Poll: Do people really need $100,000/£100,000 a year salleries?

[Gluzzbung]

The title pretty much speaks for itself but I would like to know what you think. I don't come from a background where either of my parents, nor both their salleries combined, earned £100,000 but I had a good childhood and a decent education and given the current economic climate I'm inclined to believe that the hefty sallery makes people complacent and bigotted

 

[sneakypenguin]

They deserve whatever they could get in the free market or decide to pay themselves. Also how does a hefty salary make people bigotted.

 

[Wrds]

You're forgetting about location. Where you live can dictate the kind of salary you need to live a typical middle class life.
I agree though, I've never lived in a household that brought in more than 100,000 a year, and I still consider myself to have been a spoiled child.

Also this kind of depends on how many kids a couple have or want to have.

I agree with the above poster, bigotted is kind of a strong word. A little arogant or entitled maybe.

 

[StealthyNinja]

Some sports players make more than that weekly. This is still a lot of money however. I doubt my parents brought in half that a year when they both had jobs.

 

[Merkavar]

100k seems to be an amount that will let you be comfortable but not excessively rich.

i dont think money changes you, it just allows you to be who you really are.

 

[Koeryn]

I want my fucking flying car, damnit. Now, the 100,000,000+ a year that some sports stars get is absolute bullshit and they need to cut that shit back.

 

[The Rascal King]

I would love to make that much in year. I would never ask for anything higher. I don't want to lose sight of who I really am because money has that effect on people.

 

[manythings]

100k seems to be an amount that will let you be comfortable but not excessively rich.

i dont think money changes you, it just allows you to be who you really are.

Science says otherwise. The current thinking is as your wage increases you enter into different societal groups based on your income (i.e. richer areas of cities or whatever) and become exposed to their habits. The part of you that wants to fit it wants the things they have, or better just to present dominance over them, so that you can increase your standing.

The more money you get the more retarded bullshit you'll piss it away on just to show how awesome you are.

 

[dagens24]

I think that's a respectable career goal. Straight out on university I'm making 45k a year, so I think that's a very real possibility by the end of my career and I think that's a good goal.

 

[WolfEdge]

If whatever you're doing is deemed worthy of a certain amount from whoever is willing to pay it, then that's the amount you deserve. Be it ten dollars, be it one hundred thousand.

The only bigot I can see here, ironically, is the OP.

 

[Wolfram23]

100k british pounds is a LOT more than $100k USD... It's nearly $160k. Now I know some things are much more expensive overseas but that makes a big difference. So if we're talking $100k/yr I think that's a very nice sallary, but if we're talking $160k/yr then it's getting a bit bloated and I'm not sure many jobs deserve that kind of money - although if you pay yourself a portion of the profits (like you own a company or something) then so be it.

 

[Woodsey]

£100k =/= $100k

And no, but do people really need TV, the internet, cars and electricity?

If that's what their employer deems them to be worth then that's what they are worth.

 

[-Samurai-]

Hey, if you're working for that money, you deserve it.

My step dad has fought in a war, and worked in the same company for 41 years. He deserves every penny he gets. He's made almost 2 million dollars in his lifetime and is due for retirement in April.

My mom went from a single mother of 3 working 2 serving jobs and going to night-school into a career she worked very hard to get to. She deserves every cent she makes.

If you've worked your way up to a career that pays that much, and if you do a job that says you should make that much, you deserve it. Needing it isn't important. It's wether or not you've earned it.

 

[Who Dares Wins]

It's 10x the average salary where I come from. Actually 10,000 $ is pretty well above average and prices are higher. Yes people you can live with 10k $ a year and still have plenty. I know I am and in a family of four.

 

[Neuromaster]

Absolutely, with some caveats.

The specialist surgeon with 30+ years of experience who's about to cut my mom's head open? Absolutely. Surgeons, doctors, and other highly-skilled specialists undergo decades of expensive training, work their asses off, and IMO absolutely deserve their salaries.

Steve Jobs? Absolutely. He's an example of an executive who is clearly exceptional and provides great value for Apple. The company would NOT be the same if you replaced him with any other random ~$100K exec.

The hospital administrator who's the boss of all those surgeons & doctors I was glowing over earlier? Or the administrator of your local school system? Well, maybe not. Management is iffy like that. There're some superstars, I'm sure. But sometimes it seems like they all just got together and agreed "OK, we're at the top. Clearly we do good work. Let's make six figures a starting point & work from there."

 

[sageoftruth]

I believe most people could live with less. I don't believe that that means they should right away however. We all have different standards of living, which represent what we're comfortable with. Try to force everyone into a less excessive lifestyle and you've got yourself another cultural revolution.

 

[Kryzantine]

This will sound absurd coming from me, but hell yes.

And those athletes who make $100+ mil over the span of several years? Even better if they come from a poor background.

We deride Mike Tyson for blowing all his money on birds and MC Hammer for building the most ludicrous mansion of all time, but it's men like them that spend all their money on private business. America as a whole would be nowhere near as rich without men like them. Really, you should be complaining about rich people who sit on their money without investing it, because they're the ones who take away money from everyone else. But to many people in the public sector, those $105 tickets for courtside Knicks games could end up saving their jobs.

 

[Neuromaster]

100k seems to be an amount that will let you be comfortable but not excessively rich.

i dont think money changes you, it just allows you to be who you really are.

Science says otherwise. The current thinking is as your wage increases you enter into different societal groups based on your income (i.e. richer areas of cities or whatever) and become exposed to their habits. The part of you that wants to fit it wants the things they have, or better just to present dominance over them, so that you can increase your standing.

The more money you get the more retarded bullshit you'll piss it away on just to show how awesome you are.

Not 100% sure I know the research you're referring to. In fact, some clever guys over at Princeton came out with an interesting paper last September [http://science.slashdot.org/story/10/09/07/1519221/Researchers-Say-Happiness-Costs-75k] that pretty much implies people are increasingly un-happy as their yearly wage drops further and further below 75k, but above that there's no measurable difference. Kinda like a plateau rising up to 75k and then pretty much levelling off.