Suburban Law Firm Salary (1 Viewer)

[Omnidragon]

Nah I don't quite like the Melbourne Model. A lot of graduates in many industries now have comm/law degrees and they don't go into law. A law degree is just like this extra 'something' to make you more likely to be employed in the financial sector etc.

Btw I agree 100k is not poor. But I still don't think it's that comfortable.

If you earn 100k per year, after tax you can expect around 65-70k. Then you have expenses. Sounds good, but when I think of the nice houses in nice suburbs (I'm not even talking Double Bay/Toorak) at $1.2m or so, it'll take many years to pay that off. So in the meantime you won't really be driving that nice car or going on that many overseas holidays, because that'll really set you back.

Unless you start with a nice lump sum, interest will eat all your money for repayments so really it'll take many many years to pay your house off (5% interest at say 800k debt [assuming you have 400k equity] is 40k per year). You can always try to save more (eg save to 1m) before you buy that 1.2m house. But I'm sure by then that house is probably 3.6m.

 

[ekoolish]

Nah I don't quite like the Melbourne Model. A lot of graduates in many industries now have comm/law degrees and they don't go into law. A law degree is just like this extra 'something' to make you more likely to be employed in the financial sector etc.

Btw I agree 100k is not poor. But I still don't think it's that comfortable.

If you earn 100k per year, after tax you can expect around 65-70k. Then you have expenses. Sounds good, but when I think of the nice houses in nice suburbs (I'm not even talking Double Bay/Toorak) at $1.2m or so, it'll take many years to pay that off. So in the meantime you won't really be driving that nice car or going on that many overseas holidays, because that'll really set you back.

Unless you start with a nice lump sum, interest will eat all your money for repayments so really it'll take many many years to pay your house off (5% interest at say 800k debt [assuming you have 400k equity] is 40k per year). You can always try to save more (eg save to 1m) before you buy that 1.2m house. But I'm sure by then that house is probably 3.6m.

lol, you make life seem so morbid.

 

[dste6]

you shouldn't be buying $1.2m houses on a 100k salary...

 

[cannibal.horse]

lol, you make life seem so morbid.

so much so that he featured in a book about fucked up lawyers

No hate omnidragon.

 

[cottoneye]

Nah I don't quite like the Melbourne Model. A lot of graduates in many industries now have comm/law degrees and they don't go into law. A law degree is just like this extra 'something' to make you more likely to be employed in the financial sector etc.

Btw I agree 100k is not poor. But I still don't think it's that comfortable.

If you earn 100k per year, after tax you can expect around 65-70k. Then you have expenses. Sounds good, but when I think of the nice houses in nice suburbs (I'm not even talking Double Bay/Toorak) at $1.2m or so, it'll take many years to pay that off. So in the meantime you won't really be driving that nice car or going on that many overseas holidays, because that'll really set you back.

Unless you start with a nice lump sum, interest will eat all your money for repayments so really it'll take many many years to pay your house off (5% interest at say 800k debt [assuming you have 400k equity] is 40k per year). You can always try to save more (eg save to 1m) before you buy that 1.2m house. But I'm sure by then that house is probably 3.6m.

If you aspire to live in a Toorak mansion you are right to say that 100k is not alot. Most people however will not earn that much money in a single year for their entire life. It is very easy to get inflated views of expected (and required) salaries off an internet board which presumably attracts students who are more concerned with their education than average.

100k is nearly double the average income in Australia (incomes listed on facebook don't count ). I doubt you would find much sympathy in the public for surviving on a six figure salary. This reminds me of the features in newspapers after every budget when they interview people from across society. Those with annual incomes of 200k+ always talk of struggling to pay the mortgage and put food on the table while the single parent with three kids of 40k talks about maybe taking a driving holiday this year.

Atm my partner and myself live on about 50k p.a. We live in a nice suburb, have a car, and go overseas every year. It just means we have to budget. Even after all uni commitments are over and our annual income doubles overnight we will still do the same things although will start saving more. You do need some money to be happy, but money can't make you happy.

 

[Omnidragon]

so much so that he featured in a book about fucked up lawyers

No hate omnidragon.

Haha of course not. I rejected the offers from the top-tier firms and eschewed this path anyway. So just trying to help some kids, as well as validate my choices I guess.

But, comedy aside, what I said are really just the facts and figures. It's up to you what you make of them.

 

[Omnidragon]

If you aspire to live in a Toorak mansion you are right to say that 100k is not alot. Most people however will not earn that much money in a single year for their entire life. It is very easy to get inflated views of expected (and required) salaries off an internet board which presumably attracts students who are more concerned with their education than average.

100k is nearly double the average income in Australia (incomes listed on facebook don't count ). I doubt you would find much sympathy in the public for surviving on a six figure salary. This reminds me of the features in newspapers after every budget when they interview people from across society. Those with annual incomes of 200k+ always talk of struggling to pay the mortgage and put food on the table while the single parent with three kids of 40k talks about maybe taking a driving holiday this year.

Atm my partner and myself live on about 50k p.a. We live in a nice suburb, have a car, and go overseas every year. It just means we have to budget. Even after all uni commitments are over and our annual income doubles overnight we will still do the same things although will start saving more. You do need some money to be happy, but money can't make you happy.

Yea well $1.2m (the price that I think a $100k salary might struggle to maintain) won't get much in Toorak, so I'm not really suggesting that we should all aspire to live in Toorak.

I guess a lot of it comes down to what you're willing to settle for too. Perhaps I'm setting the bar a bit high. That said, you are renting yea? But can you really buy in a nice suburb with 2 people living off 50k pa?

And yea life can seem morbid sometimes. Personally I'm quite content. But I must say like a lot of you, when I was in uni I was quite optimistic too, but 2 years in corporate makes you be more realistic. The only thing I base my comments on is experience over most of you and the fact that I'm at that age where these matters actually matter to me. I'm not just widly talking about having a career or buying a house.

 

[cottoneye]

Yes we are renting and would not be able to afford a house in an area where we would like to live at the moment. There is much to be said for renting but I do understand the motivation people have in buying their own home.

Taking this thread back on topic, there seems to be two important things to take note of in this thread (feel free to correct me).

A) Law is unlikely to make a person rich but there is the potential to earn more money in law than in most other careers, although probably not in a suburban setting.

B) You will not be a pauper working in the law, although the salary might not justify the time spent at university when a similar income can be achieved faster in other fields.

 

[Omnidragon]

Yea agreed with you. I think more people do law these days also because it's 'prestigious.'

 

[Marmalade.]

After 5-15 years in a large firm, I'm considering working for myself at home. This only occurred to me recently because my parents' lawyer works at home. But what kind of work do they do?

 

[Marmalade.]

After 5-15 years in a large firm, I'm considering working for myself at home. This only occurred to me recently because my parents' lawyer works at home. But what kind of work do they do?

 

[Lara1986]

Can i just say. Its double income though? If your on 100k then your husband or wife will be earning some money too. just think about people that are on 50k there getting along. and to a comment earlier before, what other job has an equivalent salary to law? engineering and medicine have heaps of work so there not counted. nothing else really pops into my mind?

Assuming a person does end up getting married and their spouse works too


As far as jobs that have a comparable salary to law - you've got to consider what end of the scale you look as, as the poster said before. Most people when they think of lawyers and how they're all 'rich' have a picture in their head of a commercial lawyer in a top tier firm working in the central city or of a commercial barrister.

It all comes down to, in a way, how much work you're prepared to do to. I suppose there are plenty of industries/jobs that yes you would need to read a higher level to earn the same money as a lower level in law in the top end places for those industries - but the workload may be less, stress is less, you may have more time to actually have a family and a life so the actual numeric figure doesn't mean much unless you consider the lifestyle stuff.

But that is if that is important to a person - plenty of people may be content with working their lives away. Not my ideal life plan, but if it makes you happy more power to you.

(Oh, and my use of "you" doesn't mean specifically the poster styling4sure - "you" meaning people in general )

 

[twistedtigers]

Don't forget the mining industry for big money. The wages are still out there even with the economic downturn.

If you're willing to work 2 on 1 off fly-in/fly-out you can earn $80k as an untrained operator driving dump trucks. If you don't mind getting your hands dirty, then you can get $120k as an industrial mechanic - with perks such as health insurance, free flights and free housing on top... not to mention no education debt to pay off.

We all want to earn as much as possible, but when it comes down to it, you shouldn't purely be motivated to study law just on the $$. Is a sure fire way to find yourself on a window ledge contemplating jumping in a few years time!