My Wealth Timeline: Growing my Salary from $22K to $100K+
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Everybody starts with a knowledge base of zero, including me. I had no idea that it was possible to make and grow my wealth to where it is today. I started off earning $22,000 per year after college and have since grown and negotiated my way up to earning over six figures! I’m here today to tell you exactly how I did it.
May 2013 - Graduated from college
I studied cinematic arts in college. (Legit the furthest thing from stable steady finance job you could get 😂.) Even the dean upon graduation gave a speech to parents telling them they can expect to continue supporting their children for a year out of college. Graduated college with no student debt, thank you mom & dad!
August 2013 - $11/hr
I finally got my first job in entertainment marketing. I did not negotiate AT ALL. And yes, my parents still had to help with rent as the dean anticipated.
July 2014 - I QUIT!
The job was toxic. I was legit told by the only female boss in there when I went to talk to her, to keep my head down and continue putting up with “the boys club.” They wouldn’t even refer to me by my real name…that’s how terrible it was. She told me to keep doing good work and eventually they’d respect me. I came home crying every other night and finally knew it was time to go. I legit got out of there thinking I was sh*tty designer…it took a toll. My parents did not understand why I would quit a job without something lined up and encouraged me not to, but I did.
My roommate, who was also in a toxic job quit around the same time and in the 3 months we were looking for a job we took little frugal camping trips. We explored Zion National Park, Yosemite, the redwoods, and went up north to the bay area.
October 2014 - Meaningful Work $15/hr
After my experience in entertainment marketing, I knew I had to find a job with more purpose than getting people to buy a movie ticket. I finally landed a job whose mission it was founded on was to give back. I again didn’t negotiate when they offered me $15/hr (no overtime) because it felt like way more than $11/hr .
June 2015 - $25/hr
I honestly didn’t realize how littler $15/hr was at the time so this was a huge promotion. When initially I got brought on in October of 2014, I had been told it was just a short hiring freeze and they’d hire me soon. I naiively just assumed it was out of my control and never asked about anything fulltime unless my manager brought it up.
October 2015 - $65,000/yr
In retrospect I wish I had advocated for my hire more, but finally got brought on fulltime one year later. This salary was so astronomical I didn’t negotiate it at all I was just so grateful. My senior copywriter friend insisted I push back a little bit to make up for that lost year, but again I was too afraid.
December 2017 - The Start of My Personal Finance Journey
I finally was saving enough money that I decided I needed to do something about it. I took inventory of all my assets (aka calculated my net worth) in anticipation of a 401K advisor coming into the workplace to talk over financial plans for free.
She said I was doing everything right and I coudl probably increase my 401K contributions to continue saving and maybe even a open a 529 plans if I really wanted kids. I decided to increase my 401K to 12%, opened my first credit card (Citi 2x Cashback) and started investing through what I felt like was the easiest method, Wealthfront’s robo-advisor.
I was research I did through this comparison article on Nerdwallet. I ultimately choose Wealthfront over Betterment because I liked Wealthfront’s design better.
December 2018 - $85,000/yr
The next two years I would receive a standard 3% cost-of living raise and a small bonus, bringing me up to $70K/yr. But in 2018 I start pursuing new opportunities (THANK U LINKEDIN JOBS, which let recruiters know I was available.) I was recruited to work at an ad agency. I made a huge leap from $70K to $85K. I knew you could earn more, but I didn’t realize how much more that would be by switching jobs.
I had two offers on the table both at $85K. I tried to negotiate more on both but they said it was at the top of the budget. One role was at a small energy tech company and the other a major ad agency. I think I would have actually enjoyed the smaller company more, but I ended up at the ad agency because it was a big name and so many people look for creatives with agency experience.
April 2019 - My first $100K
I had been automating my finances since December of 2017 and really did not track anything too closely. One day I opened my Weatlhfront app and realized I had hit $100K net worth in April. It was revolutionary! It was about this time that I had also started building a personal finance presence on Instagram as a hobby.
August 2019 - $70/hr
The role I had left at the ad agency was not everything I had anticipated it would be. The client I was on was difficult and not open to innovative ideas. I felt stifled as a designer. It was so bad that I felt like I couldn’t even add anything to my portfolio, which meant it was time to go. A few friends had mentioned that I’d enjoy contracting and freelancing and that I could make a lot more that way too.
I had a 5 year plan to move into the tech world and get up to the bay area to be closer to my family. When a 3 month contract opportunity came along at a major tech company in Los Angeles, I dove head first even if it wasn’t full-time. The contracting agency had full benefits and although they initially offered $65/hr, I negotiated up to $70.
September 2019 - FI/RE!
I had been posting about personal finance for awhile on Instagram when a friend mentioned to me that I should look into Mr. Money Mustache’s blog and learn more about FIRE.
When I finally did, my whole world changed forever. I started reading personal finance books, tracking my spending and binging all the Youtube and Podcast videos.
December 2019 - No work December
With the holidays approaching and my contract ending, I decided I didn’t want to even try to take on any new jobs through the rest of the year. Leveling up my finances and building a solid emergency fund allowed me to intentionally not work. I loved it so much I even extended that into the beginning of January.
January-February 2020 - Freelance $80/hr
Mid January to February I earned nothing, but I did pick up a few freelance clients. I announced publicly on my social media so my network reached out to me some opportunities. I highly recommend doing this if you’re trying to get new clients. My rate was higher than ever, but I knew I didn’t want to do it.
I also learned I did not like the lack of structure that came with the freelancing territory. When the choice was do work or watch Netflix….it almost always came down to the latter until the panic monster set in. I started looking for a steady contracting job in tech in the beginning of February.
March 2020 - $58/hr
I ended up landing a job at another big tech company for a year. I was so excited about everything EXCEPT the pay. But the team I’d be on, my role, and the fact that I could try living in the bay area for one year outweighed that negative. In the end it wasn’t about the money. That amount still pushed me in the 6 figure range so I was content. I can honestly say I’m so happy where I am right now!
July 2020 - $200K Net Worth
I reached my next next worth benchmark in the blink of an eye and am climbing my way to the next. I decided to learn to rebalance my own portfolio (with the help of my hand dandy rebalancing spreadsheet) and slowly stopped using my robo-advisor.
I’ve learned that it’s not always about the money, sometimes it’s about the experience and happiness that a job brings. Here’s to growing all of you wealth and sharing experiences so we can all grow rich!
xo,
Catie
Disclosure: Some links on my site are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I may earn some compensation. All opinions are 100% my own! I truly appreciate you and your support. :)
