I think the average monthly wage is calculated by summing the highest-earning 35 years and then dividing by 420 months (35*12). Is this correct?
So, yeah, I was wrong when I said my 2018 and 2019 would look a lot like 2017. I forgot that 2018 is going to have a big bump because a new stock grant begins vesting. (Of course all bets are off if we have a recession.)
Assuming no recession and my company stock remains elevated, my 35 years if I retire in two years might look like:
$310,000
$300,000
$267,986 <<< Lucky me, I got a job at a company with amazing stock
$173,769
$175,990
$162,059
$160,366
$133,563
$133,892
$121,498
$138,233
$183,487
$125,838
$116,796
$119,808
$85,049
$74,617
$69,133
$64,516
$66,689
$64,388
$49,526
$32,992 <<< First real job after devising a way to make money with my English degree :-)
$15,440
$7,221
$632
$1,565
$4,622
$8,671
$9,137
$4,432
$5,889
$7,516
$5,033
$1,180 <<<First job, Taco Bell
$3,201,533 / 420 = 7622
I used a Google sheet to calculate the sum, so I'm pretty sure it's right.