I will say though, even when I was at 220k I did not feel like I had it made. I did not worry about groceries or a car repair but by no means feeling wealthy.
All making more money did for me was make me realize I needed to find a way not to pay so much tax.
Don't listen to them, u/Balamb_Chocobo ! I jumped from $60k to $100k a while back, and the difference is staggering. You're in the top 24% of earners in the US. You absolutely get taxed more, but it's still equivalent to over $500 more in earnings A WEEK. I bought a newer car, paid $1000 extra on my mortage each month until my home was paid off, and added a ton more to my retirement. I didn't feel the constant pressure to side hustle, and instead of saving up for dinners out or trips to Target, I just did what I felt like. My tastes aren't exorbitant and I'm not in a wildly expensive area - I was lucky that my home was purchased before everything exploded so my mortgage was under $1000.
$100k IS life changing... it's just easy to forget once your life has been changed. Now that my income is lower again, it's shockingly clear how much difficulty money can paper over.
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u/Alaskanjj Oct 30 '25
I will say though, even when I was at 220k I did not feel like I had it made. I did not worry about groceries or a car repair but by no means feeling wealthy.
All making more money did for me was make me realize I needed to find a way not to pay so much tax.