Yes because I am married (dink) and my boss is widowed. But it doesn't matter in any way I can tell. I don't know how our net worth compares but our lives are so different. We each seem to have what we need and some extras...pets, vacations, etc.

I think my boss sometimes feels the need to buy lunch for his direct reports because he is the boss, but his spouse is SAH and I think most of us direct reports have a higher HHI. I wish he didn’t feel the need to pay the bill so often.

Yall are actually so obnoxious.

Who cares if your family makes more than your boss? If you suck as a human and are annoying, you'll be dealt with in the professional environment. If you don't tie your sense of person to an arbitrary dollar figure, you'll be fine.


How do you guys function in life?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, DH very successful.

I am very careful to not talk about our large house, try not to mention that my kids are in private school, deliberately drive a Honda and not a luxury car (and never drive DH’s car to the office), and never invite my colleagues to my house. I think all of those things would reflect that we have significantly more income than my boss and my coworkers and would make me feel awkward to show them.

Or just be an adult and drive whatever car you want. This is just bizarre.

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, DH very successful.

I am very careful to not talk about our large house, try not to mention that my kids are in private school, deliberately drive a Honda and not a luxury car (and never drive DH’s car to the office), and never invite my colleagues to my house. I think all of those things would reflect that we have significantly more income than my boss and my coworkers and would make me feel awkward to show them.

Or just be an adult and drive whatever car you want. This is just bizarre.

+1. Is your work wardrobe like a ripped t-shirt and a skirt made out of reusable target bags?

Maybe? I have never thought about it until now. My boss himself makes a lot more than I do, but I don't know if his wife works full-time or what she does if she does work.

My husband doesn't have a crazy high income job though. We each make about $200k. I spend very little time thinking about how much my coworkers' spouses might make. Everyone seems to have a spouse with a job in a similar range to what people make at my org. If someone has a spouse who makes a lot more, they don't talk about it.

Anonymous wrote:Yes, DH very successful.

I am very careful to not talk about our large house, try not to mention that my kids are in private school, deliberately drive a Honda and not a luxury car (and never drive DH’s car to the office), and never invite my colleagues to my house. I think all of those things would reflect that we have significantly more income than my boss and my coworkers and would make me feel awkward to show them.

Or just be an adult and drive whatever car you want. This is just bizarre.

Yes, DH very successful.

I am very careful to not talk about our large house, try not to mention that my kids are in private school, deliberately drive a Honda and not a luxury car (and never drive DH’s car to the office), and never invite my colleagues to my house. I think all of those things would reflect that we have significantly more income than my boss and my coworkers and would make me feel awkward to show them.

I make 4-5x what my boss makes. He is useless. I talk to him maybe once a year.

Not me but our department’s admin makes more than the head of the department. Her husband is high up in software sales and they live in a multi million dollar house. She took a few years out of the workforce to raise her kids and now works this job. I definitely respect her because I think she probably makes like 10% tops what her husband and she’s still working full time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine probably is because we're feds, so the space between one grade level is not huge, and my boss's spouse passed away. Since we both have small children, I'm sure that's even harder than the slightly lower HHI my boss deals with. It's not awkward, it's life. I don't get this thread.

I know! And plenty of people have family money or have had to take out loans for college or are advantaged/disadvantaged financially in ways not reflected in their w-2 pay. My boss worked at multiple startups pre-IPO and was in the c-suite before stepping back due to her husband dying and needing to raise her young child on her own. She seems financially savvy but I know very little about her finances and I don’t care to. Information about wealth complicates professional relationships. Unless you are close enough for someone at work to tell you this information themselves you really have no business trying to find it out yourself and even if you can guesstimate HHI you likely don’t have the entire financial picture.

+1

This is true of personal and professional relationships - no one ever owes ANYONE an explanation of their finances. To ask only shows that side of you, and it is not pretty.

Anonymous wrote:Mine probably is because we're feds, so the space between one grade level is not huge, and my boss's spouse passed away. Since we both have small children, I'm sure that's even harder than the slightly lower HHI my boss deals with. It's not awkward, it's life. I don't get this thread.

I know! And plenty of people have family money or have had to take out loans for college or are advantaged/disadvantaged financially in ways not reflected in their w-2 pay. My boss worked at multiple startups pre-IPO and was in the c-suite before stepping back due to her husband dying and needing to raise her young child on her own. She seems financially savvy but I know very little about her finances and I don’t care to. Information about wealth complicates professional relationships. Unless you are close enough for someone at work to tell you this information themselves you really have no business trying to find it out yourself and even if you can guesstimate HHI you likely don’t have the entire financial picture.

Mine probably is because we're feds, so the space between one grade level is not huge, and my boss's spouse passed away. Since we both have small children, I'm sure that's even harder than the slightly lower HHI my boss deals with. It's not awkward, it's life. I don't get this thread.

OP just wanted to brag that she bagged a rich husband.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good brag. No one cares. Some value homelife over money. Who is raising your kids?

Don't be an ass hole.

Op - I am raising my kids. Hence my lower paying job. I make $140,000 and have a very flexible family oriented job. I do every drop off and every pick up. I do school field trips and doctor appointments.

DH has a high stress, high paying job.

The other element of this is that your husband's income is not yours -- there is always a risk that you will get divorced and then your HHI will be only your salary, which is lower than your bosses. Your bosses, of course, know this. so any sense of superiority on your part is really playing with hubris, IMO.

This happened to a woman from my old job. She had a hnw husband but I recently saw her on the metro without her ring on headed my way and she didn’t look like herself.