Who knows how much you make? (outside of work)

[Finance Dave]

just my wife.

 

[FreqFlyer]

One person who doesn't know how much I earn is the guy sitting next to me on the plane...

Recently I was flying business class to Brazil for work. The guy next to me had no sense of boundaries. He was a civilian contractor in Afghanistan and was traveling to see his mistress and illegitimate child in Brazil.

I guess he was so proud of how much he was earning he told me what he earned. After awhile he asked me how much I made (I guess since I wasn't forthcoming). He was offended when I refused to say.

Talk about a weirdo...

I often wonder how people afford business class tickets. Last week I observed a woman and her two kids (under 10 years old) in business. They had to be $6,000 tickets..

 

[Meadbh]

I often wonder how people afford business class tickets. Last week I observed a woman and her two kids (under 10 years old) in business. They had to be $6,000 tickets..

My guess is that Dad clocks up a huge number of frequent flyer points and the family uses them.

On Friday I flew business class for less than the price of an economy ticket. Friday evening is not peak business class usage time - at least on this route. The occupants of business class included a federal government minister, a 20 something honeymoon couple, and a few other people like myself who weren't flaunting any wealth.

 

[walkinwood]

Right now, everyone knows how much I make. Zilch!

 

[traineeinvestor]

I
I often wonder how people afford business class tickets. Last week I observed a woman and her two kids (under 10 years old) in business. They had to be $6,000 tickets..

With considerable difficulty is the answer for most of us.

I know a number of people on expat packages which include an annual return ticket business class for the whole family.

Depending on where you live, remuneration packages can be structured so that you take less income and get a travel allowance - effectively reducing the cost of the tickets. I used to be able to do this in Hong Kong - until they changed the tax laws.

People who travel on business will often add a few days on to the trip as a holdiday - effectively only having to pay for the accomodation etc. I plead guilty to this one.

I know people who time their family vacations around business trips - one business class ticket gets paid by the employer and the rest as a personal expense

Some companies get discounted rates for airfares which they allow employees to use for their personal flying.

People who fly a lot tend to rack up a lot of airmiles - which they can redeem for their own use. My own experience is that it is difficult to get free tickets but not as difficult to buy an economy ticket and use airmiles to upgrade.

The trouble with flying business class is that you get used to it. Going from having a flat bed seat to an economy class @$%# in which there is not enough space to either straighten your legs or cross them is hard - especially for long haul ...

 

[sailor]

I often wonder how people afford business class tickets. Last week I observed a woman and her two kids (under 10 years old) in business. They had to be $6,000 tickets..

Not necessary. 5 of us were treated to First Class by FinnAir for over Atlantic, when they messed up our request for bascinet. Our problem was that the kids got spoiled a lot on this leg and were asking for lay flat seats on all other legs of the trip
Also a lot of customers would get upgraded for free to business/first because of their frequent flyer status.
Another way is using your miles either for the whole ticket or just for the upgrade.

 

[ronocnikral]

Not necessary. 5 of us were treated to First Class by FinnAir for over Atlantic, when they messed up our request for bascinet. Our problem was that the kids got spoiled a lot on this leg and were asking for lay flat seats on all other legs of the trip
Also a lot of customers would get upgraded for free to business/first because of their frequent flyer status.
Another way is using your miles either for the whole ticket or just for the upgrade.

my experience has been your FF status will not help you get first/business seats internationally. upgrading with miles does the trick though...

domestically, however, my wife and i enjoy the upgrades based on my FF status....

 

[kaudrey]

My SO, our best friends, my parents know my salary, at least approximately. One of my aunts and my sister would be able to make an educated guess. Also being a Fed, it can be looked up by anyone.

Tmm asked how it comes up. My dad is just curious and will ask once in a while. We are a small family and are all a bunch of savers, so there are no issues or worries about sharing information. My parents retired early and I hope to follow in their footsteps. Plus, I am in finance, so I've given various relatives advice on occasion, so maybe we know more about each others' positions than other families. As for our closest friends, they are like family to me. They want to retire early also, so we sit around and drink wine and compare plans and investments and goals etc. They don't know exactly what I make or how much I have saved, but they have a good idea.

Other than that, I don't share the information. More people know that I save a significant portion of my salary, but they don't know the dollar amounts.

 

[Fireup2020]

I have no clue what my parents made, once I saw the checkbook - and could not figure out why they would not fit the bill for the Calvin Klein's I was dreaming of at the time! (makes perfect sense now - they retired a little early!) Like Nords mentioned, the whole internet world can access my "salary" and allowances. (military)

 

[angelbaby]

No use in me hiding it. All people need is my name and occupation and they can look it up:

State Worker Salary Search - sacbee.com

 

[Texas Proud]

my experience has been your FF status will not help you get first/business seats internationally. upgrading with miles does the trick though...

domestically, however, my wife and i enjoy the upgrades based on my FF status....

it is true... the reason giving to me by the head of travel... most businesses will spring for business class... so why give away something when you know you will get the money...

Most will not spring for business on domestic... so it is a carrot for you to fly on their plane... they got all the money they could out of mega... now it is how do we make you chose our airline...

 

[BigNick]

I have no clue what my parents made, once I saw the checkbook - and could not figure out why they would not fit the bill for the Calvin Klein's I was dreaming of at the time! (makes perfect sense now - they retired a little early!)

When the kids were little, we would sometimes go to Germany for shopping. The first two words of German which they learned were "Stark Reduziert" ("Price slashed"). If the clothes they liked the look of weren't "Stark Reduziert", they weren't getting them.

 

[Meadbh]

my experience has been your FF status will not help you get first/business seats internationally. upgrading with miles does the trick though...

domestically, however, my wife and i enjoy the upgrades based on my FF status....

I have been upgraded several times on international flights when travelling to the funeral of a close relative. TLC does help.

 

[sailor]

my experience has been your FF status will not help you get first/business seats internationally.

That really depends on the route. If you care to maximize your chances try to pick up mid week travel with relatively empty business and full economy. I was bumped up several times CDG->ATL or ZRH->ATL with measly Silver Medallion status when economy got full.

 

[Katsmeow]

My husband and employer. Some co-workers probably can figure the range. My mother (and father when he was alive) know generally but not exactly.

My kids (all teenagers) have asked and I won't tell them. One reason is that I felt they would get an over-inflated idea of our income given they don't understand the expenses that go with it.

They are old enough now to notice differences in what people have and they do realize we had (DH now retired, me ESR) more income than most but I just didn't want to give numbers.

I now work about 10 hours a week. The other day my 16 year old son was questioning why I do it particularly since it can't be much money working so little. Without thinking, I replied that it is over $4k a month. He was clearly surprised and said "Oh! That is more than some people make working full time." I agreed that it was and it was clear he could now understand why I might choose to work part time.

Another thing though is that salary isn't necessarily everything on compensation. My salary was always more than DH's. However his benefits were much much better than mine. It is his lump sum from his pension that allows us to retire.

 

[Bimmerbill]

Just look up GS12 in the Boston area pay scale on OPM.GOV and you will see my salary range.

 

[WanderALot]

Mom and Dad know my salary. DW's parents don't, but I wouldn't mind telling them if they asked. Several of my close friends know my salary. All of the above are really responsible with money. I think only one of my friends knows my networth because we compare notes all the time. I won't tell DW's brother-in-law because he seems obsessed with how we are doing financially.

One of my really close friends knows my salary but not my NW. I would tell him, but I can tell he doesn't want to know because he thinks he would feel bad because he is worth less than us. He is good (cheap) with money, but not good at investing. He played with high flying stocks a lot about a decade ago and lost quite a bit. Now he has gone to the other extreme and puts everything into savings accounts.

Another of my friends graduated at the same time as me (but in a different field) and we have had an ongoing competition about who makes more. We would call each other after raises. After one raise, it turned out that he was making $4/year more than me!