Background

Since 2020, I have published my salary and other financial information on this page. It is something I talk about openly when asked (and sometimes unprompted!) and a personal belief I hold quite strongly.

Recently a few people have told me irl that they have found this website and appreciated the salary information, so I'll go into a little more detail here on my rationale for it and how this has evolved.

In a way this could be considered a warrant canary on my own moral dedication to personal financial transparency. If my income has disappeared/not updated in several years you can probably assume I have had a crisis of morality or been offered an obscene amount of money to change job.

Original Inspiration

As explained in the main article, I was originally inspired by the excellent investigative journalist and author George Monbiot to publish my income and financial interests. Monbiot makes the case that, as a journalist, he is in a public position of influence and, therefore, there is a public interest in knowing who pays him. I strongly agree with this and, though not in a public position myself (I doubt anyone who doesn't know me already has ever read this site) it is good to set an example of transparency and encourage others to do so.

Evolution

• In summer 2024 I added a conversion function for GBP, SEK and USD. This makes all the numbers in the page easily comparable. As a side effect if reminds of the depressing trend in the Swedish kronor since I moved here in 2021
• In 2024 I added the financial information of the flat that I purchased with a loan in 2023
• privilege of family money
• I don't show the current balances of my bank account and credit cards as they a) change monthly by non-trivial amounts and b) feel a bit too personal.

Future plans

• I should return to some regular form of charitable giving, rather than my current rather scattergun approach
• When my parents eventually pass away, I expect to inherit something on the order of £100'000. I hope that, when the time comes, I have the financial position and moral integrity to give it away.
• Once I have saved enough, I have a vague plan to gift a close friend of mine enough to get them onto the housing ladder.
• I have no plans to have children, and you can't take it with you so...

Limitations and wider context

A lot of asterisks apply to my exhortations of financial transparency. I have many compounding privileges of being a highly paid & educated white cis-hetero man living in the global North. These privileges insulate me from many potential harms. To me, benefiting from these privileges makes it all the more important that I share this financial information. Systems of dominance and hierarchy are easier to maintain when those who are disadvantaged don't know they details of the inequality.

Counter arguments

• How could this be used against me? If you are looking to blackmail me, this is probably quite useful information to have, but I am not a politically exposed person.
• Is this boastful? taboo? It is not my intention. I am, frankly, embarrassed by how much money I make (no doubt the late great David Graeber would have something to say about that). But this is not a boast. I started when I earned less than the UK minimum wage (yay for PhD stipends) and will continue to update now that I am near the top decile of Swedish earners.
• What about comparative advantage/salary negotiation? it has been persuasively argued that making your current salary known to an employer puts you at a stark disadvantage during salary negotiation. I am not motivated by money. If I make enough to keep a roof over my head and beers in the fridge I'm good. Yes, this harms my total lifetime earnings.

Morality of this stance

• a more genearal morailty of openness
• limits of this
• This Should Be Normal

If you have read this far, I would encourage you to follow suit! If you don't feel comfortable posting your salary the internet for all to see, at least be open to discussing your salary and financial situation with colleagues, friends and acquaintances. Except for exploitative bosses, we all benefit from increased openness around this old taboo topic.