What Salary Would You Be Happy with for The Rest of Your Life?

watwatwat on 15/10/2017 - 11:55
Last edited 15/10/2017 - 12:41

I guess most people start their careers on small salaries and this goes up over time, commonly by switching jobs and getting a bump each time. But eventually I feel people will get to a point where they're content with salary and don't desire any more, so don't need to switch jobs any more.

What salary do you think you'd be happy with for the rest of your life?

I'm mid-twenties and on $73k so feel like I am on a lot already. But I suppose I would expect some bumps over my career and if so, I guess close to $100k would be a good amount to have for the rest of my life. I guess extra costs that come up in life, such as having kids, would result in higher costs.

Would prefer serious replies.

Education & Work

Comments

  • MrHyde on 15/10/2017 - 12:13

    You can't be content on a salary as inflation means your money is worth less each year if you are not getting more money. And the best way to get more money is to switch jobs as most places do not increase salaries as much as switching jobs does.

    To answer your question, I would be content with $250K in today's money. :)

  • fossilfuel on 15/10/2017 - 12:14
    +3

    No need for a salary when you can purchase a high yield investment vehicle for 80k

  • JIMB0 on 15/10/2017 - 12:21
    +14

    Let the bragging begin.

  • currentfad on 15/10/2017 - 12:24

    $10m/year thx

  • [Deactivated] on 15/10/2017 - 12:29
    +7

    a payrise in line with inflation every year.

    • scrimshaw on 15/10/2017 - 14:06
      +2

      I'd be happy if I could afford to buy every single front page bargain on Ozb for the rest of my life.

  • dylanando on 15/10/2017 - 12:54
    +3

    You would never have enough, You live to your wage and always will.
    Especially if you're on this damn site called ozbargain.

  • 2jzzzz on 15/10/2017 - 12:56

    $150k/y in the hand and adjusted up with CPI every year.

    • [Deactivated] on 15/10/2017 - 17:07
      -5

      Can confirm. Not enough to be totally content.

  • chumlee on 15/10/2017 - 13:05
    +13

    I will be happy with what our politicians get - a pension for life that is indexed yearly. No need to worry about stock market fluctuations, recessions etc and you can keep working after politics without it affecting your pension

  • dcep on 15/10/2017 - 13:32
    +1

    good luck paying off mortgage if you have a family with kids and your wife doesn't work.

  • airal3rt on 15/10/2017 - 13:52
    +10

    $0 per year.

    Live on a tropical island catching fish and eating coconuts. Maybe paddle a canoe to the neighbour's island every now and then to swap coconuts for bananas.

    • try2bhelpful on 16/10/2017 - 08:47

      Die of a tropical disease and/or malnutrition.

    • magic8ballgag on 16/10/2017 - 09:01

      That sounds delightful, but I don't think neighboring islands would enjoy my bartering tactics.

    • [Deactivated] on 16/10/2017 - 21:01
      +1

      Needs wifi.

  • trustnoone on 15/10/2017 - 14:22

    Mines just under 70k and for Sydney don't think its enough for future wise, I'd like more around the 120k, though I'm not sure how much extra work that means I'd need to take on (or work up to).

    I'm hoping at 120k on my own it will be enough to get a nice apartment some day.

  • enzioFirenze on 15/10/2017 - 14:41

    this kinda depends on if you already have a home or not, if I do have a home with a mortgage ~500k, I'd be content with 100k/yr. Otherwise, it'd have to be at least 150k/yr if you want to get something nice in Sydney.

  • xoom on 15/10/2017 - 14:48
    +1

    Pinkie to corner of lip…. $1m dollars

    </dr evil>

  • theHMASfriendship on 15/10/2017 - 14:55
    +1

    100 million a year should do it

  • [Deactivated] on 15/10/2017 - 15:44
    -6

    Could honestly say 300k….

    While this sounds like a large amount; consider our agressive tax rates in au.

    Im past 150k atm.

  • 0031nek on 15/10/2017 - 16:00

    73k before or after tax and deductions? if the latter, i'm more than happy, because i've got ozbargain.

    • watwatwat on 15/10/2017 - 23:10

      Before tax.

  • garetz on 15/10/2017 - 16:15

    take all your expenses, add 35k to it, then double it, and thats what you can comfortably live on, while saving enough for retirement and paying off a mortgage.

    • [Deactivated] on 15/10/2017 - 17:15

      What about holidays and whatnot?

  • Sage on 15/10/2017 - 16:54
    +2

    I'd be happy to have a steady income at all!

  • Diji1 on 15/10/2017 - 18:16
    +3

    There have been studies trying to link income to happiness that have concluded that money does cause happiness but only up to a certain level of income which actually isn't very high. A better way to think of the relationship between money and mood is that poverty causes unhappiness.

    I cannot recall numbers but it was really very low, like enough for most people to live on and have a modestly better life relatively to everyone else. The relative to everyone else bit is important because the income level supposedly required to achieve the happiness changed depending on country.

    • brokeunistudent on 15/10/2017 - 19:21

      It was $70k for US IIRC

    • original15 on 15/10/2017 - 19:31

      Yeh huge dejavu we were chatting bout this in a thread the other day, think it was 100k where further increases in wage didn't significantly increase satisfaction

  • dingdong3000 on 15/10/2017 - 19:25
    +2

    What's up with all these topics regarding salary and professions!?! Get's so boring and repetitive sigh

    • Cheapskate Paul on 16/10/2017 - 01:11
      +3

      The title should give you a good idea of the content. No one is forcing you to read topics regarding salary and professions!

      You are not the only person using ozbargain. Others may enjoy these topics.

    • JIMB0 on 16/10/2017 - 06:47
      +1

      It's for people to brag about their six figure salary.

      • StingyBritches on 16/10/2017 - 08:43
        +1

        Only six figures?

        (Sigh. I wish…)

  • try2bhelpful on 16/10/2017 - 08:51

    It depends on what you do with the money you earn. You don’t want to work in a high paying position if it is eating your soul. Think hard about what you really want to spend your money on and work back from there.

  • dimitryp on 16/10/2017 - 09:28

    i read a study a while back - how much money would make you happy? Both wealthy and poor people said that another 10% on top of what they currently have would make them comfortable.
    Just goes to show that however much/little you have, you feel that financial contentment is still out of reach and you'd like a bit more.
    When your wealth increases you adjust your lifestyle to suit, but still want a little bit more.

  • TheOtherLeft on 16/10/2017 - 11:26
    +1

    We've been having a lot of Change Management and Leadership-style training at work and I've stopped to think exactly how far I want to progress and where I want to go.

    Having seen the huge hours my managers do I've come to the decision I don't want to progress more then 1 level up. I'm currently a team lead, so being a manager is about all I want to go.

    This does go against my Asian-male DNA but having a young family makes me stop and think what my priorities are in life. My wife is against me going for higher paying jobs due to the time away. We are financially comfortable with a house to be paid off in a cpouple of years. We aren't big spenders and definately don't try to keep up with Joneses.

  • thord on 16/10/2017 - 12:01
    +1

    If I had a house, I could live on $50k a year easily and be very happy.

    Since I don't have a house, I'd need probably $150 - $200k a year to eventually afford one and live and be happy.

  • momov3 on 16/10/2017 - 17:20

    Just read in the real estate news that a couple living in Sydney need to earn combined income of at least $190K to be 'mortgage stress free'.

  • almdrine on 24/10/2017 - 18:47

    Well, I asked the similar question from my professor while studying the course ‘motivation’. She said: If a person gets a salary above the expectation it increases the wants and after sometime, those wants coverts into needs and that time person works more hard to meet the satisfaction level.

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