Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Hitting Six Figures

I did the math today, oh boy!
I kind of knew 2007 might be the year when I'd see a six-figure number for gross income on my last paystub of the year, but I didn't want to count my chickens until I knew what my bonus would be. Well, I just looked at the numbers once again: based on what I have already earned this year, as long as I get a raise of at least 2.2%, I will get to $100,000. Maybe that is still counting my chickens a bit, but I think my company is doing well enough that I should get a halfway decent raise.
I guess that is a pretty good milestone to hit: a six-figure income before I'm 40 (just barely). Of course it is one of those things that has more psychological significance than actual real-life impact. If I look at it another way, it's less of a big deal, given my age, and the fact that I live in New York where it's worth less, and where you've got hordes of 25-year olds who already make more than that as lawyers or bankers. And yet only about 10% of American households have incomes of more than $100,000, from stats I've read-- and given that many households these days have two wage earners, the percentage of individual workers who earn more than $100,000 must be even smaller.
So... it's a nice number, but life goes on. I guess now I have to start wondering if I'll ever manage to make $200,000... but that brings up another question: how much is enough? How much of an income would I really like to have to live the way I'd like to live? How do I want to live, anyway? What do I want all this money for? I will have to explore that in another post...

9 comments:

mapgirl said...

WOW! Congratulations! If I stay on the right trajectory, I think I can also hit $100K before 40, but I also think it will take at least one job hop and a really good bonus plan to do it.

Or else, I'll have to bite down and get a certification and then ask for the big dollars. (And get my company to pay for it! HA!)

Anonymous said...

I'm a new reader, so I don't know if you've disclosed what your job is on this blog. If that is not something you are keeping private (obviously just the actual job title and industry, not where you work and other private information) would you mind sharing that here in the comments? I think it's good for readers to get an idea of what certain fields and positions pay in reality.

Thanks, and congratulations on the $100,000 income. I'm right there behind you, at about oh, say, 1/5 your income, and that's in one of the most expensive metropolitan areas in the country. : )

mOOm said...

The full professors in my department get more than $100k (all but one of them who is paid about the same as me). The thing is standards for being promoted have gotten much tougher over time. I doubt I'd make it if I applied unless I can bring in some largish research grant and I can't see how I'm going to do that. So in the meantime I'm stuck with below inflation pay raises each year.

Madame X said...

I work in publishing... that is about as much as I'll share!

Anonymous said...

100k in NYC is like an entrance ticket to the upper middle class there.

Anonymous said...

How much is enough? I think it was John D. Rockefeller who said "A little bit more."

Single Ma said...

Congrats sis! Welcome to the club.

@ anon 1:08 - Living in the DC area, I still feel like part of the working poor. So I don't know if $100k will even sneeze at the UPPER middle class in NYC.

Janet said...

if you don't mind me asking because i sort of work in publishing (though we don't publish books, data rather), how many years did it take to almost hit six figures? did you get bonuses at work? a 2.2% raise isn't much ... how do you keep up with inflation and cost of living expenses (i noticed you just bought a home).

are you satisfied with a 2.2% raise? i know that's a lot of questions ... i'm just curious how you can earn enough when the raises don't keep up with inflation.

thanks so much!

Anonymous said...

@ SF: She said "as long as I get a raise of at least 2.2%, I will get to $100,000"... and 4 posts up she said publishing and thats all she is going to share so no job title... come on people, read.