How much do you earn?

[mattt]

Mmmm - Income.
I earn a very average wage and am relatively young, but that doesn't determine the type of person I am. I've been through 30 countries and had some good opportunities. It's all about priorities in life.
I've met a lot of very wealthy people and don't envy them. Basically some of them are DICKS.

A lot of the time people rate their life by how much they earn. My partners friend's Dad is a top heart surgeon. He earns around 4 million. Nice house / boat blah blah blah. He doesn't allow any of his daughters friends over after 8pm and no phone calls because of the high stress. He'll probably have a heart attack or breakdown before he's 50. Fuck that.
I'd probably rather earn less than 40k doing 40hours stress free, than 100k over 70hrs and have no life.... neglect your wife , kids etc

think that made sense.....

[Blackbird]

....while others can sit behind a desk playing on the net, go out and play golf, have 3 hour lunch breaks, arrive late, leave early and pull $100k plus.

I'm sure you're right Tony but on the other hand, spending a lot of years at varsity with bugger all income, followed by 60 hour weeks for 30+ years isn't totally cushy either. Oh yeah, and I'm typing this whilst munching a sandwich for lunch and I can't bloody play golf either! My current job is a lot cushier than previous ones but as I'm only a couple of years from semi-retiring, I'd like to think that it's a nice way of gently winding down

Geoff

[Virago]

The nett gain starts at Macro level (GDP being higher - more money into NZ than out)... which then filters down to us plebs, which in turn manifests itself as us being able to charge more for our various services (as we do now - there is still money in doing that).

If you spend 30% of your income on a service, I'd rather have 30% of $100,000 than $30% of 30,000.

If you're buying locally made products, same theory applies

If you're purchasing goods imported the cost of those goods is going to appear a lot lower (you income has gone up, but the price imported goods stays the same... ish) so they're dirt cheap!

MDU

See my example of the working mother above - percentages don't come into it at all.

[Motu]

And how does that compare to spending years as an appretice earning a pittance doing the shittiest jobs,going to nightschool and studying in you own time....funding your tool kit out of your own pocket.After all that you getting to earn with luck if you're good enough the average wage? No wonder trades are disappearing,no one would put up with that for no return.

[ManDownUnder]

And how does that compare to spending years as an appretice earning a pittance doing the shittiest jobs,going to nightschool and studying in you own time....funding your tool kit out of your own pocket.After all that you getting to earn with luck if you're good enough the average wage? No wonder trades are disappearing,no one would put up with that for no return.

Funny - you've just (exactly) described my life between 1986 and 1990 - including night school.

I went on to University to earn BUGGER ALL between 1990 and 1994, and yet here I am - one of "the fortunate few"

It is the very fact that "no one would put up with that" that puts me in this position. I DID put up with it, I made the most of it, and I didn't stop pushing till I got what I wanted.

I paid my way through Uni (no parental help there), I paid the first of the high fees and I walked into a labour market with an ok, but not oustanding set of prospects.

I took some risks, some you lose and some you win... and here I am 11 years later "one of the lucky ones".

See what I ride - a '94 RF900 costing the princely sum of $6,300. Not a lot considering what I'm earning, but then I'm busy paying off other investments - again - working toward the future of me and mine.

Living for today is fine, but if you don't keep an eye on the future, nothing will have changed when you get there
MDU
PS - no - this ain't a "woe is me" story - this is called life - my life and it's been fun so far - apart from that week I lived on Potatoes and rice

[ManDownUnder]

If we could all charge more for our respective services, where is the nett gain?

A working mother earning $30+ an hour relies on paying someone $10 an hour for childcare or housework.

Sure it applies - the mother earns more and can afford a larger part of her salary on things like childcare so the childminder also put their fees up.

Let's say Mum goes from $30 to $33 an hour, and nanny from $10 to $11 (both get a 10% pay rise, and both are better off.

The nanny could go for a 30% pay rise before the mother is worse off (but she'd be more tempted to find a cheaper nanny at that point...)

[scumdog]

How much do I earn? Just enough to keep me comfortably in the poverty in which I am accustomed to be living in...

Use to earn lots less at times, lowest ebb? - $535 in the hand for a month of tree planting when we had a lot of snow, the mrs and kids had it hard then.

[Blackbird]

Funny - you've just (exactly) described my life between 1986 and 1990 - including night school.

SNAP. I was an indentured Fitter/Turner before I went on to get a tertiary education and experienced all the things Motu described and then did it all again in my 20's.

[MikeL]

Nothing interesting. I don't have one-a them murder sickles these days, therefore no time or motivation to contribute.

Welcome back, Dan (albeit probably briefly).
You could always acquire additional motivation to contribute...

[Drunken Monkey]

...I've met a lot of very wealthy people and don't envy them. Basically some of them are DICKS......

People can be 'DICKS' irrespective of their earnings.

...As a general empirical rule (with a few notable exceptions) I find that, much as I would like it to be otherwise, the wealthier someone is, the more I will dislike them personally.

And yet another generalisation; see above.

As a general empirical rule (with a few notable exceptions) I find that, as much as I would like it to be otherwise, the poorer someone is, the more likely they are going to be a theiving scumbag or lazy-arse layabout begging for another government handout

In my experience, income is not always related to one's actual contribution to society and/or the economy. There tends to be a correlation, but there is no inviolable causality involved.

Nor is income related to how many hours you put into a job or how many calories you burn carrying out your job. Hard work, when it comes to earning potential, doesn't mean physical labour and/or long hours. Akin to 'work smarter, not harder'.

[Oscar]

Mmmm - Income.
I earn a very average wage and am relatively young, but that doesn't determine the type of person I am. I've been through 30 countries and had some good opportunities. It's all about priorities in life.
I've met a lot of very wealthy people and don't envy them. Basically some of them are DICKS.

A lot of the time people rate their life by how much they earn. My partners friend's Dad is a top heart surgeon. He earns around 4 million. Nice house / boat blah blah blah. He doesn't allow any of his daughters friends over after 8pm and no phone calls because of the high stress. He'll probably have a heart attack or breakdown before he's 50. Fuck that.
I'd probably rather earn less than 40k doing 40hours stress free, than 100k over 70hrs and have no life.... neglect your wife , kids etc

think that made sense.....

I know what you mean.
Some years ago an (ex)mate turned up to talk about a "business opportunity". As I worked for a finance company at the time, I assumed that he wanted me to analyse a loan application or business purchase for him. It turned out, he wanted to talk to me about Amway...prick!

He was flummoxed when I told him that I already earned enough, and I didn't want to spend any more time working. He couldn't understand that I was happy with my lot...

[Hitcher]

Get thee behind me.

A cameo appearance AND double entendre...

[Biff]

Welcome back Mr Random.

[TonyB]

I was an indentured Fitter/Turner...

So did having false teeth affect your earning capacity??

[Motoracer]

I'm not back. I am a figment of your imagination. The hallucinations will stop in due course.

And anyway, just argue with me already. Jeez. I imply that you're all a bunch of selfish playa-hating capitalist swine and all anyone can do is go on about how glad they are to see me?

Buncha pussies.

F*ck you, you don't have a bike. We don't welcome your kind, around here!

P.S. Hollycrap! I've got more rep points than you! LOL I didn't think I'd see the day..