Are you rich? Have you landed your dream job? If so, how did you do it?

[sleepnaught]

No to both. I make about $45k/year. Honestly, I'd be very happy if I made just $80,000. I just don't have the energy or drive to go to school for 2-4 years to get a degree. Kinda makes me depressed knowing I'm getting older and my chances of making more are slipping away, but I just don't have the energy at the end of the day doing factory work.

 

[Felt]

I grew up with bankrupt parents who made awful decisions (no savings). I worked hard to go to college, had a lot of financial support because state schools are amazing and went on to graduate school (best way to move up in society IMO). I worked harder than ever in grad school so I could rise above the competition (still necessary if you want your dream job after you get into a good school). I worked/studied 16 hours a day even when no one was asking me to so I could publish more and get skills for the job market. I always rejected going to social outings with my colleagues at night, and even ate lunch at my desk in 5 minutes every day instead of going out.

Now I finally have an offer for that dream job and it pays. I've been just above the poverty line for so many years I almost cried when I saw the offer letter.

 

[SuperYlvis]

To the first question, no.

To the second, yes. I'm a primary school teacher here in Norway, and having worked for eight years now, I can safely say it lived up to my expectations. Having seven weeks off in the summer doesn't hurt as well :p.

The salary is also pretty decent here in Norway, as I earn about $60k.

 

[Austriacus]

Im what my banker friend calls "the less douchy ultra high net worth individual I have ever met"

And in my experience, people in this bracket often have only pretend jobs.

Also to all the people with earning dual 6 figure salaries and calling themeselves "not rich" stop that nonsense and get some fucking perspective.

I had a chat with the son of a billionaire (who he himself is even richer than me) and he told me point blank he is not that rich( i gave him shit for like an hour after I heard that nonsense). The whole mentallity is consumerist poison, you can extend it until you break a fucking trillion (im exagerating but you get the point)

 

[Darren Lamb]

I'm not rich, nor have I found my dream job. I work in finance for a defense contractor, but am looking for new jobs at the moment. Also debating going back to school next fall, possibly in Europe.

I make ~90k salary with a bonus that is about the value of another paycheck. For me this salary is quite good, although I haven't massively changed my lifestyle since I moved out after college. I suppose I go out more and am less afraid of dropping money on travel and fun events, but when I needed a car I still haggled on a new corolla, I only spend 25% or so more on housing than I did 6 years ago, etc.

Only issue is that owning a home still seems impossible here. I suppose I have a self created constraint since I don't want to own property anywhere too far outside the city (ideally would like to be able to get rid of my car) but it's difficult to find anything for less than 350k or so. Not sure if I want to put permanent roots down here but I feel like I should have more options than I do...

 

[Expy]

Im what my banker friend calls "the less douchy ultra high net worth individual I have ever met"

And in my experience, people in this bracket often have only pretend jobs.

Also to all the people with earning dual 6 figure salaries and calling themeselves "not rich" stop that nonsense and get some fucking perspective.

I had a chat with the son of a billionaire (who he himself is even richer than me) and he told me point blank he is not that rich( i gave him shit for like an hour after I heard that nonsense). The whole mentallity is consumerist poison, you can extend it until you break a fucking trillion (im exagerating but you get the point)

Click to shrink...

The son of a billionair may not be rich even though his father is.

 

[Austriacus]

The son of a billionair may not be rich even though his father is.

Click to shrink...

Maybe I wasnt clear, he is richer than me without his father, google the term the banker uses to describe me

 

[ascii42]

I make more money than I need, in part because I graduated from college without student loan debt, and live in a low cost area. And also my tastes on a lot of things are cheap enough that I can afford whatever I would actually want to buy, and making more money wouldn't really cause me to alter my lifestyle. Cars are the exception. If I had Jay Leno money I would have Jay Leno's garage.

 

[Expy]

I make more money than I need, in part because I graduated from college without student loan debt, and live in a low cost area. And also my tastes on a lot of things are cheap enough that I can afford whatever I would actually want to buy, and making more money wouldn't really cause me to alter my lifestyle. Cars are the exception. If I had Jay Leno money I would have Jay Leno's garage.

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You would need to upgrade your house if so. :p

 

[TheHunter]

A wild Tabris approaches.

 

[TheHunter]

Im what my banker friend calls "the less douchy ultra high net worth individual I have ever met"

And in my experience, people in this bracket often have only pretend jobs.

Also to all the people with earning dual 6 figure salaries and calling themeselves "not rich" stop that nonsense and get some fucking perspective.

I had a chat with the son of a billionaire (who he himself is even richer than me) and he told me point blank he is not that rich( i gave him shit for like an hour after I heard that nonsense). The whole mentallity is consumerist poison, you can extend it until you break a fucking trillion (im exagerating but you get the point)

Click to shrink...

It's also why the rich refuse higher taxation and horde all their wealth.

As hashtagrekt pointed out it's a sickness.

 

[Officer Big Mac]

I don't think I'll ever have a job I love. I don't have a passion for any of them so far. It keeps me from being homeless and hungry.

 

[Slixshot]

I took the biggest risk of my life and abandoned a safe and steady job at a great company shortly after turning 24 to start a business with a couple of friends who like myself, had limited, or no real world business experience. We did research, got loans, made some partnerships, and struggled fucking hard for a couple of years while we established ourselves.

I turn 29 next month and have gone from trying to maintain at least a couple of thousand in my bank account after bills monthly, to being on track to making my first personal million in about a year or so. It's still super unreal to me and something I never thought I'd be able to (or even try to) accomplish. I'm pretty sure I've aged a bit quicker and shaved a few years off of my life in the process but I'd do it again if I had to.

I won't pretend like I have any sage advice to give. I always heard stories of successes like mine and brushed them off as anomalies. I'm just really glad I decided to try.

Click to shrink...

Tell your story, friend. What do you do?

 

[Jellycrackers]

I wouldn't consider myself "rich", though I guess living comfortably enough is a really great thing that I should not take for granted.

I have my dream job. I write music for music libraries and that music gets used in TV shows, ads, occasionally movie trailers, and just about any other kind of media. I got here through a combination of luck and hard work. The luck was that a music coordinator from a successful music library found my youtube channel at a time when they happened to be looking for a new composer. The hard work was me saying "yes, sure I'll write 5 tracks a week" while still having a full time job. I spent a year writing 5 tracks per week and working full time before getting my first royalty check (which was $225 for one quarter/3 months) and dropping to a part time job. Then the money grew as I kept writing, and after 2 years of writing music while working only part time, I was able to take music full time.

Some pros and cons of this work:

Pros

• Very few deadlines. No working myself to death if I don't want to.
• Royalty income is mostly passive once you have a lot of music published.
• I get to stay home with my daughter, allowing my wife to still have a career without us paying for day care.

Cons

• Royalties take forever to build up and are always behind by about a year. So I made virtually no money the first 2 years.
• I never know how much I'm getting paid until the quarterly deposit goes into my bank account. I get really anxious the few days leading up to a payment.
• I VERY rarely get paid anything up front per track. It's all based on if the music gets used. Some of it never does.
• Composer/producer job market is ridiculously oversaturated thanks to technology making it fairly accessible for people who do want to make music.

 

[KrangBakesaTurtle]

Id like to throw this out there. Im definitely not rich although im a hard worker and can do a lot compared to 3 or 4 people.

We have been building out a plan and business model that would go much more smoothly if we can find investment

While im not chinese my girlfriend is so we are definitely able to get things made and get products on a cheaper ready to sell mass producing situation .

All of that takes money and needs minimum orders but its definitely things I enjoy doing.

Our plans all revolve around gaming and the full plan is about the brand and reaching gamers as a whole.

We do have one possible investor but he isnt exactly that rich to get us where we may need to start.

I can definitely share all plans in depth if anyone is interested and im definitely not a scammer if any mod is wanting to verify.

Im a level minded, straight person who does research all day and im totally cool if no one cares.

In the end, i believe we have high profit possibities because similar places may have 20 plus people and we save a tremendous amount on pay roll and other costs like rent insurance. It really is a great opportunity for all but we will see.

I hope im that guy that can be one percent . Not for money but im definitely going to give back and probably make games and just work with people.

Am i dreaming too much ?

If anyone is intereated i do want to figuer out the investment amount we may need. I see my gfs company , the one she works in get millions for investment. And they just seem to throw it away. Im just amazed at how they can get it and i know the job, how they are doing because of my gf and all the wasted money blows my mind a bit.

I do have a list of investors to email, to be honest i have been hesitatant to email them but going to do that soon. Wish me luck.

 

[Richietto]

Im practically at the poverty line and my job sucks so nah. Good luck, though.

 

[KrangBakesaTurtle]

I took the biggest risk of my life and abandoned a safe and steady job at a great company shortly after turning 24 to start a business with a couple of friends who like myself, had limited, or no real world business experience. We did research, got loans, made some partnerships, and struggled fucking hard for a couple of years while we established ourselves.

I turn 29 next month and have gone from trying to maintain at least a couple of thousand in my bank account after bills monthly, to being on track to making my first personal million in about a year or so. It's still super unreal to me and something I never thought I'd be able to (or even try to) accomplish. I'm pretty sure I've aged a bit quicker and shaved a few years off of my life in the process but I'd do it again if I had to.

I won't pretend like I have any sage advice to give. I always heard stories of successes like mine and brushed them off as anomalies. I'm just really glad I decided to try.

Click to shrink...

I believe this is a bit like me. I can lose a lot with the risk and efforts i put in. I mostly just dont want to do the work in others work place and want to have a chance to help others a bit more with bertter solutions.

I feel i lost years of life too unfortunately

 

[Deleted member 25445]

I'm not rich by any means, but I suppose I can't complain at all since I've got a really good job(working on avengers 4 related stuff) despite being here illegally, have a criminal record, never graduated college and suffer from mental illness.
Practicing gratefulness in any circumstance is the key, money or not.

 

[Hogger]

Never had a dream job I aspired to but I'm incredibly grateful for what I have. Work from home, $150K @ 30 with only 5 years of experience.

To get there I literally networked from a restaurant gig and have busted my ass ever since I got my foot in.

To anyone that is feeling down about their current position try to look past the 'here and now'. You can keep going to your shit job and living for the weekend or you can make a plan to change your trajectory towards success.

 

[qaz]

removed

 

[One Eyed Willy]

.

 

[Mondy]

Very much no to being rich. I look at the bills and debts piling up and I wonder if I'm definable as below the poverty line.....But then I'm reminded that I'm viewing Era on a $600 BENQ Gaming Monitor, with Youtube running on a secondary ASUS 1440p monitor, and typing on a $200 Logitech gaming keyboard.

Perspective is everything.

 

[Austriacus]

Out of curiosity self made?

Agreed on the pretend job bit the richer you get.

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No, my family is old money, so I got no real advice for people here unless it pertains to mental health as im a psychologist

 

[TheHunter]

No, my family is old money, so I got no real advice for people here unless it pertains to mental health as im a psychologist

Click to shrink...

How do I get the top 1% to start realizing their world can only exist if the bottom three tiers also prosper?

 

[BladeoftheImmortal]

Not rich but good QOL. I want to do something else though. I don't feel I'm using my intellect at all.

Got a job teaching in China after the economic collapse of 07. Graduated in 09 with nothing going for me. Anyways I make very little for an American salary but ok for China. I make double what my gf makes for about 4 times less work. I get about 2k USD a month and work 10 hours a week plus housing paid for. The only problem is. If I keep doing this. I'll have no retirement and will never own my own apartment or house.. so it blows. But now I have 10 years experience in teaching and nothing else... So West do I do?

I never wanted to be a teacher either. It was never my dream. So I fucking hate it actually.

 

[Austriacus]

How do I get the top 1% to start realizing their world can only exist if the bottom three tiers also prosper?

Click to shrink...

I convinced my mother by having her watch the kurzgesagt youtube video of egoistic altruism. You have to aproach it in Such a way that they see benefits for themeselves for the whole thing as weird as that sounds.

 

[Bishop89]

Up until May this year, i was earning 46k, not that great especially for the role I was doing.
Got made redundant and got a new job starting in 3 weeks time which I will be sitting on 62k plus a potential 15k (before tax) on commission annually (which don't really get how it works since i won't actually be doing any selling lol).

So I'm looking at a potential 26k increase. Time will tell whether i am actually happy about my new job. It's for a company i love shopping at and at a location I love, but they're planning on relocating mid-next year into the city, going to be a major headache that..

I do plan on trying to start up something on the side, whether thats photography, or something on the creative side.

 

[Transistor]

Rich? No. I'm pushing 6 figures and get an annual bonus and stock, but I wouldn't say rich. I'm well off is the way I'd put it.

I wouldn't say I have my dream job, but I do enjoy what I do. I work in cyber security specializing in Splunk.

I got my job by working my way up. Went from help desk to network administration to basic cyber security to Splunk.

 

[m_shortpants]

Combined, my wife and I make over $200k. But we live in the SF Bay Area so that doesn't make us rich. We're doing well, and I'm thankful for my lifestyle, but in this are that is by no means rich.

 

[Ionitron]

I'm definitely not rich, I'm a teacher, L. O. L.

But I like it enough I think. It's stressful during the year but I've been happy to go to work last week and tomorrow is the first official day of the school year, which I'm excited for, so I guess that's something.

It definitely wasn't my dream job. I really wanted to be an animator and/or illustrator. I draw a bit on the side and sell art for conventions which is fun. I've thought about the pro/cons of my job as a teacher and I think having summers off outweighs everything else if I can manage to still make some illustrations that I can make money off of. I think that time is more fulfilling than working drawing for other people and the stress involved with it, along with the instability of being a freelance artist as I'm seeing with my boyfriend.

Also I want to buy property, which I can't with how pathetic my salary is. I'm saving up for that while living with my parents and thankfully my only loan is my car loan and no student debt. I think I'm in a decent pace with life so I can't complain. It's rough to say though? I'm definitely not rich, but somewhat happy? I think I can be happier for sure, but I'm happy enough for right now.

 

[Calamari41]

Oh yeah for sure, there's a lot of people on this forum above my wealth. They just don't know how to spend money like me :) You and your family will be living super comfortably in your 70s while I'll be in state housing but I will have had the memories of some incredible experiences.

Click to shrink...

You have the opportunity to create an ironclad intergenerational wealth system for your children and their children that can carry on forever as long as they learn basic financial responsibility and literacy.

It's sad to me that you approach your opportunity here like a spoiled baby boomer with the whole "the last check I write before I die is gonna bounce" attitude.

Now comes the part where you show a picture of a $15 dessert and act like nobody else has experienced such a thing.

 

[subpar spatula]

You have the opportunity to create an ironclad intergenerational wealth system for your children and their children that can carry on forever as long as they learn basic financial responsibility and literacy.

It's sad to me that you approach your opportunity here like a spoiled baby boomer with the whole "the last check I write before I die is gonna bounce" attitude.

Now comes the part where you show a picture of a $15 dessert and act like nobody else has experienced such a thing.

Click to shrink...

Maybe he believes his kids can do their own thing? If I ever have kids the only money they will get from me is education. Nothing more. When I die, if I still got money then it's going to various local homeless shelters or something.

 

[Calamari41]

Maybe he believes his kids can do their own thing? If I ever have kids the only money they will get from me is education. Nothing more. When I die, if I still got money then it's going to various local homeless shelters or something.

Click to shrink...

Totally valid philosophy, but he never frames it that way. It's all about his own experiences, not about his kids standing on their own two feet or anything like that. It's also ironic considering the role his father has played in his own level of wealth.

 

[Markitron]

Between college and work experience it's taken me about 16 years to get the job I always wanted. I start on September 3rd and I can't wait.

I'm def not rich though, and I am terrible with money.

 

[foggy]

I got lots of stuff. Come check out my stuff.

 

[subpar spatula]

Totally valid philosophy, but he never frames it that way. It's all about his own experiences, not about his kids standing on their own two feet or anything like that. It's also ironic considering the role his father has played in his own level of wealth.

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From other Tabris threads, it's pretty obvious he would rather enjoy his money than sit on it. Makes sense more people should do that if he can. Why wait til your 65 to travel extensively? Rhetorical btw.

 

[Calamari41]

From other Tabris threads, it's pretty obvious he would rather enjoy his money than sit on it. Makes sense more people should do that if he can. Why wait til your 65 to travel extensively? Rhetorical btw.

Click to shrink...

Certainly there's a middle ground between living like a monk to save for the next generation and spending your entire paycheck the day it comes in.

Someone with his level of income can travel extensively before retirement and save intelligently with a generations-length horizon.

You can spend two weeks in London and have it cost $5-10,000, or $50,000 dollars. That difference spread over a lifetime is the difference I'm talking about here, and it's the difference between your grandchildren graduating college with no debt vs graduating with a debt that will delay family formation, home purchase, etc for a decade or more. Just as an example.

 

[subpar spatula]

Certainly there's a middle ground between living like a monk to save for the next generation and spending your entire paycheck the day it comes in.

Someone with his level of income can travel extensively before retirement and save intelligently with a generations-length horizon.

You can spend two weeks in London and have it cost $10,000, or $50,000 dollars. That difference spread over a lifetime is the difference I'm talking about here, and it's the difference between your grandchildren graduating college with no debt vs graduating with a debt that will delay family formation, home purchase, etc for a decade or more. Just as an example.

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He's not spending his entire paycheck, I don't think.

Use the money you do got. It's why ypu have it. Don't be a dragon is all I can tell other rich people.

 

[xxracerxx]

Telling people how they should spend their money is pretty lame.

One thing in life everyone should live by is to not expect anything from anyone. It's great if it happens but to count on your parents leaving you anything is folly.

 

[Calamari41]

He's not spending his entire paycheck, I don't think.

Use the money you do got. It's why ypu have it. Don't be a dragon is all I can tell other rich people.

Click to shrink...

Tabris has been extolling his philosophy for years on here and the old site and that philosophy is basically that he saves as little as humanly possible. He'll proudly tell you himself that he spends almost everything he brings in.

Telling people how they should spend their money is pretty lame.

One thing in life everyone should live by is to not expect anything from anyone. It's great if it happens but to count on your parents leaving you anything is folly.

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Definitely. The only reason I give Tabris a hard time is because he is generally very aggressive towards people who express that they save and invest their money.

 

[subpar spatula]

Tabris has been extolling his philosophy for years on here and the old site and that philosophy is basically that he saves as little as humanly possible. He'll proudly tell you himself that he spends almost everything he brings in.

Click to shrink...

That's pretty extreme even for Tabris. Everyone saves. He's also Canadian so he probably dumps a lot into retirement as is.

 

[Titik]

I got two new gigs that I really really like. Haven't made much money yet but it's in the direction I want to take.

I basically tried every little thing til something clicked. Now I'm trying another new thing and hope it pans out.

 

[Calamari41]

That's pretty extreme even for Tabris. Everyone saves. He's also Canadian so he probably dumps a lot into retirement as is.

Click to shrink...

I don't know what to tell you, man. He said in this very thread that he plans to live completely off of the state when he retires, and has said in the past that this involves having no savings to speak of, of his own. He has detailed that he will be in state housing while using just the money he gets from the Canadian public pension (equivalent of US social security but better).

I wasn't trying to make it into this huge thing, I was just trying to give him a hard time as we do to each other.

 

[xxracerxx]

That's pretty extreme even for Tabris. Everyone saves. He's also Canadian so he probably dumps a lot into retirement as is.

Click to shrink...

Tabris literally says he is going to retire into state housing. Now they may be exaggerating but the dude never really talks savings at all and scoffs at others that do.

 

[EraldoCoil]

Poverty Boyz!!

 

[subpar spatula]

I don't know what to tell you, man. He said in this very thread that he plans to live completely off of the state when he retires, and has said in the past that this involves having no savings to speak of, of his own. He has detailed that he will be in state housing while using just the money he gets from the Canadian public pension (equivalent of US social security but better).

I wasn't trying to make it into this huge thing, I was just trying to give him a hard time as we do to each other.

Click to shrink...

Ok? That doesn't mean hd has savings or a plan. Hd obviously does considering his other posts. If you were as obsessed about him as me you'd know that.

Tabris literally says he is going to retire into state housing. Now they may be exaggerating but the dude never really talks savings at all and scoffs at others that do.

Click to shrink...

It's probably the degree of savings. He scoffs at me for living in Surrey at my income level. It's more about doing what you can with your money than squandering its potential.

 

[LosDaddie]

Rich is relative.

The wifey & I easily pull over $100k/yr, but we also have 2 young kids. I earn the most as a licensed PE in the healthcare field. We don't live paycheck to paycheck, but we're also not taking vacations whenever we want. Have to save. We only eat out about 3-4;x a week, but my wife loves to cook.

As far as dream job goes.....eh kinda. I do enjoy being a licensed PE as the pay is great and I'm constantly learning. But I never got past the 2nd interview at Lockheed early in my career and went a different path.

Life is good. Wife is still hot. Kids are healthy. So yeah, could be worse.

 

[Necromanti]

You have the opportunity to create an ironclad intergenerational wealth system for your children and their children that can carry on forever as long as they learn basic financial responsibility and literacy.

Click to shrink...

The last thing this world needs is more wealth-hoarding-induced inequality, honestly. It's practically refreshing.

 

[Calamari41]

Ok? That doesn't mean hd has savings or a plan. Hd obviously does considering his other posts. If you were as obsessed about him as me you'd know that.

Click to shrink...

I'm not obsessed with him, I'm just responding to you as you respond to each of my posts. Obviously he doesn't cash every check he gets and spend it that day. He has shorter term saving, obviously, as in he wants to take an expensive trip down the line so he gets the money together for it.

What's odd to me about your (obsessive?) defense of him is that he doesn't argue that these things I'm saying aren't the case, he argues that it's the right thing to do. Which is fine, of course, but it is just strange for me to be having to convince you that this is the case.

 

[Kiddo Cabbusses]

I'm far from rich - heck, I can consider myself envious of even many of the lower salaries posted on here, though at the same time, being constantly low-income has given me a skillset in being a "cheapass" that I notice people born into money tend to lack.

(For the sake of not bg too TMI about it, I'll say the amount is below 40k/year, can cover my status quo and not much else.)

I currently work what I consider two jobs, and one is crummy so I'd rather not talk about it.
But I also bring in some revenue as a YouTuber. Not much - it's not even a 4-digit sum a month most the time - but even that amont is apparently more than what 90% of people make from YouTube videos without resorting to donations or paid advertising from what I heard, so I'm counting my blessings.
A lot of folks would say making money on YouTube is dream job, which is something I'd contest - at least when I'm not exactly a Pewdiepie-tier. Nevertheless, being able to make money passively, call my own shots, and work with content I've always liked since my youth, certainly makes it feel more worthwhile than jobs which pay a little bit more but require constant, tiring physical or service labor.

(For reference, my YouTube channel is 10 years old and when I first started it, YouTube Partner was in beta - the whole concept was new.)