”And when the money comes in for the work I do I'll pass almost every penny on to you” – The Proclaimers
A friend and I were talking about money today and the conversation eventually turned to wondering about what we could possibly earn in our life. He declared that it would be impossible for either of us to earn five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) in a single year and I took this declaration as a challenge to prove him wrong.
^ If this paragraph isn't the most nauseating piece of psuedo-LinkedIn fluff, I don't know what is. I digress.
To be honest, I don't think I need 500 thousand dollars in a year to feel content. I just wanted to prove him wrong in that moment because of a knee jerk reaction to being generalised in a box. Like why couldn't I ever earn this much? I live in Australia with a decent paying job, I don't think finance is terribly boring and I have skills in IT. I think it can be done.
I do believe this amount is an eye-wateringly high income for a single person and I can't imagine the amount of working hours dedicated in a week to deliver a product that is worth 500k to somebody else. I also believe nobody really needs to be earning that much to feel content – what is 500k in real annual purchasing power compared to 300k? Not that I earn 300k at this point in time, maybe I am too poor to understand why I need to get off my soapbox.
So there's the challenge – earn 500 thousand dollars in a single year. I took creative license and laid out the following guard rails: – $500,000 in one financial year to declare to the tax office as taxable income – Everything needs to be above board and legal (duh) – I will be transparent about how I generate this income – I choose to document this process because I find money fascinating – 500k doesn't have to be sitting in a bank account at any point, it just needs to be income
My friend added the following guard rail: I have 12 years to figure this out. By the way, we are both about to turn 30. Assuming we continue to be friends throughout this 12 year epic, we will be turning 42 when we take final stock of who's right and wrong about the conversation.
To be fair to my friend, we are both mid-level public servants in the middle of a budget crisis for the Australian Public Service. I also probably have ADHD and this whole thing could be a hyperfixation for a blip in time.
P.S. Part of our conversation was about how we would act if we were richer than we are. I think I would be a generous rich person. I make my own declaration as part of this goal: I will choose to be giving, I will remain kind, and I will keep myself grounded.