All you with these high-paying jobs!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think a lot of people are exaggerating or rounding up.

This is a lie that you tell yourself to feel better. It’s also because you aren’t hanging out with these people. Look at the houses in our area and how expensive they are. In my neighborhood, the houses range from 1.4 to 3.4 million. The 1.4 million dollar houses are rare. People are working in commercial real estate, finance, doctors, lawyers (big law and lobbyists), and tech.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think a lot of people are exaggerating or rounding up.

They absolutely are. Many have a small base and the rest is variable stuff like bonuses (dependent on company and persona performance, never guaranteed), RSUs (have several years until they're vested, value is not guaranteed), etc.

No, this area is chock full of very high earners. We are a 750k household and I know tons of people with 400k+ HHI.

On VA side, N. Arlington, McLean, Vienna, FCC, Alexandria and areas of Loudoun County have these incomes pretty much in most households. Sure, there are people with these HHI in other towns as well, I just mentioned these towns for real estate prices and where wealth is concentrated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It seems like everyone who discloses their income makes over $200K as an individual/$400K HHI.

I'm sure you realize how exceptional you are, given that even in high-cost, high-income areas, you are the cream of the crop. What exactly is it that you do? Are you all big law partners and plastic surgeons? C-Suite executives? And you have time to trawl around internet forums during the work day?

I felt like I scored when I landed a six-figure job in my early 30s. I still live pretty modestly, especially since I'm single. I make enough to have a condo, a car, and a dog. I still make above the median FAMILY/HOUSEHOLD income in MOCO as a household of one. I have a great job at a great company.

And yet... here you all are making multiples of what I make. And I know there has to be some truth to that, because the cost of SFHs require those kind of incomes. So somebody is making that kind of money, lots of somebodies. I don't feel myself a slouch making $130K at 35, but I don't see myself on track to making $300K anytime soon. In fact, and it could be a degree of imposter-syndrome here, I'm worried that if i ever did get laid off, I'd have trouble finding a similar job for similar pay, and I face the issue that if I continue to get promoted, I'll be too expensive and more likely to be cut. So what are all these uber-lucrative jobs around here? We can't ALL be senior management and executives. Where are all these crazy-paying jobs (and how can I get one?)

OP, you life sounds great. What dog do you have? I'm working for a financial regulator and my H is an executive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m OP and I appreciate all the different answers assuming y’all are honest. And I respect the people who honestly disclose the hard work, grind and hustle it took to get there.

However, I just don’t see the numbers adding up. I’ve been a job seeker and I know the job market. I also know the housing market. By definition, only 1% of us can be the top 1%. Where are all the rest of the middle class people like me hiding? In their small outside-the-beltway condos and used Priuses? I just feel like I’m missing something here. The hidden high paying job market.

1% of 380m is a lot of people and most are in urban metro areas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Me: $155-160K
Him: $600K last year, but should hit over $700k this year

We both work in finance (me - corporate role at a large financial institution and him - private equity).

What does a person who has a corporate role at a bank or other financial institution do exactly?

Nothing. It's just a lot of pointless meetings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You get paid a lot to do things others don’t want to do if you are good at it.
Sales
Long work hours
Travel
Public speaking
Stressful Crisis situation
Hired Gun situation
Jobs that no one wants to do
Working at companies that are not ethical
Getting companies out of trouble
Jobs you know you will be fired from before you take it.

I am there to get paid. I interviewed at Juul for a senior mgt position for instance, I traveled to 26 states and 7 counties for work, worked 60 hour work weeks months on end, spoke at conferences up to 800 people, sold millions in sales, worked private equity, start ups, crypto, takeovers and regulatory issues.

Shameful company, trying to make money off of making our teens addicted to flavored vaping.

There are much more ethical ways to make money, and be able to sleep at night without feeling like you're profiting off of a harmful product.

Any hot thing cyber Jump on bandwagon

The uglier and harder the better. That’s the real secret to high pay.

Juul is a very ethical company as their mission is to get people to transition from smoking. I researched it a lot. I did not get it as layoffs started to happens and position closed.

I am there to get paid, that’s it. The more the better.

Pepsi, McDonalds, Exxon, Amazon are all ruining our health and the planet yet people work there

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You get paid a lot to do things others don’t want to do if you are good at it.
Sales
Long work hours
Travel
Public speaking
Stressful Crisis situation
Hired Gun situation
Jobs that no one wants to do
Working at companies that are not ethical
Getting companies out of trouble
Jobs you know you will be fired from before you take it.

I am there to get paid. I interviewed at Juul for a senior mgt position for instance, I traveled to 26 states and 7 counties for work, worked 60 hour work weeks months on end, spoke at conferences up to 800 people, sold millions in sales, worked private equity, start ups, crypto, takeovers and regulatory issues.

Shameful company, trying to make money off of making our teens addicted to flavored vaping.

There are much more ethical ways to make money, and be able to sleep at night without feeling like you're profiting off of a harmful product.

Any hot thing cyber Jump on bandwagon

The uglier and harder the better. That’s the real secret to high pay.

Juul is a very ethical company as their mission is to get people to transition from smoking. I researched it a lot. I did not get it as layoffs started to happens and position closed.

I am there to get paid, that’s it. The more the better.

Pepsi, McDonalds, Exxon, Amazon are all ruining our health and the planet yet people work there

Yeah too bad they marketed to children with fruity and candy flavors plus it’s addictive.

Sorry Juuls valuation then tanked 95%. Oh well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You get paid a lot to do things others don’t want to do if you are good at it.
Sales
Long work hours
Travel
Public speaking
Stressful Crisis situation
Hired Gun situation
Jobs that no one wants to do
Working at companies that are not ethical
Getting companies out of trouble
Jobs you know you will be fired from before you take it.

I am there to get paid. I interviewed at Juul for a senior mgt position for instance, I traveled to 26 states and 7 counties for work, worked 60 hour work weeks months on end, spoke at conferences up to 800 people, sold millions in sales, worked private equity, start ups, crypto, takeovers and regulatory issues.

Shameful company, trying to make money off of making our teens addicted to flavored vaping.

There are much more ethical ways to make money, and be able to sleep at night without feeling like you're profiting off of a harmful product.

Any hot thing cyber Jump on bandwagon

The uglier and harder the better. That’s the real secret to high pay.

Juul is a very ethical company as their mission is to get people to transition from smoking. I researched it a lot. I did not get it as layoffs started to happens and position closed.

I am there to get paid, that’s it. The more the better.

Pepsi, McDonalds, Exxon, Amazon are all ruining our health and the planet yet people work there

Social media and tech ruined the whole age 2-25 generation. They can’t write, think and they all have adhd. But hey, gotta get heir Roblox, Minecraft, tik tok four-hour fix each day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Me: $155-160K
Him: $600K last year, but should hit over $700k this year

We both work in finance (me - corporate role at a large financial institution and him - private equity).

What does a person who has a corporate role at a bank or other financial institution do exactly?

Another PP, I oversee investments undertaken by my employer on a daily basis to make sure trading activities are not tipping our legal agreements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Me: $155-160K
Him: $600K last year, but should hit over $700k this year

We both work in finance (me - corporate role at a large financial institution and him - private equity).

What does a person who has a corporate role at a bank or other financial institution do exactly?

Another PP, I oversee investments undertaken by my employer on a daily basis to make sure trading activities are not tipping our legal agreements.

AI could replace you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Me: $155-160K
Him: $600K last year, but should hit over $700k this year

We both work in finance (me - corporate role at a large financial institution and him - private equity).

What does a person who has a corporate role at a bank or other financial institution do exactly?

Another PP, I oversee investments undertaken by my employer on a daily basis to make sure trading activities are not tipping our legal agreements.

AI could replace you.

No worries, I have 3.5mm

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH & I are both 40.

My comp as an exec at a mid-cap public company:
$220K base
$90K+ bonus (not guaranteed)
$90K equity

DH’s comp as an in-house lawyer
$300K base
$100K bonus (guaranteed)

To answer your second question, there are plenty of middle class people in this country, even in HCOL areas such as the DMV, and more in LCOL areas such as the South and Midwest.

What’s the point of a guaranteed set bonus? Why not just make his base higher?

The previous poster is correct. By paying some comp in the form of guaranteed bonuses, companies don’t have to pay out if you leave before the bonus.

Also, some bonuses can be clawed back depending on the circumstances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think a lot of people are exaggerating or rounding up.

They absolutely are. Many have a small base and the rest is variable stuff like bonuses (dependent on company and persona performance, never guaranteed), RSUs (have several years until they're vested, value is not guaranteed), etc.

Almost all executive comp is going to be highly weighted toward bonuses and equity.

I have been at my company for 15 years and have never not gotten a bonus. Sure, bonuses can be cut, but so can salary. There is a formula to determine bonuses, so you know the range to expect, and the floor can be quite high. When I post on here, I include the average of my recent annual bonuses.

RSU value is not guaranteed, but it has upside as well as downside. I work for a Dow component with a 9 figure market cap. It is not going to zero anytime soon.

While RSUs vest over multiple years (mine vest over 4), they create a cycle where the amount of new RSUs I get every year is about the same as the amount of existing RSUs that vest. I am aware they tech companies often have RSU vesting cliffs.

It would make no sense for me not to include bonuses and RSUs, as they are about 50% of my W2 income annually.

[Anonymous]

DH and I are 32/33yo

He is a director of operations at an electric trucking company and makes $175k + 10% bonus.

I work as an headhunter (IC) and average $150k-175k per year. He finds out about a raise this month and I'm raising my fees for next year so hopefully we cross the $400k HHI threshold.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Me: $155-160K
Him: $600K last year, but should hit over $700k this year

We both work in finance (me - corporate role at a large financial institution and him - private equity).

What does a person who has a corporate role at a bank or other financial institution do exactly?

Nothing. It's just a lot of pointless meetings.

I’m a VP who runs a large (several thousand person) organization at a huge bank. A sample of what I do.

- Plan and track a 9 figure P&L. I obviously have an FP&A team and controllership helping, but I am hugely involved here.

- To accompany the above, track and manage expenses and baseline them by various volume measures (sales, revenue, customer contacts, website visits, customer accounts, engaged customer accounts, etc). I’m generally asked to reduce in the neighborhood of $25M in expenses each year, and have to create a plan for how to execute that, and then make sure my teams follow through.

- I sometimes get personally involved in customer issues and solving them. I have lots of people who do this, but being directly involved helps me better understand where the gaps are.

- I have lots of KPIs I track, and then Targets to hit. This affects my team’s scorecard, and largely influences my bonus.

- I negotiate large partnerships and contracts with suppliers and third parties. This eats up tons of time, including getting approval to spend hundreds of millions of dollars externally.

- I have to manage through audits and lots of government regulations, and represent my business when working with our legal affairs, compliance, and operational excellence teams.

- I have a number of direct reports, and do the standard people leadership duties there (write reviews, hire & fire, give feedback, choose their bonuses, leadership development, etc).

- I lead huge technology implementations in my business, including integration of generative AI into our internal and external tools, reacting to new industry technology, new chatbots, machine learning in our volume forecasts, etc etc.

- I own a number of products and benefits, and work with our brand management teams to advertise them, Market them, negotiate sponsorships related to them, etc.

The above is honestly just a sample, and I’m sure is missing plenty of key daily tasks.