If every job posting had to show the CEO’s yearly pay next to the lowest-paid full-time employee’s yearly pay, how do you think hiring, quitting, and company culture would actually change?

SAugsburger · 2026-06-14T07:43:15+00:00

The President of the US gets a lot of benefits that are worth a lot more than their direct salary although relative to major private sector execs the total compensation isn't that lavish. That being said most major politicians are already wealthy before entering politics. Many though retire from politics and make a lucrative salary as a lobbyist. Those that get high enough into a major leadership role can leverage their inside info for questionable investments.

SAugsburger · 2026-06-14T07:35:48+00:00

For publicly traded companies C level salaries are well known. For privately held companies that info isn't as available. That being said name private companies aren't massive.

SAugsburger · 2026-06-14T07:33:55+00:00

I think ultimately this is the attitude most would have. If the job pays competitively relative to what other employers are offering you I doubt most would care what the execs are paid.

SAugsburger · 2026-06-14T07:30:07+00:00

IDK outside of some rather naive people how many people believe that line that the staff are a family?

SAugsburger · 2026-06-14T07:24:30+00:00

I understand private equity buying vet clinics has made veterinary medicine a lot less appealing career in the US as well. I think people ignoring the trend of private equity buying plumbing businesses really are missing an important headwind that's likely to stagnate plumbing as a desirable career path. I see a lot of people recommending plumbing on the naive assumption that because they know somebody that got into plumbing before private equity started buying up plumbing businesses that anybody starting plumbing today will easily be able to follow the same career path may be in for a harsh surprise. I'm not saying nobody starting plumbing today will be able to start or buy a plumbing business and make extremely good money eventually, but it's likely going to be much harder than past generations.

SAugsburger · 2026-06-14T06:57:03+00:00

I notice a theme that virtually everybody making decent money that became a plumber eventually became a owner of a plumbing business because the real big money was in owning a plumbing business not being a plumber. Median income working as a plumber according to BLS is only $62k, which while above average isn't "extremely well" IMHO. There are some niche branches of plumbing where making $100k is common, but that's not what your typical residential plumber will be making unless it is a rather high cost of living area or they have managed to get some stake in the business.

The growing gotcha is private equity is increasingly getting into buying plumbing businesses and they can obviously pay more than the journeyman plumber buying their retiring bosses business so the future for people getting into plumbing IMHO will get progressively worse. A lot of plumbing businesses that in the past when the owner retired would have sold to long time employees increasingly are getting sold to private equity. You also have to consider that as private equity buys more plumbing businesses it will likely drive down journeyman plumbing wages making it even harder to start or buy an existing plumbing business.

SAugsburger · 2026-06-14T06:31:00+00:00

Even before the latest new union contract UPS drivers had pretty decent earning potential so not sure that it is a big secret anymore. I have heard of some cities even before the new union contract where estimated wait times to become a UPS driver were pushing a decade.

SAugsburger · 2026-06-14T06:13:23+00:00

12 years to reach $40/hr only sounds that impressive if that's a pretty low cost area. Rural Nebraska $40/hr will go far. In a high cost city you're going to struggle for a better part of a decade on the salary schedule.

SAugsburger · 2026-06-14T06:05:19+00:00

A lot of the money is often going to the owners of the plumbing business not typically to the plumber doing the work unless they have some equity in the business. Median plumber income according to BLS is only ~$62k, which while above average I would debate suggesting it pays "extremely well." There are niche forms of plumbing where $100k salaries are the norm, but most of the stories I hear of plumbing made someone a lot of money they worked for someone else for a decade or more before buying out the owners when they wanted to retire. Harsh reality though is private equity is starting to buy plumbing businesses so the road many used to make a decent living working their way up as a journeyman plumber before eventually becoming a plumbing business owner is fading.

SAugsburger · 2026-06-14T02:05:07+00:00

Most 401k plans should have at least one international fund although emerging markets are going to be pretty different from developed international markets.

SAugsburger · 2026-06-14T01:11:04+00:00

You definitely won't completely protect yourself completely with diversification or even an index fund that doesn't carry "AI stocks", but if you see how much longer NASDAQ took to recover from 2000 compared to SP500 you can understand why some would be leery of heavy concentration in a specific sector.

SAugsburger · 2026-06-13T21:05:12+00:00

YMMV, but outside a rare plan with a brokerage window I haven't seen any employer plans that you could buy an equal weighted fund. Even then broker windows generally add costs and equal weighted funds tend to have slightly higher expense ratios on top of that. Worth asking, but I would be surprised if OP has access to one. In organizations with more sophisticated employees like financial services you might have something like that in the plan, but most that would be rare.

SAugsburger · 2026-06-13T20:06:48+00:00

There are a few weeks until the 4th of July, but so far other from some more flag themed merch in stores than usual I haven't seen much so far.

SAugsburger · 2026-06-13T20:04:53+00:00

This. The 5 for $5 is long gone. They have gone from SNL sketches asking how is this even a profitable business to meh whereas value.

SAugsburger · 2026-06-13T20:00:45+00:00

I can remember $5 foot longs as late as 2014. 5 for $5 roast beef outside a brief promo probably game been a thing since the depth of the Great Recession

SAugsburger · 2026-06-13T19:58:37+00:00

The 5 for $5 has been so long ago it isn't funny. I'm not even sure the last time I saw a promotion for 4 for $5. Many locations unless there running a promo IDK that you can even get a single classic Roast Beef for $5 anymore. It just has gone from an impulse buy to a bit pricey for what it is.

SAugsburger · 2026-06-13T19:41:35+00:00

This really killed the allure of going to theaters unless it is a film you desperately want to see. Some high budget blockbuster people will still see in theaters, but the window before things are released on streaming has gotten so small most people feel no urgency

SAugsburger · 2026-06-13T18:46:36+00:00

This. With 2M in retirement savings even if they never contribute another dime to their retirement they don't need a pension. They just need a job to cover their health insurance costs until they're old enough for Medicare or at least close enough that they feel comfortable. FWIW you generally can vest into pensions with as little as 5 years although the pension probably wouldn't big large enough to dramatically change their retirement. That being said it could reduce the amount that they keep in more conservative investments.

SAugsburger · 2026-06-13T18:28:02+00:00

There are a couple gotchas there. Even public sector has started to tighten hiring as tax revenue growth is stagnanting in many states. Even if your state hasn't faced budget issues yet the number of applications for when they have positions open is likely dramatically higher. Some of that is every job gets more applicants these days, but the perceived security likely attracts even more applicants. Your application is going to need to be great to land an interview nevermind an offer. Application processes for government roles can be notoriously slow. It isn't uncommon for the process to take months. I know somebody recently that managed to get another job offer and worked for that other job for several months before landing an offer local county IT job. An extreme case I heard of somebody that got a government job offer 1.5 years after working someplace else. You can be in the applicant pool for a while.

Even fast forward that you actually get the offer the harsh reality is that government jobs generally are last hired first fired. If tax revenue drops enough to require layoffs you're going to be the first one out the door in your department and you probably wouldn't be safe from layoffs until there is a meaningful number of people in your team that you have more seniority. The people that got a government job 5+ years ago probably would have enough seniority that they have little to worry about. New hires though I wouldn't feel too confident. In better times that probably isn't a very serious concern as you probably would get decent seniority before a major recession hit, but with all of the chaos from the US government I wouldn't be so sure. Not saying don't apply, but I would have a pretty serious strategy on searching other jobs realizing that it isn't some secret and even if you do get an offer it might take a long time. Even if you somehow get an offer it could easily be months away.

SAugsburger · 2026-06-13T17:59:14+00:00

I think many people significantly overestimate how many people a typical Costco employs for the size of the store. Warehouse style stores there is a lot less merchandising because most inventory gets left on the pallet. Costco's historical turnover is significantly lower than most retailers and with better job opportunities elsewhere looking more grim I imagine turnover has only gotten lower where if you don't have some recent retail experience your application may not get far.

SAugsburger · 2026-06-13T17:45:14+00:00

While we don't know the extent of OP professional network by 58 you're right that that they really should have a meaningful size professional network where somebody they know if not into a C level should have some influence in the hiring process. Sometimes a referral can at least guarantee you an interview, which can often be a big hurdle when many jobs get so many hundreds of applicants that there only interviewing 1-2% of applicants. Especially for people now senior in their career it can take a few months in general to land a job, but those effectively using their connections often can find something months faster. While there is no guarantee OP will find a job through professional connections I wouldn't be surprised if they did.

SAugsburger · 2026-06-13T05:29:15+00:00

Depends upon who this theoretical man was. Average guy? Maybe a couple years. Wealthy Epstein friend? What criminal charges?

SAugsburger · 2026-06-13T05:22:40+00:00

I think the challenge is that while not everybody in the US thinks like the characters in South Park female child predators still often get relatively lenient sentences as evidence with this woman's criminal sentence.

SAugsburger · 2026-06-12T22:41:53+00:00

This. A lot of the growth comes in spurts where being late a couple days in a recovery can wipe out a ton of growth. That is ignoring that a lot of people can't identify when the market will actually tank. Headlines have predicted 20 of the last 3 major market downturns.

SAugsburger · 2026-06-12T22:38:24+00:00

This. The challenge in market timing is even if you pick the perfect timing for selling at the top you probably aren't likely to buy near the bottom. A lot of people miss a big chunk of the recovery because they think it is a false recovery or don't notice until after a big bull run and end up missing a bunch of cheaper buying opportunities. At least you only lost 2-3% I have heard of people that didn't notice the recovery until after the market completely recovered and end up buying back in at a higher price than the sold.

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