Everyone assumes only the middle aged come here to write fantasies. Well, I'm 30 this year, and have worked for 5 years. My income has risen from a base pay of 48k (local u 2nd class hons) at an average rate of 25% a year. My base is now 150k and I come from an industry with bonus payouts of 4-6 months on average. Compounding is scary, you can punch these figures into your calculator to see. So I don't think people are bragging here, after all, no one's identity is exposed and none of the rich posters want to reveal who they are. There is no point and no satisfaction to be derived from such an exercise. I hope everyone can have a civil discussion on pay and financial management. I'm someone in need for good advice because I've frittered all my earnings in the past 5 years and am struggling to scrape enough through for a downpayment for a house of about 1.5m. If you think you deserve better and your current employer isn't paying you enough, jump ship. I'm one of the rare ones of my generation who finished 5 years with my first employer and am now moving on to my second. You're only as good as your company's opportunity cost without you, so work hard and enjoy the advice and data points people have given you. From this thread I've gleaned that I really need to strike the property market once it's fallen by a bit more, and just start funneling money into the asset instead of my crazy spending now. I also aspire to have a fully paid up property, and then a second, and a third, and let it roll. But I never lose sight of what I have to do at work now. Employers are stingy, that's the way of the world. They will get by with paying you as little as possible to keep you. So I'll keep my head down and work hard and smart to get further, and I'm thankful people who've come before me and shared their success stories here for me to learn from.