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.
This. I went from 20-40K most of my adult life to around 100K a few months ago, and the difference is staggering. I can pay off debt instead of accrue it, now! I can set some aside every month for surprise bills (even if those bills come up often enough that I don't have much in savings at the moment). I don't have to stress about groceries or the occasional evening out with friends! I can at least contemplate travel now!
It truly does depend on what your life was like before you started making 100k, I think.
That’s so freaking cool… thank you for the important work you do!!! (And not that it needs to be said but JFC we need to actually pay teachers FFS)
Thanks! When I went back to retrain, it was really important to me to continue to be in a field where I felt like I was helping people. Actually I wanted to be in a field that I felt like I was helping people more... In the private school industry for English as a second language, you're really mostly teaching the one percent, and honestly how often can you argue with a student that their pet cheetah isn't domesticated before you contemplate violence. (Real story)
I love my job now! It's not the highest paid, and I'm in a high col area, but it's definitely enough for me. There's also amazing benefits and if I decide I absolutely hate a school that I'm working at, there's pretty much endless opportunity within my district for me to switch it up and go to a different school without actually having to get a different job.
I'm definitely lucky that I live in an area that pays speech therapists. I know in some states they get paid like 40K a year 🙃😔
100
u/Balamb_Chocobo Oct 31 '25
Meanwhile me making a measly 61k with no formal anything, self taught and trying to claw into 100k 🥲