Bro there are PLENTY of stupid people that make 100K from having family connections/church connections etc.

Tfw today is first payday of the year and you already payed $1885 in taxes

I'm mostly surrounded by white collar professionals, business owners, and tradesmen(lol) who've been working in their industries for a while. Most are making over 100k. I'm sorry that upsets you, and I don't understand why it would.

This might be hard to wrap your mind around, but we are different people in different areas who have different social circles. Where I am from, 100k is a very average salary.

It doesnt upset me but your initial statement that you KNOW more people making $100k than not is just not true. Id be willing to bet that even isnt true for Bill Gates.
Trust me, I roll in a circle that does ok for themselves. If we talking $100k, they are ussually talking about a month's salary nvm a year. And still all those people still know more people making less than $100k than more.

So that I can spell it out for you let me give you just 1 example. One of my best friends is a partner in an imaging practice. Hes a radiologist by trade but moved more towards the business side these days. All his colleagues are big hitters. Like I said, when they are talking about $100k they mean a month or biweekly....not a year.

He interacts on a daily basis with admin staff, people that deal with insurance, rad techs etc that all make less than $100k/year. For every 1 person I know making more than $100k/year, I bet I could tell you 20+ that make less.

The key here is you used the term "know" which universally means you know of this person and that they exist. What you were PROBABLY meaning is your close circle of friends all make $100k more so than less which is FAR DIFFERENT from "knowing" someone.

It depends on your definition of 'know'.

Imo, it's a difference of 'know' (what Jester is referring to) and 'know of' (what it seems like you are referring to).

Making $100k is easily reachable depending on your choice of career, profession, location, etc.
I hit that when I was 32 and some people did that a lot earlier. But the real challenge is after that.

I've been above that marker for 10 years and its been up and down depending on the job/employer.
Now I wonder if I'll ever hit $200k lol. Hell I haven't even hit 150. Came close once and now I feel like I'm moving backwards.

I'm pretty sure I'll hit $200k if I decide to go back abroad though. But I got no plans.

On forums, it's a form of survivorship bias. The ones who "made it" and make 100k+ are also the ones that are most likely to post, whereas the guys who haven't made it there yet continue to creep and lurk until they do make it. That all adds up to this weird feeling that everyone is fronting and e-statting. There might be some of that, sure, but it's very likely that these guys do indeed make that amount, but are still a fraction of the greater forum population.

It helps to be conscious of this bias whenever it comes to especially financial success. Business ventures, stock picking, real estate etc. all suffer from this bias greatly. You almost never hear from the dudes these paths have left dead and bloodied along the way. Not to say they lack legitimacy; it just projects the illusion that it's "easy" and that these guys somehow got there without a mix of great knowledge and/or good fortune.

Where ur making the 100k is also important here. 100k in oaklamhoma, ballin. 100k in LA, barely able to eat. I'm at 60k in Boston at 24, I feel very average. Need to get to 100k+

Thats right, it all boils down to communication. Here is the formal definition of "know" as it pertains to people: be familiar or friendly with.

With that, i still hold you would be hard pressed to find someone that knows more people that make $100k than dont.

there are multiple articles on personal finance that agree with 75k being the "comfortable number" obvi not if you live in SF or SD or NYC though but 75k you will live very comfortably in most cities and every dollar you make after 75k won't have much impact on your life

Thats because middle class is $100k brah, even interns that are 19 make that much, see below:





Summer INTERN PAY:

This is also a very important factor. I make right around the magic 100k mark as well, but I had to move to DC to do it. In terms of cost of living, it's a comfortable salary, but certainly not what it would buy you in the Midwest or South.

100K for under age of 35 is top 1% in the US


Holy moly you are ignorant - and I made 158K last year and I'm willing to post a paystub to prove it. The difference is I'm not a delusional idiot

Do you get a bumper sticker with this??!!

NY - so Burger King or McDonalds line cook?







jk jk

Just LMAO at stating how much you make before tax. It's the money that you have in your pocket that counts not what you pay to the government.

lol you are the 1% bud. Dont even act like $100k is a lot, you are pulling in $350-400k these days and even you act like you are broke, why? Because even $400k is still middle class, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Imagine living on $60K?

Nobody talks salary/pay after taxes, there are so many different factors involved here. Pre-tax pay is much simpler and generally gives a good glimpse into salary.

Same reason they all say they have an 8" cawk. Because they're measuring from their a$$hole.

On paper yes...but that 200k/year spending chart is so true. Keep in mind I have a 6200/month debt payment (one of many - but this is the largest) which takes a lot of income pre-tax to support making that payment comfortably. Once it's paid off, then let the good times roll.....

That would be the definition I would go with, yet still I disagree with you. Depending on your social circle, it isn't all that unlikely to know people who all make around that amount, especially if you earn that much as well. That is how a lot of social circles develop anyways, right? People you work with tend to make around the same amount, you become friends? You live in a neighborhood that has a certain price point, everyone who lives there makes at least a certain amount?

I get what youre saying, but the guy is correct. If you live in SF, for example, your friends and coworkers are likely all making 100k+. This puts you in the position of knowing more folks making 6figs than not.

You have to understand though that the salary figures are meaningless. I work in SF only to take amtrak to my home in the valley. It's better to earn $50k in sacramento than $100k in SF.

So many people are ignorant of the high salaries in certain areas that sound good on a forum but are straight terrible in real life.

I also agree with this


I make 150K in the midwest. I live a better quality of life than a lot of people making 350K in NYC or San Fran


So many people are stupid and are just impressed by a really big number

i pay about that much in taxes

You live in NY...you basically make $50k everywhere else in the country.

Well nobody in europe talks like that. Care to enlighten me how much actual money is 100k.

Lets be honest, even $100k in west des moines isnt that great, that area is basically all $300k++ houses in decent areas nowadays...but its the best area in Des Moines for the time being....

You are failing to understand that your immediate social circle compared to the world you "know" are drastically different. My gardner, my garderner's wife, my nanny, my nanny's three grown children, the 4 grown children of my dry cleaner, all of my trainers across my gyms, most of the people doing administrative work for our consulting firm, the guy that changes the oil in my daily driver, the kids who bag the groceries at the supermaket i go to, the people that work at the smoothie king etc. And thats just naming people that arent in my PROFESSIONAL circle. But think about it, as a professional, for every person that is a high salary employee, they collaborate and interact with a team that doesnt make their salary. Top sales execs have admins, travel consultants, inside sales teams, inside sales managers, server related folks, project managers, etc that all dont make over $100k on average. So any way you slice it, unless you are running an online business that takes very little interaction AND you are a social recluse, odds are you know more people that make less than $100k than do.

According to the us census bureau only 6 percent of individuals in america over the age of 18 makes 100k or more and for some reason that 6 percent decide to open an account on the misc, isnt that just amazing.

I worked and lived in SF for the greater part of 5 years. I stayed at the St Regis on 3rd and Mina, if you know the city then you know the building. I get what you are saying but what I am saying is if you are just talking about your friends, colleagues and family then YES, easily. But if you are talking about everyone you KNOW.....look up the definition, then no....not a chance in hell....not even in SF.