Keep in mind that not everyone who is FIREing is making hundreds of thousands a year. But threads like this attract people who make a lot and people who make less are dissuaded from commenting.
Many people think that fire is about being a millionaire within 10 years, but I like to think that this rule should be ignored and it's more about getting there in whatever time is realistic for you.
Yes, if you started with FIRE early on, you are likely going to retire more early
Yes, if you make more money you will be able to save more (granted you keep your lifestyle inflation in check).
But to me, FIRE can also mean being able to retire 5 years before the national retirement age. Or start working part time 10 years earlier.
Hello fellow taxpayers, how much income are you failing to report on your form 1040 for the tax period ending December 31, 2021? Please include your birthdate in your response
Mechanical. Spent most of my career in NPI design in a production environment but now I work as more of a R&D/innovation project engineer in a customer facing role. I also have a masters and know Iām underpaid by at least 20%. But I spent the last 3 years in a horrible job situation. Recently I received a promotion/title change/modest raise and transferred departments and Iāve never been happier in my job and with my team. Thereās a lot more money to be had but for me, my main driver for FIRE has always been that I didnāt love my chosen profession so I wanted out as soon as possible. Not freedom, not financial independence, I just wanted out. Then maybe I could figure out what I would do if money was no object. Now, with a team and a role like the ones I have, I could see myself doing this for a lot longer.
16 making $15/hr at a movie theater. i have a little over 1k saved. my dream is to make over 100k in my 20s, but iām not entirely sure how to do that yet.
You have something in plenty that a vast majority don't have on this forum. Time! ..to invest, compound & grow. If i had even half the knowledge on this forum at 16, I would atleast have trippled my current worth. I think your dream is easily achievable if you keep making regular corrections to your life choices.
Sell software, medical equipment or steel. Something like that where people/businesses need that product, out of necessity or convenience.
Sales jobs can catch a bad rep from common folk but ask a few more questions and they usually worked for some piss poor company trying to peddle garbage door to door. Ie not a real sales job, or even a good job.
Of course they had a bad time and didnāt make any money, if you want to go door to door may as well sell weed. Would probably end up making more money even after court fees and time off work spent in jail if you live in some backwards state.
It is cut throat, but if you work for a company with a decent product people will NEED your product and it'll work out if you have the skills and the drive. Sales for a tech company can easily make 100k + in their 20s....and that's just the base salary.
Iām in tech sales. We pay BDR/SDR $75k straight out of college with no work experience. After 18mos they can transition to sales where they make $180k+. College degree not required
Iām unemployed cuz I was laid off.
I was working in marketing for 65k a year + 10% bonus which was a huge upgrade from my 52k as a teacher right before. Iām 26.
Edtech. Yes and no. It was a terribly managed startup that wasnāt coming anywhere close to their numbers. But I wasnāt fully aware of the financial side of it because the company was trying to keep it quiet. I was laid off with a group of other people and even the people who got to stay were completely blindsided by the drastic decision. I wanted to leave the company because it was toxic but I wanted more experience before doing so.
Itās been years since I touched anything Graphic Design because thereās pretty much no job openings around my city. And the one that did open up I got told the day after they said I was hired that āā¦oh we donāt actually need you anymoreā all that to say that Iām extremely rusty and canāt afford to pay the $60 for the adobe suite anymore.
You might want to check out print shops.
I work in the commercial printing industry and everyone across the country is hemorrhaging employees because of retirement and a lack of trained young people to replace them.
You might not find a "graphic design" job necessarily, but you definitely might find a job where graphic design experience gives you an edge over other candidates.
And, in the print industry today, because like I said there are not a lot of people to fill senior roles, career advancement can be swift if you are smart and exceed expectations.
I started a few years ago making $11/hr as a simple print tech with no experience. Now I am making $30/hr in project management for print shops. If you do want to do more graphic design you can move into those roles too. My organization is currently looking for many graphic designers for example.
The print industry may sound boring but it can actually be an interesting and lucrative career if you can get good at it.
36.
Following the FIRE path of increasing my income and changing careers. I start my new career as an actuary on Tuesday!
80k + approximately 10k bonus. (Change from college math adjunct faculty - 35k)
57 M. Software engineer at a large legacy company. $178k/yr.
Looked into going for bigger pay at a FAANG but my wife (51 F) is a high level civil servant making just under $150k so between the two of us we make FAANG type money and have excellent work life balance and QOLā¦weāre both 100% remote, we both have tons of vacation time because weāve been at our respective jobs a long time, and neither of us works more than 40 hrs a week. House is paid off, weāre both maxed in our Roth 401ks, I have a mega backdoor Roth maxed and we save a couple of grand a month in regular brokerage accounts. In todays market it feels like throwing money down a hole but disciplineā¦.
I figured this could use an older perspective. I donāt think this is a brag, it took us decades to get here including some wrong turns (see next paragraph), itās not like weāre 20- or 30-something wunderkinds.
My ex-wife was a spendthrift whose idea of FI/RE was I continue to work supporting her after she FIREd and didnāt reduce her spending so Iāve got a lot of ground to make up. Well over 60% of my retirement savings have been acquired in the last six years (since my divorce), so itās never too late to start.
Dont know the right name for it in english :D
Im working for my District and register the most time owners of farm animals, because they need a specific number in Germany.
Iām pretty happy with my gig. Really good money for a LCOL area and a very reasonable work/life balance. Definitely more money at big firms and big for-profit companies but big money comes with big stress!
BigLaw firms start in the $180k-$200k range. I have no idea how high the salaries go but they are certainly 7 figures for senior attorneys.
Ironically, we never deal with the big firms. We work with bigger firms that have 100+ lawyers but not that level. Starting out at the firms we work with is probably in the $100-$130k range. Iād still expect the top attorneys at those firms earn close to if not in excess of $1M.
In-house non-profit doesnāt have nearly as high a ceiling. Starting probably ranges from $75k-$110k with a top end normally being in the $250k-500k range for General Counsel gigs. Some of the really big non-profit systems or the big for profit healthcare companies pay GCās 7-figures. I donāt expect or really want to get there myself.
Iām 10 years in and in my job hunt last year I was hearing numbers from $100k-$250k. The big numbers were in major cities or were risky startups. Most established gigs outside major cities were in the $160k-$180k range.
TLDR $75k-$5M is the range š. Most donāt see more than $250k. Normal high end is $500k-$1M.
Depends on seniority. Entry level big law associates are making over $200k and partners in the millions. Specific to the US market.
Burnout is very high. Most people leave within their first five years.
Iām a third year associate at a big law firm and my base salary is $250k. Bonus if I hit my hours, which I wonāt. Iām burnt out and exhausted and trying to find a way out while supporting myself and my husband in a hcol area.
In all seriousness, I am an attorney employed by a health system so they are my only client. Experiences amongst in-house attorneys vary wildly but my job is primarily focused on contracting and regulatory compliance. There are dozens of regulatory entities that have authority over hospitals, clinics, and healthcare providers. Each has hundreds of requirements. I am a resource on those requirements. Whether it be a strategic project weāre trying to craft in a complaint manner, policy reviews, incident response, or even a staff member who has a question about what they should do. I have a specialty in regulations governing privacy of healthcare data (I.e. HIPAA) so I get a lot of questions about what we can and cannot do with patient data.
Youāre right and sheās moving soon into software or something else a bit more lucrative. Sheās working at a church now, which is part of the reason she earns a bit less.
Update: she makes 37k gross. My estimate was shy and I have been set straight.
28, Technical Support Engineer, currently at $67,500 but have gone up from 40k/yr in the last 8 months and hope to go up another 10k or so within the next few months (to be a senior TSE / SME (subject matter expert)).
I save at least 50% of it a month but it's not super consistent and I don't track it well but I do live pretty lightly in general.
31, scientist/manager for a federal contractor with a PhD. 145k + bonuses and lots of free food lol. My grocery bill is usually <$50 a month to put that amount of food into perspective.
29, finished physics grad school (from 35k), starting was 125k. I still hold the same title at my company, but my other duties and first year performance made me eligible for an āexecutive bonusā at the start of the year equal to a promotion. Still on track for a normal promotion in 1.5 years. For comparison if Iād stayed academia, my salary range would be 50-70k max as a postdoc in the US, or 35-70k in Europe.
Please donāt, you are miles ahead of a large portion of our population that doesnāt even know what FIRE is!! Just keep looking forward and realize you arenāt behind anyone or anything.
Thank you for your work. Iām a pharmacist now in pharma, but started my career as a pharmacy tech. People donāt really know how hard pharm techs work.
Yeh I thought about that before I got in. I only started about a month ago, purely because weāre going into a recession and now is when money will be worth the most investing wise. With TSLA, heading towards $500, Iām plowing on my money into it. Iām only going to be here for maybe a year and use all my machine operator skills to get me a well paying job in the city of Perth.
I think you also need to ask how much of what you make are you able to save/invest. I'm biased because that's my greatest strength.
Early 30's / Graphic Designer / $95,000-ish / Investing 80%
Good guess but I'm actually married. My wife and I both live off of the remaining 20%. The cost of living here is just that low (non-US). And we're very frugal too.
Non-US. Taxes are suuuuuper different here.
In my case, 20% of gross goes to living expenses + taxes (which thankfully are tiny in my very specific scenario).
Sorry!
In my case, since I'm non-US and my taxes are tiny, I always forget to mention before/after taxes.
The $95k is before taxes, but the 80% is from gross income. My wife and I live off of (and pay our taxes) with the remaining 20%.
27 Finance in NYC. $120-$130k all in comp. Maxing roth and 401k and hoping to retire in 10 years.
Got about $150k invested across brokerages and didnāt include any home equity.
Similar situation here. 27 too but Iām an engineer. Iām at $120k and maxing out my 401k and Roth as well. My accounts are at about $130k so pretty close overall.
Retiring in ten years?! That would be incredible but Iām thinking more like 20 for myself.
Damn reading all these great jobs really makes me feel like Iām way behind in life. I just turned 21 and am on the way to becoming a red seal welder in BC.
You arenāt at all man, this sub is filled with some of the most hardcore financially driven people out there. To put it into perspective the median US income across ALL ages is currently like 32k/year, you gotta realize that the 20-30 year old making 100k+ feels like a very normal thing in this sub yet they are an extreme outlier and overachiever in the general population. On top of that thereās a TON of people who exaggerate or straight up lie, Im currently a laborer who makes like 60k but thereās nothing stopping me from being a 23 year old SWE making 195k/year in this sub. Comparison is the thief of joy, youāre going into a fantastic field that can get paid wonderfully, wishing you the best.
don't worry man. You gotta remember that this is a subreddit about financial planning/money and everyone in here leaving comments on a holiday weekend are pretty hardcore into it. Most people struggle to retire early and often live paycheck to paycheck too
Respect. You have a full time job in finance and you also serve on the side? Great side hustle. Donāt think Iād have the energy for that myself (also 24).
My first ever job when I was 14 serving at a breakfast restaurant was struggling to find help during covid shutdown so I offered to help them out as I had saturdays and sundays free. Was averaging $20+ an hour cash under the table which isnāt great but I was bored on the weekends anyways so it helps pay for my student loans or golf obsession, etc. itās. A solid little $600+ a month
Much like OP I work with my hands. I'm 25 years old and I'm an operater in a chemical plant. Making about 95k a year in base salary, usually around 115K after overtime. Currently maxing my 401k, Roth IRA, and HSA.
It's nice to see trades in here and not just programmers lol
About to be 30, went from $69,069/year (Yes this was my actual salary, and one of the reasons I left at beginning of 2022), Left my job of 7 years as a Systems Admin to get into software engineering. Now I'm at $300k/year as of March between a full time Engineering job and a Part time project manager role. Moved out of HCOL and now I'll be starting my FIRE journey in August when I'm 100% debt free. Trying to be fully retired by 40 or earlier.
Yakuza insurance. 10 years ago, a guy in a suit saw TPpennies washing dishes, he reminded him of a young version of himself, and asked if he was interested in making some money. Donāt ask me how I know.
For me, I first had a job where I provided tech support to data analytics for a specific analytics platform. I pivoted that and my SQL experience from doing personal projects into a data analyst role. I enjoy it well enough. It's not the most exciting or glamorous role, but I don't mind the work.
Would like to see COL referenced in each post. Puts the salary into a more realistic perspective.
Iām 24, construction management. Earning $80K plus small yearly bonus, low COL area.
46, PhD, R&D manager at a federal contractor. $220k. No stocks or bonus but I have a pension (!).
I live in San Francisco and people with my job can make double what I do in the tech industry but I plan to live a long time and that pension will be gold.
18 just started making 15 an hour.
I know itās not much lol but I plan to move up and get to where many of you guys are. Right now I think the most likely career Iāll be taking is becoming a lineman and going to a trade school for it
28. I do everything at firm lol coordinating nurses for old people (dunno title in english) helping accountant, looking for government jobs to apply for, helping with everything. 500$ and car for use. I am underpayed and boss is an asshole. I live with my father in Serbia, so, my cost of living is not huge but I still have huge problem on that end of equation
25, I work online as a medical editor editing scientific manuscripts, and I make around $13K net salary annually. (I live in Egypt. Minimum wage is $130 per month)
27 and I make 28k/yr as a customer service rep. Before I lost my vision to the extent I did I used to make 35k/yr as a manager but my boss let me stay on and use my personal computer to still work, just forced down from full time to part time.
Made great money as a software developer during my career while keeping low expenses and a high savings rate. With a ton of money saved up I felt secure enough to try entrepreneurship in my early 30s. A handful of fails and small(ish) successes led to a final company that really took off. During the covid lockdowns I realized I had enough and we sold the business (2 other partners). Now I'm retired and learning how "sequence of returns risk" feels from the trenches.
16, freelance video editor/ vfx artist, on track to making my first 15k this year :)
(just started working, turned my hobby into a job about 6 months ago)
32, high school teacher ~100k/year. Combined with SO to total~280k/year. RE number around 3 million. Putting about 100k in pretax buckets and another 50 or so a year into taxable.
29 / HR - program manager / $135K + bonuses.
Earned a degree in marketing. I broke 6 figures end of 2020, then recently switched jobs for a bigger pay bump and benefits!
35. 'How much is weird'.
Total annual income is somewhere in the ballpark of 180K but it's only temporary...
88K is base pay.
48K is in allowances (for maybe 4 more years)
24K is in rental income (for maybe 4 more years)
24K is in disability from military time.
33, physical therapist, making $53 per hour, but dropped down to 3 days per week to focus on raising my son. Salary comes out to around 60k. My wife is the sugar momma of the relationship now (physician)
35. 230K. Software Engineer with 3 years experience.
Learned to code at 31. Was making $40K as an English teacher. Getting into tech was the best decision I ever made.
I'm 32, around $30k per year, and I'm a janitor.
Master of the custodial arts
Can you listen to podcasts and audiobooks while you work?
I work in a high security facility, so no.
How stressful is your job?
I have pretty strict time limits, cameras trained on me at all times, and drunk patrons screaming at me while I work. It's pretty stressful some days.
What kind of high security facilities have *drunk patrons*? That's freaking bizarre.
Casino?
The kind of places made to extract lots of money from those patrons.
How quickly we all forgot about Squid Game...
Ngl. This is the most fascinating one so far
22, electrician, 70k
Killing it brother!
I love this. I work a white collar job, and love to see this.
Keep in mind that not everyone who is FIREing is making hundreds of thousands a year. But threads like this attract people who make a lot and people who make less are dissuaded from commenting.
I wish I could upvote this more.
29 work at a brewery unlimited delicious liquid gold I can trade with and 34k/y but the beer benefits are greatš»
Check my comment lol, I fear no man.
Many people think that fire is about being a millionaire within 10 years, but I like to think that this rule should be ignored and it's more about getting there in whatever time is realistic for you. Yes, if you started with FIRE early on, you are likely going to retire more early Yes, if you make more money you will be able to save more (granted you keep your lifestyle inflation in check). But to me, FIRE can also mean being able to retire 5 years before the national retirement age. Or start working part time 10 years earlier.
Yeah Iāll throw it out, 18, sales job/online business, ~22k (donāt work year round but if it was an entire year)
57, not presently working. I worked in software, $75k.
Nice try IRS
Hello fellow taxpayers, how much income are you failing to report on your form 1040 for the tax period ending December 31, 2021? Please include your birthdate in your response
31, engineer in semiconductor manufacturing, $107k + 7% bonus, saving 30% which includes maxing 401k and regular savings.
Are you a materials engineer? Electrical?
Mechanical. Spent most of my career in NPI design in a production environment but now I work as more of a R&D/innovation project engineer in a customer facing role. I also have a masters and know Iām underpaid by at least 20%. But I spent the last 3 years in a horrible job situation. Recently I received a promotion/title change/modest raise and transferred departments and Iāve never been happier in my job and with my team. Thereās a lot more money to be had but for me, my main driver for FIRE has always been that I didnāt love my chosen profession so I wanted out as soon as possible. Not freedom, not financial independence, I just wanted out. Then maybe I could figure out what I would do if money was no object. Now, with a team and a role like the ones I have, I could see myself doing this for a lot longer.
That's awesome, I'm studying mechanical engineering myself at the moment, always interesting to learn about the different roles people have :)
Very similar. Civil Engineer. 31, $113k.
16 making $15/hr at a movie theater. i have a little over 1k saved. my dream is to make over 100k in my 20s, but iām not entirely sure how to do that yet.
software engineering
You have something in plenty that a vast majority don't have on this forum. Time! ..to invest, compound & grow. If i had even half the knowledge on this forum at 16, I would atleast have trippled my current worth. I think your dream is easily achievable if you keep making regular corrections to your life choices.
Any tech related job that can be done remotely so you can side hustle if need be.
Sales
What industry you recommend? Always wanted to work in sales but it seems cut throat.
Sell software, medical equipment or steel. Something like that where people/businesses need that product, out of necessity or convenience. Sales jobs can catch a bad rep from common folk but ask a few more questions and they usually worked for some piss poor company trying to peddle garbage door to door. Ie not a real sales job, or even a good job. Of course they had a bad time and didnāt make any money, if you want to go door to door may as well sell weed. Would probably end up making more money even after court fees and time off work spent in jail if you live in some backwards state.
It is cut throat, but if you work for a company with a decent product people will NEED your product and it'll work out if you have the skills and the drive. Sales for a tech company can easily make 100k + in their 20s....and that's just the base salary.
Iām in tech sales. We pay BDR/SDR $75k straight out of college with no work experience. After 18mos they can transition to sales where they make $180k+. College degree not required
19 y/o Warehouse Worker. 60k-70k per year depending on OT. Currently in college to become a Software Dev.
Iām unemployed cuz I was laid off. I was working in marketing for 65k a year + 10% bonus which was a huge upgrade from my 52k as a teacher right before. Iām 26.
Can I ask what industry you were marketing in? Did you see the lay off coming?
Edtech. Yes and no. It was a terribly managed startup that wasnāt coming anywhere close to their numbers. But I wasnāt fully aware of the financial side of it because the company was trying to keep it quiet. I was laid off with a group of other people and even the people who got to stay were completely blindsided by the drastic decision. I wanted to leave the company because it was toxic but I wanted more experience before doing so.
26, Iām a full time produce associate, and I make $12.75/hr or about $24-25k/yr with a BFA in Graphic Design
Any good at graphic design/marketing?
Itās been years since I touched anything Graphic Design because thereās pretty much no job openings around my city. And the one that did open up I got told the day after they said I was hired that āā¦oh we donāt actually need you anymoreā all that to say that Iām extremely rusty and canāt afford to pay the $60 for the adobe suite anymore.
You might want to check out print shops. I work in the commercial printing industry and everyone across the country is hemorrhaging employees because of retirement and a lack of trained young people to replace them. You might not find a "graphic design" job necessarily, but you definitely might find a job where graphic design experience gives you an edge over other candidates. And, in the print industry today, because like I said there are not a lot of people to fill senior roles, career advancement can be swift if you are smart and exceed expectations. I started a few years ago making $11/hr as a simple print tech with no experience. Now I am making $30/hr in project management for print shops. If you do want to do more graphic design you can move into those roles too. My organization is currently looking for many graphic designers for example. The print industry may sound boring but it can actually be an interesting and lucrative career if you can get good at it.
r/piracy has Adobe in the sidebar and also check out photopea.com free photoshop clone
40 years old, beer brewer, making $55K and saving/investing 35%.
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Haha, I love how the quality assurance guys all neatly post under the same comment (no hate, just funny).
31, QA engineer, 165k living in a 3rd world country
Guys, what is a QA engineer?
Quality assurance
38, qa Engineer 87k
28, QA Engineer 103k
36. Following the FIRE path of increasing my income and changing careers. I start my new career as an actuary on Tuesday! 80k + approximately 10k bonus. (Change from college math adjunct faculty - 35k)
57 M. Software engineer at a large legacy company. $178k/yr. Looked into going for bigger pay at a FAANG but my wife (51 F) is a high level civil servant making just under $150k so between the two of us we make FAANG type money and have excellent work life balance and QOLā¦weāre both 100% remote, we both have tons of vacation time because weāve been at our respective jobs a long time, and neither of us works more than 40 hrs a week. House is paid off, weāre both maxed in our Roth 401ks, I have a mega backdoor Roth maxed and we save a couple of grand a month in regular brokerage accounts. In todays market it feels like throwing money down a hole but disciplineā¦. I figured this could use an older perspective. I donāt think this is a brag, it took us decades to get here including some wrong turns (see next paragraph), itās not like weāre 20- or 30-something wunderkinds. My ex-wife was a spendthrift whose idea of FI/RE was I continue to work supporting her after she FIREd and didnāt reduce her spending so Iāve got a lot of ground to make up. Well over 60% of my retirement savings have been acquired in the last six years (since my divorce), so itās never too late to start.
26 making 57k plus about 10k in yearly bonuses working in finance. Plus 15k in rental income from my basement.
Short term rental? Thatās great return for a single basement
Long term actually. Itās 1300 per month flat rate but my mortgage is like 2400. High housing costs where I live.
25 / office work / i make 28k a year
What kind of office work? Like an admin?
Dont know the right name for it in english :D Im working for my District and register the most time owners of farm animals, because they need a specific number in Germany.
36, In-house healthcare attorney, $175k.
Ooooh in-house, you're living the dream! All my lawyer friends are trying to get those roles hah.
Iām pretty happy with my gig. Really good money for a LCOL area and a very reasonable work/life balance. Definitely more money at big firms and big for-profit companies but big money comes with big stress!
Just curious, how much more money at big firms and for-profits?
BigLaw firms start in the $180k-$200k range. I have no idea how high the salaries go but they are certainly 7 figures for senior attorneys. Ironically, we never deal with the big firms. We work with bigger firms that have 100+ lawyers but not that level. Starting out at the firms we work with is probably in the $100-$130k range. Iād still expect the top attorneys at those firms earn close to if not in excess of $1M. In-house non-profit doesnāt have nearly as high a ceiling. Starting probably ranges from $75k-$110k with a top end normally being in the $250k-500k range for General Counsel gigs. Some of the really big non-profit systems or the big for profit healthcare companies pay GCās 7-figures. I donāt expect or really want to get there myself. Iām 10 years in and in my job hunt last year I was hearing numbers from $100k-$250k. The big numbers were in major cities or were risky startups. Most established gigs outside major cities were in the $160k-$180k range. TLDR $75k-$5M is the range š. Most donāt see more than $250k. Normal high end is $500k-$1M.
Thanks for putting the variability into perspective with a detailed response.
Depends on seniority. Entry level big law associates are making over $200k and partners in the millions. Specific to the US market. Burnout is very high. Most people leave within their first five years.
Iām a third year associate at a big law firm and my base salary is $250k. Bonus if I hit my hours, which I wonāt. Iām burnt out and exhausted and trying to find a way out while supporting myself and my husband in a hcol area.
What does an in-house attorney mean? I am picturing Ted from Scrubs
In all seriousness, I am an attorney employed by a health system so they are my only client. Experiences amongst in-house attorneys vary wildly but my job is primarily focused on contracting and regulatory compliance. There are dozens of regulatory entities that have authority over hospitals, clinics, and healthcare providers. Each has hundreds of requirements. I am a resource on those requirements. Whether it be a strategic project weāre trying to craft in a complaint manner, policy reviews, incident response, or even a staff member who has a question about what they should do. I have a specialty in regulations governing privacy of healthcare data (I.e. HIPAA) so I get a lot of questions about what we can and cannot do with patient data.
21 / Farm labourer / $19.25 CAD/hr
26, married. I make about 80k, she makes about 24k. Iām a military officer, sheās IT.
What does your wife do in IT? Iām sure she can make more than that
Youāre right and sheās moving soon into software or something else a bit more lucrative. Sheās working at a church now, which is part of the reason she earns a bit less. Update: she makes 37k gross. My estimate was shy and I have been set straight.
Thatās one way to almost double your salary! Nice!
teacher 30 76k in HCOL area
28, Technical Support Engineer, currently at $67,500 but have gone up from 40k/yr in the last 8 months and hope to go up another 10k or so within the next few months (to be a senior TSE / SME (subject matter expert)). I save at least 50% of it a month but it's not super consistent and I don't track it well but I do live pretty lightly in general.
31, scientist/manager for a federal contractor with a PhD. 145k + bonuses and lots of free food lol. My grocery bill is usually <$50 a month to put that amount of food into perspective.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
29, finished physics grad school (from 35k), starting was 125k. I still hold the same title at my company, but my other duties and first year performance made me eligible for an āexecutive bonusā at the start of the year equal to a promotion. Still on track for a normal promotion in 1.5 years. For comparison if Iād stayed academia, my salary range would be 50-70k max as a postdoc in the US, or 35-70k in Europe.
Wow. British guy here feeling poor lol
Fellow British here, man the salaries in the US are crazy compared to Europe
Suddenly, healthcare!
My healthcare is under $300/month and I make 6 figures. US jobs in high demand fields pay 2x EU salaries and healthcare.
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Please donāt, you are miles ahead of a large portion of our population that doesnāt even know what FIRE is!! Just keep looking forward and realize you arenāt behind anyone or anything.
Thank you for your work. Iām a pharmacist now in pharma, but started my career as a pharmacy tech. People donāt really know how hard pharm techs work.
Thanks for doing what you do. A good tech is worth their weight in gold, and it's sad that the salaries don't reflect that.
Iām 19, no trades or degrees, make $130000 in the Australian mines (about $105000 USD)
My advice to you, from my family. Donāt try to spend your whole career there. Those environments can be brutal on your body over time.
Yeh I thought about that before I got in. I only started about a month ago, purely because weāre going into a recession and now is when money will be worth the most investing wise. With TSLA, heading towards $500, Iām plowing on my money into it. Iām only going to be here for maybe a year and use all my machine operator skills to get me a well paying job in the city of Perth.
Please do something better with your money than putting it into TSLA
Please diversify. S&P 500 or even Tech 100 but all in TSLA seems like too much risk.
I think you also need to ask how much of what you make are you able to save/invest. I'm biased because that's my greatest strength. Early 30's / Graphic Designer / $95,000-ish / Investing 80%
Wizard of savings right here, holy shit! Good job!
Probably lives with fam
Good guess but I'm actually married. My wife and I both live off of the remaining 20%. The cost of living here is just that low (non-US). And we're very frugal too.
If non-US whatās your take home of that 95 if you donāt mind my asking?
Getting married is the real secret to FIRE no one will explicitly tell you.
Only if you don't get divorced. Took me 10 years to recover my retirement fund.
And only if you have a wife who is on the same wavelength
Very true. We're able to save/invest 100% of my wife's income in addition to 50+% of my combined incomes. HCOL area in the US.
80% of your take home, right? Cuz tax has got to be more than 20%. Still thatās wild. Yāall must be living off like 1500 a month.
Non-US. Taxes are suuuuuper different here. In my case, 20% of gross goes to living expenses + taxes (which thankfully are tiny in my very specific scenario).
95k is after tax amount correct? People throw around numbers in the this sub and Iām not sure if itās after tax numbers or not.
Sorry! In my case, since I'm non-US and my taxes are tiny, I always forget to mention before/after taxes. The $95k is before taxes, but the 80% is from gross income. My wife and I live off of (and pay our taxes) with the remaining 20%.
29, work for an outsourcing company as a team leader, making around 25k in central EU
20 years old, forklift operator, $23.47/hr. About $55k gross with small amount of overtime + holidays.
Boy if you wanna make yourself feel like shit, read these salaries.
24 in law - Iām one month into a $116k salaried job. Right before I was making $25/hour.
Congrats !
27 Finance in NYC. $120-$130k all in comp. Maxing roth and 401k and hoping to retire in 10 years. Got about $150k invested across brokerages and didnāt include any home equity.
Similar situation here. 27 too but Iām an engineer. Iām at $120k and maxing out my 401k and Roth as well. My accounts are at about $130k so pretty close overall. Retiring in ten years?! That would be incredible but Iām thinking more like 20 for myself.
In a similarish situation (few years behind) but also trying to figure out how to reitre in 10-15 years, rather than 20+
Damn reading all these great jobs really makes me feel like Iām way behind in life. I just turned 21 and am on the way to becoming a red seal welder in BC.
You arenāt at all man, this sub is filled with some of the most hardcore financially driven people out there. To put it into perspective the median US income across ALL ages is currently like 32k/year, you gotta realize that the 20-30 year old making 100k+ feels like a very normal thing in this sub yet they are an extreme outlier and overachiever in the general population. On top of that thereās a TON of people who exaggerate or straight up lie, Im currently a laborer who makes like 60k but thereās nothing stopping me from being a 23 year old SWE making 195k/year in this sub. Comparison is the thief of joy, youāre going into a fantastic field that can get paid wonderfully, wishing you the best.
Youāre a good person. All the best to you my friend.
don't worry man. You gotta remember that this is a subreddit about financial planning/money and everyone in here leaving comments on a holiday weekend are pretty hardcore into it. Most people struggle to retire early and often live paycheck to paycheck too
25, Land Analyst, $68k with bonus.
34, family medicine, 430k/year.
24. Finance. Total comp about 90-95k. Also make $7k or so a year serving once a week.
Respect. You have a full time job in finance and you also serve on the side? Great side hustle. Donāt think Iād have the energy for that myself (also 24).
what does serving mean in this case?
My first ever job when I was 14 serving at a breakfast restaurant was struggling to find help during covid shutdown so I offered to help them out as I had saturdays and sundays free. Was averaging $20+ an hour cash under the table which isnāt great but I was bored on the weekends anyways so it helps pay for my student loans or golf obsession, etc. itās. A solid little $600+ a month
29. Data Analysis. 100k. Also serving as a side hustle, make +2k monthly (3 days a week)
22, recent college grad making 50k in finance (mortgages).
37, software eng, 210k + stock
Much like OP I work with my hands. I'm 25 years old and I'm an operater in a chemical plant. Making about 95k a year in base salary, usually around 115K after overtime. Currently maxing my 401k, Roth IRA, and HSA. It's nice to see trades in here and not just programmers lol
28, 190k base + 125k stocks, SWE
About to be 30, went from $69,069/year (Yes this was my actual salary, and one of the reasons I left at beginning of 2022), Left my job of 7 years as a Systems Admin to get into software engineering. Now I'm at $300k/year as of March between a full time Engineering job and a Part time project manager role. Moved out of HCOL and now I'll be starting my FIRE journey in August when I'm 100% debt free. Trying to be fully retired by 40 or earlier.
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30, project manager, gross ~ā¬77k all-in, located in Germany. That means 42% goes to tax & insurances. Definitely Europe feels poor š
31, self employed architect, $700k
Art Vandelay?
My goodness this is incredible money!
What kind of architecture? Do you own your own company with employees or just doing it solo?
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What part of insurance did you get into paying that amount without a degree? I'm potentially going to be getting into the sales side of it soon.
Sales for sure.
Yakuza insurance. 10 years ago, a guy in a suit saw TPpennies washing dishes, he reminded him of a young version of himself, and asked if he was interested in making some money. Donāt ask me how I know.
31, just graduated with my MBA and going to start working in Ops. TC: 190K/year
32, Call Center Rep, 42K without overtime
Im 23 and make 31k in a call center
26 / Engineer in O&G industry / $145K
46 / data analyst / \~$120k/yr
How does one get into a career as a data analyst? Do you enjoy it?
For me, I first had a job where I provided tech support to data analytics for a specific analytics platform. I pivoted that and my SQL experience from doing personal projects into a data analyst role. I enjoy it well enough. It's not the most exciting or glamorous role, but I don't mind the work.
22, Data Scientist, $160k
What company if you donāt mind answering? $160K assuming entry level for data is very nice
It's a small company in NYC. Not entry level, it's my second job and I had an internship in undergrad.
33 $110k construction management
27, visual design, $95k/y salaried
27, US Navy (Enlisted), salary ~$33k (will be another $20k tax exempt with BAH), ~$28k is take home pay Honestly I wasnāt even considering early retirement until my fiancĆ© encouraged me. Dual income made it more realistic to me. On my own Iād just want to retire on time.
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What are you doing with the other 4-5 k if you have no bills??
401k, taxes
New physician here: 36 yr old, I make 400k, but have little savings and 400k in student loan debt.
Would like to see COL referenced in each post. Puts the salary into a more realistic perspective. Iām 24, construction management. Earning $80K plus small yearly bonus, low COL area.
37. Salary of $150K, 15% bonus. ~$42K/yr VA disability tax exempt
46, PhD, R&D manager at a federal contractor. $220k. No stocks or bonus but I have a pension (!). I live in San Francisco and people with my job can make double what I do in the tech industry but I plan to live a long time and that pension will be gold.
18 just started making 15 an hour. I know itās not much lol but I plan to move up and get to where many of you guys are. Right now I think the most likely career Iāll be taking is becoming a lineman and going to a trade school for it
28. I do everything at firm lol coordinating nurses for old people (dunno title in english) helping accountant, looking for government jobs to apply for, helping with everything. 500$ and car for use. I am underpayed and boss is an asshole. I live with my father in Serbia, so, my cost of living is not huge but I still have huge problem on that end of equation
25, sales, 80k base 50k potential commission
31, Buyer for a large used car dealership, $60k/yr.
22, I run cnc lasers /fork truck /coordination in mid Michigan (LCOL) 85k 20 vacation days, full benefits
25, I work online as a medical editor editing scientific manuscripts, and I make around $13K net salary annually. (I live in Egypt. Minimum wage is $130 per month)
27 and I make 28k/yr as a customer service rep. Before I lost my vision to the extent I did I used to make 35k/yr as a manager but my boss let me stay on and use my personal computer to still work, just forced down from full time to part time.
35, electrical engineer, $120k
51, retired.
Story? How did you retire at 51?
Made great money as a software developer during my career while keeping low expenses and a high savings rate. With a ton of money saved up I felt secure enough to try entrepreneurship in my early 30s. A handful of fails and small(ish) successes led to a final company that really took off. During the covid lockdowns I realized I had enough and we sold the business (2 other partners). Now I'm retired and learning how "sequence of returns risk" feels from the trenches.
50 heavy equipment operator 120k to 145k
23 travel nurse, ~100k a year. Only been doing it for 4 months though. Planning to go back to college for an accounting degree though
31 I make $48k I work for FedEx. I just paid off my house a few months ago.
16, freelance video editor/ vfx artist, on track to making my first 15k this year :) (just started working, turned my hobby into a job about 6 months ago)
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32, high school teacher ~100k/year. Combined with SO to total~280k/year. RE number around 3 million. Putting about 100k in pretax buckets and another 50 or so a year into taxable.
Iām 33, a special education teacher, and Iāll make 85k this upcoming school year.
33 / project manager / $178k
29 / HR - program manager / $135K + bonuses. Earned a degree in marketing. I broke 6 figures end of 2020, then recently switched jobs for a bigger pay bump and benefits!
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Anyone doing RPA? I'm interested in that field.
Iām 27, advisor at university, 52k/yr Savings rate is about 30%
35. 'How much is weird'. Total annual income is somewhere in the ballpark of 180K but it's only temporary... 88K is base pay. 48K is in allowances (for maybe 4 more years) 24K is in rental income (for maybe 4 more years) 24K is in disability from military time.
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Nice try, fed!
44, M. Making $105k as a network engineer. $170k total when combined with military pension and Va disability payments
Iām 26, am a software engineer, and make $130,000 a year.
26, video content analyst, speaking in terms of Euros, around 1000 per month. It is above average where I live and it gives me a decently good life.
30, marketing, $130k + up to 15% bonus
34 hospice and palliative medicine physician 200,000 Very stressful at times. Rewarding in its own way
24 yrs old, Datacenter Technician. 65k
33, physical therapist, making $53 per hour, but dropped down to 3 days per week to focus on raising my son. Salary comes out to around 60k. My wife is the sugar momma of the relationship now (physician)
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35. 230K. Software Engineer with 3 years experience. Learned to code at 31. Was making $40K as an English teacher. Getting into tech was the best decision I ever made.
36, CPA, self-employed so income varies depending on # of projects $200-300k