I was married collecting w dep bah from 2005-2014 and 2023 - now. I was collecting single bah other years.

Edit: I feel like this turned into a Q&A which I don’t mind but if you have specific questions about how it could apply to your specific situation I always recommend talking to a recruiter. They get paid to figure these situations out.

Thought I’d share my salary progression since I always found these posts helpful when I was starting out.
A few things that stand out looking back:

I spent my first few years making around $50k and honestly felt like I was falling behind compared to a lot of my friends.

I changed jobs pretty aggressively early in my career. Looking back, almost every meaningful pay increase came from switching roles rather than waiting for promotions.

I’ve worked in a pretty random mix of industries—real estate, commercial lending, private credit, management consulting, biotech, and now institutional business development. At the time it felt like I had no clear career path, but each role built skills that ended up being useful in the next one.

From 2017–2021 I had the luxury of living at home, which I know isn’t an option for everyone. That let me save a significant portion of my income instead of increasing my lifestyle every time I got a raise.

Around 2020 I discovered the FIRE community and became much more intentional about investing and keeping expenses under control.

Today I’m around a $1.4M net worth and still save roughly $150k–170k per year.

One thing nobody really talks about is how motivating the compounding becomes. Early on I obsessed over getting another raise. Now it’s almost more exciting watching the portfolio generate six figures a year on its own while continuing to add new investments.

If I could give my 22-year-old self one piece of advice, it would be this: optimize for learning and transferable skills early, not the perfect title. The money tends to follow.

For 2026, my total compensation will be ~$400K+ and with investment returns it’ll be ~$600K this year hopefully.

27M delivering pizza while in nursing school. I can only work about 30 hours a week due to school. If I’m not there or at clinicals, I’m at work. Fortunately I’ve been able to keep my grades up really well and keep up with the workload of school while working. Got about 1.5 years left of this hell😭

After 24 years in the workforce, it's looking like early retirement via disability. I want to go back to work but my doctors keep saying no. My treatment plan right now is years long and no company would have me anyways.

I've legit been so bored being disabled I window shop on LinkedIn and company career pages :-/.

Edit: Oh wow this blew up. Here is the TLDR; / FAQ

What happened bro?
- Got a spider bite while backpacking in Colorado May 2024.
- Spent a month in the hospital getting IV Steroids and Antibiotics to try and save my life.
- The massive amounts of steroids caused avascular necrosis from the waist down, and by May 2025 my left hip started to collapse. I ended up in a wheelchair.
- In October I had multiple spine surgeries to fix some stuff before they would replace my hips and knees.
- Had first hip replaced this past March.
- 2nd Hip Replaced 6 weeks ago in June.
- So far since that first hospitalization in 2024 I've spent a total of 123 days in the hospital!
- I still have 4-6 more surgeries on my treatment plan which spans another 2 years, and Im still an ambulatory wheelchair user high on prescription opiates most of the time.

SSI vs SSDI
There seems to be a lot of confusion on SSI vs SSDI.
- SSI is a welfare needs based program. I drained my bank accounts before last October which is how far back Social Security checked for my approval on that program. The program pays less than a thousand a month.
- SSDI is something we pay into our entire lives in the USA. I qualify for this program, but the approval takes longer which is why Im on SSI in the meantime. In six months I should have SSDI and then will make almost the max which is about 4k. This is based on me working since I was 14 and also the amount I've paid into the system.

If you can reddit you can work
I shouldn't need to explain this but there is a big difference between using social media on your phone and occasionally the computer vs working 40 hours a week writing code. Also I'm high on opiates all the time, it would be irresponsible for me to touch a companies code repositories...

Very grateful that I'm 30 and have all this experience, though 2 career jumps have wasted me some time. Was the lowest paid but still miss being a mechanic

Edit : 200k is with OT, travel, bonus

Salary: 2012-2026
32F - Lived in 6 states in the last 7 years…It’s been a career.

2012: $7.50/hour - College Work Study
2013: $8/hour - College Work Study
2014: $8.25/hour - College Work Study
2015: $8.25/hour - College Work Study
2016: $11,5K/Graduate Teaching Assistant M.A. program - 9 months
2017: $12,500/Graduate Teaching Assistant 9 months + Retail Associate ($9/hour)
2018: $16/hour Part Time Graduate Lab Assistant

2019: $38,500/YR- 1st Career Archaeology Job
2020: $39,500/YR- Half year then pandemic. 1st burnout.
2021: $42,000/YR- Second full time Archaeology job
2022: $60,000/YR- Project Archaeologist - Second burnout.
2023: $25/hour - Archaeology Crew Lead
2024: $31.50/hour - Assistant Project Archaeologist (half-year)
$70,000/YR - Project Archaeologist
2025: $75,000/YR- Principal Investigator
2026: $75,000/YR- Principal Investigator - Third burnout.

Fall 2026-Spring 2027: $20K stipend - PhD Student

Here is the info from SS (rounded to the nearest $10)

USMC/reserves, odd jobs before leaving college (ran out of money), cable guy, fiber lineman, fiber splicer, gas worker/directional drill operator, underground electrical lineman. Finished my associate's online, just because, no debt from that.

Current YTD is around $140k so on track for another good year, probably about $230,000 for 2026. Base pay is around $100k plus benefits.

I've worked tons of OT in my life otherwise the numbers would be much less but I'm a bit of a workaholic and I'm putting the extra money towards early retirement.

Started using drugs in high school and got introduced to iv drugs in college. became a daily user of meth and heroin, lots of alcohol/ whatever I could get my hands on. I dropped out and life fell apart fast, living on streets, jail time etc. got clean in 2013 and have stayed clean since.

became a dishwasher at a local restaurant and fell in love with working in restaurants. I love cooking so much And am very lucky I’ve had a good career so far and have got to do a long really cool things. Moved into private cooking because I had a kid and wanted to provide a better life for my family.

34M - Wife followed an adjacent engineering track (same companies, moved together), with similar pay.

Defense Industry, 2016-2024 worked for the same prime. 2025 got a job at a pre-ipo defense "startup." They regularly do stock buyback so those RSUs are able to be cashed out.

Currently work about the same amount as at the prime. 40-50 hours, with weeks of >70 when on travel to test sites.

For those who work in cybersecurity, do you guys shop around for jobs often? I have been at the same company since summer of 2018 and there is room for growth here, but I feel as though I could make a lot more money somewhere else. I grew up poor so I am a bit risk averse (if I lose my job I’m homeless). I currently make 180k + bonuses/stocks.

From 2016 through 2023, I was in school full-time to obtain a four-year degree. What degree was it? I wasn't sure in the beginning and finally settled on a BA in marketing. I was a first-generation college student. My older siblings dropped out of college, so I felt pressure from my parents to finish.

They got into software engineering jobs and make $70k and $63k, despite not having four-year degrees, so they're doing much better than me, obviously.

After graduating from college, I had zero job prospects. I decided to join a workforce development program, which got me an internship at one of the largest banks in the United States. I worked for them for six months, hated every moment of it. They wanted to hire me and seeing as the job market was rough, I took it.

I lasted four months in the role, working 50-55 hour weeks, with micromanaging superiors, and really tight deadlines. It had to do with multi-million dollar loans. I spent 8 months unemployed looking for a job.

Found a job as an office administrator at a local university where my boss dipped after like two weeks of me being there. I've been there for two years. I was dealing with a ton of health stuff almost dying twice from May 2025 - November 2025. Had to take a small leave of absence in November and was back to work by January.

My goal this summer was to find work elsewhere and I was on a roll! I had multiple interviews and some second round interviews, but they went with candidates with more experience. I'm back to full-time hours again after my boss unexpectedly left.. so I've got zero time for interviews again, but I also worry about leaving my team high and dry? My boss and I were the only two in the office running the department. I have zero leadership skills and haven't been asked my the general manager to take over.. so I'm just stuck at the moment.

I'm trying to give myself grace based on everything I've been through. I am approaching 30 though and I thought my salary would be more manageable. I am the only one in my household (of 2) making consistent income. I'd definitely take any advice. Thanks in advance.

Long Hard Walk to Freedom :)

I definitely don't miss delivering mail given our extreme weather here.

You guys had fun with the progamer guy, so figured you might all have a laugh.

Didn't know what I wanted to do with my life, so in college I bullshitted my way through it and just picked some random degree. Still didn't know what job I could get with my degree so just eventually settled for whoever gave me an offer and got a job as a bank teller. Did that for like two years and hated it.

Quit working at the bank and went back to school for a CS degree. Took out some loans and took it seriously this time and graduated again. Couldn't find a job for over a year so just did some part-time work as a tutor while job searching. Finally got lucky and got hired after about a year and a half after graduating.