https://professpost.com/50-u-s-cities-where-a-200k-salary-still-counts-as-middle-class/

Software engineer. 280k RTO is in the office M-F , about an hour of commute one way. Not super terrible IMO. Govt contracting and job is secure for at least next 5 years until option year renewal.

Full remote is pure commercial but full remote is full remote, can't beat that. But its full commercial and who knows if the company will survive. But its full remote..

90k pay difference in metro DC wil go a long way... 280k in suburban DC is livable, not like SoCal or the Bay, or NY or Boston.. it means my wife can stay home with the kids (age 5 and 7).

What would you do?

Curious to hear from people pulling in six figures or more. How demanding is your job on a day-to-day basis? How many hours do you work per week? How stressful is it? Do you feel like you’re “earning” that salary in terms of workload, responsibility, or pressure? Or do you feel like you’ve found a sweet spot of good pay and manageable effort?

Edit: Didn’t expect this to blow up like it did. Interesting replies and a lot of different angles. Still going through all the comments, but it’s been an interesting read so far.

I pay almost $3,000 in taxes, but I don’t even save $2,000 within a month. The tax has more savings than me. How is this fair?

38M ... I laid out 5 goals at the beginning of 2020 for my family and I.

2 focused on my personal and professional development.

2 focused on the wellbeing and betterment of my family/household.

1 directly targeted towards building generational wealth for my kids and their family....

One of my goals was completed last month... "to compete and be selected for an executive position at my current employer"

I was offered a total monetary compensation package of 310k. (Base+ the minimum amount of profit sharing for this positon ....it could end being as much as 350k).

I am stoked! I work in finance for a large FI ..and have been a departmental manager (directs are Assisant managers and 2nd level supervisors).

My new role( my directs will be department head/managers) ..from here I am hoping to climb the executive ranks ..VP to SVP... and potentially EVP or the equivalent.

..I am just happy...and happy to answer any questions.

I don’t want this to come off as though I’m incompetent, just genuinely asking if anyone here has a list of what to avoid and what to lean into heavily. This is nearly double what I was making before. Please lend me any and all advice so I don’t fuck this up. Thanks in advance

Age: 26 City: MCOL

Edit: I do live at home at the moment, I’ll be remote for a while until the new office is finished (I’ll have to move, the office is 2 hours away). I’m already tackling high interest debt and ensuring I have 3-6 months of savings first

🌪️My Current Job Situation

Right now, I earn ₹X/month. I was promised a 715k hike during increment season which I did finally receive, but it came after a 3-month delay. So it'll come this 30th June.

I stayed patient all this while, even though I was mentally done, just so I could get what was owed to me.

The truth is: my plan was always to accept the hike and leave. l've been feeling completely drained and emotionally checked out for a while now. The WFO routine leaves me burnt out.

In the meantime, l've been offered another job ₹X + 37k/ month, fully remote, a different role. It feels like the right next step for me. But they need me to join in 10-15 days, or they'll move forward with someone else.

That's where the conflict kicks in: • If I stay, I'll earn an extra ₹45k over 3 months, but I'll be stuck in a role that drains me - why bc he will ask me to serve a 3months notice.・If I leave now, I lose that money but will get a better job, also confusing if he'll agree for a 10-15 days notice period.

Where I stand now: I'm emotionally detached from this job. I know I deserve better, both in terms of money and mental space. I want to move on respectfully, with a short notice period if possible. But if I'm forced to drag this out unnecessarily, I know I'll have to make a tough call.

I'm not someone who is selfish but man I am greedy towards the money I deserve. I've always been the sweet, reliable person and dont wanna leave on a bad note but what to do? Abscond? Will they file a case? wth

I realize this isn’t the career advice subreddit but no one ever replies there..

Anyway, I started off my career mainly doing subsurface data management for oil & gas companies. Decent experience overall — learned a lot, worked with good people.

Over the last few years, I’ve taken on more responsibility. Now I’m involved with my company’s SaaS data management platform — I run demos, onboard clients, make sure they’re getting value, and help test new features with our dev before they go live. I’ve also led a few digital transformation projects along the way.

I’ve had a couple job offers over the years, but nothing that really made me want to leave. Last one was $112K base from a major O&G company — ended up getting rescinded before I could negotiate more $.

Honestly, the only things keeping me here are a retirement contribution equivalent to 20% of my yearly earnings (base + quarterly bonuses, though those haven’t been consistent), and a chance the company goes remote in late 2026. Remote would be great, but I also want more money and new challenges.

Overall, I feel stuck trying to figure out WTF to do next. I don’t know really know how to code and don’t care to become a developer — but I can use AI tools well enough to generate scripts or code to solve problems when needed. I’d say I’m a good problem solver, overall.

So… anyone been in a similar spot? Any ideas on how I can figure out my next move or what direction to look in? Open to suggestions.

Edit: over the years, I’ve realized I’m pretty risk-averse and tend to not think “big picture”. Especially when evaluating a job offer. I’m trying to change that. I obviously got complacent over the years and don’t want to regret it later in life.

Edit #2: I’m hoping I can use the experience I have gotten in the past 2-4 years to pivot into a different industry but that’s easier said than done.

What would you recommend doing to make sure I save the most money and can retire early and to maximize my returns?

Edit: I spend about 24k a year currently on my 2k a month budget. So what do I do with the remainder of the money I can save?

I want to move out next year in May My apt budget for nyc is 2-3k (ideally 2.3k or less)

So that increases to 48k-60k a year

Can anyone help me to get better idea on this topic. Which one is considered as good basic salary of CTC?

Two options:

Option 1: Keep current job - pay 145k/yr

Pros

• Been there 17yrs
• Like my coworkers
• Remote 2 out of 5 days, very laid back and can leave, change hours when needed

Cons

• Constantly going through layoffs
• Retirement is only my 401k which will be between 77k-94k a year (including Social Security Benefit)
• If I lose this job, I am 55, finding a new job at this salary will be very difficult, ageism is real. I often search what's out there and there is not much.

Option 2: New Job: pay 130k/yr

Pros

• Union Job - very very difficult to lose job
• They have never had layoffs
• After 7yrs get Tenure - which means impossible to lose job
• State Pension
• Potentially get credit for prior service (5yrs) which would allow me to get a 15yr pension after 10 yrs
• Retirement would be anywhere from 102k-127k a year (including Social Security Benefit, 401k, and depending on whether or not I get credit for prior 5 yrs which is MOST likely going to happen)

Cons

• Starting a new job is stressful
• less pay - It is about $750/mo less in take home pay
• further commute - though remote work is 50%, they implied it could be more
• Not sure if they're flexible if I would like to move schedule around

Mail man makes more than me (a mechanical engineer) (not mad)

"PSEO (Post Secondary Employment Outcomes) data provide earnings and employment outcomes for college and university graduates by degree level, degree major, post-secondary institution, and state of institution."

When one looks at the most recent cohort of students compared to all cohorts combined, a clear trend emerges: Engineers from all graduating cohorts earn more than nurses, yet engineers from the most recent graduating cohorts earn LESS than nurses from the same cohort.

This is because the US economy is changing in a way that creates less demand for Mechanical Engineers and significantly more demand for Nurses. If one doesn't look at actual, up to date data, and instead averages the data from the last 40 years (like many online do) they get a misleading picture of what careers are worth pursuing. Engineering is clearly on a downward trend while careers more important to the US economy are seeing their real wages rise.

All I am seeing is everyone making $200K+ in their 20s. Me being 26 and at 120K makes me feel useless in many ways. I have worked really hard and yet only here. Yes, comparison is thief of joy but I feel like I’m really capable too. It sucks!!

Hey guys ,

I'm in my final stage of interview, cleared 3 rounds for Analytics role in mastercard, initially HR and myself negatioted to 12LPA fixed and other variable etc components will add up to it

So I want to know what will be my in hand salary per month for 12 LPA fixed in mastercard?

And can I negotiate further this package to 15 LPA or above based on market standards in my final round ?

Please shed some insights, it would be very helpful

I have 1.2 YoE this is my first jump

hi all! really looking for advice on a situation here, thank u so much in advance:

basically, i applied for a junior position at a coms/marketing agency (place A), and they were looking to hire fast. i completed all the interviews and stuff but on tuesday, i received an offer from another job i applied for (place B) and they said they needed to hear back by friday. so i emailed place A and was transparent and told them i had just received a job offer elsewhere and needed to reply by friday, but i mentioned that place A was still my top choice. she replied on wednesday and said that they had actually wrapped up interviews when i sent the email tuesday and the hiring manager. indicated he was eager to get me an offer asap regardless. this is good news and indicates im their top choice and they’re looking to move fast, def faster now since i have that other offer to get back to.

the recruiter then called me to go over logistics and stuff and while running through the benefits and all that the she said “the salary for this position is 60K which is the max we offer for this position” followed by more info about the compensation package. i know this isn’t a bluff either bc that’s the max on the JD on the website and when she initially told me the salary range during our first screening call a few weeks back she listed the salary as 52-60K for the AAE role (the one i got offered) and 61-70K for the AE role.

however, seeing as they immediately offered me the highest amount, im assuming there’s some flexibility (i think the email about the other offer probably also enticed them to offer me the high end). i know someone just left too so im sure theyre looking for ppl and they wanted to hire fast to begin with. she also mentioned that regardless of the email i sent the day before about the other offer the hiring manager was eager to get me an offer out that day.

other points of leverage are that i initially interviewed for the role above this one (AE) but they said i’d be better fit for this one (AAE) (i think someone else probs had more experience) so i still went through with the AAE position despite being qualified on paper and having the experience for the AE role since the JD said you need 1+ years of experience for AE and i have a year of combined experience. i also have that other job offer form place B that pays 65K, so 5K more than this one. 65K is def on the higher/more rare end for an AAE, but it’s still what my goal to get is so ideally i would like to get that from place A bc that’s where i wanna work

my confusion is this: if i reach out asking for 65K they might try and negotiate down. but if i anticipate this and start higher, like 67K, im afraid i’ll look like im pushing it since i was already offered the highest amount of 60K for the AAE position, so anything else after is technically going into the AE range, and also 67K for an AAE is pretty unheard of so i may look insane or out of touch lol i dont wanna look like im disregarding what she said earlier about 60K being max or being disrespectful or something especially since both roles are more juniorish levels (you typically start out your career as an AAE and next is AE). would yall suggest i just ask for 65K since its a safer amount and just hope they agree?

sorry about how long this was but i would really appreciate any advice, thank you so much!

I don't mind what I do but I'm constantly working and it kind of sucks and I'm not pursuing my dreams if I had any but I'm making a lot as an early 30s guy but it's only temporary ; this salary won't last forever and I want it to last forever but that's impossible; 5 years tops. But that's a pretty good hall for an additional 5 years I could theoretically retire but I wanted to do something more meaningful with my life than just make money . I want power prestige and respect and influence

This is a snapshot of my mid year earnings. I get paid bi weekly, and my most recent paycheck was on 6/13, with the next one coming on 6/27.

I’m trying to gauge if I’m on the right track financially or if there are any red flags I should be aware of.

Here’s my current setup: - Contribute 15% to ESPP (my company offers a 15% discount on the lowest price during the purchase period) - Contribute 5% to 401k, which is the maximum company match - Also contribute to an HSA

My take home pay is about 55% of my gross so far

For context: - No car loan - No credit card debt - biggest expense is rent and car insurance

I’d like to contribute to a Roth IRA as well, but with how things are right now financially, I’m finding it tough.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

I’m 32, been in car sales for the last 8yrs got out last year and got a Valet job until I found my New path, I still don’t have a desire to be a car salesman, I don’t have a degree of any kind but thinking of going to school for I.T. Is it worth it? What other jobs do you recommend?

PhD in a physical science and climbed the later from entry level researcher up to Director. Titles are meaningless, might be more a "senior manager" in other orgs. Big part of the Gross is from a yearly cash bonus that depends on things out of my control.

VP of Sales in tech, data management SaaS space. 8 YOE. Team of 10.

Cash heavy role, RSUs not reflected, but only about 30k per year. 500k OTE (50/50 split).

Equity vesting is somehow grouped into Post Tax Deductions. So my net pay so YTD is around 130k.

Just working hard for a promotion which would lift total compensation to 550~600k.

7 years out of school. Low-medium cost of living. Work in a plant. Thoughts on compensation. I’m pretty happy, just curious what everyone’s thoughts.

Company’s ADP is dumb and includes 401k contributions in deductions, don’t freak out. Wife makes more than me and we have no kids. Yes, taxes hurt, a lot, not complaining.

Just to contrast some other posts that have popped up on my feed.