In reply to ktownag08

ktownag08 said:

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ktownag08 said:

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Working for 4 years and only 1.44x where I started on base salary, but I started fairly high. Have good bonus opportunity on top.

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Great thread! Interesting to go back and see my own post from 2013. Here's my update with just switching companies earlier this year.

2017: 2.03x + 20% bonus (+ sizable off-cycle bonus opportunities, it's a very small company with a generous CEO)

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Seems this pops up every 4 years for me. Anyways, here's the progression:

2009: x (no bonus)
2013: 1.44x + bonus
2017: 2.03x + regular bonus + off cycle bonuses
2021: 3.43x base, 5.33x with bonus + equity options that could push ever higher

Worth noting I'm at the same company as 2017, but it sold, and I've been fortunate to rapidly climb the corporate ladder.

2011: x
2015: .96x (career change to a contracted position in a much more expensive part of the country - heh)
2019: 2.26x (not incl. bonuses)
2020: 2.99x (not incl. bonuses)

Salary:
2009: X
2021: 2.45x

Wish it were a bit better but my field doesn't have much growth

NW:
2009 - 1x annual living expenses
2021 - 68x annual living expenses

Prudent, regular investing has paid off much more than climbing the corporate ladder

I should probably retire

2012: 1x
2021: 2.7x (3x if you include profit sharing which I didn't get in 2012)

In reply to $30,000 Millionaire

$30,000 Millionaire said:

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AggiEE said:

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Salary:
2009: X
2021: 2.45x

Wish it were a bit better but my field doesn't have much growth

NW:
2009 - 1x annual living expenses
2021 - 68x annual living expenses

Prudent, regular investing has paid off much more than climbing the corporate ladder

I should probably retire

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You're not going to live another 68 year. Get out of there man.

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Likely not, you're right. But I suppose I'm just overly conservative and have perpetual one more year syndrome. I'm in my mid 30s, so it just doesn't seem possible to retire this early even though the numbers line up (less than a 2% SWR). There's a fear of expense shock (stagflation) for a prolonged period of time (similar to the 70s) that is absolutely disastrous for sequence of return risk.

I'm well diversified, and probably less exposed to US Large Cap stocks than most, but I want to make it through (and add more contributions) during a prolonged recession. This past year was such a sudden rebound that it feels like we maybe the market hasn't truly accounted for some of the long-term ramifications of what has transpired.

Work is also not all that bad, but I am considering going completely work from home and maybe even part time. At this stage I'm just not willing to put up with the complete waste of time that is commute or having to go into the office and not having the flexibility to take a mid-day break to workout, take a walk, or stay mobile to counter the effects of sitting all day. Management is very old-school though, but luckily I have the FU money to do whatever I want.

In reply to AggiEE If you don't mind me asking, what are your annual expenses?

Ballpark.

In reply to DonaldFDraper

DonaldFDraper said:

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If you don't mind me asking, what are your annual expenses?

Ballpark.

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Pretty low, less than 45k

In reply to SpreadsheetAg

SpreadsheetAg said:

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Base salary Only (no other compensations like bonuses, etc)
2004 1.00x (first job out of A&M)
2005 1.20x (company change)
2007 1.79x (company change)
2009 2.25x (promotion)
2010 2.65x (company change)
2014 3.71x (moving overseas for same company)

Projected 2015 - if all goes right: 5.86x

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Update - lasted about a year; then oil downturn got me while I was in Australia...

2016 - 2.7x (contract work )
2016 - 3.1x (full time)
2017 - 3.4x (promotion)
2019 - 4.0x (promotion)
2021 - wage stagnation during downturn but I've kept my Job and made some good bonuses - but base salary hasn't moved much

In reply to AggiEE man, props to you but that sure doesnt seem to be livin.

Are you single on $45k per year ?

I'm just frugal by nature. My hobbies aren't expensive, and I enjoy living a minimalist lifestyle (no expensive cars or humongous mansion). I prefer knowledge/skill based activities over materialism. Those tend to be relatively cheap. It's a myth that you have to spend money to enjoy your free time. Plenty of ways to entertain through means that don't involve consumption...but everyone's different and if you enjoy more expensive hobbies more power to you.

I'd much rather have financial security than have large fixed costs that inflate my lifestyle but wouldn't genuinely improve my QoL. I avoid the hedonic treadmill.

And yes, I am single...so that helps, although I've seen married couples live a similarly frugal lifestyle, just have to pick the right spouse.

In reply to Buck Compton

Buck Compton said:

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AggiEE said:

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I'm just frugal by nature. My hobbies aren't expensive, and I enjoy living a minimalist lifestyle (no expensive cars or humongous mansion). I prefer knowledge/skill based activities over materialism. Those tend to be relatively cheap. It's a myth that you have to spend money to enjoy your free time. Plenty of ways to entertain through means that don't involve consumption.

I'd much rather have financial security than have large fixed costs that inflate my lifestyle but wouldn't genuinely improve my QoL. I avoid the hedonic treadmill.

And yes, I am single...so that helps, although I've seen married couples live a similarly frugal lifestyle, just have to pick the right spouse.

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It's not being married that gets you, it's the several kids that really run up the expenses.

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Somewhat offset by lower taxes, but I've seen families with kids that raise them pretty efficiently....also seen the opposite where they're spoiled rotten. I know some that live on approximately 60k or so with a few kids. It's doable

A spendthrift wife is going to do some serious damage, kids or not...

I'll play.

2016 - X
2021 - 2X

Engineering.

In reply to Howdy Dammit 2008- X
2012 1.5x
2016- 4.0x
2020- 7.5x
2021- 15x+

work in finance. will leave it at that.

In reply to Cyp0111 Hiring?

In reply to Cyp0111

Cyp0111 said:

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2008- X
2012 1.5x
2016- 4.0x
2020- 7.5x
2021- 15x+


work in finance. will leave it at that.

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Wow. Will never hit 4x as an employee. Some people are here make me feel great. And then some people make me feel broke. Guess that's always how it is regardless of where ya are.

In reply to Cyp0111

Cyp0111 said:

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2008- X
2012 1.5x
2016- 4.0x
2020- 7.5x
2021- 15x+

work in finance. will leave it at that.

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I'm guessing you're posting total comp, not salary. Big difference for many.

In reply to ORAggieFan Or X was minimum wage

In reply to ORAggieFan Obviously variable comp is included. For most roles that scale, total comp is where the growth comes from unless in a field like engineering/acct/ops/

In reply to JobSecurity

JobSecurity said:

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Or X was minimum wage

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Would still be a quarter million dollars today at 15x

In reply to ORAggieFan

ORAggieFan said:

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2002 - x
2007 - 1.4x
2012 - 5x + stock + bonus

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2021 - 65x total comp

Always impressive to me how certain roles (obviously a small amount compared to total) in finance command such enormously outsized compensation. Pretty unprecedented in many other fields.

Would have thought that would eventually be innovated away, since it's effectively in many cases a glorified sales role, but I suspect the clients (or investors) feel so much is at stake that they're willing to pay such an exorbitant premium despite the teams working for them being relatively small, leading to pretty absurd levels of individual compensation on major deals. Of course there's a lot of data suggesting many of these deals are of questionable value to begin with.

With all the buzz in FinTech it'll be interesting to see how the industry evolves over the coming decades...then again, I would have thought the absurd transaction fees on real estate would have gone away by now, but here we still are.

In reply to AggiEE As long as the entrenched players within certain subsets hold the line the comp package will remain frothy. I'm not arguing that it makes a ton of sense but lines that are almost entirely human capital will drive for higher relative comp than anything seen operating in or around a fixed asset etc.

In reply to Cyp0111 You may be right, but a part of me thinks that such large transactional costs will eventually receive downward pricing pressure through data driven platforms rather than teams of associates. The human element is still quite strong due to generational legacies but I think once a fintech disruptor comes to the market and proves that it can reduce fees without any material impact to the quality of a transaction/investment (perhaps with improvements), the old school way of doing business could disappear along with the compensation.

It has already disrupted many previously lucrative areas of finance, but not all.

In reply to AggiEE

AggiEE said:

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You may be right, but a part of me thinks that such large transactional costs will eventually receive downward pricing pressure through data driven platforms rather than teams of associates. The human element is still quite strong due to generational legacies but I think once a fintech disruptor comes to the market and proves that it can reduce fees without any material impact to the quality of a transaction/investment (perhaps with improvements), the old school way of doing business could disappear along with the compensation.

It has already disrupted many previously lucrative areas of finance, but not all.

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As long as you are dealing with people and convincing / handholding people to enter into transactions, I think there will always be a people element because certain elements of a deal are not tangibly definable (e.g. will the people between two companies be able to work together; who are the surviving executives; how will our customers respond to this). Be careful about placing faith in data and AI - it is only as good as its input.

Automation and tech is displacing staff levels within functions . That area has been offshored/near shored with great impact already.

Transactional work that required human interaction (I.e. multi million decisions etc will have a relative moat.

I'm not defending relative pay structure but the comp isn't based off of data entry or process efficiencies etc. Like I said, asset lite business (investment banking, advisory/restructuring, high end law, sales and trading ) has certain moats

In reply to HoustonAg_2006

HoustonAg_2006 said:

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2008 - $40k (first full year)
2010 - $90k (100% commission)
2012 - $123k (100% commission)
2013 - $0; quit job
2014 - $55k - new career
2016 - $90k ($70 salary; $20 bonus)
2018 - $157k ($90 salary; $67 bonus)
- Company Change-
2019 - $225k ($150 salary; $75 bonus)
2020 - $270k ($160 salary; $107 bonus)
2021 - $325k ($181 salary; $144 bonus)

Don't ever stay in a miserable job/career just because it pays well. 2013 was awful, but best decision I've ever made. Also, I recommend trying to have a job lined up before quitting a job.

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2 weeks after receiving a promotion, I was just given another bump to my bonus comp. Not sure what is happening here.

2021: - $344k ($181k salary; $163k bonus)

Just accepted a new role.

This is just salary
2016 (graduated undergrad)
2017 - 1.05x (new job)
2017 - 1.2x from original (promotion)
2018 - 1.4x from original (promotion)
2019 - 1.8x from original (new job)
2020 - 2x from original (promotion)
2020 - 2.2x from original (new job)
2021 - 3x from original (new job) + graduated masters

2013 - x
2015 - 2x (new job)
2017 - 2.15x
2021 - 3x (new job)

2006- $14,560 (20 yrs old)
2011- $31,000
2016- $41,600
Changed from HVAC to Research Technician for a heat transfer research company in 2020
2021- Benefits incl. $69,000 (35yrs old)

Getting B.S. CJ in 2022 and want to get a masters of Jurisprudence at A&M after.