I got a sizeable raise and am now officially making low six figures and have no one to share my good news with
Hi all. Apologies if this is not allowed here. I know people out there are struggling, but I just want to share my good news with someone.
It's a big milestone of accomplishment in my life, but I feel weird just telling family members or my online friends about it. The only other people who know are my coworkers because we all got the same raise. Money doesn't go as far nowadays due to crazy inflation post COVID and my area has higher cost of living than where I grew up, but I'm still very happy about this. I remember back when I used to only make minimum wage. All those years of schooling eventually made their way back to me. I'll never make as much money as someone like a doctor, but it's definitely enough for me to live comfortably as a single person.
Anyway, I'll delete this in a bit (or sooner if it gets removed by a mod), but I hope you guys out there have a good weekend.
Edit: Thank you guys very much :)
Edit 2: Jeez there are so many more comments than I expected. You guys are so nice!!
Congrats! The trick is to not increase your spending, and take the excess and either save it or invest it. Remember: just because you can afford it, does not mean you need it. :)
Instead of investment advice, I'll just say never forget how hard you had it, what it was like to get minimum wage, and remember there are always hard workers being paid less then you that also deserve a shot. You did the work, be proud of what you've achieved. But probably don't get into specifics with family, people get weird about money.
Hey nice! My father has always told me that his biggest regret was not maxing out what he was allowed to put into retirement. You don’t care when you’re young, but it makes a HUGE difference for the second half of your life!
Congratulations! As someone who moved countries and started at the bottom ($6 per hour and 15 hours days) I know the feeling of looking back with disbelief. Sounds like you really earned it!
Congrats! Some unsolicited money advice I wish I had known earlier in my career:
If you have a mortgage and the interest rate is less than 7ish percent and you're wanting to pay it early, something to consider:
You might put whatever extra you were planning into a Roth IRA until it's maxed and also max out your 401k if your employment has that. Historical yield is 7ish% and compound interest will help you immensely 20-30 years down the line.
Paying off the house early is nice feeling but you can possibly refinance for lower rates later if it's currently similar to or higher than historical investment yields. You could also do a little bit of both but prioritizing retirement accounts is the smarter move imo. So if your mortgage rate is 5% and you want to pay that down, you're leaving 2% on the table by not putting it into either an IRA or an index fund instead.
This is assuming you're not carrying other debts at higher rates like credit cards, those should be your priority. Next would be 3 months of all bills saved up, you can find some decent interest rates on savings accounts. I have Acorns and it's at 5% so the 3 months reserves will stack interest for you too.
If I can pass along some advice, be careful with your newfound money. Try to live at or below your current means, and get more into saving and investing your extra income. Your future self will be extremely grateful.
I went from earning $12 under the table to 6 figures in 5 years. It's a really major change. Once you have a year or two of that, and enough saved to survive basically any adversity, you realize how stressful your life was before.
Some unsolicited advice:
Budget. I've never been good at it, so this is my strategy:
I Keep two months' basic expenses in checking account. Food, gas, rent, phone, internet, insurance, loans.
At the end of the month I transfer the remaining money to 3 accounts: 1/4 to long-term savings (this was initially my 3-month emergency fund, but turned into something more blended with a 3-month reserve). 1/4 to short-term savings (travel, gifts, clothes, fun). 1/2 to investments (stocks, ETFs, etc).To start out, all the money went into the long-term account. Having 3-month's savings is the true key to both feeling safe and avoiding credit card debt.
That's it. Literally. If I transfer less money at the end of the month, I either overspent or had some annual "surprise," like auto registration, Prime bill, etc. If I transfer more, it was a successful month.
You can share it with me! I have to pay $1100 before the end of the month or end up in court over fines I gotta pay for a crime I didn't do. I could eat more than rice and tuna with some of that good news.
It's weird to feel like you're earning too much. It sounds like you are earning what Homer Simpson, Red Foreman, and Hank Hill all make. That is, enough to feed a family of four. They only had high school diplomas. Sure, they're fictional, but that story was real.
Sit and bask in that feeling for a while, you literally earned it. Job fulfilment is a big one. We spend a very significant chunk of our time working so this is a major bucket list item to check off.
Six figure incomes may not be as impressive as they once were, sure, but many of us may never make that much. Don't downplay it. This is still a great accomplishment, and you are rightfully proud. I hope you are able to enjoy it. Remember, you work to live, not live to work. Vacation days and other benefits are part of your total compensation, and none of it matters a whit unless you use all of your salary and benefits on things that make you and the people you care about happy and healthy.
Dude, I feel a lot of what you're saying. I spent years making awful wages at terrible jobs, then fell ass-backwards into a six-figure career. The whiplash is really hard going from thinking you'll die young and poor into having more than you know what to do with.
With that being said, I have advice to share if you're interested in such things:
Six figures isn't rich, but it certainly is more than enough. After this point, finding even more money isn't really going to make you much happier, so start prioritizing other important gains you can make in your career (hours,
day-to-day job satisfaction)
Focus on improving emotional intelligence. You can afford stuff now, so you can no longer hide behind notions like "this stuff isn't for poor people like me" -- you need to find actual reasons to say no to things and that requires the skill of knowing why you want something.
Lots of problems can be solved with money, but you have to be super careful about it or you'll just end up wrecking yourself! Feeling mixed up? Don't buy self-help books -- get therapy. Feeling lonely? Don't buy friends -- take some classes at the local community center. Feeling self-conscious? Don't get a face-lift -- hire a personal trainer and maybe a stylist.
Money guilt is real and it's OK. Use that feeling to keep yourself down on Earth. Obviously look out for #1 first -- pay off bad debt, max out your 401k, set aside enough cash to max out your insurance deductibles and still live a few months without income -- once you've done that, dial back on the money hoarding. Be better than the assholes who kept you down: tip well, give back to the people who make the things you love, be charitable. Sharing is caring.