How much do you have to make to be considered making good money by age?

[darnold]

Some of these people mentioning that its typical for someone even in their 40's making 70-100k a year seems a bit ridiculous.

I dont live in the lower mainland where the salaries seem to be a bit higher, but for every older person i know that makes 6 figures a year, i can think of 10 more that make 35-50k a year.

[stewie]

Originally posted by Z3guy
Hi All,

I would like to get RS members opinion about what you consider making good money by age?...here are my thoughts

19yrs to 22yrs = $40k to $60k

23yrs to 26yrs = $60k to $80k

27yrs to 33yrs = $80k to $120k

34yrs to 37yrs = $120k to $200k

38yrs+ = +$200k

Do you think I am out to lunch?

totally do-able, im in the 19-22yr bracket and am inside that area... when i was 17-19 i was making only 20-30k, then got a better job, now from last march to now, ive cleared well over 35k with 10k+ in taxes taken off ( i ended up starting the year late for personal reasons) this year i should clear 40-50k, im trying to save up most of my money this year

[elly123]

Keep in mind, a lot of people may be in those brackets earlier on when they are 19-22, 23-26... but depending on their profession/career their annual income might cap at $80K...

I dunno... it all really depends on how well you manage your money. I think $60K a year is good money. If you save up, you can retire comfortably.

[asian_XL]

^ even if you make like 40K a year, if you know how to invest your money wisely....20-30% return is not difficult to achieve.

you may wonder why some people work at a restaurant but they
can afford a place or fancy car, because they are smart at keeping
their money rolling all the time.

[FrostyFire]

Originally posted by elly123
Keep in mind, a lot of people may be in those brackets earlier on when they are 19-22, 23-26... but depending on their profession/career their annual income might cap at $80K...

I dunno... it all really depends on how well you manage your money. I think $60K a year is good money. If you save up, you can retire comfortably.

$60k a year won't do you much when you get older and start having a house, kids and the wife's credit card to pay for.

[Tapioca]

Originally posted by FrostyFire
$60k a year won't do you much when you get older and start having a house, kids and the wife's credit card to pay for.

Well, presumably, you would live with someone who's making roughly the same income as you so that your combined income would be in the low to mid 6-figure range. But, I'm amazed how younger couples, especially in Vancouver, can have families. Even if I were to climb the ranks and get into management with an annual salary of say 70-80K, I still don't think having a family is affordable in this city.

But, I think 60K for a single person with no dependents is just enough to scrape by in Vancouver while in other places, such as Ontario or Quebec, it is more than adequate.

^ even if you make like 40K a year, if you know how to invest your money wisely....20-30% return is not difficult to achieve.

I've got a co-worker who used to be a stock broker. He makes just under 40K in his current job, but he still actively plays the market on his own. He told me that he makes just as much money from playing the market as he does in his current job. However, I think people who are this good with their money are the exception rather than the norm. I don't know what you stocks you play, but I don't think I'm wrong to say that a 20% return is exceptional. If you do some lurking around real estate forums, most older people are content with putting their money in safe investments, like high-rate savings accounts or GICs.

You're making more than me (but not by that much ). BTW, have you moved into the new place yet?

Well, if we compare how much work we each do in a week, I probably come up well on top since I don't do a whole lot at work. I haven't moved in yet, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be in by March.

[darnold]

Originally posted by Tapioca
I've got a co-worker who used to be a stock broker. He makes just under 40K in his current job, but he still actively plays the market on his own. He told me that he makes just as much money from playing the market as he does in his current job. However, I think people who are this good with their money are the exception rather than the norm. I don't know what you stocks you play, but I don't think I'm wrong to say that a 20% return is exceptional. If you do some lurking around real estate forums, most older people are content with putting their money in safe investments, like high-rate savings accounts or GICs.

A 20% rate is return is very good, its far from the norm. I would imagine that something with that high of a return is probably risky as hell.

[DownLow]

Originally posted by FrostyFire
$60k a year won't do you much when you get older and start having a house, kids and the wife's credit card to pay for.

Depends on how you live... if you're making payments on two cars, have a 0% down mortgage, and lots of credit card debt, then ya, it's going to be hard.

If you've got one car that's fully paid for, a 25% (or more) down payment on your mortgage, and no credit card debt, then it's definitely doable.

The numbers that I'm thinking of are for living in the suburbs, not Vancouver though.

[elly123]

Originally posted by FrostyFire
$60k a year won't do you much when you get older and start having a house, kids and the wife's credit card to pay for.

Well reality is that most people aren't going to be making a 6 digit income in their 30's... and people are going to have to get a mortgage and have debt etc.

But that's why you gotta budget your money... "Pay yourself first" and save/invest that money before you allocate to your expenses to generate more income. So that by the time you retire, you have enough to do what you wanna do... Chill with your wrinkly spouse or spoil your grandbabiesss.

I'm talking from a perspective of "retiring comfortably" though. Different people have different goals. Even if you make $80K a year, but you want to have/keep up a lavish lifestyle and you buy things that you don't necessarily need, you might not be able to retire early.

Anyhoo... supposedly its quite possible for someone in there 20's to have $1 million by the time they are 65... as long as they save, even if its just a couple hundred a year in the beginning.

Hahaha but who know's how much $1 million is going to be worth in 45 years. Maybe you'll be able to buy a shack

[SuperSlowSS]

how about 2 million a month when you are around mid 30 to early 40?

[innovative]

Originally posted by asian_XL
^ even if you make like 40K a year, if you know how to invest your money wisely....20-30% return is not difficult to achieve.

you may wonder why some people work at a restaurant but they
can afford a place or fancy car, because they are smart at keeping
their money rolling all the time.

If you can please elaborate and share some of your insight in regards to your investment strategies it would be greatly appreciated. I think we all would like to have a 20-30% return in our investments!!

[nammerstar]

you can be successful in different ways. It's not always about the money.

But i do agree, that those figures are about right and i think i'm on track, 22, and after bonus, i should clear in the mid 50's (gross). But in a year, i don't think i be moving up to 60+ a year yet..haha

the example of the stock broker making 50+ a month sounds good, maybe i'll get there in couple years, haha...

i think if you are smart enough and have an idea, you can easily make 50+ a year starting your own company (trades person)

[97ITR]

Originally posted by asian_XL
^ even if you make like 40K a year, if you know how to invest your money wisely....20-30% return is not difficult to achieve.

you may wonder why some people work at a restaurant but they
can afford a place or fancy car, because they are smart at keeping
their money rolling all the time.

Hold the phone... You're saying that consistently beating the market year in and year out to achieve 20-30% isn't difficult to achieve? Dude, maybe if you only look at the last few years. Very few people in the world can honestly say they have and will achieve an average of 20-30% returns over time.

[Tapioca]

Originally posted by 97ITR
Hold the phone... You're saying that consistently beating the market year in and year out to achieve 20-30% isn't difficult to achieve? Dude, maybe if you only look at the last few years. Very few people in the world can honestly say they have and will achieve an average of 20-30% returns over time.

To be fair, if he were to reveal his secret strategies, he probably wouldn't be reaping these gains in the future as everyone on here would jump on the bandwagon. However, I think there are only a handful of ways you can make those types of returns:

1. You invested in real estate at the bottom, say in 2000 or 2001, and rode the wave until about 6 months ago and sold your properties. Gains could easily be 30-40% after taxes.

2. You are very familiar with commodities and invest in mining companies. My co-worker, the former stock broker, invests his money in these types of stocks. He knows what he's doing, but this doesn't mean that he never loses money either. Investing in these types of stocks takes years of experience and knowledge about the industry. I'm not saying that asian_XL doesn't do his homework, but if he has this type of luck/knowledge, he should maybe be a stock broker full-time instead of toiling away at his 35K/ year job.

[Tourettes Guy]

Just collect welfare

[elly123]

Originally posted by Tourettes Guy
Just collect welfare

If you enjoy the simple life =)

[billboa]

how can i collect welfare and work at the same time?

[Meowjin]

get a job thats under the table.

[popnGEAR]

<e-wang> according to z3guy, i make more than good money for my age </e-wang>

When I started working at 19, my salary was 32K which at the time I thought was very high. Since then my salary has increased greatly but it never really matters, eventually I become accustomed to it and then I "need" a bit more. I guess that's just my mentality (and I'm guessing many other people have experienced this). Humans are greeeeeeedy.

[Z3guy]

Originally posted by popnGEAR
<e-wang> according to z3guy, i make more than good money for my age </e-wang>

When I started working at 19, my salary was 32K which at the time I thought was very high. Since then my salary has increased greatly but it never really matters, eventually I become accustomed to it and then I "need" a bit more. I guess that's just my mentality (and I'm guessing many other people have experienced this). Humans are greeeeeeedy.

Hey E-wang, glad you are doing well career/moneywise...I agree with your comments, the more you make, the more you spend or get accustomed to certain things in life. There are always more expensive cars, clothes, condos, houses, toys to buy.....things that cost more usually provide a functional benefit or are just kooler.....from my original post, I am on target for my age, but I always feel I need to make more......I don't have a house on Westside yet and I don't own a Ferrari.....cheers, z3guy

[Presto]

All that matters to me is that I get my expenses covered, and then the remainder is invested, saved and used for recreation. I took a paycut when I got my new job, but I ended up with a lot more money after my expenses since I only live a few minutes from work, and my mortgage payments at my new place are significantly lower than my last place. I am comfortable, and still planning for the future as well! It's all good. Thank God!

[DownLow]

There's an interesting article on Yahoo Finance that applies to this thread.

http://finance.yahoo.com/columnist/a...conomist/19750

[yayabonks]

basically when you're 18 and you have no college education expect to start between 30k-35k/yr. if you are in school, graduate, you should probably be in the 35-40k/yr.

but then again it depends what makes you feel comfortable.

[asian_XL]

Originally posted by darnold
A 20% rate is return is very good, its far from the norm. I would imagine that something with that high of a return is probably risky as hell.

welcome to stock market...there are many stocks out there that
fluctuate 2-4% within a day or week... there's no luck...it's all
about research and experience. my mom's current ROI is as high
as 60%, and she's just a normal house wife.

[asian_XL]

one of the stocks in my portfolio..yeah, I know it's not a northamerican market.

http://hk.finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=1398.HK&t=3m

3 weeks...20% =)
there were quite a few stocks double in the first day of trading.
it's all about if you have the guts to put all your eggs in one basket.