 21, 2014, 10:06:34 AM »
This doesn't make sense to me.  Hypothetical:

My income: $50k
SO income: $40k
Rental income: $10k

So I should check $50k no SO and $100k have SO, correct?

Mesmoiselle

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #18 on: November 21, 2014, 11:39:21 AM »
This is kind of depressing. Half the forum is "rich" 1/4 is either poor or FI MMM-style and there is the final 1/4 that I fall into with my husband that I wonder what label applies to us? not hardcore enough?

TN_Steve

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #19 on: November 21, 2014, 12:14:34 PM »
This is kind of depressing. Half the forum is "rich" 1/4 is either poor or FI MMM-style and there is the final 1/4 that I fall into with my husband that I wonder what label applies to us? not hardcore enough?

You probably aren't serious, but if so, no need to get bummed.  How many live in HCOL areas (that "rich" income don't go far in Mountain View or NYC)?  What percentage of the forum members even answered (not very many).  How many of the "poor" are students, just out of school, or FIREd?  How many of the "rich" respondents are ancient geezers who are on a treadmill of "one more year to be certain" (guilty here)?   This is definitely a poll "for entertainment purposes only."  :-)


Cassie

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #20 on: November 21, 2014, 01:51:10 PM »
Our yearly income varies wildly.  My hubby & I each have a $20,000/year government pension. I am 60 & he is 55.  I make an extra 20,000/year consulting.  My hubby is an engineer & works on some projects.  Last year he only made 7,000 at this but this year it will be $68,000. Obviously he worked very little last year which is fine because we are both semi-retired.  My consulting income is fairly steady year to year. 

Villanelle

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #21 on: November 21, 2014, 01:56:40 PM »
None.  I am not "Over $0".

Well, maybe that's not entirely true.  DH and I own a couple investment properties, and those bring in money.  I guess I could count half of that as my income? 

Goldielocks

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #22 on: November 21, 2014, 02:11:50 PM »
This is kind of depressing. Half the forum is "rich" 1/4 is either poor or FI MMM-style and there is the final 1/4 that I fall into with my husband that I wonder what label applies to us? not hardcore enough?
Don't forget we are ticking for each SO separately, so our ticks are in the "poor" and "rich" category at the same time.

Researcher

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #23 on: November 21, 2014, 02:35:12 PM »
This is all really confusing me. Being a researcher, I'd be happy to create a small survey and do some analysis if you all would be interested. :) There are currently 271 responses which is a very good sample size of Mustachians. I can do cuts by marital status, occupation, income levels etc.

If interested, let me know what questions you'd like included!

Question List:
  • Individual income gross from all sources
  • Sources of income (self-employment, work for employer, rental income, etc.)
  • % of income received from each source
  • Occupational status (full-time, part-time, retired/no longer working, etc.)
  • Occupation
  • Marital status
  • If sharing expenses/living with partner; partner's income, if any
  • Projected FIRE date
  • Annual spending

What else?

former player

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #24 on: November 21, 2014, 03:00:24 PM »
Who is the single person with an income over $300,000, and are they interested in sharing it?

The Architect

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #25 on: November 21, 2014, 03:39:55 PM »
... Anywhere specific I need to live where CoL doesn't necessarily make it make sense for me?

If the figure of $100k has a special allure to you, just move to the SF peninsula area and every professional job pays well over $100k. ...

Covered in my original question, which still stands. Currently I make roughly half that, so the prospect of doubling my salary does have special allure, yes. Especially as it'd be an easy way to get to the magical 50% savings rate I am currently nowhere near.

GardenFun

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #26 on: November 21, 2014, 03:54:47 PM »
... Anywhere specific I need to live where CoL doesn't necessarily make it make sense for me?

If the figure of $100k has a special allure to you, just move to the SF peninsula area and every professional job pays well over $100k. ...

Covered in my original question, which still stands. Currently I make roughly half that, so the prospect of doubling my salary does have special allure, yes. Especially as it'd be an easy way to get to the magical 50% savings rate I am currently nowhere near.

I apologize if this is too general.  Based on responses from other postings, the $100K+ people fall in 4 areas:
- Technical degree (i.e. Engineer, Computer Science/IT)
- Professional (Lawyer, Doctor, Accountant, Finance)
- Sales
- Business Owners

In my years of work, the only people who got paid really good money without having a degree were Sales people.  Can involve lots of travel and you must have the silver tongue to talk your way through issues.  Business Owners also do not need degrees but typically have a skill that they were able to build into a business.  Plus it is a lot of hard work and money getting started. 

The Architect

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #27 on: November 21, 2014, 04:07:12 PM »
I apologize if this is too general.  Based on responses from other postings, the $100K+ people fall in 4 areas:
- Technical degree (i.e. Engineer, Computer Science/IT)
- Professional (Lawyer, Doctor, Accountant, Finance)
- Sales
- Business Owners

In my years of work, the only people who got paid really good money without having a degree were Sales people.  Can involve lots of travel and you must have the silver tongue to talk your way through issues.  Business Owners also do not need degrees but typically have a skill that they were able to build into a business.  Plus it is a lot of hard work and money getting started.

Hmm... As I feared then. I'm not opposed to hard work, I just don't know how/where to start toward that kind of salary independent of just being paid (or having enough cash on hand already to start rolling it in a 'stache, in the case of most forms of business ownership).

"Sales" is a total mystery to me. I don't understand why it's even a position really - how can you convince me to buy something? I'm always going to buy what I want, and your pushy sales-tactics will not make me do differently. The only sales people I respect are the ones who aren't actually selling so much as connecting people with the products that solve their problem perfectly.

jeromedawg

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #28 on: November 21, 2014, 04:37:59 PM »
"Sales" is a total mystery to me. I don't understand why it's even a position really - how can you convince me to buy something? I'm always going to buy what I want, and your pushy sales-tactics will not make me do differently. The only sales people I respect are the ones who aren't actually selling so much as connecting people with the products that solve their problem perfectly.

LOL I know what you mean. But I think your second sentence really captures the essence of what a good "sales" person is. I would envision that most successful sales people who do really well are able to "connect people with products" - of course, then it comes down to "how" they do it, and that's a whole different story :)

Ricky

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #29 on: November 21, 2014, 05:21:04 PM »
This doesn't make sense to me.  Hypothetical:

My income: $50k
SO income: $40k
Rental income: $10k

So I should check $50k no SO and $100k have SO, correct?

You would tick over $50k for yourself (Have S/O) and over $40k for your wife (Have S/O). It's individual. If you made the same amount, then you can't check twice per poll limitations.

I'm assuming $55k for yourself and $45k for your wife, rental income being split, to make things easier.

BlueHouse

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #30 on: November 21, 2014, 05:32:38 PM »
"Sales" is a total mystery to me. I don't understand why it's even a position really - how can you convince me to buy something? I'm always going to buy what I want, and your pushy sales-tactics will not make me do differently. The only sales people I respect are the ones who aren't actually selling so much as connecting people with the products that solve their problem perfectly.

LOL I know what you mean. But I think your second sentence really captures the essence of what a good "sales" person is. I would envision that most successful sales people who do really well are able to "connect people with products" - of course, then it comes down to "how" they do it, and that's a whole different story :)
I used to sell software.   I wasn't great at it, but someone who was really really good (+300K/year for over 20 years now) once told me her secret:  you have to know that the customer wants to buy and is going to buy.  Your job is to make them buy THIS month.  It kind of made it easier for a while but in the end, it wasn't for me. 

The Architect

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #31 on: November 21, 2014, 05:45:19 PM »
I used to sell software.   I wasn't great at it, but someone who was really really good (+300K/year for over 20 years now) once told me her secret:  you have to know that the customer wants to buy and is going to buy.  Your job is to make them buy THIS month.  It kind of made it easier for a while but in the end, it wasn't for me.

You know what, that and another thing I've heard - "the quick 'no'" - make sense. So the trick then is just working selling something where there are enough people wanting to buy. Or possibly working where there are easy upsells you can connect that the customer might not know about.

Now that we've de-mystified sales, any other $100K+ earners (in regular CoL places) want to explain how they do what they do?

BlueHouse

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #32 on: November 21, 2014, 06:30:44 PM »
Now that we've de-mystified sales, any other $100K+ earners (in regular CoL places) want to explain how they do what they do?
I've written this before when asked a similar question.  so I'll repeat it here:

Program planning and scheduling. Low barrier to entry. No degree needed unless the company only hires grads. You can teach yourself well enough to get a job in a few weeks. You can get good in a year. You can be great (with a lot of extra study on your time) in a few years by learning from the vast experience that so many others are willing to share.  In my area, the pay works like this:  1st job:  40-75k; 2nd job with 1 yr experience: 100-115k.  But then it kind of stagnates and doesn't get much higher unless you add something else to the mix (such as unusually strong communication or organization skills, risk management or schedule risk assessment expertise)
I helped a friend change career tracks a few years ago. He had to move, but in 6 weeks he went from 0 to 75k and in 13 months he jumped to 110k+5 weeks vacation.  This requires hard work and a spark from you, but it sounds like you have that or you wouldn't be on this board.

nawhite

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #33 on: November 21, 2014, 10:07:10 PM »
Now that we've de-mystified sales, any other $100K+ earners (in regular CoL places) want to explain how they do what they do?

27 making 110k working remotely in IT (DevOps). I currently live in Denver but could move pretty much anywhere my wife could get a job. I got extremely lucky but some advice that might transfer to other people that worked for me:

1. Learn about negotiating and practice it. For this job I was told the max salary offered was 100k and I didn't have the background for it. Good negotiating made them want me so much they said yes to 110.

2. Switch jobs often. I've had 3 jobs in the past 3 years and each one offered a large pay raise. The amount of raise you get without moving will never keep up.

3. Always be looking until you have found the perfect job. Not just good, perfect. Jobs are like items for sale on craigslist, you have to always be looking to get the best deal.

4. Know what certifications will get you a pay raise and go out for them early. If getting a certification your first year in the workforce raises your salary by $5k (or allows you to go for jobs that pay $5k more), over the course of your career, the compounding effects of raises and higher anchor points when you switch jobs will be huge.

5. Be really lucky.

6. Be thankful when you get lucky.

Alchemilla

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #34 on: November 22, 2014, 01:35:29 AM »
£40 k. Just job income?

£46 k every thing.

Roots&Wings

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #35 on: November 22, 2014, 07:18:18 AM »
This is all really confusing me. Being a researcher, I'd be happy to create a small survey and do some analysis if you all would be interested. :) There are currently 271 responses which is a very good sample size of Mustachians. I can do cuts by marital status, occupation, income levels etc.

If interested, let me know what questions you'd like included!

Question List:
  • Individual income gross from all sources
  • Sources of income (self-employment, work for employer, rental income, etc.)
  • % of income received from each source
  • Occupational status (full-time, part-time, retired/no longer working, etc.)
  • Occupation
  • Marital status
  • If sharing expenses/living with partner; partner's income, if any
  • Projected FIRE date
  • Annual spending

What else?

Age and gender.

Goldielocks

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #36 on: November 22, 2014, 07:25:50 AM »
I used to sell software.   I wasn't great at it, but someone who was really really good (+300K/year for over 20 years now) once told me her secret:  you have to know that the customer wants to buy and is going to buy.  Your job is to make them buy THIS month.  It kind of made it easier for a while but in the end, it wasn't for me.

You know what, that and another thing I've heard - "the quick 'no'" - make sense. So the trick then is just working selling something where there are enough people wanting to buy. Or possibly working where there are easy upsells you can connect that the customer might not know about.

Now that we've de-mystified sales, any other $100K+ earners (in regular CoL places) want to explain how they do what they do?

$100k to $140k:
Director level for just about any big company, over 10,000 employees.

Especially true - government level directors, including healthcare, ottawa, tax services, municipal services, utilities, insurance
Also true - HQ for retail operations

if you are aiming for $125k, in Canada, and can make it to a director level, government and crown corporation types are the vast majority of these roles.   Private companies -- you need to be one of the very few & very good,  to make it to this level, and based where the HQ is.

simplified

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #37 on: November 22, 2014, 08:56:37 PM »
Now that we've de-mystified sales, any other $100K+ earners (in regular CoL places) want to explain how they do what they do?

The easiest way to make 100k+ is to get a software job. I know many mediocre people making 120k+. If you are good, 200k+ is well within reach after 5 years of experience.

Inquizator

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #38 on: November 23, 2014, 08:34:24 PM »
Question for the $100k+ individual earners - what do you do to earn that? Own businesses? Rentals? Manage? Portfolio earnings? Is it something I can get into with a degree but no specific technical capabilities right now (i.e.: Don't need an outlay of cash I don't have)? Is it something I can take a few inexpensive classes to get into? Anywhere specific I need to live where CoL doesn't necessarily make it make sense for me?
Now that we've de-mystified sales, any other $100K+ earners (in regular CoL places) want to explain how they do what they do?

This (emphasis mine):
I apologize if this is too general.  Based on responses from other postings, the $100K+ people fall in 4 areas:
- Technical degree (i.e. Engineer, Computer Science/IT)
- Professional (Lawyer, Doctor, Accountant, Finance)
- Sales
- Business Owners

But working in management, on my way to this (emphasis mine):
$100k to $140k:
Director level for just about any big company, over 10,000 employees.

Especially true - government level directors, including healthcare, ottawa, tax services, municipal services, utilities, insurance
Also true - HQ for retail operations

if you are aiming for $125k, in Canada, and can make it to a director level, government and crown corporation types are the vast majority of these roles.   Private companies -- you need to be one of the very few & very good,  to make it to this level, and based where the HQ is.

For me the degree served mostly just to get my foot in the door: I use almost none of the technical knowledge at all - just the problem solving skills (which can be obtained in many ways).

Villanelle

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #39 on: November 24, 2014, 05:41:19 AM »
Husband makes more than 100k, and he's in the military. 

BFF's husband makes $100k+ and he's an artist for a video game company.  (He is in a high CoL area, but I suspect he'd make six figures in any location.)

There are plenty of  non-sales non-licenesed-professional,and non-tech jobs that make six figures.

Travis

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #40 on: November 24, 2014, 06:21:15 AM »
Quote
Husband makes more than 100k, and he's in the military.

34 years old male, Major in the US Army, 16 years time in service. I make just shy of $115k, but only about $87k is taxable. The rest is an untaxed housing allowance based on local CoL.  DW is SAHM.

The Architect

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #41 on: November 24, 2014, 11:40:56 AM »
I've written this before when asked a similar question.  so I'll repeat it here:

Program planning and scheduling. Low barrier to entry. No degree needed unless the company only hires grads. You can teach yourself well enough to get a job in a few weeks.

Can you elaborate a bit on what this is? I've found a few job listings via google, but am not sure what it is that they're really for.

I actually addressed this in my post, in the part you omitted, where I said "... you probably still come out ahead for your earning years. Not good for retirement though.". In other words, to use your language, it does "make sense for you" to move to the peninsula area if you want to make a lot of money, because even factoring in the increased cost of housing, you still come out ahead. However, for MMM-level spending, it's not a good place to retire, so expect to move a final time when you're done earning.

My bigger problem with additional degrees and education is time constraints, I've got kids that eat up what work doesn't. Most tech jobs are going to take me longer getting to get into because of that.

$100k to $140k:
Director level for just about any big company, over 10,000 employees.

How do you get to director level? Don't you need some kind of relevant experience in a lower paying position? How long a slog would that be?


Quote
Husband makes more than 100k, and he's in the military.

34 years old male, Major in the US Army, 16 years time in service. I make just shy of $115k, but only about $87k is taxable. The rest is an untaxed housing allowance based on local CoL.  DW is SAHM.

Bah, what's the oldest you can be and still join? I'm pushing 30 now. Pay seems to be difficult to pin down in the military - you get *so many* bonuses and allowances. Would I need to be an officer to pull that kind of income? How long would that take to achieve?

Thanks all, you're giving me stuff to consider here.

Travis

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #42 on: November 24, 2014, 12:05:07 PM »
Quote
Bah, what's the oldest you can be and still join? I'm pushing 30 now. Pay seems to be difficult to pin down in the military - you get *so many* bonuses and allowances. Would I need to be an officer to pull that kind of income? How long would that take to achieve?

Thanks all, you're giving me stuff to consider here.

You need to be an officer to reach that salary.  Only the most senior enlisted soldiers would break $100k/year.  Military pay is difficult to explain due to our allowances. There are a couple dozen throughout the DoD.  I presently draw base pay, subsistence allowance, basic allowance for housing, hazardous duty pay, family separation pay, and I'm in a tax free zone until January.  Some of my coworkers are eligible for job-related allowances like language proficiency pay and jump pay.  To enlist I believe the oldest you can be is 37.  I'm not sure what the max age is for becoming an officer (somewhat younger).  Including my housing allowance I broke $100k sometime around the rank of Captain and 12 years of service.  I started out enlisted which has given my salary a boost since the pay scale is based on total time in service.  Starting pay for a 2nd Lieutenant is $35k before housing (it was $22k when I joined in 1999).  If I reach 20 years of service I will be eligible for retirement and draw a pension based on 50% of my last year of service indexed to inflation.  Every 2 years after 20 that I stay in increases my pension by 2.5%.  To reach my present rank requires 12 years of service as an officer and promotions to 1st Lieutenant, Captain, and Major.  Of the officers I started with about 75% reach this point if they stay in.  My next opportunity for promotion is in 5 years and only 65% will make it.

Albert

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #43 on: November 24, 2014, 02:28:22 PM »
I'm also making low six figures in my mid 30-ties as a research scientist, but it took me 12 years in university (BS, PhD, postdoc) to get there so I can hardly suggest it if money is your top motivation. I chose this route because I'm passionate about research, good salary is just a "byproduct".

Beric01

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #44 on: November 24, 2014, 02:57:36 PM »
How do you get to director level? Don't you need some kind of relevant experience in a lower paying position? How long a slog would that be?

Yup, this is the problem. On my current career path I might make it do director level in my mid-to-late 30's, but I'll be retired by then. It's interesting to think that I'll most likely be rapidly improving in my career right as I FIRE.

Edgeware1616

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #45 on: November 24, 2014, 03:14:19 PM »
Interesting results, think I am a bit of an outlier......27 year old, work at an investment fund in a high cost of living area. Base salary of $120,000, bonus of $88,000 and housing allowance of $12,400. Total pre-tax income was $220,400 last year.

netskyblue

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #46 on: November 24, 2014, 03:20:04 PM »
Breaking the data as of right now into more manageable lumps:

413 people voted
503 total votes (remember, each member can vote more than once)
159 "single" income votes
344 "has significant other" income votes

Of the single folks…
13.84% made less than 50k
48.43% made at least 50k but less than 100k
30.82% made at least 100k but less than 200k
6.92% made more than 200k

Of the folks with SO's (most people entered both their and their SO's income, but some did not)…
17.73% made less than 50k
38.66% made at least 50k but less than 100k
32.85% made at least 100k but less than 200k
10.76% made more than 200k

BlueHouse

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #47 on: November 25, 2014, 08:33:50 PM »
Program planning and scheduling. Low barrier to entry. No degree needed unless the company only hires grads. You can teach yourself well enough to get a job in a few weeks.

Can you elaborate a bit on what this is? I've found a few job listings via google, but am not sure what it is that they're really for.
Program planning and scheduling is a part of program/project management.  On projects of any size, you need to figure out
1.  What are you trying to make/produce/deliver;
2.  How long will it take; and
3.  How much will it cost.

Those three things make up a plan.  They're all interconnected, meaning that if one of those changes, then at least one of the other pieces must also change.  Projects being what they are, plans change constantly and require updates constantly. 

So the scheduling part is actually using a scheduling tool (Microsoft Project being the most ubiquitous) to plan out and track all of the activities necessary to answer "when will we finish”.  When you’re scheduling, you take into account all the activities that need to be completed, durations, sequence of events, resources needed (labor/material) to complete those events, and more. 

Learn MS Project and you'll be able to get a job.  You can be mediocre and still find plenty of work and you can fake it till you make it and really learn the art of scheduling. 

Good luck!

Villanelle

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #48 on: November 26, 2014, 05:26:36 AM »


Quote
Husband makes more than 100k, and he's in the military.

34 years old male, Major in the US Army, 16 years time in service. I make just shy of $115k, but only about $87k is taxable. The rest is an untaxed housing allowance based on local CoL.  DW is SAHM.

Bah, what's the oldest you can be and still join? I'm pushing 30 now. Pay seems to be difficult to pin down in the military - you get *so many* bonuses and allowances. Would I need to be an officer to pull that kind of income? How long would that take to achieve?

Thanks all, you're giving me stuff to consider here.

Age limits vary by job.  If you are actually interested, you can talk to a recruiter, but you want to go to an *officer* recruiter if that's the route you are pursing.  Walking in and saying, "I want a job" probably won't impress anyone.  You'd want to do some basic research and know what jobs in each branch might interest you and might be a good fit with your skills. 

As travis said, you'll need to commission as an officer to break 6 figures (and even then, it certainly isn't a starting salary).

But it's important to not the tax factors.  Any allowance (housing allowance, cost of living allowance if overseas, sustenance allowance) is not taxable.  Any pay (basic pay, hazardous duty pay, special duty pay) is taxable.  So Travis' $115k is worth much more than a civilian making $115.  Almost $30k of his income is not taxable at all. 

Also, the healthcare costwise is phenomenal.  As the service member you pay nothing.  Ever.  And your family will likely pay nothing, ever if they select the option that puts them in the military healthy system (as opposed to the one that allows seeing civilian providers).  There are other benefits, like money toward a spouses' education for lower ranking service members, money toward your own education via special programs, etc. 

So yes, it is hard to pin down, and with bonuses, special pays, Housing Allowances (which vary based on where you are stationed) and other factors, it is hard to say exactly when you'd break the equivalent of a civilian's $100k. 

You'll need a degree to commission as an officer.  What the degree is in doesn't technically matter, but some degrees will be more competitive than others (and this will also depend on what jobs you hope to get in the military). 

webguy

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Re: (Improved) What's your individual income?
« Reply #49 on: November 26, 2014, 06:31:56 AM »
I'm married but my wife doesnt currently earn an income. Gross income varies month to month as I run a business but the total income before taxes for 2014 will be about $350k. I voted on the 300k+ with S/O.