I work for a company that is always wondering what people have in their currency container. Anyway, they just raised their minimum wage to $19/hr. I was already making about $20/hr this past year (20x40x52=$41,600). Between the merit and cost of living increase, it was about a 20% raise, or over $8000. So I'm making almost $50k now, which is something I did not expect to reach for another few years unless I got a promotion.
I'm posting this not to brag but to remind all of you that the government says inflation is 7% but they are probably lying and it is probably more like 15%, so while my company is much better than so many other corporations, is still just barely keeping up with inflation.
My company is regularly considered a great place to work, but in my position I know that despite being a top performer, one big mistake could get me fired tomorrow. I can't think of anyone on my team other than my manager who has my number, none of them care how hard I work or if I disappeared tomorrow and they'd all forget I existed within 6 months. And if that sounds terrible, this is 1000x better than my first job out of college that I wasted over 3 years of my life at breaking my back being one of their best employees for barely better than minimum wage.
Smile, always be kind, always be professional, making being above average your baseline and then only exert yourself if there is a clear path to promotion; don't burn bridges unnecessarily but don't invest resources into a bridge that they may burn out of spite.
Always remember that money exists to make life better for people. Do not love money, love people and what you can do for people with money. You need money to buy whiskey. Go get your money so you can enjoy life with those you love.