The problem is the rhetoric about six figures has been around for a long time and although the phrase remains, the meaning has moved.
Know what salary you needed back in 2010 for you to be on the same income as today, adjusted for inflation?
£45k.
This six figure salary everyone dreams about is only worth what your mental model says 45k stretches for.
Except it doesn't stop there because the reality is even starker, since the tax bands haven't moved as quickly as inflation. So those equivalences only work in a scenario with no VAT and no income tax. In reality? You're probably hemorrhaging roughly another 10+% to income taxes you weren't previously, and in the UK's case yet another 2.5% to VAT.
It's starting to look a lot closer to £40k now.
Just imagine time travelling to 2010 and pretending you're Patrick Bateman over a fucking £40k salary.
That's what bragging about six figures in 2025 is equivalent to.
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u/YouDoHaveValue May 04 '25 edited May 04 '25
Hate to say it but anymore that's not really impressive anymore :/