Those of you with 200K+ jobs & are NOT doctors/lawyers: what do you do & how did you find your jobs?

[Anonymous]

I went to plain old public schools, C average, average college C average, average MBA program part time B average.

I worked hard Long hours, got certifications , name brand companies, big four, hot areas, willing to travel.

I save a lot, live cheap. Have several houses and lots of investments.

This year between salary, rental properties and investments I will make 900k. My wife does not work.

Basically work hard, work long hours, get certifications, work name brand companies, move around, work high paying industries and that's it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are university jobs especially appealing to those from lower middle class backgrounds. Went to Wharton undergrad with a guy who grew up on a small farm in the Midwest -- he himself talked about how humble the upbringing was, his parents were only able to visit the campus once at graduation, he only went home once in 4 yrs etc.

Immediately after graduation he went into Big 4 consulting and then when the recession hit in 2008 -- he took up a university job as a budget analyst -- and has been at 2 universities in the last 9 yrs and doesn't seem like he will ever leave the stable job. Now that there are kids, it's all about how his kids will one day be able to go to his (admittedly prestigious) university for a low cost; and how the university has a highly ranked k-12 school where they can go for very nominal tuition. I get it -- the benefits are great - but how is a Wharton grad ok being a budget analyst making 75k (or even a 100k if I'm under estimating) when he could be making 2-3x that and save up for his kids school etc.

When you grow up lower middle class, you are very risk averse. If you screw up or your company screws up there is no safety net. You generally see a private employer as someone who takes advantage of the employee (see how shift workers are screwed by last minute scheduling, or the conflict between management and unions).

So essentially there is always the fear you are one misstep away from poverty with no family to help, and growing up with negative association of private employers who take advantage of lower rung employees. Finally there is aura of education as the path to prosperity -- everyone tells you go to college and you will be set (without any discussion of what to do after college but 'get a good job'), and I think that reverence for education carries over to universities as employers.

I grew up dirt poor and was dirt poor till around 22. I remember, no heat in house, broken cars, no dental, shoes with holes in them etc. poor is what motivates me growing up rich holds you back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to plain old public schools, C average, average college C average, average MBA program part time B average.

I worked hard Long hours, got certifications , name brand companies, big four, hot areas, willing to travel.

I save a lot, live cheap. Have several houses and lots of investments.

This year between salary, rental properties and investments I will make 900k. My wife does not work.

Basically work hard, work long hours, get certifications, work name brand companies, move around, work high paying industries and that's it.

It sounds like you are older. A lot of people had big career bumps working in the 90s; people I know didn't even go to college and made great money, and now are upper management. Likewise a lot of people made a ton of money as realtors, mortgage brokers, house flipping, etc with minimal education during housing bubble.

It sounds like you jumped in some hot industries like that and managed to avoid the crash; but you clearly took huge risks that could have just as easily gone south. I'm guessing you grew up near were you live now?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:My friends and I are all in IT and we all breaks $300k+ easy.

Several of them work from home and they take two 1099 jobs at the same time as one job is just wasting time. They pull in around $350k. That's work smart, not harder.

I on the other hand specialize in a very specific industry and I pull in $400 to $600k depending on the year. Will make around $650k+ this year.

Please elaborate - http://www.businessinsider.com/highest-paying-tech-jobs-in-america-2017-3/#-10

Link me to a single IT job posting on Indeed that pays more than $300k.

That's the 1099 PP point, these are more akin to small business owners. They come into the customer (usually a small business or maybe a smaller agency -- someone without deep IT expertise or knowledge), they sign up for a project or support contract such as implementing an ordering system or setting up AWS document management, nothing really sophisticated totally boiler plate solutions they use over and over again

The secret sauce is to borrow a page from Tim Ferris and outsource most of the technical work to India. Also the connections on landing the contract, ive seen things like one of their big customers son's IT consultantany is used. But not just nepotism but it's a very inefficient marketplace built on who you know which is why prices remain high.

I work at a large IT consulting company. The people making this much money are 1099s charging $150-250/hr. They either have their own company or have a buddy that has a company that handles taxes and invoicing for a small %. The guys that have those companies of 8-15ppl are the ones making the most money for the least hustle / effort. That said, large companies like to use the same contractors over and over and it is hard for someone new to break on. Once you do get a good gig, it's all about keeping the gravy train flowing.

Guys!! The previous poster practically spelled out the recipe for you all! The key here is to "work from home" and "two jobs"! No special connections needed!!!

I'm exactly the same way. No special connections and not a super star by any stretch of imaginations.

Please follow these steps

1. Get your first 1099 / work from home job for say $150k all inclusive. It doesn't matter if it's a bit low. Key here is to work from home! Break away from the bad cycle of stuck at an on-site job.
2. Stay there and get yourself familiarized with the environment, the work, the phone calls and how fast / slow the job moves.
3. Around 4-6 month mark, when you are comfortable and you find yourself watch too much TVs? Find yourself ANOTHER 1099 job BUT ALSO work from home one, preferably a bit higher since you already have one.. you can afford to be a bit picky, say $180k all inclusive.
4. Work on both of them and see how you feel. NO ONE with 1 job works 100% of the time.
5. If one of them start to go south, find a third one, and quit the last one. If you can't handle it, quit the busier one.
6. Rinse and repeat.

Be self-disciplined, don't procrastinate (with two jobs, procrastination comes back to haunt you, trust me), and know how to handle meeting conflicts (rare, but it happens). You get used to it after awhile

For me personally, working 2 jobs for one year, in terms of saving is equivalent to 5-6 years of working if I had just 1 job. 4 years so far for me, I have saved around 20 years worth of saving.

You welcome!!

PP, thank you for this advice. I work from home and will start working a 2nd full time 1099 in September. Please provide advice about how to handle meeting conflicts between the 2 jobs.

uh how do you land the $150k 1099 job without connections. Cold call companies selling your services?

I certainly use connections. I was not seeking this job, it was offered to me.

[Anonymous]

OP, read this - it's true:

"People say money doesn't buy happiness. Except, according to a new study from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School, it sort of does — up to about $75,000 a year. The lower a person's annual income falls below that benchmark, the unhappier he or she feels. But no matter how much more than $75,000 people make, they don't report any greater degree of happiness."
http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2019628,00.html


This study by state:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/17/map-happiness-benchmark_n_5592194.html

[Anonymous]

Software Engineer, large well know software company, they found me

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, read this - it's true:

"People say money doesn't buy happiness. Except, according to a new study from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School, it sort of does — up to about $75,000 a year. The lower a person's annual income falls below that benchmark, the unhappier he or she feels. But no matter how much more than $75,000 people make, they don't report any greater degree of happiness."
http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2019628,00.html


This study by state:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/17/map-happiness-benchmark_n_5592194.html

The 75k number can also be extrapolated as the top 1/3rd of HHI.