Dreaming of a six-figure salary? Explore the empowering stories of 15 Reddit users who reached this milestone. Keep on reading to gain insights into their processes, and who knows, you might find yourself on this list in a few more years! *Fingers crossed*
15. Well Liked and Right Place at the Right Time
“It wasn’t too tough for me in terms of workload, but there was a lot of luck and a few key decisions involved. I first broke 6 figures at either 29 or 30, can’t remember exactly where. I’m at $160k base now (plus cash and stock bonuses worth about $50k) at 31. The two biggest factors have been making sure I’m well liked, and making sure I’m in the right place at the right time. For example, I felt my growth stagnate at a not very successful company, so I left for a rival that was on the upswing. That’s making sure I’m in the right place at the right time.”
14. PhD and Consulting
“It took an entire PhD and a couple years of consulting experience to break $100K. So that’s something like 7 years. Worked my a** off the whole time. It’s about 4 years later, and I’m close to doubling it. I still sorta work my a** off, but it’s less than before.”
13. Law School (even if you dislike court)
“I had to go to law school. I’m 29 and make $170k now.”
“Every time I work with our staff attorneys, I think “I should have gone to law school.” I’m not insinuating that they don’t earn their keep, rather I see people who are low-stress and spend most of the day helping other employees navigate contracts. Growing up, you were led to believe attorneys spent 100% of their time in courtrooms, locked in intense arguing with opposing counsel.”
“Yeah I never go to court. I’m not that kind of lawyer. The vast majority of what I do involved contracts and business dealings, and the rest is regulatory compliance.”
12. Relationships Enter the Equation
“I first broke 6 figures at either 29 or 30, can’t remember exactly where. I’m at $160k base now (plus cash and stock bonuses worth about $50k) at 31. The two biggest factors have been making sure I’m well-liked, and making sure I’m in the right place at the right time.”
“Honestly, 80% of being promoted is making sure you have a good reputation and everyone likes you. You just need to be average or slightly above average at your job.”
11. You Can Always Marry Into Money
“I married it…She is an emergency room doctor.”
“You can make more money in a day than you can your entire life with this one trick…”
10. Try Living In Wealthy Countries
“Not hard but I live in Switzerland and it is not that much here since everything is so f****** expensive.”
“[I’m] up to around 180k at 37, which is basically middle class in Zurich. 370k after taxes required to be a 1%-er lol…”
9. Trade Unions Are Worth Considering
“I’m a union ironworker in NYC…My apprenticeship was 5 years and as a journeyman I make over 100k. And that’s just from hourly and vacation pay. Our total package (hourly wage, vacation pay, annuity, health insurance, other benefits etc.) Is $108/hr. I basically went to college for construction for 30 dollars and 50 cents a month. Support your local unions and look into the trades if you want to make a solid living without incurring student loan debt or potentially spending years on a slow upward grind of internship and interoffice politics.”
“Yup. 140k last year, I’m an apprentice at a unionized electric utility, hit 6 figures at 22. All the journeymen make 160-225k depending on OT, some guys hit 250-280. I’m in an area that’s extremely white collar and career oriented. My friends find it hilarious that I’m the highest compensated one and I didn’t spend a dime to get there besides union dues, all I had to do was show up to work.”
8. Sometimes It Takes Patience
“It took three degrees and 29 years of experience for me to get there.”
7. Manage Your Own Career
“I started as a junior engineer making maybe 45k and working 65hr weeks. I had to keep quitting and finding new jobs to make more money because my industry has the idea that +0.50/hr is a great raise…I job hopped for about 8 years before landing a middle management position. Now I work way less and my salary is much bigger and so are my bonuses. Moral of the story is don’t listen to what your boss says. They are paid way more than you think and work less than you do.”
“Your current employer will pay you as little as they can get away with. More often than not you will have to switch companies to get a significant pay raise.”
6. It Can Happen Organically
“It was a natural progression. I started working in 1997 ($15/hr). Passed 100K in 2011 (salaried).”
5. The Right Job Makes a Difference
“Literally had to change jobs – I fought tooth and nail to get into the 80s and 90s, then expected my annual raise to get me to ~$101k. Nope – $99,985… I got a new job three months later, starting salary $100,000. Yes, I am that petty.”
“Switching jobs is what did it for me. I started in tech at 50k…then I realized new hires were starting off higher. I learned it would be way harder to get to a better number through raises than it would be to just start at that number at other companies. So I started switching jobs every 2 years. My salary basically went 50, 70, 85, 105, 120, 160.”
4. Bigger Stakes Make Anything Tricky
“Took me about 3 years of sales experience to start making 6 figures. I eventually quit and went back to school for my engineering degree, then spent about a year working junior roles until I finally started making 6 figures, which in total took about 5 years. Both paths were extremely difficult in their own way. Anytime you are making 6 figures there are big stakes involved which also means big swings.”
3. The Hard Part’s Trading Time
“Started working at a high end restaurant, took me two years to go from essentially a busboy to the head bartender, which isn’t exactly a normal route towards 6 figures, but the only threshold that was hard was trading more of my time to work extra shifts to clear that amount.”
2. Inflation Made it Easier
“I just had to wait until 100k wasn’t actually that much money anymore.”
“Yep, by the time I got past that threshold and to 110k, my money was going less far than the 85-92k I was on 3 years prior. Inflation can f*** off.”
“Same. Made the jump from $100K to $130K just this year. Coming out of college (2004) I thought I’d be driving BMW’s and living in a mansion once I reached $100K. Not the case at all.”
1. It’s Smooth(er) Sailing After $80k
“Honestly much harder to get from 50 to 80. After that, it was a pretty smooth transition.”
So true. I switched fields in my late 20s. My salary progression went from $18/hr intern, to $30/hr intern, to $58k full time, $66k, $80k…and then bam $155k. I still am not sure how I did that. Took 6 years to inch up to 80, 1 year to basically double it.
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Source: Reddit.