What would you do if you got a huge raise?

My first job in the business paid me $20,000. Just out of school, I felt like a millionaire, but of course, I had to live cheaply. I shared a crappy apartment with two friends. I took public transit. My only travel was for work. I didn't spend a lot of money on clothes or music or whathever. I didn't even have a credit card. I would have liked more cash in my pocket, sure, but I was plenty happy with my life. I lived within my means. Everything was simple.

Today, I make considerably more money, and yet somehow, I don't feel any "richer." I have a wife and child to look after. I have a big house that needs a lot of work, and renovations are expensive as hell. I have a car. I have furniture that didn't come from Salvation Army. Suddenly, I'm spending a lot of money on agents, accountants, and lawyers, and I pay much more in taxes than I ever used to earn. Whatever stress I might have had about not having enough money -- and I didn't have much, because I never put myself in debt -- I now have about coming up with $20,000 for a tax installment.

Has money changed my life? Absolutely. Has it given me a happier life? Not really. I'm just living a different life than I once did, no better, no worse. Just different.

I think that's what this story is saying.

 

I'm just happy to hear someone with your success started off making $20,000 like the rest of us schlubs. Sometimes reading these boards and monitoring the biz, you get the feeling that if you aren't at the KC Star or Washington Post the second you walk off campus, you're doomed to a life of studio apartments.

 

85Bears:

One of my first stories was about a revenge gang rape committed, on behalf of a circus ringmaster, by a group of angry Ukrainian drawf acrobats.

There was plenty of room for me to move up.

 

I disagree, Jonesy. That would have been the peak of most people's careers. ;D
But I guess it's fine that you didn't quit while you were on top. Seems like that worked out for you OK.

 

The internal and external expectation levels change when you make some decent money. The Editudes do OK, but we still dog paddle because, as an example, when we meet friends for dinner, we go to places with napkins inside of the glasses instead of on the counter next to the ketchup packets.

 

The more you make, the more susceptible you are to getting targeted for a buyout.

At least that's the way I feel these days, amid company buyouts, etc.

 

BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING!

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner.

 

When I was 17, I was talking to a family friend who had just graduated engineering grad school and was making low 6 figures for a supercomputer manufacturer. He told me, "Pope, as you get richer, you really don't have that much more actual money than you did before. You just spend it on nicer toys."

As I get older, I see more and more wisdom in that statement.