I was checking out Cal Girl Finance yesterday and really enjoyed it. She brings up an awesome topic on salary and the taboo on sharing it with others. I commented that i’m pretty much okay w/ talking about it w/ family, and even a best friend or so, but that’s about it. Then the more i thought about it, the more i wanted to say!

First off, there’s absolutely no way i’m sharing it w/ co-workers, nor do i even WANT to know theirs. The last thing i need is to get a little jealous, over-confident, or just straight up confused :) There’s a reason it’s kept super duty quiet i the work place.

The same thing goes w/ friends in my book (although not for BEST friends). I don’t believe someone should be looked up or down upon based on their salary alone. I’ve made the mistake of sharing this twice.

Once when i was bringing in pennies and literally got laughed at, not to mention sarcastically asked how i survive. And the second when i brought in more than a friend, and was openly talking about salaries in the DC area w/ him. It wasn’t bad at first, but after a few weeks, and even to this day, i get ridiculed whenever i don’t wanna go out partying or to a sports event so i can save money. According to him, “i make plenty enough and shouldnt’ even think about it”. That was the last time i decided to share…

Until today :) Since this IS a personal finance blog and we’re all pretty much anonymous here, i say it’s time to unload and set ourselves free! So, without further adieu, here are my juicy details:
I have a base salary of $75k + quarterly bonus’ of about 2k a piece, bringing the current total to roughly $83k.

Get this though, i am nowhere CLOSE to being the only one jumping on this openness train! Cal Girl linked to a post where over 240 commenters have givin’ up theirs as well!!! Seriously, you HAVE to check it out. An absolutely great post from My Open Wallet.

It’s just so crazy! You get this crazy mixture of intimacy, gossip, and taboo-ness (is that a word?) all mixed in one. I mean, we are in the personal finance genre here, but still … it’s all just so oddly alluring.