I'm 53, and nearing retirement having saved a few million dollars, which i consider quite good. When I see people on these forums who are 27 making $350k a year, I'm just amazed.
To give some context, When i was 30, I was fairly successful amongst my friends, living in vhcol city (not as high back then), say 2003, and I think my nw was about $100k, and I made about $95k which i thought was a lot.
it gradually increased maxing out around $250k into my 40's. I didn't know anyone who made over $300k back than, and if there were, it was very unusual. It seems like its very common place nowadays. Is it recent? Or am is it the forums I am on?
Salaries for GenX versus Millenials / Gen Z
byu/Available-Ad-5670 infinancialindependence
Posted by Available-Ad-5670
5 Comments
i think it’s the forums/subs you’re in, and some people get off on inflating their salaries
also, $100k in 2003 is equivalent to about $200k now, i believe
eta: correction, 100k in 2003 dollars is 181k today
It’s likely mostly just selection bias. The kinds of people who frequent finance forums like this and decide to post their salaries will skew to those with higher salaries.
As a whole they’re not the majority, but are over represented in your samples.
I started my career at about 90k in 2005, late, because I’m an immigrant. I was 33. The maximum I ever made was 198k. I hovered between 195-198 the last few years. It’ll be down for the next few years. My base is about 175K so I’ll probably make that in the next couple of years and beyond, if I don’t retire.
My son is 24, and his salary is 201K. I have a PhD in engineering. He has a BA in Artificial Intelligence. I’m happy for him, and proud , and relieved, but a bit baffled on how is this possible. But he lives in San Francisco and I live in Indiana.
These salaries are mostly in tech. Not so much in other sectors.
FWIW, only 3% of households in the US made $300k+ last year. That still comes out to ~4 million households.
I’m only making $125k, which is still top 16%.
The numbers get wacky when you start approaching the top income percentiles.
Selection bias. Salaries are fairly stagnant compared to the cost of living. It has gotten worse over time.