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

[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.

[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 :)

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?

My brother turned down medical school after getting a BS in Biochem (premed track), got into pharma sales, made a few million before he would have finished residency......if you want to make money, follow the money.

[EliteZags]

Title: Staff Operations Engineer- med device startup
Salary: $148K, 20% bonus, paid benefits  +80,000 initial shares equity (tbd value likely only relevant if/when company is acquired, which could be likely leading up to FDA approval in the next year or 2, only about a dozen total employees in size)
3wks PTO + 1wk sick time + paid shutdown wk b/w Christmas-NewYrs (so essentially comparable to 5wks total PTO days from large company), +10paid holidays
Experience: 11ish yrs total
Education: MS Chem Eng | BS Mech/Mfg Eng

[amyj05]

Title: Licensed Practical Nurse in a physicians' office (40 hours per week, no nights, weekends, or holidays)
Salary: $20.73 per hour which is about 45K per year including a little OT (LCOL area in Southeast) 4% 401K match, health insurance, 25 days PTO, 7 paid holidays, annual profit sharing contribution to 401K ~$1800
Experience: 10 years at this company, 13.5 years in nursing total
Education: One-year certificate in practical nursing and Associate's in Liberal Arts (which I've never used)
Side hustle: Waitress/bartender - work 1-2 nights per week 4-8 hours per night; make $10-$100 per night depending on how busy we are

[EliteZags]

I'm self-employed and I earn $5000/mo selling sexy selfies online. Here comes the smoulder. Blue Steel! [/sarcasm]

and who woulda thought years later any average looking female could pretty easily make at least double that without putting much effort into it

[Gronnie]

I'm self-employed and I earn $5000/mo selling sexy selfies online. Here comes the smoulder. Blue Steel! [/sarcasm]

and who woulda thought years later any average looking female could pretty easily make at least double that without putting much effort into it

The vast vast majority of OnlyFans accounts make way way less than that.

[jeninco]

Title: Shit, do I have to have an actual title?  OK: Mathematical Analyst. Or, usually I go with "Mathematical and Technical Analysis". I am a sole-proprietor LLC, and I've been working part-time as a subcontractor to a couple of other places for the past 21 years.
Earn: My hourly rate is now between $160 and $175/hour. I aim to work around 1/3 -1/2 time, up from years when I had smaller children at home. But if I don't make it, that's cool too -- I'm basically working to allow us to pay college tuition out of pocket, and because I like what I do. (Also, I'm potentially working to pay for a remodel out of pocket, and I still like what I do!)
Experience: 25+ years in this area
Education: MS in Applied Math.

[Fuperw84]

Pharmacist. $141,000 base salary and with bonus up to $181,000 annually.

[dizzy]

Living the tri-fecta over here...I'm 41 and work in Philly.

JOB 1
Title: Acupuncturist (1099 job where they pay all supplies and occasional self-employed cash patients, I provide supplies.  Low overhead)
2022 Earnings: $58k + another ~$3k under the table (cash tips or cash patients)
Not a set salary, based on how many patients I see each week, with a minimum payout/shift that I almost always exceed
No PTO or benefits of any sort (I've never had a job with these)
My current boss is v cool, I'm basically carrying this branch of the practice so he's down with me taking off as needed for travel/hiking adventures or music gigs.  I can shift around my schedule a bit as needed.  I work 5 days a week but mostly not 8 hr days. 
There are additional "gigs" (both on-site and off-site) for doing acupuncture pre-transfer for IVF patients.  I get a couple a month usually.  Only if convenient, I'm not required to do them.  $100-150/each.
I also get a small stipend for cleaning/ordering supplies as the office manager.
I have set up a solo401k 3 years ago and try to max out.
Experience: 8 yrs
Education: MATCM (12 semester graduate level program which includes "residency"; I did it in 4 years no summers off)

This career really started growing exponentially for me the last 3 years...aka the first 5 years I made very very little

JOB 2
Title: Musician
2022 Earnings: $11k last year.  Unexpectedly my career came back!   Will see how it goes in the future.  I think one group I'm in may be less but other groups looking to be more, and hopefully some new ones.
All self employed and 95% was 1099 work. There's a few groups I play with and worked enough with each to get a form. Not too much side stuff apart from that.
Experience: 24 years since my 1st paid gig in HS
Education: MM/BM in music performance.  Plus lots of lessons/workshops/festivals etc over the years

This was a huge jump from typical I'd been making in the Before Times (pandemic really wiped out a lot of music gigs 1st 2 years).  I'm a comeback player, had quit for a couple yrs but started again 2017.  Was full-time in my 20s.

JOB 3
Title: "Bank Robber"
2022 Earnings: $11k in cash, and ~950k points/miles.  Mostly report as 1099-INT, some I don't have to (it's considered cashback)
Experience: 11yrs.  1st 5 years was just travel hacking, I neither had the credit history nor money to really start with CC cards
Education: 10+ years of reading websites/forums about churning

This has been steady growth in the last 5-6 years (around when I started "earning).  I joined some groups recently and have definitely ramped up since fall 2023, looking forward to my future in this.

Until 4 years ago I made ~$20k a year or less.

---------
Husband (47)
Former service plumber (about 20 yrs) but last 7 years or so has tried moving towards "institutional" work that's less physically demanding and also helping people.  He's worked at a retirement community, school, museum/research institute, and nonprofit community center.

He has not been working most of the last 3 years, sorta reached FU money, has had a couple jobs but they sucked and he quit.  Just had a job interview that went GREAT (retirement home for nuns.  where does he even find this stuff?) so he is keeping fingers crossed.
They haven't made an offer but the posting said salary range would be $52k-62k, with a 457b plan they contribute to.  He forgot to ask about healthcare (we get thru marketplace currently)

[Padonak]

JOB 3
Title: "Bank Robber"
2022 Earnings: $11k in cash, and ~950k points/miles.  Mostly report as 1099-INT, some I don't have to (it's considered cashback)
Experience: 11yrs.  1st 5 years was just travel hacking, I neither had the credit history nor money to really start with CC cards
Education: 10+ years of reading websites/forums about churning

This is very impressive. Could you describe how exactly you do it? Either here or maybe in a separate thread?

[dizzy]

This is very impressive. Could you describe how exactly you do it? Either here or maybe in a separate thread?

Well if there's one true thing about churning there's no "exactly"
TBH it's pretty complicated but I'd start with Doctor of Credit and Frequent Miler websites.  Honestly it was just reading websites and forums for years and then trying stuff out.  A lot of stuff gets hidden/not publicly posted these days but there is so much that an average person could do. 

I was really behind normal people in that the crew of people I hung with in my 20s (and still am around in my music life) was/is very down on banks and investing etc.  The whole rad-lib scene. I applied for my first credit card around age 30 and was rejected bc I had NO credit history, not a bad one.  It took me a couple years to get approved for any card that offered significant rewards (low income didn't help either).

I was always told credit cards are evil, use a credit union not large bank, even Vanguard is evil (this happened more recently, I had to laugh at their misunderstanding.  People wanted to protest against Vanguard bc they are the largest holder of some oil stocks.  I'm like, uhhhh this is the only shareholder-owned company?  Maybe protest against the companies themselves, or REAL big banks and institutions?  Ones that get significant tax-breaks?)

Anyway now I have a robin hood mentality of sorts, figure we are in late-stage capitalism, might as well enjoy and have good experiences with friends/loved ones.

I joined a paid forum in the fall and it's 100% worth it but there is NOOOO spoonfeeding or beginners.  Also this month going to a local group that just started that also has a private forum.  It's good to learn more but also just nice to meet some people IRL into this stuff.

[Padonak]

What do you churn @dizzy ? Credit card sign up bonuses, bank sign up bonuses, anything else? Can you give some examples of recent bonuses you received, especially those that were not available to public.
I got approved for a new IHG Chase card recently. Seems like a good deal: 170K points for 3K spend plus a free night every year and some other benefits.

[charponnaise]

Hey there... new here and this seemed like a good thread to post in for the first time...

I'm a 'communications officer' (I write website content and manage social media for a university), and I earn £34k a year. I live in London which eats a chunk of it up but I manage.

I also do some cat-sitting on the side (it's quiet right now but in the warmer months when folks are off on holiday it brings in a little extra money - I started last May and made a few hundred from it in 2022).

[vand]

Fancy job titles have basically grown from corporate one upmanship bullshit.  A better title for this thread is "what do you actually do and how much do you earn."

[dandarc]

Fancy job titles have basically grown from corporate one upmanship bullshit.  A better title for this thread is "what do you actually do and how much do you earn."

Stare at an array, or sometimes two arrays of tiny lights. From time to time, push some buttons from another array but of buttons or move a small piece of plastic around - both of these things change how the lights blink for me and sometimes even for other people who are looking at their own array of lights every day. Nominally, I'm trying to get the array of lights to blink the way those people tell me they want the lights to blink, but in practice doesn't really matter much how my button pushing impacts the lights for other people. I get paid to do this about 24 hours per week. Works out to about $120K (gross revenue to my LLC) depending on exactly how many hours I do this in a given week.

Of course I also stare at arrays of tiny lights for free a lot of the time too, but these particular 24 hours each week are special so they pay me for them.

[GuitarStv]

I press buttons to make pixels dance on a screen for a living.

[GilesMM]

Fancy job titles have basically grown from corporate one upmanship bullshit.  A better title for this thread is "what do you actually do and how much do you earn."

I had a (terrible) boss who wanted to make himself look important.  He even went so far as to make local business cards showing him as the "CEO" of the local office, haha.  He insisted I was to be titled "General Manager", even though that title elsewhere in the corporation was a couple pay grades above me.  I went along with the ruse when he was in the room, but otherwise, I was just "Manager".

[Tyson]

I press buttons to make pixels dance on a screen for a living.

I was just thinking the other day how cushy our jobs are nowadays compared to almost any time in the past. 

[Steeze]

I press buttons to make pixels dance on a screen for a living.

I was just thinking the other day how cushy our jobs are nowadays compared to almost any time in the past.

Sometimes the thermostat in my private office is finicky. There is also not always milk / half & half in the office kitchen and I am forced to drink oat milk in my coffee.

[GuitarStv]

I press buttons to make pixels dance on a screen for a living.

I was just thinking the other day how cushy our jobs are nowadays compared to almost any time in the past.

Sometimes the thermostat in my private office is finicky. There is also not always milk / half & half in the office kitchen and I am forced to drink oat milk in my coffee.

You should refuse to drink oat milk.  Oat nipples are far too sensitive to be milked, it's cruel.

[Alfred J Quack]

Current salary: around 37k
Age: 38
Job: Systems administrator for a non-profit organisation

Couple of years later, promotion to application integrations specialist 😂

Salary: ~49k
Age: 41
PTO: 5 weeks coming in juli/august

[RetireOrDieTrying]

Cloud Architect. Abt. $220k. Fully remote.

[Hall11235]

Got a Promotion!

Title: Director of Systems integration and Connectivity (not my first choice, but I don't make the rules).
Comp: 120k base with 10k in bonus incentives. 23 days PTO annually, 4% 401k match.
Ed: BA in History and a BA in Education
Age:29
Years in Field: 8

What I do: Well, most of the last 4 years was spent developing and mentoring my team into a razor sharp outfit. They are compentent enough now that I might have trained myself out of a job. I really just mentor and coach, while handling emergencies or delicate matters.

[Alchemisst]

Cloud Architect. Abt. $220k. Fully remote.

What experience/ qualifications are needed for this type of job?

[Alfred J Quack]

Cloud Architect. Abt. $220k. Fully remote.

What experience/ qualifications are needed for this type of job?

Lots of hot air, probably ;)

[GuitarStv]

Cloud Architect. Abt. $220k. Fully remote.

What experience/ qualifications are needed for this type of job?

Lots of hot air, probably ;)

But you can't have a dry sense of humour.  Clouds just don't architect properly dry.

[RetireOrDieTrying]

Cloud Architect. Abt. $220k. Fully remote.

What experience/ qualifications are needed for this type of job?

Eh, in my case it's been kinda organic. I've been in IT for about 25 years, both on the technical and management sides. TBH I had no certifications, no formal training, no college degree, and no HS diploma nor GED. I just simply enjoyed the work and played with everything I could get my hands on. Over time you get good at a lot of things, and because of my management stint I can talk to both the fellow nerds about techno-babble, and to the executives, who are interested in practical questions like cost, time, maintainability, and barrier to entry.

One plus is that I can easily pass background, credit, and drugs tests, so I'm typically engaged for projects involving the healthcare and financial industries. A number of otherwise fine technical types are eliminated because of past indiscretions, poor personal financial management and/or ongoing inability to pass a pee test.

My previous job was at a customer of my current employer. I was approached a number of times, and at one point the time was right. They have treated me very well, and I feel fortunate.

I have started to take some certification exams, not because I need them, but because as a VAR (value-added reseller) our slice of a given sale is better when as a company we're at a higher tier as a partner of the vendor. This involves a number of hoops to jump through, but one of the hoops is X number of the technical staff need to possess a certain level of vendor certifications. Usually my employer will throw in some side bonus as a thank-you for passing these tests, because it makes the company more money overall.

That might be a much longer answer than you're looking for, but it's not exceptionally exciting; just being dependable, professional, proficient, personable, and enjoying the heck out of what I do. <shrug>

[pdxvandal]

[Update from 5 years ago.]

Title: Senior Marketing Coordinator
Experience: B.A.; 25 years
Age: 48
Salary: $107k + 10% employer contribution (same company as 5 years ago)
Easy side hustles: $10k

Could easily bring the side hustle income to $15k, but won't do that until I fully FIRE. Just raking in the extra income/retirement contributions for the next 12-18 months and we'll see where I stand.

Title: Marketing Coordinator
Experience: B.A.; 20 years
Age: 43
Salary: $72k
Easy side hustles: $5k

I'm not even at the salary I was at 4 years ago after a layoff, but inching closer, and just got a somewhat surprising $7k bump. My work-life balance is way better today, though. I show up and leave whenever I want (usually 9-3 in the office with telecommuting mixed in daily) and able to put away 40k of my salary pre-tax into a 457, 401 (includes 8% matching) and HSA (employer contributes $1.5k annually). I'm grateful. Not sure when FIRE will happen, as there have been some financial setbacks with my spouse, but hopefully in 2-4 years. I could probably retire today and live very frugally, but would rather create a larger cushion especially with a young-ish child.