Congrats! The trick is to not increase your spending, and take the excess and either save it or invest it. Remember: just because you can afford it, does not mean you need it. :)
this post was submitted on 20 Jan 2024
423 points (96.3% liked)
[Outdated, please look at pinned post] Casual Conversation
6616 readers
1 users here now
Share a story, ask a question, or start a conversation about (almost) anything you desire. Maybe you'll make some friends in the process.
RULES
- Be respectful: no harassment, hate speech, bigotry, and/or trolling
- Encourage conversation in your post
- Avoid controversial topics such as politics or societal debates
- Keep it clean and SFW: No illegal content or anything gross and inappropriate
- No solicitation such as ads, promotional content, spam, surveys etc.
- Respect privacy: Don’t ask for or share any personal information
Related discussion-focused communities
- !actual_discussion@lemmy.ca
- !askmenover30@lemm.ee
- !dads@feddit.uk
- !letstalkaboutgames@feddit.uk
- !movies@lemm.ee
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
Congrats and well done! Take some time to celebrate! (And then max out your 401k if you’re in the US and you haven’t already)
Yeah I'm bad at figuring out how stuff like that works tbh lol. I think the last time I looked at my 401k stuff it said that I should be contributing more than I am for some reason. Gotta figure out how to adjust that.
I'm going to have some new financial goals now, but I'm not sure what they'll be. If it should be something like working towards paying down loans first, which loans to pay down first (I have a very large amount of student loans after all this and I also have a mortgage), or if I should work toward improving my living space and making it nicer. We'll see I suppose!
Might be worth working with a financial advisor, we just got one and I feel much more comfortable with my money stuff
I’m sure there’s a personal finance thing around here somewhere!
Personally, I’d work on making sure I have a cash safety net. Something like 6 months expenses in my favorite high yield savings account.
After that I would pay off any loans with a high rate. If the rate is <5 percent, it may be worth putting that money into a 401k or investment account. If it’s above 5 percent, I’d consider paying it off early. The idea being that if it’s a low rate then you can invest that money and earn a higher return than it would cost you.
Aside from that, I’d do my best to max my 401k contribution to take advantage of those sweet tax benefits. If nothing else, make sure you’re taking advantage of any employer matches.
Again, awesome work on the job!
Hi, congratulations! I’m so happy for you. Please consider a reputable financial advisor. Not some slick, well-advertised person, but someone who comes with a decent reputation. When meeting with them, use some intuition, don’t fall for flattery or wild promises. You can always say you want to consider their advice. Some lawyers also offer this type of service. I woods encourage you to be kind to others and our environment, with your investments.
Congrats again, well done!
Check out The Money Guys on youtube, they give good financial advice
Thanks for the recommendation!
I'm what you might call a well wisher in that I don't wish you any specific harm
Instead of investment advice, I'll just say never forget how hard you had it, what it was like to get minimum wage, and remember there are always hard workers being paid less then you that also deserve a shot. You did the work, be proud of what you've achieved. But probably don't get into specifics with family, people get weird about money.
I'm gonna double down on your advice and say don't tell anyone how much you make, except your SO. If someone asks just say "I'm doing well for myself." And if they press you say "I prefer to keep the specifics private". When I started bringing in money I made the mistake of calling my friends to celebrate and within months they were all hitting me up for cash and pulling on my heartstrings.
My uncle has money. Every problem from his siblings to his 5th cousins gets him a phone call haha.
I don't have any advice. I just wanted to contribute a humble HELL YEAH BROTHER.
As one of those people who is struggling a bit: Never let the state of the rest of the world stop you from celebrating your own wins!
Congrats on the raise, that is really awesome. Remember to put a decent chunk into savings :D
Cheers bro, to each one of these six figures 🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃
Yo! Congrats! Make sure to stay on top of your budget and don't let the extra income turn into extra expenses.
Congrats! Seeing your grind start to pay off is awesome
Now is a great time to re-visit your money management to adjust that retirement grind.
Congrats.
Was just in a thread about lifestyle inflation. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/lifestyle-inflation.asp is an explainer. Keep it in mind so you don't end up living 100k paycheck to 100k paycheck
Congratulations! Since I already have a drink in hand I'll toast to your achievement!
Get that cheddar.
Meowlianaire
Congratulations!
I went from earning $12 under the table to 6 figures in 5 years. It's a really major change. Once you have a year or two of that, and enough saved to survive basically any adversity, you realize how stressful your life was before.
Some unsolicited advice:
Budget. I've never been good at it, so this is my strategy:
-
I Keep two months' basic expenses in checking account. Food, gas, rent, phone, internet, insurance, loans.
-
At the end of the month I transfer the remaining money to 3 accounts: 1/4 to long-term savings (this was initially my 3-month emergency fund, but turned into something more blended with a 3-month reserve). 1/4 to short-term savings (travel, gifts, clothes, fun). 1/2 to investments (stocks, ETFs, etc).To start out, all the money went into the long-term account. Having 3-month's savings is the true key to both feeling safe and avoiding credit card debt.
That's it. Literally. If I transfer less money at the end of the month, I either overspent or had some annual "surprise," like auto registration, Prime bill, etc. If I transfer more, it was a successful month.
Yes you do have someone to share the news, the IRS :). (Assuming you are in the USA)
Seriously though congrats!
Hey nice! My father has always told me that his biggest regret was not maxing out what he was allowed to put into retirement. You don’t care when you’re young, but it makes a HUGE difference for the second half of your life!
Good job dude! I'm happy to hear a success story from anyone these days. I wish you the best in reaching your next milestone as well.
You can share it with me! I have to pay $1100 before the end of the month or end up in court over fines I gotta pay for a crime I didn't do. I could eat more than rice and tuna with some of that good news.
As a fellow poor who happens to be floating comfortably right now, I’ll cross my fingers for you haha.
I have 15 bucks in the bank, but all of my bills are paid and I have a fridge stocked full of food (deep freezer took a shit recently and ruined a lot of it, but I’m still good) so I don’t need anything, but I know what it’s like to have my heart beating out of my chest with worry about how I’m gonna pull it all off. I haven’t experienced any crazy emergencies in a long time (knock on wood) and I’ve put some stuff up to sell in case that happens. I hope you get where I am. I hope you do better than I’m doing.
I have $690 in my bank account to add to next week's paycheck and pay what I gotta. I was about to pay online, but found out this bullshit scaling fee business.
I just can't spend any of it. I also can't pay in person during business hours because I work during business hours. All I can do is wait for the probation appointment and pray that no random unexpected charge happens until then.
Those convenience fees are insane. What’s with that?
They do what they want because they're the Hamilton county government. They don't even need evidence to convict someone. They just keep moving your court date up indefinitely and have your appointed lawyer sign off on it and tell you that COVID means no fair and speedy trial.
I'm gonna be bitter about this forever, and the worst part is that there is no seeking help from others. Everyone is too wrapped up in their own problems or rich enough to think that things are so easy that people deserve their problems. People only know what they see, and what they see is controlled.
I wish I could help you bud. If I had money I wouldn’t be able to keep it for helping folks out, but I don’t, and I have no drive to get it.
I hope you have some good luck soon.
Yeah, I'll make it. I'll be ok.
Congrats! 🎉
Congratulations!! That's awesome!!
It's weird to feel like you're earning too much. It sounds like you are earning what Homer Simpson, Red Foreman, and Hank Hill all make. That is, enough to feed a family of four. They only had high school diplomas. Sure, they're fictional, but that story was real.
That is so amazing. Congrats!! It must feel incredible to make that kind of money now. A six-figure income seems almost to be the minimum a person should earn if they want to survive and live well in the world these days.
I never earned a huge salary (I think my highest was $27,000 in one year) as a healthcare worker, but I came into a family trust later in life when my parents kicked off. So now I have a lot of money in the bank - and like you, not anyone close to share it with.
The only good thing is I retired early and now pretty much have all my time to myself - nobody to share it with, but that's OK because I feel like I keep busy and I'm into things like painting and playing music and hiking - so I never feel like I have time to just sit and brood about things.
I just want to say congrats and you deserve to feel happy about your situation. I wish you all the best!!
Sit and bask in that feeling for a while, you literally earned it. Job fulfilment is a big one. We spend a very significant chunk of our time working so this is a major bucket list item to check off.
Gj ! You should invest some of it imo, treat yourself well and be kind to people. Peace.
Dude, I feel a lot of what you're saying. I spent years making awful wages at terrible jobs, then fell ass-backwards into a six-figure career. The whiplash is really hard going from thinking you'll die young and poor into having more than you know what to do with.
With that being said, I have advice to share if you're interested in such things:
- Six figures isn't rich, but it certainly is more than enough. After this point, finding even more money isn't really going to make you much happier, so start prioritizing other important gains you can make in your career (hours, day-to-day job satisfaction)
- Focus on improving emotional intelligence. You can afford stuff now, so you can no longer hide behind notions like "this stuff isn't for poor people like me" -- you need to find actual reasons to say no to things and that requires the skill of knowing why you want something.
- Lots of problems can be solved with money, but you have to be super careful about it or you'll just end up wrecking yourself! Feeling mixed up? Don't buy self-help books -- get therapy. Feeling lonely? Don't buy friends -- take some classes at the local community center. Feeling self-conscious? Don't get a face-lift -- hire a personal trainer and maybe a stylist.
- Money guilt is real and it's OK. Use that feeling to keep yourself down on Earth. Obviously look out for #1 first -- pay off bad debt, max out your 401k, set aside enough cash to max out your insurance deductibles and still live a few months without income -- once you've done that, dial back on the money hoarding. Be better than the assholes who kept you down: tip well, give back to the people who make the things you love, be charitable. Sharing is caring.
Six figure incomes may not be as impressive as they once were, sure, but many of us may never make that much. Don't downplay it. This is still a great accomplishment, and you are rightfully proud. I hope you are able to enjoy it. Remember, you work to live, not live to work. Vacation days and other benefits are part of your total compensation, and none of it matters a whit unless you use all of your salary and benefits on things that make you and the people you care about happy and healthy.
Keep up the good work!
Congrats! I had that happen a few years ago, and it is a great feeling. Cherish it! You have worked hard and earned this!
Congratz!
Looks like the hard work paid off. Congratulations!
Congrats King, live your best life and bring a smile everywhere you go
Nice, but save your money. The best time to do that is now.
Congrats! Well deserved I'm sure.
🎉🎉🎉 Congratulations! 🎉🎉🎉
Nice that you make money, makes life a lot easier. :)
Fuck yeah man, gg. I'll never forget the day I hit 6 figures and how proud I felt. Soak it in - you earned it!
view more: next ›