People on the internet talking about their huge salaries

Ubbquittious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118528961#Comment_118528961

A lot of these side hustles are not nearly as good as they make out. For example there was one I saw on TikTok where a lad was importing kitchen gadgets from China to be resold on Amazon. A fella can be lucky with that for a spell, provided they choose the right gadget and there isnt much competition. I dabbled in a bit of reselling but it was always short lived and quite tedious. If the guy has troubles with quality & returns or the product isn't a hit with customers he only loses money

joeguevara

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118528999#Comment_118528999

For most of the first year of lockdown I thought all that Tik tok was for was for early teens do do basic dance routines. Over the last 5 months I was doing due diligence for a company that was launching their social media campaign on Tik tok so I spent a fair whack on it and all of those suppose side hustles is just attracting traffic to affiliate marketing sites which from I understanding will eventually become Ponzi schemes. The other major proportion of the videos are people selling 1:1 training on being viral Tik tok. Now obviously there are huge success stories but most smoke and mirrors. I do love seeing the real success stories when genuine.

joeguevara

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118528999#Comment_118528999

It’s late and finishing off an opinion that is rinsing every hour god sends so maybe my post was vague. But I was saying everything in agreement with your reply that most side hustles or crypto experts are just illusions. If someone was making the money they were claiming they wouldn’t want to show everyone else how to make it. I love following something in the first thousand that eventually becomes huge. Most recent example (and hasn’t gone mega but making a good whack) is a girl medical student from the U.K. who makes whiskey/spirit optics and dispensary from copper plumbing pipes nuts and valves for m a reclaimed wood base. In the first weekend she make orders of over 50k and is growing at a huge rate.

But every success is 1000 tutorials for sale for how to di a tshirt design hustle that guarantees 5 figures a week.

strangely through all my Tik tok research I have designed a product that combines my legal crime background and alcohol sales background and flippantly decided to arrange a consultation with a content creator who I thought was legitimate. Anyway the time of the call arrived and instead of a video conference there were pressurising for a voice call only. When asked why the reply came back that they just had a cosmetic surgery procedure on their face. They forgot fat the supposed content creato had a Tik tok live 10 minutes previous. It was all lies. But to launch a product and do everything to make it viral all the techniques are easily got free. I’m hoping to do it in the next two months. First time since my pub concept that I think is a winner.

Geuze

I am a bit surprised by this one:

https://www.askaboutmoney.com/threads/getting-a-second-mortgage-buy-to-let-question.226378/

Age 30

Gross income = 160k

House worth 400k, with 200k mortgage

100k cash on deposit

Company shares = 150k

Pension = zero

I'd love to know what jobs are paying 160k by age 30?

BrianD3

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118593969#Comment_118593969

Says they are self employed so it might well be an IT contractor with the usual risks and benefits that come with self employment.

The ones that jump out for me are not necessarily examples like the above but rather those where posters claim to be employees and are on well into 6 figures with a bonus well into 5 figures. Probably multinationals? And probably quite secure employment in that case.

People will "cope" by assuming that these high earners must be under terrible pressure in their jobs. Not necessarily the case due to sh*t flowing downwards.

Pussyhands

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118593969#Comment_118593969

I know some lads who would be really smart and just live to work. One would have got out of college and went into senior engineering position after maybe 1 year max. They didn't start from the bottom. They got contacts through their college who saw their potential.

I don't know how much he's earning now but I know lads around 30 that are earning around 80k and they were fairly average in college and wouldn't be workaholics. So 160k by 30? I could see it if they were contracting.

lawred2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118527928#Comment_118527928

50k is only a "good salary" if you have no major outgoings like mortgage or childcare.

and even worse if you also want to provide for your retirement

BaywatchHQ

I have noticed this especially on here and also on Reddit with the Americans talking about their "six figure salaries". Meanwhile I've never even seen a £100 note before. I just find people insufferable, I am so misanthropic that I can barely even stomach online chats nowadays.

mariaalice

It's a perspective thing, for someone on 50k with a lot of friends on the same they find it hard believe that a salary 100k is not uncommon.

HillCloudHop

I'm a 30 year old medical doctor on 75k (including overtime).

Hopefully that will upset some people.

growleaves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118601781#Comment_118601781

Why would you want to upset people? Bizarre.

Ubbquittious

Everything is Bizarre these days

Tis like the "thiny veiled" of 2022

smurfjed

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118598835#Comment_118598835

Try walking into an Irish bank with a wad of them and watch their shocked response. They just don’t exist in ireland.

jolivmmx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118601781#Comment_118601781

I don’t think that it is necessary to announce yourself as a doctor on a pseudo-anonymised forum..

And let’s be honest, you are probably doing 60/70 hour weeks, 1/3 weekends, 16h call, stressed out of your mind, still studying for your MSc or membership/fellowship/MD/whatever every weekend, trying to tick all the boxes with the potential to one day be a consultant, moving yourself every 6-12 months and will soon have to move abroad for a fellowship.

It all sounds wonderful until you douse it with a bit of reality.

BrianD3

Yet another one today on AAM - a 36 year old on 322k (spouse on 60k) looking for free and tailored advice from strangers on the Internet.

I still cannot get my head around this - is this the rich man's version of asking on facebook what time Tesco opens at.

NedsNotDead

I'm on a massive salary but I wouldn't mention it online

gmisk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118593969#Comment_118593969

Tech if you are seriously talented or in a niche/specialised area

gmisk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118601781#Comment_118601781

I doubt it tbh.

Would I want to do that job for the same money...not a chance.

I used to go out with a doctor and I know how long it takes to get trained and the stress of the job and toll it can take on you.

growleaves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118620392#Comment_118620392

You just did

Geuze

Another one:

https://www.askaboutmoney.com/threads/moving-to-the-us-for-work.226528/

1. Current salary = ~160k + usual benefits
2. Wife's salary = 82k (public sector). Her qualifications would not be recognised in the US. Likely she wouldn't work.
3. We own a house worth ~800k in Dublin. Remaining mortgage is 230k. We are planning a large modernisation and retrofit that will likely cost 250-300k. We have 200k put aside to cover the bulk of this.
4. My pension is worth ~650k.
5. My wife has a PS pension.
6. Childrens ages: 15, 13, 10. They are fairly normal as kids go!
7. One dog!
8. Our ages: 47, 49

I often wonder who are these people.

dotsman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118661758#Comment_118661758

It's not that uncommon. They are 47 & 49, not exactly young kids starting out their careers.

I'm late 30's and would have a few friends earning more than 160K, and many earning above the wife's 82K. I would imagine, in another 10 years' time, when my friends and I are circa that age, that quite a lot of us would consider that couples' income in the range of "normal".

As for the house worth 800K, they don't say when they bought, but given their ages, it is likely that they bought it a long time ago for considerably less.

And as for his pension, it is actually a little underfunded given his current salary, but without knowing his earnings history, it may be understandable.

BrianD3

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118661758#Comment_118661758

Even though 160k in your late 40s is far from the most outlandish one quoted, I'd wonder what is happening here. Have salaries been going up in the multinational sector over a number of years. 5% here, 10% there with a compounding effect. Resulting in a surprising number of people being on well over 100k and the media going quiet about public servants' pay.

I see there is another recent one on AAM where a 30 year old has a salary of 100k and needs advice as he "isn't used to earning this kind of money".

I would assume that only a miniscule percentage of high earners would post about their salary on Internet forums yet we've seen numerous examples on AAM.

Trying to figure out what sort of selection bias there may be.

I also watch How To Be Good With Money on RTE, obviously on this there is no anonymity. Salaries seem "normal". The chap who was on it this week is a senior software engineer in his mid 50s, salary quoted was 64k. Here's his LinkedIn.

https://ie.linkedin.com/in/kieran-stafford-46592013

Former Former Former

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118661758#Comment_118661758

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118661758#Comment_118661758

I often wonder who are these people.

He says he is 47 and working for a US multinational. He's senior enough that they're offering him a role in the US.

160k is not a massive salary for someone like that. It is about average.

Likewise 82k isn't massive for someone aged 49 and working in public sector.

What's the issue?

Geuze

There isn't any issue.

Although I must add that 82k is above average for public servants aged 49, and I would say well above average.

It's maybe "not massive", but it is above average.

It's above all nurses, all teachers, all Garda, other than principals, nurse manager and senior Gardai.

I don't know the MNC sector as well, but I still say 160k is well above average across all MNC employees.

HillCloudHop

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118620433#Comment_118620433

I was being sarcastic. The pay in medicine is poor considering the amount of training and responsibility involved.

130k for new consultants is pretty measly as well.

Geuze

GP fee in France = 25

GP fee here = 50+

Consultant fee in France = 46-60

Consultant fee here = 175+ initial, 100-120 subsequent

Seems to me like the pay is very good??

UK vaccine = 12.58 GBP per dose = 30 euro for two doses, here = 60 euro!!

dotsman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118676258#Comment_118676258

130K is excellent money, especially for someone who is typically early thirties, in a pretty-much-job-for-life with the strong possibility that you will be earning a lot more as the years roll by (likely multiples).

babyducklings1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/116515208#Comment_116515208

Yes read something very similar to you, beyond a certain figure, money won’t happier. Hard to believe but bet it’s true.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118676258#Comment_118676258

Don’t start making me sad or I’ll need therapy from a consultant psychiatrist, which will empty my pocket fast.

A lot of Walter Mitty’s hanging around the internet. People productive enough to be earning a merited fortune simply do not have time to be posting lots of s**T online.

Amirani

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118676330#Comment_118676330

They're all private doctors, and can be earning quite a bit of money for sure (though staff costs will be higher than France too for practice nurses etc.)

Public doctors don't get anything like the same amounts.

Homelander

It's all about perspective but some people on good salaries seem to often lose that entirely.

EG saying 50K is good but not great. Objectively it's fairly good when it's above average, because obviously that would put you well up in the actual median rankings when there are more people in the 50% percentile below that, and less above but earning more.

So if you're earning 50K you're earning more than the considerable majority of actual people do.

I mean someone else posted saying that earning 160K salary is "normal" for that age profile of late 30's. Sure, maybe it's normal for your social circle, but objectively, it's not at all normal or even close to normal for 95%+ of all people in this country, and it'll never be normal.

If everyone you know earns 160K a year, that means you know a lot of people who earn 160K a year because you run in similar circles/industry. It does not make it common in the overall scheme of things.

Similarly someone said 82K for someone in the public service is normal at 49. That's Grade VII or thereabouts ballpark. There's plenty of people in the civil service earning that amount; it's not the norm however. That would require every single career public servant to have reached close to Grade VII level by that stage....which obviously is not at all true (nor would it be remotely sustainable).

I have a low salary in my actual job around 35K and I'm in my 30's. Arguably underpaid for the role, but there's no disputing the work is easy, I'm not overly taxed, and the hours are short. Every evening is my own after 5, I never hear a word of work outside the 4 walls, and the workday itself is generally lax. It's a balance I can live with.

Snugbugrug28

Having a high salary in Ireland is not much different than having a much lower salary once you're getting the bejaysus taxed out of it. The real difference is maybe in pension contributions because you can afford to do them and they are tax free.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118663746#Comment_118663746

Just on the MNC thing, it's definitely above average for all employees but sounds fairly average for management, ime.

It's funny that in Ireland we don't really realise what jobs are well paid, management in a MNC is a pretty lucrative area.

Snugbugrug28

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118681093#Comment_118681093

I would say 160k is well above average, 'cept for maybe Facebook or that

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118681326#Comment_118681326

Only going on my experience of large MNC's in the medical device and pharmaceutical areas. Management in those firms are extremely well paid.

Snugbugrug28

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118682048#Comment_118682048

Do you mean senior management or just regular management?

Former Former Former

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118680902#Comment_118680902

Similarly someone said 82K for someone in the public service is normal at 49. 

That was me (I think), but it wasn't that it's normal, it's that it's not outlandish that you'd be asking WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE. You'd need to be senior enough, eg AP in civil service, school principal, or a professional role, but very achievable.

Buddy Bubs

2 things I know for sure....

Firstly

Salaries of the scales talked about here are very very rare. I worked as financial advisor in many different institutions and very rarely saw them.

Secondly

Anonymous Internet forums lead people to make up things to make themselves feel better and maybe wind people up. We have no idea if the particular people posting are daydreamers, unemployed, in a dead end job or what they are.

I know one guy working for a multinational claiming to be on 200k when he is in the pub at weekends. However he is the biggest liar I have ever met in my life and always has been ever since we were kids growing up. So forgive my skepticism on this guy and all the anonymous pseudonyms claiming the same.

Wildly Boaring

Far as I know Senior exec engineer tops out aroround 84 or 85. And there's one or two of those in every department subsection. Then it's mid range for a senior engineer. Now there's only one of those per department.

Same for planners.

Also senior resident engineer is 86k.

So I'm 40 and half my peers who went in council be on 80ish.

Other half would aim to be by 49.

ILoveYourVibes

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058166657/people-on-the-internet-talking-about-their-huge-salaries

so that guy is basically a millionaire i hate him already ...

BrianD3

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118683288#Comment_118683288

There are undoubtedly liars and Walter Mitty types about. But as I said in the OP, the likes of AAM is a sterile forum - unlike here there would be little or no social capital to be gained from lying about earnings. Also, even though I like an ould conspiracy theory, I doubt that the owner of AAM would gain from making up fake Money Makeover threads to draw traffic to the site.

Dakota Dan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/116512525#Comment_116512525

We don’t want to know about the boil on your arse 😀😀😀

Dakota Dan

A bit like your man last week on how to be good with money, two houses and £190k lump sum in the U.K. that he had forgotten about 🙄

BrianD3

Another one in The Journal. 33 year old sales manager on 240k. Not going to link to it.

I don't think posters on AAM have anything to gain from making up BS - but the likes of the The Journal does, clickbait etc.

Former Former Former

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118745461#Comment_118745461

Again, for a "sales manager in a large tech organisation" in Dublin, with a masters degree and ten years experience, a salary of 105k + 70k bonus + 65k stock, is a very good package but it's not outlandish. The average salary in Facebook Ireland is 170k.

theintern

People should really take a look at the salaries in tech. Levels.fyi is a good site that lets you look at submitted salaries without signing up and logging in. It's anonymous, so of course people could be lying still, but there's a lot of data there.

In Dublin, for software engineering managers, total compensation (salary + stock + bonus) basically STARTS at 100k. And goes up well north of there. Depending on when someone joined, and how the company stock has done, it's not uncommon for mid level to senior managers in the bigger companies to be taking home 100k in stock alone.

Combine that with the fact that there's a good cross section between people in tech and those who post on online forums, and there are probably a lot of people on here on very good money. It's not representative of the population as a whole of course, but there's big selection biases at play.

Irishcrx

It's all relative to individual circumstances are cash flow really - it's almost like thinking about it like cars and how they have a power to weight ratio - a massive engine and HP is les use in something that weigh's as much as a tank.

I started working when I was 17 full time and have been in the same industry since, so 15 years or so - my first 'real' job I started on 21k a year and I thought that was amazing , and it was at the time because I lived at home etc so i had spare cash or saved what I could - I wanted to get property and have a house early rather than travel etc like others and I did that but the mortgage was tough , career progression was tough , hours were heavy and I missed out on a lot of 'social' activities , I rented rooms to cover the shortfalls when I had to and I met some great people as well throughout it.

I suppose now I'm a high earner according to this , good bit over 3 figures and sizeable performance related bonuses - however were also a single income family with 2 kids , we live fine, comfortable and you wouldn't hear me complaining about money to anybody , relative our mortgage is under 1k a month now. I don't go crazy with money unless I REALLY want something and I man just simple thing's , I live like I learned growing up and through my career just because I have it doesn't mean I have to spend it and life can change very quickly. My friends and family know I have a good job and earn good money but I'd never discuss it with them unless they asked me directly - I don't think life for me is about how much you earn and at a certain age people in your social group can seem to define or isolate you based on this and misconceptions. I'm one of those people who don't do the lotto because I'd hate to have that sort of money , I think it'd change you for the worst.

I love cars - I put some money into that for myself , that's about it.

BrianD3

Another one on AAM, a 29 year old on 140k and his partner, also 29 on 150k. I looked at some of his other posts and saw mention of MBB i.e. Management Consulting.

I was just thinking back to all the bull I've heard about careers over the years, particularly science careers which is my area. How employers are "crying out" for graduates, career prospects are great and the jobs are interesting. Add in stupid cliches about "doing what you love". The reality is that I and many others have gone down this path and been banging our heads against various walls and earning mediocre wages for years. Terrible career choice - and then we have yer man above with his 290k household income in his 20s.

Back on topic, there is another recent Money Makeover on AAM where a late 30s couple are on more modest salaries but have 3 mortgage free properties + low 6 figures in cash + pension pot.

Geuze

This person is just gone age 40, married with one child:

house - mortgage free valued @ €450k

cash savings €670k - 300k of this inherited

Pensions € 110k

Investments €130k

Farm land worth €350k inherited

Wife pension €80k

Wife Savings €30k

Salary 85k + Bonus

we own both our cars approx €65k between both cars

https://www.askaboutmoney.com/threads/how-much-is-required-to-retire.227294/