Personal Finance

I was a lazy bum, depressed, and living at home. Now I make well over six figures after turning my life around

Marc Guberti

Published: February 20, 2025 9:54 am

The way you start doesn’t indicate how you’ll finish, and that’s certainly the truth for a Redditor who posted in the Salary subreddit. The Redditor went from living at home with no drive to earning more than $400k in 2024. The average U.S. salary is approximately $66,662, so the Redditor is performing well above average. The story contains a lot of valuable lessons, and the Redditor details their path to success.

Some People Have to Hit Rock Bottom

While no one wants to hit rock bottom, it can be the push that causes people to change their behavior. The Reddit admits to leeching off their parents and half-heartedly trying to take community college classes. All of that changed when the Redditor’s mother passed away. The Redditor was 26 at the time and hadn’t earned more than $2,000 in a single year.

The Redditor spent 2013 studying hard to get multiple cybersecurity certificates, which resulted in a help desk job in 2014. The Redditor only earned $38k that year, but it was a massive step up and paved the path for higher earnings in the future.

The Redditor’s income continued to grow as they moved to new jobs and positions. The Redditor now manages five managers with 35 sales engineers across North America and has been with the same company since 2016. 

Advice to Grow Your Career

The Redditor graciously responded to several comments, including a comment where someone asked for some tips and advice. The Redditor responded by offering a few pointers.

The first tip was to understand the vision of what it is that you’re doing. This isn’t always easy, but having some type ofvision you have. Having a vision doesn’t only apply to general career growth. It’s also good to have a vision of the type ofstory you want to tell when pulling metrics from a report.

The second tip is to be eager to learn new things and regularly ask for opportunities. Asking and learning can help you get ahead in your career, but the Redditor demonstrates that you have to conduct your due diligence before jumping into something.

The final insight is to always interact with empathy. It can lead to better collaborations with co-workers and partners instead of feeling like the only way for you to win is for someone else to lose.

How Much Can the Redditor Save

The 50-30-20 rule is a financial framework that revolves around spending 50% of your paycheck on needs, 30% of it on wants, and 20% of it on investments. Assuming the Redditor can stick with 20% annual investments on their $403k salary, they can save $80.6k each year. That comes to $6,717 per month.

Assuming the Redditor is starting from scratch and earns an 8% annualized return, the Redditor can end up with $9.1 million over 30 years. Compound returns can help you reach your financial goals much sooner, but it’s even easier if you can make high monthly contributions to your portfolio. 

While saving money and trimming costs can increase your monthly contribution, the best path to higher portfolio contributions is a higher income. The Redditor went from earning $38k in 2014 to earning more than $400k in 2024. If you are earning $38k per year, you cannot cost cut your way to earning more than $400k per year.

As your income goes up, you don’t have to increase your monthly expenses. Living below your means will put you in a good position to grow your portfolio and retire sooner if you desire.