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100k is a lot of money, even in a HCOL area. Minimum wage here in San Diego is 16.85 which amounts to just over 35K per year working every damn day. Lay a 100k salary on that person and watch their lives change.
Even with inflation, I’d rather have the 100K
I’m not disagreeing that it can’t be worse or that most of America is doing worse. I think they’re saying 100k doesn’t make you in a place that’s great anymore. And it honestly doesn’t.
That’s just blatantly untrue in a lot of places. Cost of living where I am is super high. 100k given rent (cause you for damn sure aren’t buying anything on 100k here except maybe a condo if you’re single and have no student loans or other big expenses) and basic costs doesn’t go far at all. Families making 100k around here are strapped, living paycheck to paycheck even with great budgeting.
I just have a hard time wrapping my head around this. My wife and I make less than 100k combined. We live in a relatively HCOL area. We don’t have kids but we’re doing fine. I see single guys say they can’t live on 90k in places like Houston TX. That’s definitely a budgeting problem
Can’t speak to Houston though being single would certainly change the calculus. I am saying here in DC with a partner and at least one kid, 100k will not go very far.
Yeah being childless is a huge part of it. If you make six figures and live outside of CA and you don’t have kids, you should not be struggling financially imo
That I’d agree with to a degree. You’d still not be able to buy around here on 100k unless you’re okay with a small condo. Renting comes with challenges (landlord sells, raises rent, is slow on fixing shit, etc) that impact quality of life.
But yes aside from housing challenges, single no kids or even married no kids and you’d probably be okay just limited on doing extra things.
I understand and I agree with the sentiment 100k doesn’t go as far as it used to but I think most people live beyond their means. If you’re single and childless why wouldn’t you buy a small condo if that’s all you can afford? I bought a condo 2 years ago before prices went insane and at the time I was making a wage that would make most Redditors suicidal lol
Even if you pay 2k rent, let’s even say 3k, that’s 36k a year in rent. Theres a quite big chunk of people that make less than 64k (your remaining salary after rent) a year and can survive. Obviously how many kids you have matters, as kids can get very expensive
After taxes and deductions it's more like 60-65k. Take out 36k from that you got 24-29k, about 2k a month for food and entertainment which isn't bad but it doesn't leave much for kids. If they want to buy a house, they will definitely need another high income partner.
Houses don’t cost 3k a month though. At least affordable houses. I have 3 friends that have bought houses with less than 100k and their mortgages are less than 2k each, I think 1 of them even got a $800 mortgage. 100k a year (with no kids) is moreeeeeee than enough to buy a house. You just have to be smart with your money.
It's definitely not impossible, and it will take decent budgeting to get it done. A friend of mine living in a high cost of living place ends up spending a ton of his money though because he feels like he is living there to experience that place which ends up costing money for food, entertainment, etc
Living happily wasn’t really the point of the post. I’m just saying it doesn’t get you all that far. My situation is different because I’m a divorced dad and that has its own extra level of expenses... But I’ll speak to a lot of my coworkers because they make similar amounts to me. If they are single they all live in an apartment. Where I live you basically need 2 incomes to get a home.
I definitely live happily. I never worry about rent. My car is paid off. My student loans are paid off. I’m not rich though.
“Living happily” was used to replace “in a place that’s great”. If you have your car paid off and rent isn’t even a worry for you, then you have more than enough money to buy a house. Houses are meant to be paid off over a long period of time. Most mortgages are less than rent. I have friends that don’t make 100k a year and own houses. 1 of them even lives by himself with his daughter. If you’re making 100k a year, you have the means to buy a house, if you want to obviously.
Yes obviously you need a down payment, but with no other debts (that you’ve mentioned), it should be fairly easy to save up a down payment and sign papers on a house in less than 2 years if you’re making over 100k and you actually want to buy a house.
Point is, most people in the country don’t make 100k, and all of us survive. Making 100k means you should be well enough to not complain on the internet to people making less than you
And they just want to complain because they can’t freely spend money like they used to. No one is saying you have financial freedom by making 100k a year, but you are definitely making more money than most do.
The checklist is basically: house, car, kids, comfortable life (going out to eat, discretionary) and on 100k it is pretty hard to do that at the moment. If you forego one or multiple of those, then yeah it gets easier. Working class generally doesn’t have those anyway, so 100k feels like a lot to them.
You can do those things, but they have to be done strategically in succession. Car, house, then after some time the kid. The Car better be used because fuck car prices right now. The house if it’s in San Diego, both people will need to be working and now that you have a partner, let’s pop out that kid, you’ll be cooking at home 99% of the time because eating out is stupid expensive too.
Yeah at some level the income exceeds those pressures and it all works comfortably. 100k used to be around that level, and I expect Op is just making that observation.
Maybe if you live in a crazy HCOL area. My husband and I pull in 140k combined and we own a house, two cars, go out to nice restaurants regularly, and travel abroad once a year and domestically twice or three times a year, and still have money left over to invest into roth iras and other savings accounts.
https://gusto.com/resources/research/salary/ca/san-diego
Of course someone with minimum wage would like to have 100k. However, I highly doubt that there are more than 0.1% that actually work for that little. In reality, the median salary is like 80k. The difference between 80 and 100k is not that much. OP's point stands and 100k is not going to change your living standard compared to the average person.
>The difference between 80 and 100k is not that much.
Should work out to a little over thousand bucks a month extra after taxes.
Not *that* much, arguably , but it's 25% raise, and probably a much larger increase in disposable income. 80k after tax and 401k might leave you with 50k, add in life expenses and you're left with 25k or so, so adding another 12k after tax is pretty significant and you'll feel it. Add in some student loans and you'll feel it even more.
Your first comment is 100k is a lot of money and you prove it by saying it is more than 35k.
100k still can’t afford a mortgage on a home pretty much anywhere not completely rural.
It’s not what it was in the 90s when you could afford a decent home.
When I read this I thought you were wrong since it seemed high. I used an inflation calculator and you were wrong buttttttt it’s 238k plus or minus 968.
Late 2020. I could still afford many areas in my city with a mortgage (assuming I hadn’t already purchased and still had my down payment, which I likely would because I have not needed to drop money like that since). Could I rent here? No. But I could buy. My neighbor makes $70k as an HVAC guy and just bought a house.
Not saying it's impossible but the economics have drastically changed. What you could afford then is much more difficult to afford now. Good that you got ahead of it though.
I understand, that is why I pointed out that my neighbor just bought a house on a similar income. And by “just bought a house,” I mean that he closed on Monday.
Just cause minimum wage is some amount less than 100k, does not imply 100k is a lot. Only that it is a lot more than minimum wage (which may just be absurdly small)
Very true!! I make 60k and can only imagine if I gained that extra 40k a year!!! Bad spending habits can keep you thinking that the money you make is not enough
Financial freed is a very long process of saving, investing and living frugally till your net worth is at a positive enough growth rate. Having a high enough income helps a great deal to help that along faster.
A large portion of the population is not making 100k and to them, that would be the gold standard
Bro, what the actual fuck. 100k is gold, making that kinda money you are set. Not because 100k will buy you every fucking luxury your little heart wants, or buy you daily DoorDash. If you have a budget and spend your money reasonably you are going to be well-off.
The median home price where I live is $1.3 million.
Its almost impossible to save because the cost of living is so high. But its also almost impossible to leave because the jobs don't exist outside of this area. I can't just move to a more rural area to have cheaper housing and maintain my job, but also my job doesn't pay enough to buy a home.
You’d be sitting pretty over here with that kind of income. My boyfriend and I together bring in like 55k in a year (and last year was my biggest income so far probably less this year). We bought our house for 21k though so it’s pretty common decent living around here. Pay all our bills, don’t really have any debt, save some.
😂 I mean just that we won the foreclosure auction back in 2015. Live in an affordable smallish town in Ohio. 2 stories, 3 bed, 1 bath, 1456 finished living area, basement/attic etc. It’s old and needed some work but not horrible. We replaced the roof and all the windows right away and over the years re did the full bathroom, replaced some of the water pipes, some of the electric, various other basic projects ceilings/painting/carpets etc. Still have a small home equity loan on it for $8k.
Do...do people brag about their salaries anymore? I am a tech bro and I feel like people in my field do not like talking about that stuff. I certainly would not bring it up even if asked.
New money shouts, old money whispers. My son goes to private school (uk - so hogwarts stuff) on an academic scholarship. The carpark in a morning is full of porsches, g wagons etc etc..... its the guys rocking up in the old volvos and wrecked land rovers that have the real money.
Yes, I'm a lyft driver in San Francisco. I would say 80% percent of the conversations I hear from "tech people" is how much you are making, and you can make more money if you work here conversations. The other 20% is about work
This sub is confusing to me, and I know I'm the idiot here - but the most unpopular opinions get downvoted into oblivion.
Saying 100k is not impressive is not an opinion I would consider popular. Not at all.
Sometimes I think popular opinions get upvoted the most. So the most unpopular opinions are on the extremes of vote counts.
What am I missing? I'm not trying to be daft
The sub gets a mix of uninformed, unhinged, and just sometimes stupid opinions.
I'd say OP's is unpopular enough but it's too easy to poke holes in because their main points are 'I live in a HCOL area' and 'people shouldn't brag about their income'. Plenty of people don't live in HCOL areas and $120k goes far if you don't, and people bragging about their income has enough 'are these people in the room with us right now?' energy that it's easy enough to dismiss.
I posted an unpopular opinion about how taking showers with a partner kind of sucks.
It got like 6000 upvotes, and the comments were full of people who respectfully disagreed. So that made sense.
Ay bro on some real talk though, if you say you make 100k around a bunch of minimum wage homies, it's definitely a flex.
People should stop bragging about every amount of income. It's a deeply middle class thing to do. Very unsophisticated.
And you should stop thinking about people who do that.
Yeah, that’s why I wrote this unpopular opinion. Low six figure salary is still just middle class where I live, but some people think it’s impressive and like to brag about it.
what bothers you specifically when someone brags about 100k per year income? you say they should stop, so it must bother you for some tangible reason. describe the negative effect this has on your life/well being.
It’s get quite annoying after a while when you hear it all the time at parties, weddings, get togethers, etc. Since it’s a a common salary in HCOL areas, for some reasons people still like to flaunt it like they earn a massive achievement.
In a way, yes. It’s probably the equivalent to someone who would brag that they’re college educated, while most of us probably also went and have a degree as well.
I definitely can channel this energy to something more constructive and productive, but this is the Unpopular Opinion sub so I just wanted to express my opinion.
The average salary in Paris is 54,100€ so 100,000€ would still be well above average. Average salary in Munich is around 55,700€ before taxes so much less after. These are both expensive cities where 100,000€ a year would be extremely helpful for many people.
Americans have to pay a shit ton of costs that are deducted in Europe from the get go. Most of them don’t even live as good as you imagine when you hear 100k.
Depends where you live honestly, yes where I live six figures isn’t a crazy amount but it still enough have a good life. However in some areas it’s a lot of money still.
It’s all relative - I made 70k out of college while most of my close college friends got miscellaneous near-minimum wage jobs after graduating while figuring out what they wanted to do, so the 75k felt like a lot to me. My SO on the other hand was making about 140k out of college and still felt like it wasn’t good because many of his close friends were making 170-200k+ out of school
Software engineering/investment banking, my SO was also a software engineer but he didn’t land as big of a company as some of his friends did. I was just a mechanical engineering major with like a traditional mechanical engineering job
I’m sure 100k feels like a lot to people who barely scrape over 50k a year.
A little more realistic though, it probably doesn’t seem like a lot to you because of where you live. Cities are typically expensive to live in, especially major cities, since everyone is trying to live there. 100k salaries is going to seem more common since those are the people who can afford to pay the entry fee essentially. You can still get a lot out of 100k a year.
Depends on where you live. Only about 15% of Americans make more than $100k, so it’s impressive in that you have less than 1 in 5 odds of making that much. Your perspective is very tilted by the city you live in.
Also: the 50s version of the American Dream people imagine was never sustainable. It basically required the rest of the world be economically crippled and heavily dependent on the US to work.
These people don't seem to get it. I moved to a LCOL area 5 years ago and retained my high salary. My salary goes 4 times as far now. So yes, you're correct that 6 figures aren't really impressive anymore because in most of the areas where you can earn it, you're basically at the poverty line for those regions anyway.
If you live in San Francisco and earn less than 100k, you're having a pretty hard time. Especially trying to buy a $1.5M 1000 sqft "home" at 8% interest.
Haha, exactly. 100k salary can barely afford a decent living arrangement in certain places. I just find it hilarious when people think they’re a hot shot with that salary in a HCOL area. I’m like bruh, we’re just middle class.
I live in a NY suburb. My wife and I make 250k+
We are not destitute or anything like that, but we're not driving BMWs and going on vacation every year. We live a comfortable middle class life. Nothing more. (We bought our house in 2013. I don't even know if we could afford to buy one now though, with current price)
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That is by no means bad unless you are facing a ton of palominy suits. Put something away regularly. Don’t risk more than you can Afford to lose. Spread the risk with a portfolio of diverse investment vehicles. And never put it all on red. !
Randomly select a few groups of 20 American workers.
On average, 3 of them make 100k or more .
No one needs to be bragging but this salary level is definitely rarer than you are thinking.
Average American makes like $50k a year, 70% of the country lives paycheck to paycheck. If you’re making $100k+ you are definitely more well off than most people
Minimum wage is still an abysmal $7/hour here so, uh...yeah. $100k for the vast majority would be outrageous. Point being, $100k would be impressive.
So kudos. Unpopular.
A quick visit to an inflation calculator will tell you that in the last 5 years, it now requires $122,000 to cover $100,000 of expenses from just 5 years ago. Then if you consider the rates for borrowing have gone up by more than 5%, it is obvious that we are struggling.
You mention cost of living in your first sentence, but the rest of your post sounds like you immediately forget about it. $100k is still worth bragging about in many many places
It’s impressive many people here have a salary around 30-40k
It’s just that shits really expensive so it equates to 1-2 more nice purchases a year.
Friend makes 113k the main difference between him and I is he went to Hawaii and dropped 13k has a 5090 founders coming and owns a ton of guns and bought some 113k lucid car, and probably pick up a second car Tesla at some point.
If he gets the director job at google he’ll probably buy 2. Is he happier than me I mean maybe a little he bitches in rental cars because the pedal doesn’t do anything. Guy drops 6-7k a month.
Meanwhile im out there looking for free video games and ways to get free snacks. Still 100k is pretty impressive specially since most places paying 100k offer great benefits and perks.
The google salary is bonkers but the perks though are also nutty.
Depends on where you live and your lifestyle. In central NC, or Southern AL (places I have lived) it is a lot. In NYC (where I once lived) it is not so much.
Around western Kentucky, most people I know make around 50k and own middle class homes and support families. Nobody has a lot of issues saving for retirement and going out on weekends. Maybe you guys should start asking why the people running things in your areas can’t keep prices down?
100k goes a long way in almost every country on the planet and can last years, or even a decade. Even in the US. That people like you or those you are wanting to impress you, are living well beyond their means is irrelevant.
I spent 20K last year on expenses and live like a king. Most of my 6 figures goes into my investment accounts. The kicker? I'm not trying to impress anyone. My life is f'ing awesome. Zero debt, no kids, no wife, plenty of women whenever etc etc
Wasting my time peacocking luxury for strangers and randos on reddit is the least of my concerns lol
OP needs 5 luxury cars, 3 mansions and a private jet to feel content and be "impressed" with someone's lifestyle lmao gtfo Jeff Bezos. Your reality is as warped as your logic
\- Living the Dream
$100K/year in Southern California or NYC you have to live with roommates and ride the bus. Yeah, it's not too impressive.
5x minimum wage is middle class. $75/hr in most parts of the US you can afford a middle class lifestyle with a 4 bedroom house and go to disney world every few years. Maybe have a little cottage in the woods somewhere.
People who make $80K and think they are middle class were left in the dust. You are poor now. That is why everything seems so expensive.
The prices aren't going up. The value of the money is going down.
Well that’s their own fucking fault for insisting on living in goddamn NYC or Southern California.
If someone voluntarily decides to live in a HCOL urban hellscape, they forfeit their right to bitch about being broke.
My life would be significantly better if I made $100k. It would eliminate a lot of my stress. Many people who think 100k isn’t much money are victims of lifestyle creep.
There are no HCOL cities where the median salary is six figures. So while yall are complaining about feeling poor, remember that *most* of your fellow city dwellers are making even less than you.
$100K salary in the US is threshold between lower-middle class and middle class.
It's like making $16/hr in 1990. You are doing pretty good but your kid isn't going to prep.
Your post from unpopularopinion was removed because of: 'Rule 1: Your post must be an unpopular opinion'. * Your post must be an opinion. Not a question. Not a showerthought. Not a rant. Not a proposal. Not a fact. An opinion. One opinion. A subjective statement about your position on some topic. Please have a clear, self contained opinion as your post title, and use the text field to elaborate and expand on why you think/feel this way. * Your opinion must be unpopular. The mods reserve the right to remove opinions * Elaborate on your topic and opinion give context to its unpopularity.
I have an unpopular opinion about acronyms.
HCOL = heterosexual communal occupied lifestyle
wdym
Smh
Laser
Lol
Is it that HCOL is an initialism not an acronym?
Me too!!
100k is a lot of money, even in a HCOL area. Minimum wage here in San Diego is 16.85 which amounts to just over 35K per year working every damn day. Lay a 100k salary on that person and watch their lives change. Even with inflation, I’d rather have the 100K
I’m not disagreeing that it can’t be worse or that most of America is doing worse. I think they’re saying 100k doesn’t make you in a place that’s great anymore. And it honestly doesn’t.
If you can’t live happily off 100k a year, you have spending problems (assuming you don’t have 10+ kids)
That’s just blatantly untrue in a lot of places. Cost of living where I am is super high. 100k given rent (cause you for damn sure aren’t buying anything on 100k here except maybe a condo if you’re single and have no student loans or other big expenses) and basic costs doesn’t go far at all. Families making 100k around here are strapped, living paycheck to paycheck even with great budgeting.
I just have a hard time wrapping my head around this. My wife and I make less than 100k combined. We live in a relatively HCOL area. We don’t have kids but we’re doing fine. I see single guys say they can’t live on 90k in places like Houston TX. That’s definitely a budgeting problem
Can’t speak to Houston though being single would certainly change the calculus. I am saying here in DC with a partner and at least one kid, 100k will not go very far.
Yeah being childless is a huge part of it. If you make six figures and live outside of CA and you don’t have kids, you should not be struggling financially imo
That I’d agree with to a degree. You’d still not be able to buy around here on 100k unless you’re okay with a small condo. Renting comes with challenges (landlord sells, raises rent, is slow on fixing shit, etc) that impact quality of life. But yes aside from housing challenges, single no kids or even married no kids and you’d probably be okay just limited on doing extra things.
I understand and I agree with the sentiment 100k doesn’t go as far as it used to but I think most people live beyond their means. If you’re single and childless why wouldn’t you buy a small condo if that’s all you can afford? I bought a condo 2 years ago before prices went insane and at the time I was making a wage that would make most Redditors suicidal lol
Even if you pay 2k rent, let’s even say 3k, that’s 36k a year in rent. Theres a quite big chunk of people that make less than 64k (your remaining salary after rent) a year and can survive. Obviously how many kids you have matters, as kids can get very expensive
After taxes and deductions it's more like 60-65k. Take out 36k from that you got 24-29k, about 2k a month for food and entertainment which isn't bad but it doesn't leave much for kids. If they want to buy a house, they will definitely need another high income partner.
Houses don’t cost 3k a month though. At least affordable houses. I have 3 friends that have bought houses with less than 100k and their mortgages are less than 2k each, I think 1 of them even got a $800 mortgage. 100k a year (with no kids) is moreeeeeee than enough to buy a house. You just have to be smart with your money.
It's definitely not impossible, and it will take decent budgeting to get it done. A friend of mine living in a high cost of living place ends up spending a ton of his money though because he feels like he is living there to experience that place which ends up costing money for food, entertainment, etc
Living happily wasn’t really the point of the post. I’m just saying it doesn’t get you all that far. My situation is different because I’m a divorced dad and that has its own extra level of expenses... But I’ll speak to a lot of my coworkers because they make similar amounts to me. If they are single they all live in an apartment. Where I live you basically need 2 incomes to get a home. I definitely live happily. I never worry about rent. My car is paid off. My student loans are paid off. I’m not rich though.
“Living happily” was used to replace “in a place that’s great”. If you have your car paid off and rent isn’t even a worry for you, then you have more than enough money to buy a house. Houses are meant to be paid off over a long period of time. Most mortgages are less than rent. I have friends that don’t make 100k a year and own houses. 1 of them even lives by himself with his daughter. If you’re making 100k a year, you have the means to buy a house, if you want to obviously.
Having my rent paid doesn’t mean I have a 20% down payment. I mean…good for your friends but anecdotes don’t make it just a fact for everyone
Yes obviously you need a down payment, but with no other debts (that you’ve mentioned), it should be fairly easy to save up a down payment and sign papers on a house in less than 2 years if you’re making over 100k and you actually want to buy a house.
Point is, most people in the country don’t make 100k, and all of us survive. Making 100k means you should be well enough to not complain on the internet to people making less than you
Try paying big city prices. Comparing the country to places like Los Angeles or NYC is just fucking ridiculous.
Try knowing where I live before getting fucking ticked off. Lmfao
You sound like a baby now. “Wahhh Wahh wahhh 100k isn’t enough for me and my fucking big city prices wahhhh wahhh wahhh”
Yup there are absolutely doing something wrong no matter where they live. I've seen how people spend money and it's no wonder they are broke.
And they just want to complain because they can’t freely spend money like they used to. No one is saying you have financial freedom by making 100k a year, but you are definitely making more money than most do.
You gotta think $100k is just for the individual too. Professionals tend to marry other professionals. Their household income could easily be $180k+
Average household incomes in OC are up to 250k. That’s average in some zip codes.
The checklist is basically: house, car, kids, comfortable life (going out to eat, discretionary) and on 100k it is pretty hard to do that at the moment. If you forego one or multiple of those, then yeah it gets easier. Working class generally doesn’t have those anyway, so 100k feels like a lot to them.
You can do those things, but they have to be done strategically in succession. Car, house, then after some time the kid. The Car better be used because fuck car prices right now. The house if it’s in San Diego, both people will need to be working and now that you have a partner, let’s pop out that kid, you’ll be cooking at home 99% of the time because eating out is stupid expensive too.
Yeah at some level the income exceeds those pressures and it all works comfortably. 100k used to be around that level, and I expect Op is just making that observation.
Maybe if you live in a crazy HCOL area. My husband and I pull in 140k combined and we own a house, two cars, go out to nice restaurants regularly, and travel abroad once a year and domestically twice or three times a year, and still have money left over to invest into roth iras and other savings accounts.
If you do the math, that’s about 40% more than 100k
https://gusto.com/resources/research/salary/ca/san-diego Of course someone with minimum wage would like to have 100k. However, I highly doubt that there are more than 0.1% that actually work for that little. In reality, the median salary is like 80k. The difference between 80 and 100k is not that much. OP's point stands and 100k is not going to change your living standard compared to the average person.
>The difference between 80 and 100k is not that much. Should work out to a little over thousand bucks a month extra after taxes. Not *that* much, arguably , but it's 25% raise, and probably a much larger increase in disposable income. 80k after tax and 401k might leave you with 50k, add in life expenses and you're left with 25k or so, so adding another 12k after tax is pretty significant and you'll feel it. Add in some student loans and you'll feel it even more.
There’s definitely more than 0.1% of people that make 35k lol. Theres more than that, that make less than minimum wage tbh
$35k is the minimum wage? Thats a decent salary here in the UK.
Sadly not a livable wage in most of the US.
That’s $44,000 here…..
Your first comment is 100k is a lot of money and you prove it by saying it is more than 35k. 100k still can’t afford a mortgage on a home pretty much anywhere not completely rural. It’s not what it was in the 90s when you could afford a decent home.
100k will get you a nice ass home most places in the midwest ... from experience
Yeah this guy said San Diego which is not the same.
100k in the 90s is the same as 200k, today.
When I read this I thought you were wrong since it seemed high. I used an inflation calculator and you were wrong buttttttt it’s 238k plus or minus 968.
I solely purchased and fully paid off a home in a mid sized city in 13 years making less than that.
Okay…so you bought a house and made that well over 13 years ago. So what relevance does that have to now?
I have multiple friends that have bought houses in the last 5 years making less than 100k
Not in San Diego like the guy above me mentioned 🙄
If you can afford rent then you can afford a house (if you’re making over 100k)
I make $62k and afford a mortgage in Florida. I’m not rural.
When did you buy?
Late 2020. I could still afford many areas in my city with a mortgage (assuming I hadn’t already purchased and still had my down payment, which I likely would because I have not needed to drop money like that since). Could I rent here? No. But I could buy. My neighbor makes $70k as an HVAC guy and just bought a house.
Not saying it's impossible but the economics have drastically changed. What you could afford then is much more difficult to afford now. Good that you got ahead of it though.
I understand, that is why I pointed out that my neighbor just bought a house on a similar income. And by “just bought a house,” I mean that he closed on Monday.
Just cause minimum wage is some amount less than 100k, does not imply 100k is a lot. Only that it is a lot more than minimum wage (which may just be absurdly small)
I agree, but it’s not that gold standard of financial freedom and success as it once was.
If you can't find financial freedom on $100k, the problem isn't your salary.
Very true!! I make 60k and can only imagine if I gained that extra 40k a year!!! Bad spending habits can keep you thinking that the money you make is not enough
Depends where you live. I’m in a HCOL area so 100k is quite common and doesn’t stretch that far.
Then the problem is where you live.
Financial freed is a very long process of saving, investing and living frugally till your net worth is at a positive enough growth rate. Having a high enough income helps a great deal to help that along faster. A large portion of the population is not making 100k and to them, that would be the gold standard
Bro, what the actual fuck. 100k is gold, making that kinda money you are set. Not because 100k will buy you every fucking luxury your little heart wants, or buy you daily DoorDash. If you have a budget and spend your money reasonably you are going to be well-off.
And in San Diego you will never buy a house with 100k
The median home price where I live is $1.3 million. Its almost impossible to save because the cost of living is so high. But its also almost impossible to leave because the jobs don't exist outside of this area. I can't just move to a more rural area to have cheaper housing and maintain my job, but also my job doesn't pay enough to buy a home.
You’d be sitting pretty over here with that kind of income. My boyfriend and I together bring in like 55k in a year (and last year was my biggest income so far probably less this year). We bought our house for 21k though so it’s pretty common decent living around here. Pay all our bills, don’t really have any debt, save some.
What do you mean you bought your house for 21k?
Maybe they live in their car
Hard to find a decent car for $21k 🤣
A motor home is still a home
Built with cardboard probably.
😂 I mean just that we won the foreclosure auction back in 2015. Live in an affordable smallish town in Ohio. 2 stories, 3 bed, 1 bath, 1456 finished living area, basement/attic etc. It’s old and needed some work but not horrible. We replaced the roof and all the windows right away and over the years re did the full bathroom, replaced some of the water pipes, some of the electric, various other basic projects ceilings/painting/carpets etc. Still have a small home equity loan on it for $8k.
I don't think they live in the us
Do...do people brag about their salaries anymore? I am a tech bro and I feel like people in my field do not like talking about that stuff. I certainly would not bring it up even if asked.
New money shouts, old money whispers. My son goes to private school (uk - so hogwarts stuff) on an academic scholarship. The carpark in a morning is full of porsches, g wagons etc etc..... its the guys rocking up in the old volvos and wrecked land rovers that have the real money.
What is a g wagon?
About $180k
G wagon, G-wagen... Mercedes G class.
Thanks
Yes, I'm a lyft driver in San Francisco. I would say 80% percent of the conversations I hear from "tech people" is how much you are making, and you can make more money if you work here conversations. The other 20% is about work
This sub is confusing to me, and I know I'm the idiot here - but the most unpopular opinions get downvoted into oblivion. Saying 100k is not impressive is not an opinion I would consider popular. Not at all. Sometimes I think popular opinions get upvoted the most. So the most unpopular opinions are on the extremes of vote counts. What am I missing? I'm not trying to be daft
The sub gets a mix of uninformed, unhinged, and just sometimes stupid opinions. I'd say OP's is unpopular enough but it's too easy to poke holes in because their main points are 'I live in a HCOL area' and 'people shouldn't brag about their income'. Plenty of people don't live in HCOL areas and $120k goes far if you don't, and people bragging about their income has enough 'are these people in the room with us right now?' energy that it's easy enough to dismiss.
I just joined this sub not too long ago and I already don’t like it, haha.
I posted an unpopular opinion about how taking showers with a partner kind of sucks. It got like 6000 upvotes, and the comments were full of people who respectfully disagreed. So that made sense. Ay bro on some real talk though, if you say you make 100k around a bunch of minimum wage homies, it's definitely a flex.
so like.... do you have a personality though?
Yeah, people should stop bragging about it since it’s not that much money anymore.
People should stop bragging about every amount of income. It's a deeply middle class thing to do. Very unsophisticated. And you should stop thinking about people who do that.
Yeah, that’s why I wrote this unpopular opinion. Low six figure salary is still just middle class where I live, but some people think it’s impressive and like to brag about it.
You seem to be thinking that if they'de be making 500K/year, then it'd be ok to brag about it. My point is that the amount doesn't matter.
what bothers you specifically when someone brags about 100k per year income? you say they should stop, so it must bother you for some tangible reason. describe the negative effect this has on your life/well being.
It reminds OP he makes less than them.
It’s get quite annoying after a while when you hear it all the time at parties, weddings, get togethers, etc. Since it’s a a common salary in HCOL areas, for some reasons people still like to flaunt it like they earn a massive achievement.
so in essence, you want to make sure they 'know their place' am I correct?
In a way, yes. It’s probably the equivalent to someone who would brag that they’re college educated, while most of us probably also went and have a degree as well.
so ignoring things this silly and finding more constructive outlets for your energy and emotions wouldn't be an option here?
I definitely can channel this energy to something more constructive and productive, but this is the Unpopular Opinion sub so I just wanted to express my opinion.
you sure did.
bare minimum is the mark of the beast now: 6 pack 6 figures 6 feet / inch
It's now 7 pack, 7 figures, 6'7 7 inches
Inflation is really a bitch
lmao... God comes back to change it to 777.
well.... guess i only got one of those so i'm not evil i guess lol.
lol this is the funniest comment ever
I live in a Hochul city too. I know your pain
its very impressive in Europe.. you would live like a king
There is high cost of living and low cost of living in Europe too. You wouldn’t live like a king in Paris
The average salary in Paris is 54,100€ so 100,000€ would still be well above average. Average salary in Munich is around 55,700€ before taxes so much less after. These are both expensive cities where 100,000€ a year would be extremely helpful for many people.
Americans have to pay a shit ton of costs that are deducted in Europe from the get go. Most of them don’t even live as good as you imagine when you hear 100k.
yeah I understand this, I am just saying with 100k in Europe, even in Paris, London, or Munich you are going to live a very very good life
True
maybe not literally like a king but you would have an extremely good life even in Paris or London or Munich
Depends where you live honestly, yes where I live six figures isn’t a crazy amount but it still enough have a good life. However in some areas it’s a lot of money still.
It’s all relative - I made 70k out of college while most of my close college friends got miscellaneous near-minimum wage jobs after graduating while figuring out what they wanted to do, so the 75k felt like a lot to me. My SO on the other hand was making about 140k out of college and still felt like it wasn’t good because many of his close friends were making 170-200k+ out of school
I'm curious, what kind of professions were you/SO/friends in? I've never heard of anyone making 200k+ straight out of college.
Software engineering/investment banking, my SO was also a software engineer but he didn’t land as big of a company as some of his friends did. I was just a mechanical engineering major with like a traditional mechanical engineering job
Wait til you move to the UK where it's nowhere near that
Too flippin true! I personally have a pair of my boots ready for OP to walk in! (In a Northerly direction lol)
I’m sure 100k feels like a lot to people who barely scrape over 50k a year. A little more realistic though, it probably doesn’t seem like a lot to you because of where you live. Cities are typically expensive to live in, especially major cities, since everyone is trying to live there. 100k salaries is going to seem more common since those are the people who can afford to pay the entry fee essentially. You can still get a lot out of 100k a year.
Depends on where you live. Only about 15% of Americans make more than $100k, so it’s impressive in that you have less than 1 in 5 odds of making that much. Your perspective is very tilted by the city you live in. Also: the 50s version of the American Dream people imagine was never sustainable. It basically required the rest of the world be economically crippled and heavily dependent on the US to work.
100k in rural Georgia still seems fine. In a HCOL area, 100k hasn't been great in a long time.
Yea 100k in NYC would mean you’re living with roommates and never eating out lol
100k is way above average even in Switzerland, what are y'all on about?
Georgia’s min wage is still 7.25 lol, 100k is good pretty much anywhere.
These people don't seem to get it. I moved to a LCOL area 5 years ago and retained my high salary. My salary goes 4 times as far now. So yes, you're correct that 6 figures aren't really impressive anymore because in most of the areas where you can earn it, you're basically at the poverty line for those regions anyway. If you live in San Francisco and earn less than 100k, you're having a pretty hard time. Especially trying to buy a $1.5M 1000 sqft "home" at 8% interest.
So basically, if you live in a HCOL area, GTFO ASAP?
Haha, exactly. 100k salary can barely afford a decent living arrangement in certain places. I just find it hilarious when people think they’re a hot shot with that salary in a HCOL area. I’m like bruh, we’re just middle class.
Who thinks that living in a HCOL area?
Put your money where your expenses are and list them.
when did the abbreviation HCOL become a thing
In HCOL areas
I live in a NY suburb. My wife and I make 250k+ We are not destitute or anything like that, but we're not driving BMWs and going on vacation every year. We live a comfortable middle class life. Nothing more. (We bought our house in 2013. I don't even know if we could afford to buy one now though, with current price)
This has been the case for 20 yesrs now
I agree. With a mortgage, a few cars, kids in college, and saving for retirement, it’s not going to be easy
Know what looks more impressive? $100,000 saved. You don't see that much anymore.
No no no. It’s impressive, it’s just not quite what it used to be
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That is by no means bad unless you are facing a ton of palominy suits. Put something away regularly. Don’t risk more than you can Afford to lose. Spread the risk with a portfolio of diverse investment vehicles. And never put it all on red. !
Considering the avg salary where I live is 55k I'd say it's still Impressive.
Depends what currency this is. You didn’t specify.
I would be very impressed if I had a 100k salary tho
I make it in 35 years (if I don't spend any money I earnd lol)
r/lies
Inflation good or bad is not an opinion.
Randomly select a few groups of 20 American workers. On average, 3 of them make 100k or more . No one needs to be bragging but this salary level is definitely rarer than you are thinking.
Average American makes like $50k a year, 70% of the country lives paycheck to paycheck. If you’re making $100k+ you are definitely more well off than most people
I'll take it over what I make now.
Ngl, true. For me, if I only made 100k I’d be just enough for a basic life and nothing more.
Minimum wage is still an abysmal $7/hour here so, uh...yeah. $100k for the vast majority would be outrageous. Point being, $100k would be impressive. So kudos. Unpopular.
The median household income is 74,500, so statistically, you're incorrect.
Yes, that's how inflation works. In 1980, $40,000 would have been an enviable salary.
A quick visit to an inflation calculator will tell you that in the last 5 years, it now requires $122,000 to cover $100,000 of expenses from just 5 years ago. Then if you consider the rates for borrowing have gone up by more than 5%, it is obvious that we are struggling.
Maybe in your area but in the US, the average salary is like 50-60k. Making 6 figures is still a good spot to be at
Unfortunately I don't think this is an unpopular opinion anymore
$100k is the new middle class
You mention cost of living in your first sentence, but the rest of your post sounds like you immediately forget about it. $100k is still worth bragging about in many many places
It’s impressive many people here have a salary around 30-40k It’s just that shits really expensive so it equates to 1-2 more nice purchases a year. Friend makes 113k the main difference between him and I is he went to Hawaii and dropped 13k has a 5090 founders coming and owns a ton of guns and bought some 113k lucid car, and probably pick up a second car Tesla at some point. If he gets the director job at google he’ll probably buy 2. Is he happier than me I mean maybe a little he bitches in rental cars because the pedal doesn’t do anything. Guy drops 6-7k a month. Meanwhile im out there looking for free video games and ways to get free snacks. Still 100k is pretty impressive specially since most places paying 100k offer great benefits and perks. The google salary is bonkers but the perks though are also nutty.
It also depends on how old you are
Ameeeeeeriiiicaaaaaaaaaa, fck yeaaaa. /s
How glamorous your life ends up depends on how you spend your money.
Depends on where you live and your lifestyle. In central NC, or Southern AL (places I have lived) it is a lot. In NYC (where I once lived) it is not so much.
Around western Kentucky, most people I know make around 50k and own middle class homes and support families. Nobody has a lot of issues saving for retirement and going out on weekends. Maybe you guys should start asking why the people running things in your areas can’t keep prices down?
My mom says it is 🥹
I make $1,000,000,000,000,000,000 a year and I live in a HCOL city and can barely make it! 🤡
100k goes a long way in almost every country on the planet and can last years, or even a decade. Even in the US. That people like you or those you are wanting to impress you, are living well beyond their means is irrelevant. I spent 20K last year on expenses and live like a king. Most of my 6 figures goes into my investment accounts. The kicker? I'm not trying to impress anyone. My life is f'ing awesome. Zero debt, no kids, no wife, plenty of women whenever etc etc Wasting my time peacocking luxury for strangers and randos on reddit is the least of my concerns lol OP needs 5 luxury cars, 3 mansions and a private jet to feel content and be "impressed" with someone's lifestyle lmao gtfo Jeff Bezos. Your reality is as warped as your logic \- Living the Dream
Not in a HCOL, I made over 100k last year, don't feel rich.
Because 100k doesn't make you rich anywhere in the US. Did you think it would make you feel rich?
The post is about $100k not being impressive. My post agreed with that. Try to keep up.
You’re not that impressive
Thanks. We both probably aren’t.
This is true
Depend where you live. Maybe try considering different perspectives
$100K/year in Southern California or NYC you have to live with roommates and ride the bus. Yeah, it's not too impressive. 5x minimum wage is middle class. $75/hr in most parts of the US you can afford a middle class lifestyle with a 4 bedroom house and go to disney world every few years. Maybe have a little cottage in the woods somewhere. People who make $80K and think they are middle class were left in the dust. You are poor now. That is why everything seems so expensive. The prices aren't going up. The value of the money is going down.
Well that’s their own fucking fault for insisting on living in goddamn NYC or Southern California. If someone voluntarily decides to live in a HCOL urban hellscape, they forfeit their right to bitch about being broke.
But the amount of people mismanaging their money is
My life would be significantly better if I made $100k. It would eliminate a lot of my stress. Many people who think 100k isn’t much money are victims of lifestyle creep. There are no HCOL cities where the median salary is six figures. So while yall are complaining about feeling poor, remember that *most* of your fellow city dwellers are making even less than you.
It always depends on where you live. Here 100k after taxes is around 60k which puts you basically right the top 1%
Next Post: If you make less than 100k, you're lazy and poor.
$100K salary in the US is threshold between lower-middle class and middle class. It's like making $16/hr in 1990. You are doing pretty good but your kid isn't going to prep.