Why are DCUM salaries so much higher than in "real life"?

[Anonymous]

I know DC is a HCOL area so salaries are higher than normal, but the $400K-$2M salaries that are often bandied about here are so unreal to me. I can only think of three possibilities to explain this:

1) DCUM is a congregation that specifically attracts this small subset of high earners

2) These salaries are more common than I think, and they simply go unnoticed because people generally don't talk about money openly

3) People are lying liars who lie about their income.

Which is it?

[Anonymous]

I confess. I lie here. And I lie on other forums. Why do I lie? - Mainly to not give too much identifying detail
- Sometimes to crowdsource info because DCUM is also a great place to get info and advice
- Sometimes to give good and relevant info to DCUM
- Sometimes to shut up some annoying posters

But yes, mainly the top three.

[Anonymous]

Maybe a little 3, but mostly 1 and 2.

Most families I know with two working parents make at least $400k. Plus there are TONS of lawyers. Some entrepreneurs and executives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know DC is a HCOL area so salaries are higher than normal, but the $400K-$2M salaries that are often bandied about here are so unreal to me. I can only think of three possibilities to explain this:

1) DCUM is a congregation that specifically attracts this small subset of high earners

2) These salaries are more common than I think, and they simply go unnoticed because people generally don't talk about money openly

3) People are lying liars who lie about their income.

Which is it?

Almost every person who posts on this site is lying and exaggerating. There is another current post in Money and Finance on having a 15 year vs. 30 year mortgage. What’s interesting there, is that every sound and conservative advisor knows that a 15 year mortgage is the way to go. Yet on DCUM, there is a high concentration of vehement opposition to a 15 year and support for a 30 year. This makes no sense for a group that is allegedly pulling in $500K+ in HHI. People on here know enough to lie about HHI, net worth, and home values. But, they’re not smart enough to know about the less obvious wealth revealing indicators. I especially like the ones in their mid-30s they already have 1M+ in their 401k and retirement plans. A near impossibility given federal limits on annual contributions. They’re just to dumb to know this isn’t possible.

[Anonymous]

It’s pretty much my normal. I have one kid in private school and one in public. We live in a neighborhood where houses are around 1M and both DH and I work in tech sales. I hardly know anyone who isn’t high income. Mainly just my sister and in laws have a middle class income. However my social circle which pulls from prior jobs, kids schools, travel sports, and my tennis and golf groups all are high income.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know DC is a HCOL area so salaries are higher than normal, but the $400K-$2M salaries that are often bandied about here are so unreal to me. I can only think of three possibilities to explain this:

1) DCUM is a congregation that specifically attracts this small subset of high earners

2) These salaries are more common than I think, and they simply go unnoticed because people generally don't talk about money openly

3) People are lying liars who lie about their income.

Which is it?

Almost every person who posts on this site is lying and exaggerating. There is another current post in Money and Finance on having a 15 year vs. 30 year mortgage. What’s interesting there, is that every sound and conservative advisor knows that a 15 year mortgage is the way to go. Yet on DCUM, there is a high concentration of vehement opposition to a 15 year and support for a 30 year. This makes no sense for a group that is allegedly pulling in $500K+ in HHI. People on here know enough to lie about HHI, net worth, and home values. But, they’re not smart enough to know about the less obvious wealth revealing indicators. I especially like the ones in their mid-30s they already have 1M+ in their 401k and retirement plans. A near impossibility given federal limits on annual contributions. They’re just to dumb to know this isn’t possible.

NP here. I haven't read the "15 year mortgage" thread but I can tell you this: while it may be true that every "conservative" advisor knows that a 15 year mortgage is the "way to go," not every "sound" financial advisor thinks that way. There are many "sound" ways to use mortgage financing and for many wealthy people a 30 year mortgage makes sense.

I've lied and exaggerated about things on DCUM but have been very accurate and precise about my income. I retired early, but when I was working I made very good money -- I averaged over $700k my last ten years on the job -- and I never even considered a 15 year mortgage. I will agree, though, they many posters likely lie about the size of their retirement portfolios and net worth. It's very hard for folks in their 30s and even 40s to accumulate assets along the lines being described here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe a little 3, but mostly 1 and 2.

Most families I know with two working parents make at least $400k. Plus there are TONS of lawyers. Some entrepreneurs and executives.

This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know DC is a HCOL area so salaries are higher than normal, but the $400K-$2M salaries that are often bandied about here are so unreal to me. I can only think of three possibilities to explain this:

1) DCUM is a congregation that specifically attracts this small subset of high earners

2) These salaries are more common than I think, and they simply go unnoticed because people generally don't talk about money openly

3) People are lying liars who lie about their income.

Which is it?

Or 4) few high income SHAMs posting all day while husbands are working

[Anonymous]

I think most of us with more “regular” salaries just aren’t talking about them on DCUM. We are talking about other things.

[Anonymous]

Why lie? It’s anonymous. I’ve posted before about “my” salary but I pretty much say it’s my husbands. He is of course too busy making money and networking to post/read dcum. (He thinks it’s just a bunch of bored housewives. Ha!) But yes, he makes 7 figures, as a financial services exec. That does include stock, cash, and bonuses. He would admit that he didn’t know how much money was out there, until he got promoted/new jobs or himself having to offer competing salaries to bring in new talent. But at least 150 people at his company make more than what he does.

Companies offer people what they think they will accept. My DH advice for his latest jobs was “whatever they offer you don’t say yes and get happy because it’s 20% more than you make now. Because that’s their lowball. They will go higher”

People just don’t talk about salaries enough. this is why I love DCUM. But if the rest of you are lying…..

[Anonymous]

I’ve never lied about salary or net worth. We have apparently low salaries for the area (HHI is about $180k but salary alone is $160k, net worth $2.8m or so).

But I also have absolutely zero idea how much my friends and neighbors make. I’m amazed that you all seem to know. How could you possibly know? I do know that our mortgage is very low compared to others living in $1.2m houses around us. We are also frugal.

[Anonymous]

I live in Houston. The salaries seem to be just as high here. DH and I are both making more than we were in DC.

[Anonymous]

Having a spouse who was in 3 different Biglaw firms (and being a lawyer myself). I can say that the salaries in the 4-1mil+ range don't surprise me at all. And there are many tech firms with people with high salaries. We just went from 500 to 900 HHI and may start breathing more easily, but when we had a HHI of 500, I often wondered who was buying the 2.5-3mil houses and driving Range Rovers, because we weren't capable of that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know DC is a HCOL area so salaries are higher than normal, but the $400K-$2M salaries that are often bandied about here are so unreal to me. I can only think of three possibilities to explain this:

1) DCUM is a congregation that specifically attracts this small subset of high earners

2) These salaries are more common than I think, and they simply go unnoticed because people generally don't talk about money openly

3) People are lying liars who lie about their income.

Which is it?

Almost every person who posts on this site is lying and exaggerating. There is another current post in Money and Finance on having a 15 year vs. 30 year mortgage. What’s interesting there, is that every sound and conservative advisor knows that a 15 year mortgage is the way to go. Yet on DCUM, there is a high concentration of vehement opposition to a 15 year and support for a 30 year. This makes no sense for a group that is allegedly pulling in $500K+ in HHI. People on here know enough to lie about HHI, net worth, and home values. But, they’re not smart enough to know about the less obvious wealth revealing indicators. I especially like the ones in their mid-30s they already have 1M+ in their 401k and retirement plans. A near impossibility given federal limits on annual contributions. They’re just to dumb to know this isn’t possible.

Actually, when your income is that high and the mortgage rates were as low as they were recently, it made total sense to go with a 30 year mortgage. At that level of income, your home is a small part of your wealth and you should be aiming to keep things flexible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know DC is a HCOL area so salaries are higher than normal, but the $400K-$2M salaries that are often bandied about here are so unreal to me. I can only think of three possibilities to explain this:

1) DCUM is a congregation that specifically attracts this small subset of high earners

2) These salaries are more common than I think, and they simply go unnoticed because people generally don't talk about money openly

3) People are lying liars who lie about their income.

Which is it?

Almost every person who posts on this site is lying and exaggerating. There is another current post in Money and Finance on having a 15 year vs. 30 year mortgage. What’s interesting there, is that every sound and conservative advisor knows that a 15 year mortgage is the way to go. Yet on DCUM, there is a high concentration of vehement opposition to a 15 year and support for a 30 year. This makes no sense for a group that is allegedly pulling in $500K+ in HHI. People on here know enough to lie about HHI, net worth, and home values. But, they’re not smart enough to know about the less obvious wealth revealing indicators. I especially like the ones in their mid-30s they already have 1M+ in their 401k and retirement plans. A near impossibility given federal limits on annual contributions. They’re just to dumb to know this isn’t possible.

I don't think it's impossible to have 1m in retirement, especially if the figures quoted are including spouse as well. I say that because I'm 36 and between my spouse and I, our retirement is in fact over 1m. We've both been maxing out for over 15 years and there's been great stock market appreciation in that time- the 2008 bottom was 666 and even now with the decline, it's trading at 4000- that's a 6x return and even more if someone invested in apple/tech etc.