<p>“Money stops mattering once you’re making $250k-$300k a year.”</p>
<p>That really depends. 300K doesn’t go far in Washington D.C. with its 49% tax rate and high cost of living. And one can’t get paid 300K in Omaha for the same type of job as the one in D.C.</p>
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<p>True, but you can choose to focus on those posts that are backed up with data and cited sources. There’s a difference between just tossing out anecdotes about rejected geniuses, and showing how specific cases fit a pattern in the numbers that you can check for yourself in the Common Data Set, or other sources. You know what Ronald Reagan said about the Russians? “Trust, but verify.”</p>
<p>When you’re talking about super-selective schools, the process starts to get a little mysterious. But, the mysterious part is not so much the grades and test scores. It’s everything else it takes. </p>
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<p>There is hardly any school in the country where a 2100 SAT total, by itself, will deny you admission. Harvard is the most selective liberal arts university. Look up its medians on Princeton Review or in its Common Data Set. A 700 on any one component puts you in about the bottom 25% for that component, so 1 in 4 do get in with at least one score in that range; though it’s not clear if more, or fewer, get in with every score in that range (I’m guessing far fewer, but maybe someone has data to show I’m wrong.)</p>
<p>Many people will presume that if an applicant is in the bottom percentiles by the numbers, then s/he must have some truly remarkable ECs, etc, to compensate (unless the family has just donated millions for a new building.) Now, for all we know, the adcoms decide to give a pass on 1 in 100 places. Maybe they say, “We’re at the 100 mark, time to admit somebody who’s just a little above average. Here! This kid has absolutely nothing remarkable to show, but he says he has a terrific work ethic. Admit him!”</p>
<p>Do you think that’s what happens? As Clint Eastwood says, “Do you feel lucky?”</p>
<p>Future NYU Student- you need to do a little research. There are plenty of lawyers making $45K and trying to pay off hefty loans. So don’t assume that there are millions of jobs out there paying 250K for lawyers who aren’t going BigLaw. Yes, there are tobacco litigators and personal injury lawyers making millions who went to law schools that you’ve never heard of.</p>
<p>But there are well trained lawyers from Brooklyn and BC and BU and Hofstra eking out a living doing document review, 10 years out of law school, working on an hourly basis with no benefits and no career track who are wondering why they paid so much for a degree that hasn’t paid off for them. Caveat emptor.</p>
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<p>Yep. We make above that range and while we live very comfortably, we’re not rich and we have to make choices on where to spend our money like everyone else. $300k is nothing to sneeze at but money definitely doesn’t stop mattering at that point. </p>
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<p>I have to agree with Blossom. I know many lawyers, some are friends, some family and some are people I’ve worked with. The majority of attorneys aren’t raking in $250+. More like $100k $150k on average. Go to payscale dot com.</p>
<p>Attorneys who specialize seem to do the best. Friends who are experts in environment law or labor law,etc do very well (if you work for a firm that is known for that type of work). Contract law, family law, general law (real estate, wills, etc) don’t make much more than $100k (not starting but mid-career). That’s just my personal experience but if you google ‘average salary for attorneys’ you will get confirmation.</p>
<p>Of all the professionals I deal with (physicians, CPAs and lawyers) the lawyers tend to be the most unhappiest about their career choice. Again, just my personal experience, although I know at least several dozen attorneys.</p>
<p>MomLive:
It does stop mattering at that level. If it doesn’t for you then you need to understand the very basic of economics.
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That’s the truth. But go ahead and ignore it if you wish.</p>
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<p>I guess that depends on your definition of ‘stop mattering’. For us, we live well within our means, have a million dollars in liquid assets, have 0 debt and can afford to send our child to any school he choose. BUT that doesn’t mean it doesn’t matter - we carefully prioritize how we spend our money. We could easily choose to fritter away most of our money on expensive cars, homes, etc. and act as if money doesn’t matter but we don’t because it does matter to us. We’ve seen too many people spend every penny they earn - regardless of their income level. That’s what I mean when I say it doesn’t stop mattering even in that income bracket.</p>
<p>But we don’t live paycheck to paycheck, we don’t have to be concerned if the car breaks down or someone gets sick - so in that sense it doesn’t matter to us. Is that what you mean? Because if it is, then I agree with you. Having enough money to meet the basic necessities in life is not a problem for people in that income range and I generally don’t lose any sleep over money related issues.</p>
<p>MomLive:
The statement means literaly “Money Stop Mattering”. If it matters to you after having a million dollars in liquid assets then it will still matter to you after a biliion or trillion dollars.
For such a hunger for money it will never stop to matter. So go and spend some time in nature and think about all the people in this world who don’t have access to 1/millionth of the money you have. Maybe Money will stop mattering to you.</p>
<p>Here’s why it does matter, POIH:</p>
<p>If her family lost their source of income and she wanted to preserve the principal, her million in liquid assets would only yield 30-50K at best in interest/year to live on. Is your gross income less than that? It wouldn’t even cover private college tuition for one child.</p>
<p>IMO, she’s well off, but not at the point where “money doesn’t matter”. If she felt that way and lived above her means, as most Americans do, she wouldn’t have any savings, let alone seven figures.</p>
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I think the point was does it matter if you are making more than $250K?
I think it doesn’t. You and ‘momLive’ think it does.</p>
<p>I think you fall in the category of people who look at their status from how ‘well of’ the next door or people known to you are. MomLive must be aware of people who have 10 million in liquid assets so she thinks she is not rich.</p>
<p>I think you are rich if you can satisfy your needs and still save for the rainy days. Some people are rich with $100,000 and some are poor with $1,000,000.</p>
<p>It is just state of mind.</p>
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<p>Rather harsh. I don’t think MomLive wrote anything to elicit such a response. </p>
<p>Fact is, unless you are Bill Gates territory, money matters. In different ways to different people, but it matters. If you want to give it all to charity, it matters how much you have to give. More is better in that circumstance. ‘Matters’ can be a very relative term.</p>
<p>I don’t think anyone is advocating worship of money or devoting one’s life to aquisition of the same. But even for those making 300K/year, choices need to be made, and those choices depend on how much money is available. If you have 3 kids college age, 300K is not enough to cover 3 private tuitions. Yes, money matters at that stage. The fact that it matters does not mean it runs my life.</p>
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<p>Can’t argue with that! And it is all relative. I’m sure people in third world countries making dollars/day think Americans making minimum wage are wealthy. So we’ll define “rich” as anyone making more than we are.</p>
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It matters because it runs your life. Why do you need to have 3 kids if you think $300K is not enough? The world population is not shrinking it is only growing. Tomorrow you will have 6 more and then even a million/year won’t be sufficient.
So saying it doesn’t run your life is not correct. If money matters than it runs your life otherwise it doesn’t matter.</p>
<p>^^^
I detect some bitterness in the above response.</p>
<p>^^^ It might because population increase is the root cause of all the problems of the world. And more we reproduce less resources will be available and so it will reduce the quality of life for everyone. At least educated people need to think thru before reproducing. But in this world you can find literate but not educated people.</p>
<p>So the argument I need more because I reproduced more is very flawed.</p>
<p>This thread has more tangents than a high school trigonometry exam.</p>
<p>POIH, why do (did) you hope that your child gets (got) into an Ivy?</p>
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<p>^Exactly. I’ve gotten the impression from your posts, POIH, that your child’s level of career success does matter to you (yes, I know you also stress education) and that’s one of the reason you so highly advocate an Ivy League education…because it will help your child be more successful. There is, after all, a certain amount of ‘status’ that comes with an Ivy League education. Indeed, for many people, that is the #1 reason to seek an Ivy League education. Or is your child planning to do strictly volunteer work after college? :)</p>
<p>I spit out my drink at “At least educated people need to think thru before reproducing.”</p>
<p>Folks, we’re being punked!</p>
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<p>Wow, you sure jump to a lot of conclusions. I don’t have 3 kids and never said I did. Please note the <em>if</em>, meaning a hypothetical scenario. I also never said I make 300K but we are far from average. </p>
<p>In fact, I have actively chosen <em>not</em> to make 300K (and yes, in my line of work, it would not be difficult to do so), but rather to live in a beautiful western state with a population density of 4/sq mile where I make less than I would elsewhere. I live on 10 acres with coyotes howling literally under my window, 5 ft snakes mating on my patio, and we’ve been feeding a flock of wild turkeys since spring and watched as their brood of 10 babies has gradually shrunk down to 2 over the course of the summer. Must be the coyotes. We have arguments about the ethics of feeding the turkeys. Note they are very very ugly and mean.</p>
<p>So please, lets not assume that people who make way more than average money don’t have ‘proper’ values.</p>