given current events on wall street (and the increased difficulty of getting a job in high finance in the first place)
Could you be happy- satisfied- with the $150k+inflation job for your working career. The average American would of course be extremely overjoyed- but how about those uber-talented people who were realistically eyeing wall-street
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Not a chance.
Yes, if I didn't have to work ibanking hours. 9-5ish for that amount of money and I'd be one happy mofo.
If it was non-taxable, yeah I'd take it.
Lol the funny thing about this post is that none of you probably even make six-figures...after bonus.
Read Carefully. We're not talking 150 starting. But 150k+inflation for your entire working career. No shit everyone would be happy with six figures starting no matter the profession or education.
150K in NYC becomes 80K. If you plan on not living in a flat with 50 other people and somewhere decent in the city, then no way. Now if I was gonna live in Texas where u could get a nice sized house and not pay any state tax, then that might actually seem good.
It's doable, but I'm also concerned with what I would be doing to make that kind of money. 150k+inflation sounds suspiciously like a high-level govt job, or treasury in a middle-market company ----> not something I would like to be doing (I've worked in positions at the bottom of both those career ladders). And high finance will most likely never pay that low of a salary for an entire career.
As someone who made ~150k last year, let me tell you it is a heck of a lot more money than you think. $150k will give anyone living in a reasonable place (not NYC) a very high standard of living. At $150k, you can eat at nice restaurants, take multiple international trips / vacations each year, live in a very nice house, drive a nice car, etc.
People are quick to get desensitized when they work in financial services. They hear about guys making millions and then all of a sudden it is 7-figures or bust. My bonus is going to be substantially lower this year, but I live very comfortably off my base salary, and the bonus is just gravy. I'm happy to trade a higher salary for part of my life back.
Either way, I think GoodBread makes a very good point. Screw what you're making, if you can't stand waking up every morning and going to work, you WILL be miserable.
~~~~~~~~~~~ CompBanker
I would take the offer if it was for a 9 to 5er
My parents made ~150k/year. I grew up in Michigan. I felt poor as a kid going to private school. Please don't do this to your kids
I hope you're kidding, you snob.
Sorry for your misfortunes MIT_ALGO_TRADER.
~~~~~~~~~~~ CompBanker
150k a year is middle class (although comfortable)... Being single it might be decent, but for a household income? Kinda sucks...
If I knew in advance that my total annual compensation would not exceed $150K a year I would definitely not pursue an investment banking career. No question about it.
It really depends on how you spend your hard earned money. I'd be happy with any 150k job if it's something i enjoy doing and the work environment is awesome, aka competitive
Ya 150 is great if you are single, or maybe have a girlfreind...but not for supporting a family. I didn't work my ass off, go to a target fuckin school, work 15hr days, for 150k...
To put this into perspective, a good buddy of mine from school is a petroleum engineer and he is only 25 making 140k a year working 9-4:30.
Actually MoneyKingdom, your example distorts perspective because your buddy is an extreme outlier. I think the original poster's intent was to gauge whether or not people thought they could be happy making $150k/year, regardless of the career held. I don't think he was talking about being a banker for $150k a year.
Also, not sure how going to a "target fuckin school" influences the question. Did you go to a target school because of the assumption of an increased paycheck? Did you really want to go to UMASS but selected Harvard instead due to the job opportunities? My guess is your selection of school had little to do with earnings potential.
Sorry to pick on you just the way I read your post makes it sound as though your life decisions have been centered around maximizing income when I suspect that is far from the case.
~~~~~~~~~~~ CompBanker
if it was 100% secure and I just had to do the 9-5, had vacation, and not in NYC but middle of kansas or something i would totally take it. it's not like banking is so intellectually riveting, and even careers that are more stimulating, at the end of the day, it's still just work.
I think this goes to show that comp for banking will only go down to extremely low levels only if the hours and lifestyle change with it.
Or it will draw less qualified people
If I made half of that and lived in Dallas, i would be satisfied.
Living where I do now, I could make 150 work, definitely. I could definitely make what I make now for the rest of my life and be very comfortable, honestly.
I wouldn't have any trouble lifestyle wise. However, I would probably get bored and agitated without pressure and a scorecard. The most miserable time in my working career was when I was working 9-5 at a summer job where I did nothing and had no responsibility/pressure.
The most miserable time for me was the summer job when I pulled 110 hours in a week and felt like the devil stole my soul.
Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
If that job was guaranteed for life, say, a lifetime appointment somewhere in the Justice Department, or a lifetime job someplace else, yeah, sure.
"We are lawyers! We sue people! Occasionally, we get aggressive and garnish wages, but WE DO NOT ABDUCT!" -Boston Legal-
i'd say, if your single and stay away from "big ticket" luxuries you can live a very comfortable, and what people around you could describe as, affluent lifestyle on $150,000, even in NYC (i describe this as eating out all the time at good restaurants, taking people out for drinks at bars, having like a 3 series BMW every 4 years, wearing nice attractive clothes, and taking a couple nice, but not extravagant, international vacations, splitting a sick $7k two story 2 bedroom apartment on the lower eastside with a 1500 sf balcony with one other roomate... if you honestly don't think that could not make you happy, I doubt you will ever be happy... of course supporting a wife, and two kids through private school is another story...
an article in the NYpost I read a ways back essentially tried to answer this question posed by the OP but for a reasonably affluent life in Manhattan. The article went into detail but summarized said that if you wished to support a wife, 2 kids through private school, own and park one nice midsize luxury car, have a 4 bedroom flat, have a million dollar country house, and I think one golf membership out on long island... that by their calculation you needed to make at least around $526,000 a year to live in NYC. Its why people in finance move elsewhere when they want to start a family.
I'd also like to comment for the people that claim that securing the 150k for the rest of your life isn't enough, b/c later down the road in finance they plan to be making much much more, which is only true... if you still have a job... got to remember more people get hatched going up each rung the ladder... and assuming you possibly couldn't be one of them is sort of naive...
finally in college, I had a sick allowance, but nowhere close to even half of 150k. I was however expected to pick up ALL, aside from tuition, of my expenses. B/C of the way I lived though, without going in debt, people thought I was MUCH MUCH wealthier than I actually was.
sorry
Oh, that $150k would have to be net of tax. And I'd have to live in Toronto. Otherwise, no chance. And if I made $150k a year, that's about $75k net of tax in New York City, I guarantee you my rent will stay below $1500. No way would I drop $3500 on rent. Never. On a mortgage payment, maybe, but on rent? no way.
"We are lawyers! We sue people! Occasionally, we get aggressive and garnish wages, but WE DO NOT ABDUCT!" -Boston Legal-
Sounds like you need a better tax accountant to run you through tax minimisation strategies, because if you're actually paying 50% tax, you're being ripped off. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_tax_in_the_United_States#Federal_in… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_tax_in_the_United_States#Corporate_…
According to my taxes I made losses 2 years in a row. Declared assessable income on a tax statement means nothing.
But I agree with you. My parents were on a pension growing up, about the same, and a lot of kids still thought we were rich. We were strictly middle class (investment properties on the beach, 4star vacations, private school education, ivy equivalent of college, house worth half a million), average "collectables."
It's not about your assessable income from one source, it's how you invest it, spend it, limit your tax liabilities, gear your investments, leverage your equity, protect it, etc, to create multiple sources of income, or alternatively, waste it.
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