What If Your College Friends Earn More Than You?

Brian is 23-years-old and earns an amount of money that, he says with a self-deprecating laugh, "the average 23-year-old doesn't and shouldn't have."

He graduated from an Ivy League school in 2007 and works in management consulting in San Francisco, taking home between $80,000 and $90,000, including bonuses. Does that sound like a lot? Some of his friends are making as much as $120,000.

Post-college, Brian has seen his social circle split in two along the fault-line of the paycheck stub. For example, the wealthier friends dine in restaurants, while the ones who don't earn as much cook at home. "My friends from school who don't make very much money don't really hang out with my friends from finance."

What about treating his less well-off friends to a night out? "I don't think I've ever picked up the tab," he says. "I think that might be seen as condescending."

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