The Skills You Need to Make a $100,000+ Salary

Six figures. It’s a shiny monetary aim that many people are taught is fascinating from a younger age.

To some, it means the monetary pinnacle of success. A six-figure quantity would possibly provide help to afford a way of life that appears out of attain if you’re not making this quantity.

But…(like all the things) we expect it’s not fairly that straightforward.

A much bigger wage can present a sense of safety in order that an surprising medical invoice, for instance, wouldn’t completely derail your finances or your financial savings. It would maybe permit you to afford extra of the “unnecessary” extras you take pleasure in.

All of that to say: wage definitely isn’t all the things. Your job is just not your be-all-end-all path to happiness. If your aim is just to make six figures for the sake of creating six figures, extra energy to you! But we encourage you to discover a function that you simply genuinely like (or like enough) so as to make it occur.

If six figures and a job you take pleasure in is your aim, we’re outlining some sensible methods to really get there. Full disclosure: it might take a while.

But first, what precisely is a six-figure wage?

What Is a Six-Figure Salary?

A six-figure wage is one which (actually) incorporates six figures, or six digits, within the quantity, so a wage between $100,000 and $999,999. As you possibly can see, it’s a wide array from the low six-figures to the excessive six-figures.

To get this out of the best way, we’ll begin with a little “rain” on the six-figure parade. There are numerous components to contemplate when you end up daydreaming concerning the “perfect” six-figure way of life.

First of all, it is fairly onerous to make six figures.

The median family revenue in 2020, in accordance to the United States 2020 Census Report, was $67,521. This implies that whereas a six-figure revenue doesn’t at all times afford the identical form of way of life that it did within the Nineteen Fifties and Nineteen Sixties, the common family revenue continues to be effectively beneath the six-figure mark. As a lot as we want it had been the case, changing into rich from beginning a YouTube channel, coaching to turn into a skilled athlete, or changing into a big-time actor or blogger simply is probably not within the playing cards for a lot of us.

Secondly, an growing web value may cause what’s often known as “lifestyle creep.”

This is a phenomenon which means you begin to spend extra as you make extra. While this does not essentially sound unhealthy, it implies that even when incomes extra, “it’s possible to be swept into living from paycheck to paycheck,” as this piece from Clever Girl Finance explains. Of course, this is able to take away a few of the freedom that incomes six figures might present.

You’ll need to be aware of what you’re bringing in and what you’re spending at any revenue degree, and contemplate the exterior components that come into play.

What Are Taxes on a Six-Figure Salary?

It’s value contemplating that your tax bracket would possibly change if you start to earn six figures.

The next revenue usually means a little bit of a larger tax bracket. Just ask the billionaires that like to complain about it on a regular basis.

That stated, that every one will depend on private components like your tax submitting standing and your state’s tax charges.

With taxes in thoughts, your take-home pay is the quantity that is value utilizing if you’re planning. When you’re creating a financial plan and saving or budgeting, you’ll need to determine your month-to-month revenue (after taxes have been deducted).

You could discover you need your wage to be larger (and might negotiate for that when the time is correct) when you see your post-tax revenue. This means, you’ll have a more true sense of what you’re dwelling on—and the form of way of life you possibly can really afford.

What Is Your Cost of Living?

Where you reside has the potential to exponentially have an effect on your revenue. If you make a six-figure wage someplace like New York City or San Francisco, for instance, it’s merely not going to go so far as it could should you lived someplace like small-town North Carolina.

You would possibly, for instance, have the ability to afford a studio condominium in New York with this wage or a 4,000 sq. foot dwelling in a small city. Why? Well, a larger value of dwelling implies that hire and mortgage funds are larger. Groceries are possible costlier. Child care might be a main value…the record goes on.

A lower cost of living impacts how far your greenback goes. We’re definitely not saying to pack up and transfer to small-town America should you thrive within the huge metropolis lights, however take observe to consider the place you reside if you’re setting revenue targets. A six-figure wage means extra in some locations than others.

What’s Your Debt Situation?

The different not-so-fun merchandise to contemplate right here is your debt. If you may have scholar mortgage debt, medical debt, normal bank card debt, or a excessive automobile cost, you’ll need to consider what these funds imply on your six-figure revenue.

Most monetary consultants say to work towards paying off debt and save for the long run earlier than you splurge an excessive amount of on the “unnecessary” gadgets that you could be be tempted by if you first see that larger paycheck.

Earning more cash can clearly provide help to repay debt sooner, which is a good thing. In truth, should you’re deliberate about a debt cost plan and proceed to earn more cash, you will get extra autonomy over the scenario and in the end turn into debt-free. Our recommendation: be aware.

Six-Figure Salary Jobs

If you’re wanting to in the end earn a six-figure wage, you’ll need to discover a job that has the potential to pay six figures.

Here are a few of the roles that the Bureau of Labor Statistics notes had been common earners of over $100,000 in 2020. Of course, these jobs pay completely different salaries primarily based on location, expertise degree, and extra. This record is not at all inclusive of all of the choices on the market.

Anesthesiologists

CEOs

Computer {hardware} engineers and laptop community architects

Dentists

Electrical engineers

Family drugs physicians

Financial managers

Lawyers

Surgeons

You’ll see that many of those roles are specialised positions, however not all of them require years of college and tons of scholar debt. The beneath jobs typically pay six figures however require much less specialization than a few of the conventional six-figure roles.

Advertising and promotions managers

Air site visitors controllers

Chemical engineers

Commercial pilots

HR managers

Marketing managers

Medical and well being companies managers

Sales engineers

Sales managers

Software builders

Training and growth managers

If you’re curious, right here’s the Bureau of Labor Statistics’s list of highest-paying occupations. Note that the salaries listed right here present the median pay in 2020. This would possibly imply that in your space or in your trade, this quantity varies.

7 Crucial Skills to Help You Earn a Six-Figure Salary

Now, should you’ve bought your eye on these six figures, listed here are our actionable ideas to make it occur. These areas of focus will provide help to to give attention to maximizing your incomes potential all through your profession—whether or not or not you hit the “six-figure” mark.

1. Career Research

Of course, you’ll need to begin armed with information. You’d possible be spinning your wheels should you hope to earn six figures in a function that caps out at $75,000. To that finish, take a while to do thorough wage analysis and observe some roles and industries that curiosity you which have a six-figure pay grade.

When you go to analysis, we advocate beginning with The Salary Project, our nameless database that permits you to see what different folks throughout the nation earn in sure roles. It has over 60,000 salaries that actual folks have submitted, so it’s a helpful useful resource on your planning.

A caveat: when researching, remember that in lots of roles, your beginning wage will (more than likely) not start within the six-figure vary. Rather, it’s a financial aim that you simply’ll work towards as you proceed to acquire invaluable expertise and experience in your area.

2. Perseverance

To that finish, our subsequent piece of recommendation is to notice that in the end incomes six figures could take a while. It might take a fairly very long time, really. Even medical doctors, lots of whom in the end find yourself making six-figure salaries, spend years in class and in coaching so as to lastly get to a larger revenue.

All of that stated: it’s vital to like what you’re doing. If perseverance is within the image to get that wage you need, you need to take pleasure in your work. Here’s the place that survey on meaningfulness we cited above comes into play. If your work is according to your pursuits, the grinding and dealing onerous to attain your targets gained’t really feel so draining.

Again, you don’t have to discover a job that seems like a “dream job.” We’re advocates of the “good-enough job,” one that permits you to have some autonomy, work in a area or in a function you take pleasure in, and benefit from the way of life that you really want.

3. Negotiation

This header is perhaps a little deceptive since we’re in the end recommending extra wage analysis right here. But we’re recommending this analysis in an effort to use it to your benefit if you’re negotiating your own salary.

Here’s why. As you progress all through your profession, you want to know your common “market worth” in order that you understand how a lot cash you need to negotiate for as you settle for promotions, earn raises, or change jobs.

If you don’t understand how a lot others in your trade and place earn, you’ll go into a negotiation unaware (and will unwittingly accept lower than you’d want to).

Just about each time you’re speaking about wage, there’s room for negotiation. We’re not saying to ask for $100,000 when the wage vary on the job posting was $75,000. Rather, be ready to counter their preliminary supply with a wage in the identical ballpark vary that you simply observed on the job posting. The complete negotiation music and dance means you’re possible to meet someplace within the center.

Plus, the worst they will say is “no.”

4-5. Career Planning + Goal Setting

But one other time goal-setting is vital is if you find yourself on a comparatively simple profession path. If you propose to keep in your place or firm, chances are you’ll contemplate how goal-setting can profit you financially. If a six-figure wage is your aim, set short-term and long-term goals that may information you as you’re employed up the ladder in a means that feels true to your pursuits and needs.

This ties into the perseverance part above—chances are you’ll want to take issues one piece at a time earlier than you hit that monetary aim of six figures. This would possibly seem like a plan for how to pay down debt in an effort to maintain extra of what you earn.

It would possibly seem like a plan on your profession trajectory—if you hope to get a promotion, what roles you hope to tackle after your present one, or different ways in which you would possibly have the ability to earn extra in your present function or sooner or later. It would possibly seem like working with a monetary advisor to arrange an investment portfolio and improve your financial savings.

Starting with an finish in thoughts is nice. But it additionally helps to have concrete steps for a way to get there.

6. Skill-Building

Most of the six-figure jobs on the market require a faculty diploma. Not all of them require a diploma—however a lot of them do. This implies that investing in your training is probably going to repay in the long term.

That stated, many higher-paying jobs make the most of specialised abilities, so establishing a sample {of professional} growth as you advance by means of your profession is one other useful step on the best way to a larger wage.

If it isn’t within the playing cards for you to return to faculty to earn a bachelor’s diploma in a particular topic after-the-fact or to tackle scholar debt, there are different (typically very inexpensive) methods to put money into your skilled abilities. Many of those choices might be taken by yourself time by way of on-line lessons, and lots of employers supply a stipend for this sort of persevering with training (ask HR if yours does).

Let’s say you are in advertising however you have gotten a bit stagnant in your present function. If you are feeling you lack a few of the abilities wanted to earn a promotion, contemplate taking marketing-centric lessons like HubSpot’s marketing course or any of Google’s digital marketing classes (a few of that are free).

Learning all you possibly can about your function and your trade is a clear means to assist climb up the wage ladder, particularly when there are such a lot of lessons accessible on the press of a button. Not to point out, it demonstrates you taking initiative and seeming keen to be taught. A win-win for all concerned.

7. Networking

Hear us out. Networking could circuitously impression your skill to earn a 6-figure wage or make you the following Bill Gates or Kylie Jenner. But establishing a good community can’t harm.

For starters, constructing relationships implies that you’ll have a greater community if you’re searching for a new (potentially higher-paying) role. It works the opposite means too: networking provides you the chance to assist others by means of your expertise in a mentor-like capability.

It’s additionally key to community inside your group. It can present that you simply’re a workforce participant or a go-to worker identified for problem-solving. It might help you create a popularity for having a robust work ethic, one thing that managers would absolutely be mindful throughout promotion occasions (or when writing a reference).

All of this depends on a robust community. Here’s how to get to it (even should you’re introverted or working from dwelling). Who is aware of? Maybe all that networking will end in some associates you possibly can take out for a toast if you begin making these six figures.