Salary question for those over 30

depends where you live...$100k still has some charm to it, but most "professional types", i.e. those over 30 that are lawyers, accountants, etc. make over $100k.

I would say the new 100k has to be close to the 150k mark. In my industry I see people making 100k in positions that would have been no where near that years ago. You will also notice that although that is a hell of a salary, the people making it dont live as extravagantly as before.

I haven't broken the 100k mark yet, but for my age I'm close enough to know that most professionals in any industry these days are making over 100k/year.

Here's one sign: there are now commercials for online-resume sites for 100k jobs. That alone shows the number of 100k jobs out there, and it also shows that 100k isn't a top-tier job anymore.

I would say the "new 100k" has to be around 150-200k/year. Hell, the house I have costs 800/month. That's over 1k/month in just the house payment and utilities. The cost of gas for my car alone has now raised my monthy expenses by 100. Throw in 200/month in food and you are already looking at 1300/month in just basic necessities: house/car/food. For one person. (OK, I could save 200/month if I moved into an apartment... but, no )

That is almost 16k/year for just the basics...that isn't counting a car payment/insurance/cable/phone/internet/golf/etc...

I couldn't even imagine trying to provide for a 4-person family these days... And just on a side-note, the poverty line for a 4-person home in the US right now is, I believe, 22k/year. According to my math, you couldn't pay your bills and put 2 kids through school for anywhere near that. And we have something like 15%-17% of our population living in poverty in our country? I can only imagine what the real number is.

So after all that rambling...

For one person, 100k/year is still lovely, but you would need to make at least 150k/year depending on location to equate to what it used to be. But if you have a wife and 2 kids, 100k doesn't look as good as it used to

Let's just say I know that when you're saving for two college funds, a retirement and trying to have a decent amount of fun alon the way while living in an average house driving two reasonably nice cars in an average cost-of-living area nowadays, I think it takes $200K/yr to kick back and be non-stressed.

I think it definitely depends on where you live of course.......

For instance, I live in Oklahoma City.....own a 2500 square foot home built in 05, 2 30K plus cars, and never struggle with money..... And my wife and I have a combined income of just under $150,000, but you give us those salaries in...let's say....San Diego, and we are screwed :)

150 is the new 100...

If gas goes to $4 a gallon and I would move it another 10k.

honestly i don't understand how to figure the equation of what the "old" vs. "new" is...a hundo in NYC is always going to be different than a hundo in French Lick Indiana, regardless of the mid-1980's or today.

TJK is exactly right when he mentions cost of living. Golf Yokel, the instant you mentioned your house costs 800 a month should immediately put things in perspective for those of us living on either coast of the country...

I used to go to a public school on long island. I remember that I had a teacher that was 28-35 and making over 100k per year. It was a top public school and he was the highest paid, but it's still pretty crazy for a teacher to make 100k, and I think it says something about how the value of 100 thousand has gone way down.

I mean, you can't seem to buy a house in a good area (location, etc.) for less than 250k.

This is exactly right. Now, I make a decent salary, but my wife makes a great one; especially for her age. She is 33 years old and was a physics major at UH. Somehow she ended up in the ground floor of doing computer stuff (please don't make me explain...lol) and now she works from home and is a global director for a major software company. Makes almost 200k with bonus' and we live no different than alot of middle class families. 1) We live outside of New Orleans and the cost of living is still fairly reasonable compared to other major markets. 2) We do live comfortable and don't hurt for much now, but you increase your bills when you increase your salary. Every thing has gone up in cost now. Heck, we even pay close to $30k in taxes each year! Bonuses get taxed almost 50%. I don't know what it was like living on 100K 20 years ago, but personally; right now I feel I'm doing well but don't expect me to still not try to be thrifty! I would hazard a guess that 150-200 is the new 100k. However, I would preface that with 100k is nice - but 500k would be oh so much better..lol Until the tax man get's ya...

I'm not sure what you are trying to say about my comment... but...

Read what I said... I actually made sure to point out the fact it depends where you live. I was in San Bernadino with my then-fiance and I was the only one working. I've also lived off of Mass. Ave in Washington, DC (right by the Chase Center). I know exactly how hard it is to support yourself on the coasts. My numbers were not given to show that it is easy to support yourself... read what I said and you will see it was the exact opposite. In my opinion, this country is one of the worst in cost-pay ratio for any developed country. Jesus they didn't even raise minimum wage up from $5.15/hour for over A DECADE. I'm leaving this topic alone now... anytime I start talking about our government I start rambling for hours. I can't wait to finish college and move...

i wasn't implying anything was wrong or controversial about your comment, i was just using your quote as an example since you provided a specific number, that's all.

My apologies... talking about our economy sends me over the edge sometimes...

The longer I live here, the more I dislike the U.S.

Sorry again. erova

$100K is still a $100k. The difference is your dating status, single vs married and where you live. Additionally, how you spend your discretionary income is a factor. Before I had kids, spending $300 on boots and a pair of jeans was no big deal. Now? No way. We used to own a two bedroom, two bathroom coop. Mortgage and maintenance was less than the average studio apartment. Today, that cost is almost four times as much. The old adage is true. The more you make the more you spend.

This is an interesting thread. I have no idea what a lot of money is by current standards. I often do wonder.

One guy has an $800 monthly mortgage payment. Wow! Lucky guy!

Then there's a guy who has lived in the US all of his life and hates it. That's beyond me.

I make a good living. I honestly have no idea how it stacks up against others. I know we have nice cars (Lexus LS430 and Porsche 911), a decent home, a country club membership, I ho clubs like crazy and still save about 40-50k per year. We're not rich, but we're not poor either.

Growing up in West Texas (I am 32) I dreamed of one day earning 125k per year. Somehow in my mind, if I could just find a way to make that much, all my worries would vanish. . . Well, for 3 years now my wife and I have lived beyond the dream of that number, BUT. . .

As opera singers, all of our income is 1099, so we pay all the payroll taxes ourselves (in addition to the rest.) In addition to our travel expenses and paying for our insurance out of pocket, I pay child support for my first son and we have a beautiful baby boy together. As you can see from my avatar subtitle we are headed somewhere where 125k can actually buy you something, from a 4 bedroom on a 1/2 acre in a nice neighborhood for 215k, to golf that is completely affordable at 10AM and a STEAL at twilight rates.

As far as I am concerned, the old dream of 125k has turned into 300k.

And that makes 300 posts for yours truly

Wow, you guys want to try living in the UK, where the average cost of a house is roughly £220,000, about $430,000 I guess, and the cost of petrol (gas ) Don't even go there!!

Yes, but...

The average cost of a single-family home in America as of May 2007 was $213,000. Not much different from your average. And yes, your £220,000 is about $440,000... but it isn't like you get paid in USD. Your housing doesn't cost you twice as much just because you use a different currency Oh, and it was all the way up until this year that the UK actually had a higher minimum wage than the U.S... (Yep, your minimum wage was actually higher than ours until last year) As for the topic of gas prices... yep, you guys sadly pay through the nose for it I could get into how your own oil companies helped this along by producing more oil than needed during the end of the 90's/early 2000's, when they knew your reserves and fields were starting to decline (and when your gas prices were cheap... so pretty counter-intuitive in the business world)... but you live there, you know all this.