If your salary was $150+ before 35, what do you make now

[Anonymous]

At 35 I made $50,000
At 40 I made $90,000
At 45 I made $280,000
At 50 made $380,000

It is not salary at 35 that matters it is resume, degrees, willing to work long hours, travel for work and jump jobs that makes it happen. Which I waited till 35 to do that.

I could have made $150,000 at 35 and got stuck

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I started a business, and do $1mln+ per year now. Most of my friends in their 40s who have a high HHI are the same way -- entrepreneurs.

How hard/long was it to get to cruising altitude and what general field was your business in? Did you have lots of ups and downs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is the year 2019 and we are coming off a ten year BULL Market.

Some older folks had to deal with 1987-1992 (zero raises, lay offs), 2000-2003 (zero raises, lay offs) and 2008-2010) zero raises lay offs.

At your young age of 33 you missed the first two recessions and the 2008 recession as just starting out you were lower paid and new and not in firing line.

Most salary jumps come is splurts and then goes flat in periods. I am older, but in last Boom around 2006 I was right age to make leap to corner office in a new company, I timed it right as the crash came two years later and managed not to get laid off and in 2017 next boom cycle did it again at a new company. It is musical chairs. And a pyramid scheme. For every 55 year old at work there are ten 25-45 year olds. Guess what all the 25-45 year olds will live to 55 except there are not many VP and above jobs in office. You are 37 and cocky, but at 55 when you are making 600K there will be another 37 year old cocky guy to take your job,

Boom. Yes. Many 55-year-olds are underemployed because they didn’t make the right moves or had other issues. Invest now.

My trajectory:
20s: salary rose from $20k to $75k, some bonuses up to $20 k per year
30s: $80k - $120k plus bonuses and stock totaling @ $1M over these years
40s: part time with young kids, salary dropped to $60k
50s: irregular work, illness - salary from $150k to $60k to $30k, $20k, zero


Do NOT keep up with the Jones’s. If I hadn’t invested and saved in my 20s and 30s, I would be screwed. Oh, and husband makes @ $160k.

[Anonymous]

24 - $10,000 (very low cost of living) net worth = $8,000
25 - $18,000 (very low cost of living)
26 - $24,000 (very low cost of living)
27 - $48,000 (medium cost of living)
28 - $53,000 (medium cost of living) net worth = $15,000
29 - $29,000 (high cost of living, in grad school)
30 - $30,000 (high cost of living, partially unemployed)
31 - $15,000 (unemployed most of the year) net worth = 0
32 - $62,000 (had to take a low paying job to get out of unemployment)
33 - $116000 (shit job, but okay pay)
34 - $131,000 (finally back on track) net worth = $133,000

It's depressing to feel so behind, but I feel my trajectory is pretty impressive given the extreme adversity.

[Anonymous]

I made $380k (including bonus; biglaw) at age 31. Now, at age 34, I make about $108k and work part-time at a smaller firm. When my kids are older and I go back full time and make partner, I should be back up in the $250k range.