For the poster who suggested non-avs reply, as well ...
* Manager and Developer in the IT Industry since 1997, Mfg Engineering and Management before that (have only an AAS Ind Eng degree from '92). Now finally getting to sit in with a corporate B200/B58 operator periodically, and hoping to move into the full-time pro ranks by September 2006.
* Grossed $39,000 for 2004, as our pay slowly heads back towards our pre-Dot Com Meltdown (Winter 2001) levels. Still have quite a few thousand to go before we're back to regular salaries, but it was enough to finally start flying again last year (Thank God!) after the ex got her share out of every check. Still trying to get overdue bills paid off from 2002, 2002, 2003, and 2004, cuz bankruptcy just ain't my thing. I ran up the bills ... I'll pay 'em. Anything less is stealing, in my humble little pin-headed opinion.
The upside to all those years of starvation wages is that I am now quite comfortable with the idea of leaving for a 91/135 FO gig that will, most likely, pay less than $30,000 per year for the first couple years.

I don't know how you full-time CFIs and Regional pilots do it, though. Very good financial planning or even a side gig, perhaps? I salute you!
For me, money just isn't all that important anymore, once my absolute necessities are met (food, shelter, transportation, etc.). Thanks to my late father's advice, and to the example he set ... I have always put out 110% every single day, even when I wasn't clearing enough money to pay my rent (just after the IT meltdown in 11/01). I do this because I believe in the company, I love the people I work with and for, and because my father taught me that taking a job is a commitment that must be honored regardless of the inevitable ups and downs. He taught me that when you accept a job, knowing fully the terms, conditions, and expectations ... you give it everything you have, every single day. And that if the situation changes such that your employer isn't holding up, or cannot hold up, his or her end of the bargain ... you leave. You either leave, or you stay and do what you committed to do. For him, and likewise for me, there is no in between.
A man is only as good as his word and his willingness to honor his commitments.
Minh