I got a sizeable raise and am now officially making low six figures and have no one to share my good news with

Hi all. Apologies if this is not allowed here. I know people out there are struggling, but I just want to share my good news with someone.

It's a big milestone of accomplishment in my life, but I feel weird just telling family members or my online friends about it. The only other people who know are my coworkers because we all got the same raise. Money doesn't go as far nowadays due to crazy inflation post COVID and my area has higher cost of living than where I grew up, but I'm still very happy about this. I remember back when I used to only make minimum wage. All those years of schooling eventually made their way back to me. I'll never make as much money as someone like a doctor, but it's definitely enough for me to live comfortably as a single person.

Anyway, I'll delete this in a bit (or sooner if it gets removed by a mod), but I hope you guys out there have a good weekend.

Edit: Thank you guys very much :)

Edit 2: Jeez there are so many more comments than I expected. You guys are so nice!!

ef9357 ,

Congratulations!

chaorace ,
@chaorace@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

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.
flatpandisk ,

Yes you do have someone to share the news, the IRS :). (Assuming you are in the USA)

Seriously though congrats!

slingstone ,

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!

Abird1620 ,

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.

fossilesque ,
@fossilesque@mander.xyz avatar

Get that cheddar.

https://mander.xyz/pictrs/image/cd2a62ec-dfe2-435c-afbc-6a97430371f8.jpeg

sandwichfiend ,
@sandwichfiend@c0tt0n.world avatar

NICE MATE

Hadriscus ,

Cheers bro, to each one of these six figures 🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃

mnemonicmonkeys ,

Congratulations! Since I already have a drink in hand I'll toast to your achievement!

ngdev ,

Congrats! Some unsolicited money advice I wish I had known earlier in my career:

If you have a mortgage and the interest rate is less than 7ish percent and you're wanting to pay it early, something to consider:

You might put whatever extra you were planning into a Roth IRA until it's maxed and also max out your 401k if your employment has that. Historical yield is 7ish% and compound interest will help you immensely 20-30 years down the line.

Paying off the house early is nice feeling but you can possibly refinance for lower rates later if it's currently similar to or higher than historical investment yields. You could also do a little bit of both but prioritizing retirement accounts is the smarter move imo. So if your mortgage rate is 5% and you want to pay that down, you're leaving 2% on the table by not putting it into either an IRA or an index fund instead.

This is assuming you're not carrying other debts at higher rates like credit cards, those should be your priority. Next would be 3 months of all bills saved up, you can find some decent interest rates on savings accounts. I have Acorns and it's at 5% so the 3 months reserves will stack interest for you too.

dingus OP ,

I forget what my mortgage rate is but I think it's somewhere between 5.8-6.8%. I'll have to look it up.

My wanting to eventually pay the mortgage off earlier is to dramatically decrease my monthly bills and make it easier to save and easier to put money in my pocket each month. I'm not really keen on dumping all of my money into something like an IRA. I discovered recently that high yield savings accounts are a thing and I'm much more comfortable with that. Granted, mine is only like 4.3%.

While I do need to put more into retirement and do plan to contribute more to my 401k, I don't really want to go ham over putting every penny I have into retirement. Life is uncertain and you really don't know how long you'll live, even if you try your best to do a healthy life. It's all about balance between enjoying the now and planning for the future, and not putting too much emphasis on one or the other. You don't want to live like you're homeless only to die in a car accident and never get to enjoy what you've worked for.

ngdev ,

Absolutely! I grapple with that all the time. I love having fun and traveling and having cool stuff. It's fun having some money you're not afraid to spend.

You deserve it, you're the one who got yourself to where you're at. At the end of the day do what's right for you, just maybe spend a little bit less over the years and instead put it toward the end game.

As time goes on, sitting on ass collecting interest and being able to live off that interest comfortably will be awesome, and if you were able to live it up the whole time is priceless. Treat your now self and future self, but future self likely won't regret now self traveling etc. (so long as you're not doing illegal tax evasion and damaging your body long term lol)

dohpaz42 ,
@dohpaz42@lemmy.world avatar

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. :)

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