Pay

[imoldernu]

Without comment, FYI, average pay:

From the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm

More detailed:

Average Salaries - Job Descriptions - Annual Job Salaries | PayScale

 

[DrRoy]

My pay is a little over average, but only for 3 more months!

 

[Meadbh]

That's interesting. I looked up my old job, and even accounting for the exchange rate, my earnings six years ago were close to the 95th percentile of these 2016 data. Maybe I should have worked OMY......nah!

 

[COcheesehead]

I am above even the highest mean and those are doctor/dentist positions that had to pay a boatload for their education. I think I leveraged my state school business degree very well.

 

[tmm99]

Sorry, but if you wo*ked in a relatively high COL area, your actual pay was much better than this stats show.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[Sarah S]

That's interesting. I looked up my old job, and even accounting for the exchange rate, my earnings six years ago were close to the 95th percentile of these 2016 data. Maybe I should have worked OMY......nah!

I don't remember your specialty but the numbers look low for an internist to me. Granted, I practiced in a high COL area and had a busy practice but still....

 

[Pilot2013]

Live in the South. Salary is well above that shown. I question this data.

 

[RobbieB]

I've never ever made the median, always less.

I don't care, I'm retired -

 

[Urchina]

I'm at the median, in the highest step level for my position (public sector job), and live in a very HCOL area.

And the powers that be wonder why we have such a hard time recruiting...

 

[brucethebroker]

I was tempted to peek, but as a former boss once said, "that's now ancient history"!!

 

[ziggy29]

I'm at the median, in the highest step level for my position (public sector job), and live in a very HCOL area.

But how are the benefits and the security? Those are worth something -- sometimes a LOT -- and don't show up in the salary statistics. There's more to compensation and attracting applicants than base salary.

 

[Badger]

When I see the ave pay of the various careers (we weren't even close to reaching the ave of ours and they were on the low end of most career paths) I am flabbergasted that so many people in this country have financial difficulties and have not saved sufficiently for retirement. I understand that life can throw you an unexpected curve but it has a few times for us as well and we found ways to adjust and still prepare for a retirement without relying on others. Makes it difficult for me to have sympathy for the great number of people who had the means but didn't prepare.

Cheers!

 

[ziggy29]

Makes it difficult for me to have sympathy for the great number of people who had the means but didn't prepare.

Not everyone was blessed with the ability to make the right decisions the first time or even the second time.

 

[Koolau]

More significant to me, now 12 years post FIRE, our @70 SS and pension are nominally more than my monthly base as I left. True, "bonuses" swelled that base amount most - but not all years. Sometimes it swelled a lot, but there were a couple of times that "bonuses" were zero. Considering the generous employee health insurance and generous 401(k) contributions, FMLA, stock options, etc. etc. I was very well paid for my chosen profession. I would have needed to go into management to receive more - and I had no interest in that c@reer path. YMMV

 

[Danmar]

Something wrong with the data re CFO's. Not even close to my experience. Even when I put NY, late stage career. Need a way to scale for size of employer? Out by more than an order of magnitude.

 

[tmm99]

Something wrong with the data re CFO's. Not even close to my experience. Even when I put NY, late stage career. Need a way to scale for size of employer? Out by more than an order of magnitude.

You are probably right about the size of the company. I once went for a job interview at a small startup, and everyone was a director and all looked to be in their 20's.

 

[NW-Bound]

Out of curiosity, I looked up both Electrical Engineer and Aerospace Engineer. AE's salary range is higher than EE's. Interesting.

Anyway, my pay was way above both, and comparable to a middling family doctor. Can that be right?

 

[Badger]

Not everyone was blessed with the ability to make the right decisions the first time or even the second time.

What you say is true although it is often used as an excuse too. However, when someone makes 3-4X my annual income or more and continues to borrow to live large there comes a time when you have to be responsible for your decisions. A previous thread about the Grasshopper and the Ants fable in it's original version comes to mind. I'm all for giving folks a helping hand but there is a limit.

Cheers!