In Western society, we tend to be so secretive about how much money we make at work and at our other endeavours. Talking about money is taboo, in part because relationships can change and people can act funny once they know the truth.
It can be tricky to know when you can talk about how much you make. However, this taboo is not a world-wide phenomenon. Westerners often encounter culture shock when traveling to Asia, whether for business or pleasure, and one of the differences between Asian culture and Western culture is that Asians have no taboos about discussing monthly or yearly salaries!
What if money was not a taboo in Western culture? Would we have a better relationship with money, with our finances, and with each other?
It’s a well-known fact that the savings rate in the western world is absolutely abysmal. Saving 10% of your income is considered hefty, and many people embrace a joie de vivre which is all about enjoying life and the present. Asians, on the other hand, have absolutely no problems with saving significant portions of money, for today and for the future. We’re talking 30-50% in places such as China and Japan.
Today, the western world is in relative decline and Asia is a rising star. We are growing ever-more indebted; they are growing wealthier. We are growing more entitled, and they are working ever-harder. Can something be done to stem the tide?
The advantages of a more transparent society
Pay would be more closely tied to performance. What often happens with companies is that some people are friends with the boss, or some people just happen to have been around a long time, and during better years they were awarded big raise after big raise. After some period of time, their pay is out of line with their peers.
This isn’t such a big problem so long as newer employees, who may be working harder and doing more, don’t know about the injustice. Eventually, though, word gets around, whether accurate or not, and because everything is so hush-hush, HR and management don’t react until after many star players have already left.
What if things were more transparent?
- The company would have to adjust pay to actual performance. Simple longevity or being friends with the boss wouldn’t be enough.
- The company would have an easier time attracting and retaining star employees. They would have to justify giving a higher salary, of course, but these employees would be motivated to work harder, since they would know the boundaries of what they could achieve if they applied themselves.
It’s simple: Those who believe they are giving back more than they receive will move on to greener pastures, while those being fairly compensated or those who are receiving more than they give back will stay behind. The company, and the shareholders by extension, lose out.
We already do this online.
You may have seen how many fellow bloggers share their net worth updates online. You might also have seen how other fellow bloggers share their great success in building up their online empires. Don’t you find these figures interesting, and something to learn from?
I am personally fascinated by those who have made it. I find it very compelling to learn when someone else has been able to make a living online, and I try to learn more from them so that I can improve myself and work toward earning my own success. You can find examples of how much various professions make.
The only loser is a fragile ego.
Sometimes it can be tough to learn that you’re not making as much as you think you deserve. Why are they doing so much better than me? Why am I earning less? However, knowledge is the first step to action. We can live in a bliss of ignorance, but then we won’t have that kick to push us to strive to improve ourselves.
That knowledge can be uncomfortable, and can lead to self-doubt and self-questioning. Can I make it? At the same time, that knowledge can also be a powerful motivator and a guiding light. What can be more inspiring than learning from those who have made it, whether at the workplace or online, and learning everything we can from their success. Learning that others make more than us can make us feel inferior, but can also push us to overcome our self-doubt and go where we want to be.
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I guess I look at it that money issues are a private matter and I put it in the “None of your/my business” classification. I’d rather focus on my own personal situation than look at someone else. All that does, in our society, is lead to comparisons and short-term knee jerk reactions.
I think with some people that can be true, but not necessarily always. I think some had a good point in that it gets riskier if there is a larger disparity!
I absolutely love sharing my online earnings! Since I know that people will be looking at my monthly earning reports, it inspires me to do more and to get better. Plus, it helps my readers that have blogs of their own because I break down how I got the income. So far, it has really been a win-win.
I’m not ready to share income reports online, but I do admit I love to read and learn from others. I’m looking forward to reading more on the 30k challenge. :)
We share neither our personal finances or our site finances. These are personal to us and knowing our friends and family read our site we are not interested in divulging, to the world, what we make or what we are worth. We prefer, as you linked to FS, to make much more money than people are aware. Call it the Millionaire Next Door syndrome. We don’t need, nor want, to keep up with the Joneses in our personal or online finances.
I also like the idea of making more than people think and being somewhat understated. I like that feeling!
Hey Kevin, I was raised in a family where it was taboo to talk about salaries….in fact, I had no idea how much my parents made until I was in my twenties and it came up in estate planning. Unfortunately, I see it all too often when a friend will share their salary and it ends up biting them later….not sure our culture is ready for complete transparency.
On the flip side, I secretly love hearing how much others make! And I’m a big fan of reading net worth updates (I’m just afraid to share my own).
I also love reading and hearing about it, though not necessarily sharing it. :) I will try to be open and transparent with my own kids about this, though I agree you do need to keep some things private. It depends on who you’re sharing the info with.
Outside of work, only my wife knows what I make. I think I prefer it this way- although like CNC above, if someone wants to talk to me about theirs I’ll definitely listen. “In real life” people do come to me with questions, so it actually comes up a fair amount.
I remember that in senior year of college people were much more forthcoming with their offer amounts. It’s interesting because those same people have generally rounded into the more secretive type in the years since then.
Right after college, everybody makes about the same ie $20-$100,000, so it’s no big deal. After 5 years, the differentiation really begins and that’s why many just keep hush hush.
I remember when doing internships nobody really cared about revealing if they were getting $12/hr or $14/hr. Once it came to full-time work after graduation, things suddenly got a lot more hush hush. ;)
thought provoking post.
i have never hesitated to share numbers when the situation calls for me. there are times when i feel it is harmless (in fact motivating for either myself or others to know about) and times when i feel it should be kept undisclosed.
specifically as it relates to internet marketing / making money online, it is CRITICAL that someone talking about making money online shows PROOF that 1) it is possible and 2) that they are making it happen.
i have contemplated income reports in the past, and may start posting them on the blog, but i have to work on modifying my spreadsheets to segregate income from online vs offline ventures. but that said, i talk about my offline ventures online as well (i.e. investing in a small brick and mortar business). so does that mean i open up my kimono to the world? just some thoughts to further contemplate…
Sunil, your site is definitely a candidate to highlight your online income. I think all your readers would appreciate the transparency given your niche.
Go for it it!
Agreed with Sam here. Maybe you don’t want to open the whole kimono, but giving readers a peek into online income would definitely be a boost given your blog niche.
I don’t think of money as being taboo, I just prefer to be the only one to know how much I make. It has nothing to do with ego but reality. How many times have you heard of the lottery winner discovering all of the new family and friends he/she never knew they had until their name was published next to the winning amount? I’m single, so any woman I meet I want to make sure she is interested in ME not what I have. That actually goes for regular people around me as well. If I broadcast or display how much I make, how can I ever know who will be by my side when I really need them?
Good point for a single buck. In San Francisco or Manhattan, unless you’re making well over $200,000, not many people will think you’re well to do and just average, which means it’s no big deal talking about income that’s less. Of course, it depends on who you are talking to as well and need to be careful with your audience.
Always have to look out for myself down here!
The good thing is that I don’t preach or do follow my lead-type articles so I don’t expect them to think me any less credible if I don’t provide $ figures. For me it’s more about teaching and getting others to think, so I should be safe for now.
Those are valid points for wanting to keep the info private! At the same time, I do think a lot comes down to status signalling. If it’s not money, then it’s the clothes you wear, the way you carry yourself, what activities you do, etc… and in a way these all tie together. So, you can never be sure about someone’s intentions and impressions of you on the outset.
To me sharing your site revenue online makes me wonder if you are writing more for other personal finance bloggers rather than for regular people/readers? In my opinion it smacks of one-upmanship and your earnings are a private matter. Surely a regular reader is more interested in tips on how to budget, getting the best rate for their savings etc than how much bloggers are making?
I disagree… I have had emails from non-blogging readers that are interested in how I make the money, and advice on how to blog themselves…granted they may become bloggers, but a side income is of interest to most people who view PF blogs…not to mention it lends a site credibility, just like FB likes, Twitter followers, and email subscribers…lets people know you have been around awhile and may know what you are doing.
Guess it depends on one’s audience. If you read my post that Kevin highlighted, I will never reveal my full income. I will highlight income datapoints to put things in perspective, but not more.
If you are a blog for bloggers and regular readers like Yakezie.com, you can have a hybrid approach. If you are purely a blog about how to make money blogging or a lifestyle blogger, then you probably need to highlight the income for validity reasons, and to make more money off your customers!
So ……if media.net is not a good choice…then who…Can someone recommend some good Ad Networks for publishers like me….Thanks
Adesnea or perhaps Adbrite.
I’m not really into this type of advertising, but Media.net just contacted me with improvements they worked on. Will try it out for a month and see how it goes.
I agree that it can make it seem as though you’re writing for pf bloggers instead of pf readers. I don’t find any reason to share income from any source but I suppose if I were writing a make money online site then I would do just that. Either way you slice it there is a really big audience out there who are body. Highlighting income or networth info seems like an easy way to Target this demo.
I guess it depends on what sort of niche you’re writing for. For my own site I have decided that it doesn’t make sense to share online income reports as I am not writing about making money online.
I write more about self improvement, motivation, and general personal finance topics such as investing, paying down debt, and saving your money. I want these posts to always be relatable to the reader, and imposing net worth figures on that might exclude some readers who feel I make too little or too much for what I’m talking about to apply to them. I want to keep that out of the equation and place the emphasis on the general lessons.
Like Sam, I will still drop hints here and there. Any of my regular readers can probably make a pretty good guess at how much I make and where I am, but I won’t blatantly advertise that out to the world. :)
Let’s face it, know what others make is a voyeuristic needs for most! I love knowing, and the people that visit our blogs love knowing. I disclose my blog earnings simply because I know it increases my loyal readership
I definitely agree with the voyeuristic aspect. I have followed some blogs simply because of this. At the same time it can backfire — I have said in the past “well, wtf are you smoking — you’re making a six figure salary, so of course you’d look at things that way” and then discount what the writer said. Or, it can also go that way if the person is making minimum wage. That’s the kind of value judgement I want to leave out of my posts because I want them to think of the lessons as it applies to them, and not necessarily just my own particular situation.
I highlight income examples to put things in perspective ie in my post on spending guilt and $315 shoes I highlight $1,100 earned during the holiday weekend to give some context.
Financial Samurai isnt a blog about making money blogging so online income is irrelevant.
San Francisco is an expensive place to live, and people need to earn a lot to live here. The median income for Berkeley and Stanford graduates at age 29 is around $120,000-$140,000 a year and they are a dime a dozen. If my site was just speaking to San Francisco readers, it’s less of a big deal to highlight offline income. But over a hundred thousand readers visit from all over America and the world a month who have different cost of living and income scales that they either wont be able to relate, or would take offense so I don’t go there.
I like what SPF commented on the Millionaire Next Door Syndrome. It’s a great way to live!
I think this is one of the strongest arguments since situations are so different from place to place. For example, where I live, graduates make $50,000 to $75,000, not double or triple that like in San Francisco. With an MBA you could be in the six figures but salaries are not huge. Unfortunately, not all prices are slashed and we do pay higher taxes, but at the same time I’m willing to bet our real estate is much, much cheaper. So, it’s all relative.
I dont really have any qualms about talking about my debt, but I do have issues sharing my income. Not really sure why, but I think that it’s not anyones business. Knowing about my income situation wont help anyone, but knowing about my debt and what I did to get out of debt can help people, and I think that’s where I draw the line
I don’t share my exact mortgage debt (though I might have let it slip in a few ways), but I have less qualms about sharing my total basic expenses and things like that. I will highlight that on my blog from time to time for illustrative purposes.
I personally don’t care if someone makes a ton of money or is unemployed…I want to socialize with them based on the way they act as opposed to how fully-lined their pockets are. I know this isn’t true for many people, though.
I would prefer salary-transparency in the workplace. I think it would even out gaps such as the discrepancy between the amount men and women get paid to do the same job, and would produce a more merit-based system that would encourage higher functioning workplaces.
I agree with you, but at the same time I don’t think that an income is necessarily a completely independent variable. I think it’s somewhat rational for the way for people to react, but it’s also unfortunate because our biases are also often mistaken.
I do like this: “I would prefer salary-transparency in the workplace. I think it would even out gaps such as the discrepancy between the amount men and women get paid to do the same job, and would produce a more merit-based system that would encourage higher functioning workplaces.”
That’d be one of the biggest advantages of a more transparent society! Some employers are completely retarded with compensation, and sure the free market cleans them up with the higher performers mean and the overpaid stay, but it’s still stupid.
I remember being excited when I first found Glassdoor. It’s a website that employees can enter their salary information and the aggregate is shown by industry, type of job and level. It really helped me get my salary expectations in line and value what I can bring to a company. I’m usually of the train of thought that more information is better. No need to be secretive.
Glassdoor is pretty cool! I have found the information is not necessarily that accurate, but it can definitely raise eyebrows, especially if you see that others doing your position are in a wide range from where you are!
Interesting… Back home we always discussed openly with friends who makes what. In the US not so much. I probably would never be able to share my income number on my blog. It just doesn’t feel safe or really necessary.
I don’t share on my site either, but I do wish we could be a bit more transparent without the biases and judgement that often come out. Other societies are better at being transparent. Then again, maybe we evolved secrecy as a social norm because wealth inequality is higher in free-er markets? Humans have trouble coping with that due to our tribal roots, I think. High inequality there probably meant one of the tribe members was stealing, or something.
I’d be interesting to see if this is changing in Asia, because in places like China you have huge wealth disparities, much larger than anything you see in North America. This is because some areas have progressed very rapidly while others not so much, and there is a lot of corruption unfortunately. I wonder if people are becoming more secretive about sharing their salary information due to these differences.
Personally, it has helped me greatly to admit on my anonymous blog exactly how much debt I have and how I’m doing each month, which really keeps me accountable. I haven’t discussed how much I make, but my friends and I share how much we make as do many of my coworkers. It’s not a big deal to me. If you asked me, I’d tell you. And then I’d tell you how I plan to make more to be able to pay off my debt and do more of the work I love in my daily life. I think it helps me to share it because it keeps me from becoming too delusional and pretending like I’m rich. I am very rich in life, health and love and I always feel lucky, so the dollar amount I make and what other people make doesn’t bother me anymore. Sometimes, if someone my age is exponentially more successful than me, I try to learn from them instead of hate!
Trying to learn from them is a good attitude to have! If you have an anonymous blog I suppose that helps a lot because you can partition your identity and keep these aspects you’d normally keep private, and benefit from the added transparency without any spill-over effects on the rest of your life! Well, so long as it stays anonymous. ;)
I am guilty of wanting to know everyone else’s income, but not wanting to give mine out… However, I think you make a great point in the article regarding transparency. At work it is a HUGE “no-no” to disclose your income and your bonus to your peers, basically so your company can keep its information advantage or I should say “asymmetrical information” advantage.
They know what everyone makes, you only know what they are offering you. Really interesting to think of the implications if you knew your everyone’s salary. It’s a double-edged sword; you would never make less than anyone else at your level, BUT if you are a stronger employee you can never negotiate a better comp package. I’ll take my chances with the lack of transparency and rely on my ability to get myself a good comp package. Doesn’t stop me from wanting to know what everyone else makes though…
I am also very curious, but I don’t think that more transparency would eliminate wealth differentiation. Where it DOES get risky is that an employee could sue the employer for racism, sexism, or whatever, so employers would be scared to death of differentiating between two employees of a different race or sex even if one did perform better than the other. In highly litigious societies with this type of regulation, that is one of the downsides. Of course the downside of not having this regulation is that then some employers can be openly racist or sexist, so you have to pick and choose your battles.
You guys would be shocked at some of the hiring practices in Asia. They are more transparent with their salaries, sure, but sometimes they are also openly racist, sexist, and ageist, as well as… I don’t know what you’d call it, but they are biased toward beautiful people and attaching your face to a CV is important! I know it’s like that here, too, and more attractive people always have a better shot, but not so openly like that. It’s kind of shocking to learn about that, but at the same time companies can keep and reward employees for performance reasons and be less afraid of a discrimination lawsuit.
I agree with the point about pay and performance. I think if everyone knew what everyone else made, there would be a direct impact on the performance of people – or the workplace would fall apart.
It would definitely lead to less retarded situations, but at the same time now I’m doubting because it exposes a lot more liability to the company for discrimination lawsuits. I hadn’t thought of that angle previously.
My salary is public or transparent! As a school teacher, the salary table is published, however you do not know what step or how many years I have accumulated. I do not see the benefit of knowing how much you or anyone earns. If salary tables were public of all companies, it would make it easier for candidates in salary negotiation.
Perhaps salary tables would be a good intermediate point — you don’t know how much others make but you know what the ranges should be. This can sort of be viewed through sites like glassdoor or by asking peers, and I am more willing to tell people the ranges rather than what I directly make!
There is so much enmity for those perceived to be one percenters these days-much more than in the past it seems to me. The class warfare politics wouldn’t be so prominent if it wasn’t effective.
Some of the scorn is deserved, but while people are angry for some of the right reasons, they are not necessarily looking at the right answers. How many times has a populist movement like this led to a better government? I’m not sure, but I know of many times where it has led to a dictatorship or worse.
Many people simply don’t understand what a free market is. This might be because they have grown to believe that the free market means Monsanto’s practices and other things that are really the result of public-private collusion. If you limit the definition to “voluntary co-operation” then it means something different, and something better. We need more of that and less of the collusion.
In the end though I’m still glad there were protests because it shows that people are still exercising their rights, and so long as there’s no violence I believe protest is a fundamental right as part of the consent to being governed, whatever your views. Hopefully more people will be educating themselves and reading from a variety of sources, and not resorting to knee-jerk emotional statements like “soak the rich!”.
Kevine, Fascinating article. I never really thought about the cultural differences in speaking about salary. Salary is frequently quite different from net worth. There are high salaried individuals with low net worth and vice versa. Interesting topic!
So true! Even a regular middle-class salary can lead to financial independence and a high net worth over time if saving is done diligently and frequently, while a high salary is no guarantee of the same if you spend like there’s no tomorrow.
I would probably be a little more open to sharing my online income versus my personal income simply because the online (right now) is such a small fraction of my overall earnings.
On the other hand some people might judge you differently if they think you have some extra cash on the side which you may or may not have! I think with fellow people making income online though I could be more open since these people are more mature about these things and you can share tips and discuss.
I am with you MoneyBeagle, I don’t have a problem posting my blogging income, but my personal income would get touchy real quick. Too many friends and associates read my blog. Curious what everyone thinks of the Gallup Poll that came out saying that Americans view an income of $150k as “rich” or $1mm in net worth. I wrote a post about it today. My view, it seems low to me…
Well, we are all rich to a certain extent, even those of us making $50k and with $100k in net worth. As a Canadian, I view an income of $150k as quite high, but not quite “rich”. Many are able to achieve that by entering medicine/law, getting mba, etc…. As for $1 million in net worth, I firmly believe that any middle class family can achieve that given time and diligence.
Left you a comment; please unspam me. ;)
I don’t think there is a problem with sharing blogging income. In that instance, everyone has the same opportunity to make money. You can learn a lot by what other people have done. If your friends are jealous–they should try learning from what you have done. As far as personal income is concerned, I do think that should be kept private. Not everyone has the same skills or interests and it will only cause resentment between friends if there is a huge disparity. I have friends who work for nonprofits and friends who are corporate attorneys. You can pretty much figure out about what people make; there is no need to make anyone feel bad about their career choices by advertising it.
I actually think the online income thing can cause more resentment among people who don’t understand because it might seem like some “gimmick” or “trick”, and then next thing they’ll be asking you to hook them up or expecting you to pay for more beers. :P
I’m at this crossroads right now with my current blog. My next scheduled post is analyzing my net worth. I’ve been contemplating how to show this without putting actual numbers out there. Thanks for the read and the ideas to consider.
I wonder if you should show relative or “starting from” X. I think the more anonymous bloggers have the easiest time with this since they don’t have to worry about any backlash in their own personal lives.
I don’t put my income on my blog because my family and friends read it and I don’t want there to be any weirdness. There is definitely a taboo against sharing this information, and sometimes people get burnt by doing so. It is easy to “spend” someone else’s money in your head and I think we all do it. Like “what is he doing driving that car around? He can afford a better one”.
Having said that, I feel a little bad about not sharing my own because I love to read others’ online income and networth updates! I am not against it at all, it just won’t work for me.
The family & friends thing is one reason why I don’t go into too much detail on my own site! I do share some generalities every now and then. I also want the reader to relate more to the lessons and less on what I am personally making.
Like you, though, I also love to read about others’ updates! :P
I don’t know if you’re right about the transparency piece. In Canada, government and Crown corporation salaries are published (for everyone who makes more than a certain dollar amount– I think $75,000), and those aren’t necessarily more productive or efficient organizations– and not all of them are unionized, either.
I don’t think there’s a correlation between salary transparency and productivity.
Well, it’s logically impossible for a government or crown corporation to be more efficient — they don’t have to face the same market tests or profit or loss or compete on the same level playing field. ;)
I can’t say for sure if more transparency would lead to more productivity, but I do know of a case where less transparency leads to less productivity: that is at my company where I know for a fact that there is unequal compensation going on and that people have left because of it, while the overpaid stay. ;) This has been slowly working itself out through layoffs and new hires, but the company lost good people that they didn’t have to.
I’d share my salary info online, except that coworkers read the the and I was ashamed of my measly earnings. ;) Of course now that I’ve taken a job making even less so that I could have more “me” time I’m even more ashamed…but the number doesn’t scare me.
Why ashamed? :) Nothing to ever be ashamed of if you’re maximizing your life… I also don’t share on my site because I want all readers to relate to their own life, but I also agree sharing within the community the online subset would make more sense. I don’t mind talking about blog income with other like-minded bloggers as there is a lot I can learn from the more experienced!
[…] it Wisely writing at Yakezie.com started an interesting discussion about how salary information is much more open and transparent in other societies. Do you want your check amount written on the company bulletin […]
Good read. I have seen this many times at my old job especially around the time bonuses and raises are handed out. Last year particularly everyone was under the impression that bonuses depended on your performance and the ratings you received during your performance review, however that was not the case. Everyone received the same bonus percentage, which angered several employees that have been high performers for the year. Discussing salary with coworkers is never a good thing, even between friends in my opinion.
Even promotions are very hush-hush at my current workplace. It’s very strange…at our workplace it hasn’t been the best thing for the company because some people found out that salary practices were somewhat arbitrary, and morale has suffered as a result.
Wow really? At least your company is sensitive to everybody’s feelings!
It wasn’t always like that. It’s only become like that because they know that compensation is out of whack and people are looking elsewhere since the local market is doing well. If they learned that one got promoted and they didn’t… well, they might stop holding out in that case then. We have about one departure lunch a week now.
You would think they would just get compensation more in-line to solve all sensitivities no? There must be some severely undercompensated people!
I agree with you! I will have more to say within a month or two ;)
Can’t wait to hear the update!
Where I live right now, I do not want people to know what I make.. My income isn’t high, actually it’s probably below average… I would be okay with sharing it online because I feel that this community has a more realistic perspective on things? If that makes any sense.
Whoops I think I read yours and Sandy’s comment together and replied to them both above :P
Average is relative. I’m doing decent for where I live but would probably be in poverty in San Francisco.
I don’t disclose my income online, as I blog semi-anonymously. As for my online income, it’s measly enough to even merit a passing mention. I do like the fact that we live below our means. While we live in a nice neighborhood, I know people that are lower down in the company ranks that live in more expensive zip codes. Then again, I don’t know their details (or want to). Maybe they inherited a large sum from a relative.
Interesting your thoughts on other cultures. I’ve received open and pointed inquiries about my income from Asians, and have learned by necessity to graciously steer the conversation away from topic.
I prefer to be on the more anonymous side but as people in real life know about my blog, and heck, you can find a reference to my real name and photo somewhere, I am only really semi-anonymous as well!
How do you defer the convos with Asians? You must have a lot of experience with that sort of thing with all of your travels!
Last time it happened was in China. I cracked a joke that even though Americans get paid more than the Chinese, at the end of the month we send most of it back to China because the US is so much in debt. Everyone had a laugh, and we moved on.
Haha, I like that reply. Not sure a Canadian could get away with that. ;)
I don’t feel like revealing. my income is my personal thing, why should we make half jealous and half showing pity on my income? I just don’t get enough convincing point favoring disclosing personal income.
Lol, I like the way you visualized it. Half showing pity… ;) I never thought of it that way. I don’t usually reveal but sometimes I have, with people in similar situations or in ways where I thought it could help out.
Make money blogging?! I’ll let you know if that works out! It’s becoming a running joke in my house by my wife that I don’t make any money from this hobby.
I don’t mind discussing my income from my day job with others in the same profession, trucking. When the subject comes up with others though, I can usually tell that they would prefer to keep their income secretive, so I do the same in the context of that conversation.
I think I ran my first year of blogging at a loss of a few hundred dollars. ;) Those in my industry (software engineering) tend to be more secretive, but you can find things out especially if you get to know people, and sites like glassdoor.com or salary.com do help out a bit.
I am always curious to know what others make both online and in real life but I would never ask (you know it’s taboo to ask) and I don’t reveal my income either. My income is my own business. To have each others’ incomes transparent, then all the expenses and savings strategies and working hours, etc would also need to transparent, to be fair. For example, say my friends makes more than I do, but perhaps she works longer hours (so her hourly rate is actually lower than mine), she also sends money to help her parents out, then she goes on a vacation to regain her sanity from working so much, where she can she also scrimps and save every penny, etc. How much money one makes is not just a number; you can never truly compare it that way.
I agree that you can’t just compare it at face value without knowing the whole story. However, humans do just that, and if it’s not income then it will be the car you drive, the home you live in, etc…. I do think sharing can be beneficial when done in certain ways, but not when the person will just judge you for it. Normally I would err toward privacy.
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