Age To Hit $100 K in Savings

Well, I had two (2) mentors in business, both dead many years now. I still miss 'em. One of the best
hires of my career was a young engineer I found in 1991. He told me recently that I was his mentor.
I'll tell you, that warmed this old cold heart. Especially
coming from this guy. He had it all.

John Galt

[Jane]

Like Bob Smith, I also have decided to get into something that I enjoy and still have a somehow balanced life. Sure in my field, I can make more money by going into management or sale or field service but that means giving up doing technical stuff I enjoy (management) or travel a lot (sale and field service).

I value my time outside work and although I do work overtime from time to time, I have only been away 3 times in my 6 years working for this company. To me money is not everything. By the end of the day, I want to be able to emerge emotionally and physically intact. I don't want to go through my working years feeling tired, develop ulcer, losing my family etc, etc. I don't want to feel that I have to kiss-butt, sell my soul to the devil etc.

Of course that said I also always treat my employer and coworker nicely, no matter whether or not I like them. To me that is just a basic professionalism. You don't have to be buddies at work, just be courteous, do your job well and *never* let personal feelings get in the way.

Jane

[Hyperborea]

Quote:

Like Bob Smith, I also have decided to get into something that I enjoy and still have a somehow balanced life. Sure in my field, I can make more money by going into management or sale or field service but that means giving up doing technical stuff I enjoy (management) or travel a lot (sale and field service).

More technical companies are realizing this and are putting a technical "career track" into place.

Quote:

I value my time outside work and although I do work overtime from time to time, I have only been away 3 times in my 6 years working for this company. To me money is not everything. By the end of the day, I want to be able to emerge emotionally and physically intact. I don't want to go through my working years feeling tired, develop ulcer, losing my family etc, etc. I don't want to feel that I have to kiss-butt, sell my soul to the devil etc.

A lot here depends on the company and the policies they have in place. *The current large company I work for is great: they have very good employee benefits; it isn't expected that employees work huge hours on a regular basis though there is "crunch time" when you do need to but they provide dinner for those working late; and just a good general friendly atmosphere. *This doesn't just apply to my group within the company but this is what it appears to be in general across the board. *I'm hoping to work here until I retire in 7 or so years.

In the previous company I worked for it was a hellacious pressure cooker. *The benefits were sub-standard and anyone who wasn't pulling 60 hours / week was a "slacker" - whether those were productive hours didn't matter.

In the company before that it was in general a good company so some of the macro items were good all around. *However, the company was very large and there were few "controls" on the units within the company so the work environment was incredibly variable. *I worked in two different groups in my years there and one was terrible while the other was great. *I was "recruited" away from the terrible group by the great group when it was learned that I was thinking about leaving the company.

What does it mean? *If you really hate your job maybe it's not the kind of work or even the industry (all these companies are in the same general industry) but perhaps it's just the company.

[azanon]

Quote:

i hope that after i graduate i get as fine a salary as many of you guys in your late 20s are making. *what would you say has been the key to getting paid so well, grades, people skills, being the company's slave...? *i think i'd rather be a salve for a while than an indentured servant for a very long time.

Some have already touched on this here, but i'll reemphaise. *My wife and i only take in about 105K/year combined now, but what i would brag about more is that my federal job only requires 40hr/week with holidays off, plus 18 days a year off, also get 3 day weekends, etc. *My wife also works 40hrs/week max with sick leave and annual leave.

A 100K dollar salary might sound fancy, but a lot of these people (convinently) leave out the 60-80hrs/week it takes to make that. *When someone asks me what i make, i'm more apt to say 31/hr, than 64K a year.

My point: Consider the whole scenario, not just the salary.

[Hyperborea]

Quote:

A 100K dollar salary might sound fancy, but a lot of these people (convinently) leave out the 60-80hrs/week it takes to make that. *When someone asks me what i make, i'm more apt to say 31/hr, than 64K a year..

It doesn't have to be that big a trade-off. *I make a good deal more than that not counting bonuses, options, and ESPP gains. *I usually only work 40-45 hours each week though I'd guess that there is about another 40-60 hours or so each year that I work during the "crunch" times of hitting a deadline. *I get 24 days a year of vacation (and I've never lost any vacation time yet), holidays paid, more vacation in a couple of years, a sabbatical of 4 weeks every 5 years, a good sized gym on site, corporate matching on my charitable donations, an excellent 401k with good funds and a good match, monthly transit pass paid for, and great other benefits.

[retire@40]

I'm trying to get to the point where I can say I get the whole year off, but I find the time to work a couple of hours a week.

[azanon]

I was just generalizing hyper, not targetting any previous poster. Its just that I've been at thankgiving gettogethers where you know someone mentions a great salary, but you really know this person is working insane hours for it.

But it was mainly for the original poster to just consider the myraid of factors in a job besides just the salary.

[Jane]

Quote:

More technical companies are realizing this and are putting a technical "career track" into place. A lot here depends on the company and the policies they have in place. *The current large company I work for is great: they have very good employee benefits; it isn't expected that employees work huge hours on a regular basis though there is "crunch time" when you do need to but they provide dinner for those working late; and just a good general friendly atmosphere. *This doesn't just apply to my group within the company but this is what it appears to be in general across the board. *I'm hoping to work here until I retire in 7 or so years.

Technically we have "technical career" track but this still offers lower pay than management career track. Our sales people received commission which if they are good salespersons, can be quite lucrative.

I consider my company pretty good. Their pay is not the greatest in the country (but we do receive overtime pay if we work more than 40 hours a week), but I have a good boss, and most people I work with here are reasonable.

Sadly not all the bosses here are good. When I first got hired I was working for a boss who seemed to think that the only job fit for a young female engineer just graduated from school was to type/photocopy his stuff. I was resistant to that idea (which made him more resistant in giving me any technical work) and I finally decided to request for a transfer (I figured the worst thing that could happen was that they could fire me).

I got my transfer and my new boss treated me better, actually giving me some technical work to do. I did pretty well under him (with the old boss I was his "problem" employee).

I also like that my company provides me with health, life and disability insurance, 5% matching for defined contribution pension plan, and stock option.

Jane

[daystar]

I'm just looking to get up to Azanon's level. I believe he's a GS-12 in government. I'm a GS-9 ($40K), but I live like a GS-7 ($32K) and then I pocket the rest of the money.

I think if you work in government, you have to make a tradeoff. You get more job security and a 40-hour workweek with good benefits. However, you have to give up a little pay.

As for graduate degrees, I'm doing mine before and after work. I spend most of my weekends doing homework. I'll have my MBA in May and I should have my GS-11 by then too. I expect to spend most of my career as a GS-12 which pays around ($60-80K in today's dollars). That may not be very much for some of you, but I already have a plan where I can retire by 48 (possibly earlier).

You can compare your salary to a civil servant's here:
http://www.opm.gov/oca/04tables/index.asp

Most of us are on the "general schedule"

[Hyperborea]

Quote:

I was just generalizing hyper, not targetting any previous poster. *Its just that I've been at thankgiving gettogethers where you know someone mentions a great salary, but you really know this person is working insane hours for it.

Ok, but my point was that it is possible to be making a "good" salary and not be killing yourself. *Now, I'm still not sure how common this is. *Have I just "lucked out" and found the only (or one of the few) companies like this?

Quote:

But it was mainly for the original poster to just consider the myraid of factors in a job besides just the salary.

A sensible thing to do. *It's first of all important to consider the entire remuneration package - benefits, other compensation, training, etc. *Sort of the same problem was that during the boom years of Silicon Valley a lot were only focused on the number of options rather than the total package including the odds of those options paying out.

Second it's important to consider what the impacts of the job on your life will be - do you enjoy the work, what about travel, where do you have to live, etc. *It is possible that you can put up with hard conditions for a couple of years if the remuneration is right but you don't want to spend a decade or so like that.

[Hyperborea]

Quote:

You can compare your salary to a civil servant's here: http://www.opm.gov/oca/04tables/index.asp Most of us are on the "general schedule"

So, what do the ratings mean? Who is a GS-1? A mail room clerk? How about a GS-15?

[Brat]

A GS15 is typically a "Regional Director" type management position, I have never met a GS1. Grades 9-11 (career ladder paths are often odd numbers) are usually professional or semi-professional positions. I retired a few years ago but I doubt that the system has changed much. There is a poster who is a current OPM employee. If she sees this and I am in error I hope she will correct me.

Keep in mind that pay is adjsted for cost of living for positions in some locals (such as San Francisco, New York, or Alaska). The grade a job is placed in is arrived at by OPM looking at skills and responsibilities (primarilly). Where a skill is hard to find and the market is above the grade OPM may add a premium to the job, but it won't change the grade.

[azanon]

Quote:

So, what do the ratings mean? *Who is a GS-1? *A mail room clerk? *How about a GS-15?

It is a generalized denotation that reflects the complexity/degree and/or training/education required to do your job, NOT your work load level (a common misunderstanding even amonst some federal employees).

It also has functional equilivants in the military:
GS-14/15 - Colonel
GS-13 Lt. Colonel
GS-12 Major
GS-11 Captain
GS-9 1st LT
GS-7 2nd LT,
etc

In line with GS-7 being a 2nd LT, that is about when you'll start seeing an undergraduate degree being a requirement for GS-7 or higher, though there are certainly exceptions to that, esp for GS-5/6s that are promoted internally to 7 or higher.

Generals 1-5 star are SES 1-5.

[azanon]

Quote:

I'm just looking to get up to Azanon's level. I believe he's a GS-12 in government. I'm a GS-9 ($40K), but I live like a GS-7 ($32K) and then I pocket the rest of the money. I think if you work in government, you have to make a tradeoff. You get more job security and a 40-hour workweek with good benefits. However, you have to give up a little pay.

I got in the system as a GS-9 promotion potential 11 (which i got in a year). *After putting in a year as an 11, i applied to a 12 job and got that. *Its actually pretty easy to just keep going up, up, up if you're willing to move. *But i like where i'm at now, so I might not be so aggresive about moving from now on. *But at 33, i'm content with a 12 for now :-).

And yes, i agree salary isnt everything. *I'd take my salary and my work hrs/time off, over my dad's life (he made from 100K/year to 300/year now, but works 55-60hrs/week and can be called at home). * Yes that's a lot of money, but what good is it when you're at work 6 days a week and can even be called on Sunday? *He's about to retire with 2 mil liquid but gollie jee - he worked his ass off from 28 to 59 (what he is now). *You just cant take the stuff with you.

This website is absolutely right about one thing; your time is absolutely priceless, including while you're working too.

I always had workaholic tendencies, but they really kicked in when I ran the show (whether I owned it or not). Prior to semiretirement I was "on call" 24/7 and it all seemed quite normal. I am sure (knowing what I know now) that I could have stuck it out until I hit
$1,000,000. Bottom line, I now am making up for all those years of "busting my pick" by just loafing.

John Galt

[russ1910]

Quote:

My wife and I passed 100K in net worth (about 65K in retirement savings) about the beginning of this year; our average age is 32. * We're building faster than that suggests though because we're late out of the gate since we both have graduate degrees, thus causing delays getting us into the work force. * My grad degree is paying for itself though cause i'm pretty sure it is a main reason i outcompeted others for the GS-12 job i have now.

I agree that a grad degree pays for itself, and I minimized (eliminated) the time lag by going to school at night while working my career during the day...Unless you are a masochist like me I don't recommend this...it is also not so good for family life. The good feature of this is that I didn't have any time to spend the money that I earned.