Comments on: What to Say When Someone Asks How Much You Make

By: Tomas

Tomas — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 11:15:00 +0000

huh,i answer this question by saying how much i spent. i mean “it doesn’t matter how much i make, but i spent xxx $ / month” – and this is usually much lower than their salaries.

By: One Frugal Girl

One Frugal Girl — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 04:13:00 +0000

I’m so happy to see that the comments to this post echo my own thoughts and feelings on this issue. I believe I have discussed my income in general terms, throughout previous blogs, but postings in the anonymous blog realm are much different than discussing income with those you know. Thanks again for the comments.

By: the Prince of Thrift

the Prince of Thrift — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 07:42:00 +0000

There has been numerous times at work when co-workers and subordinates try to get me tell them ho much I make. It is something, that even the employee handbook says that were are not to discuss with each other.

What makes it even harder for me, is that I openly talk about personal finances in my main blog, but I try not to be exact on my income. Like samerwriter, a reader could probably guess it with-in some reasonable margin of error.

By: traineeinvestor

traineeinvestor — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 06:42:00 +0000

When I was at university, comparing pay for holiday, part time and post-graduation jobs was common place. The numbers were always low and as most of us had little in the way of accumulated net worth (many were in debt), there was not much reason for being secretive. It was also one way of assessing the attractiveness of various offers. Generally, the differences in income were small.

As I have got older (now on the wrong side of 40), income levels and financial positions have diverged among my peer group for a number of reasons. This leads to a greater degree of sensitivity in discussing and disclosing income and financial position. When I immigrated to Hong Kong I also disclosed pay offers I received to a number of friends as a means of evaluating them.

It has been a long time since anoyone other than my wife, my employer, the bank to which my income is paid, the banks from which I borrow money and the tax collector have known exactly what I earn (although many others could make a reasonably educated guess). Actually, this is quite a long list - much longer than I would like - but apart from my wife, does not include any friends or relatives. I prefer it that way as I do not want financial comparisons to be a factor in a relationship.

By: samerwriter

samerwriter — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 05:10:00 +0000

Interesting question. I go back and forth on this; a close friend and I have shared salary details. We're in the same industry, and we both find it useful for deciding what the going rate for our work should be.

But for the most part when the topic comes up in real life, I have the same answer you do. I just say "enough to pay the bills". Usually that's enough to let the person know that I'm not saying much more on that topic.

For some reason it's different on my blog. I don't think I've ever revealed my income, but I've disclosed enough that one could probably guess it within some reasonable margin of error.