Friday, April 20, 2007

The New Income Reality

As determined by my real estate partners and myself some months ago over dinner during one of our weekly meetings...

"$200,000 is the new $100,000".

I think that says it all.

We're all fairly well compensated, but not at the level we'd like to be. That next jump is a big one. People have been saying that $100,000 doesn't go as far as it used to. Damn skippy! I understand the hedonic treadmill argument as well, but I'd primarily like to make more so that I have more to invest and save. I'm not so much interested in consumption right now, unless its consumption on experiences. Otherwise, let my assets grow. I have a goal to not have to work for anyone by age 35, and I'll be damned if I'll let shiny stuff get in the way of that!

I'm sure the Brits or anyone paid in euros is feeling the same thing. 100,000 of any currency just doesn't have the pull, never mind cachet, that it used to. Sheesh, can you even imagine when those 6 figures might have meant something to someone? Now its a rounding error to the up-and-coming denizens of Mayfair, London. How sick is that!?!

(I like Mayfair. Its a charming area. Spent a few weeks there back in 2000. Now my weekly take home probably wouldn't cover a night in the same hotel, if it even still exists.)

And it looks like the syndrome is spreading!

I'm not going to delve into the economics of this phenomenon here and now. But if it isn't palpable to you, you've got your head up your ass. At some point, something will have to change. For me, all I'm worried about right now is making as much of that paper as quickly as possible, and getting out before the whole system implodes.

$200,000 here I come! And I don't care if you're ready for me or not!

Until next time...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I've been noticing lot of this. What's frustrating is that most companies still see 100k as some magical number which only few employees deserve. And 200k is definitely out of range for most employees. I'm a senior software developer with 10 years of experience and I get this all the time -- there's a hard cap that company red tape and the top brass won't consider changing.

The only way to get around this seems to be to strike out on your own as a contractor, or moonlight.