earning

Earning more than 600,000 euros a year seemed like a rarity in Spain. The Treasury has already counted almost 19,000 cases

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Twenty years ago, coming across someone who earned more than 600,000 euros a year was like the girls in Galicia: there are there there arebut it is difficult to find them. That exclusive club existed, but its members could fit on a city bus. Today a few are needed. According to data provided by the Tax Agency on the salary ranges of taxpayers in Spain, the highest incomes grow much faster than the rest of salaries. The jump that breaks the historical series. According to consolidated data for 2024, 18,829 taxpayers declared income from work above 601,000 euros annually. This figure represents a jump of 27.8% in a single year, and is the highest figure since the history of this series exists. Although almost 19,000 people receiving that annual salary may seem like a good figure, it is enough to put it in context to determine that they barely represent 0.08% of the almost 25 million declarations submitted that year. Since 2007, when the financial crisis broke out, this group has grown from 10,580 people to almost 19,000 today. It is an increase of close to 78% in less than two decades. Madrid, the magnet of large incomes. If this Treasury statistic confirms anything, it is that wealth is not distributed the same between territories. 8,278 of those 18,829 taxpayers live in the Community of Madrid. Catalonia follows, and specifically Barcelona, ​​with 4,040 taxpayers with a salary of more than 601,000 euros per year. These figures far exceed those offered by Andalusia, the Valencian Community or Galicia, which are the next in number of employees in the highest percentile. This concentration has an explanation beyond the location of the headquarters of large companies. As and how they stood out In the tax consultancy TaxDown, Madrid maintains, by far, the lower rates of autonomous personal income tax of Spain. Its maximum aggregate rate reaches 43.5%, compared to the 54% that can be paid in Catalonia or Valencia. Added to this is a Wealth Tax that has been practically canceled for years. This combination of tax cuts has been pointed out as a clear case of tax competition between communities (dumping), which helps attract large assets from other regions. The rest of the tax pyramid. It is advisable not to lose sight of what salary ranges the majority of workers in Spain really fall into. He largest section continues to be that of those who earn between 30,000 and 60,000 euros per year, concentrating 5.8 million people, 23.5% of the total filers. Just behind are the immediately lower ranks, those who charge between 21,000 and 30,000 euros (4.6 million) and between 12,000 and 21,000 euros (4 million). They are the salary brackets that, in practice, support the bulk of the country’s salary income collection. Although it does not represent an increase as spectacular as that of employees in the range above 601,000 euros per year, the growth in the number of taxpayers in the range between 150,000 euros per year and 600,000 euros also stands out. This group is made up of 194,681 taxpayers, which represents 0.79% of the total, but has experienced an increase of 20.9% in just one year. Action, reaction. This rebound in high incomes explains some data that until now seemed unconnected. According to data of the “World Wealth Report 2026” prepared by Capgemini, the number of large assets in the country has also increased by 5.3% in the last year. That is, according to the data in that report, the 13,100 new millionaires that Spain added, could be the same ones that in recent years have been added to the highest salary range recorded by the Treasury. In Xataka | “I am a millionaire and I don’t know what to do with my life”: a millionaire is looking for ideas because money has not given him happiness Image | Unsplash (Ru Dur, Mads Eneqvist)

Earning $180,000 a year is no longer enough to live in San Francisco. The AI ​​boom has eaten up the technological middle class

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In San Francisco you can earn $180,000 a year and not make ends meet easily. The AI ​​boom It is making what would be a huge salary anywhere else become mere pocket change, preventing entry into an impossible real estate market and a standard of living unattainable for the majority. Silicon Valley’s dream is to move. In it New York Times They tell the story of Katrine Razniak, a LinkedIn recruiter, and her partner Adam Woodbury, a software engineer. They have been in the city for five years and earn 180,000 and 185,000 dollars respectively, but despite this they are not able to get something as basic as an apartment for two. They spent months looking for a one-bedroom apartment to move in together on a budget of $5,000 a month, but it was impossible. They say they saw one for $5,200 and the waiting list already had 30 interested parties an hour after the open house. Buying a house is not an option either: The median home price is $1.7 million.. Given this situation, the couple is considering moving to another state where their salaries would allow them to live as an upper class. The new elite. While Katrine Razniak and her partner have to continue living in shared apartments, there is a new technological upper class that can afford to live comfortably in the city. They are the new millionaires of the AI ​​boom, employees of companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, with stratospheric valuations and stock options. In October of last year, when OpenAI was worth $500 billionwe already talked about that the city’s real estate market was exploding. Employees began selling stocks and buying homes like there was no tomorrow, causing prices to skyrocket. There is no improvement in sight. Not even a year has passed and Sam Altman’s company worth 852 billion dollars and Anthropic aims for 900 billion. To put it in context, when Uber went public in 2019 it was worth 82 billion, we are talking about ten times that amount. The imminent IPO of the two companies, added to the recent IPO of SpaceX, aims to create new fortunes, until 20 new billionairesaccording to estimates. Working in technology is no longer a guarantee of success in San Francisco, now you have to work in AI (and own stocks). It’s not just the rent. The median salary in San Francisco is also higher than the rest of the country and has been growing over the past six years, going from $153,000 to $196,000 today. However, everything else has also gone up. Aside from housing, life in general isn’t exactly cheap either. According to data from Cost of Living Indexthe cost of living in San Francisco is 65.6% higher than the rest of the United States. Katrine Razniak says her monthly spending has grown by $1,000 without changing her lifestyle, causing her and her friends to replace restaurant outings with home-cooked dinners. The housing problem in San Francisco. Spain is going through a housing crisis unprecedented, but we are not the only country facing this situation; Canada, Germany, Mexico, China o The United States are also suffering from it. In San Francisco specifically, the housing market is absolutely broken. As we said, the average price of a home is 1.7 million dollars, more than triple the national average of $450,000, and the rent is already the most expensive in the entire country, even ahead of New York. The demand is very high and the construction of new buildings is stagnant and the little that there is at a decent price ($5,000 a month is decent) flies in a matter of seconds. Image | photoholgic in Unsplash In Xataka | Sleeping capsules for 800 euros a month: the housing shortage in San Francisco is reaching the extreme

Mercadona’s engine is not the white label, but crushing its rivals in profitability by earning less per product

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You may like it more or less your cataloghis business strategy or even the forecasts culinary-apocalyptic of its president, but there is something undeniable: Mercadona long ago stopped being a chain of stores to become a social phenomenon. One who depends about 30% of the food distribution market, 51% of the business of prepared dishes and that sets the pace for trends as relevant as that of the merchants. Hence everything that revolves around your finances be interesting. Especially because when studying them in detail and comparing them with other competing chains there is one fact that draws attention: Although its gross margin per sale is lower than that of other rivals, its profitability ratio is much higher. The data: 41,858 million. When Mercadona presented its 2025 economic balance, two months ago, there was a figure that made headlines: 41,858 million of euros. That was the company’s consolidated turnover, an interesting fact because it shows an annual growth of 8%, but it actually hides other even more revealing values. One of them is the turnover, net sales, which amounted to 38,178 million. In that case the increase was 7.2%. If we subtract from that figure what it cost the company to supply its merchandise (28,639 million), we obtain the first relevant piece of information: its gross marginthe money that the company earned after deducting the costs directly attributable to production and sale, such as raw materials or expenses generated during manufacturing. In this case it stood at 9,539 million. Is it important information? Yes. Above all to understand how the Valencian chain makes money and where it has its strengths (and weaknesses) compared to the competition. At first, those 9,539 million may not tell us much, but a few days ago Five Days subjected him to an analysis which does leave a couple of interesting ideas. The first is that this figure shows that Mercadona’s gross margin represents 25% of its sales. That means that of every 100 euros you earn, the supply costs take 75. From the remaining 25 euros you must get enough money to cover other bills and, above all, generate profits. It is not a bad percentage (25%) if we compare it with what the Valencian firm registered in recent years, but it is significantly lower than that managed by other competing companies. The calculations of Five Dayswhich are based on the accounts published by the companies, conclude that this margin rises to 26.2% in Dia, 27% in Eroski and 30.1% in Consum. In theory, this comparison leaves a clear reading: any of these three chains has a larger cushion, once the supply costs have been deducted, to pay the rest of the company’s bills and generate profits. And the surprise comes. The curious thing is that this ‘photo’ changes when we delve a little deeper into the accounts of Mercadona and its competitors. If we look at the operating resultwhich deducts all operating expenses, including for example salaries, rents, advertising, depreciation, transportation or energy, Mercadona is left with 2,061 million of euros. Given that Juan Orig’s chain invoices significantly more than Dia, Eroki or Consum, that operating result is also much higher in net terms. That’s logical. The curious thing is that it is also true in relative terms, based on the total income of each firm. In Mercadona this margin is 5.4% while in the case of Día it drops to 2.6%, in Eroski to 4.6% and in Consum to 2.7%. That’s the first surprise. The second comes when we go one step further and look at the net profitalready discounted the financial and fiscal expenses. It is relevant data because it basically shows what the company ‘earns’, the remainder from which the company takes the money with which it then pays dividends to its shareholders and makes reinvestments. In 2025 that benefit was almost 1,729 million, which is equivalent to 4.5% of its turnover. In Dia this percentage of global sales is 2.3%, in Consum it is 2.6% and in Eroski it remains at just 0.9%. Beyond the numbers. This mixture of percentages can be somewhat confusing, but it is very simple to read: beyond the business volume of each chain, whether it closes the year with more or less millions invoiced, Mercadona has achieved an important milestone. Despite ‘earn’ less per product Than Dia, Eroski or Consum (gross margin), their profitability ratios are much better. How have you done it? In your annual report The firm assures that it has improved its profitability thanks to the “optimization of processes”, which includes energy savings, “elimination of expenses without added value” and “advances in operational efficiency.” Only the use of ovens in ECO mode saved him two million. Outrunning the giants. Mercadona’s formula has not only allowed it to stand out from its most immediate competitors. It has also done so in comparison with other heavyweights in the sector internationally. At least in relative terms. a few weeks ago Expansion public an analysis which shows that the Valencian chain has skyrocketed its net profit margin to such a level that it surpasses giants such as Walmart, Costco or Tesco in profitability. While Mercadona’s net margin is 4.52% (4.52 euros profit per 100 euros in sales), at Walmart it is 3.1%, at Costco 3%, at Tesco 2.52%, at Ahold Delhaie 2.45%, at Dia 2.26%, at Sainsbury’s 0.73% and at Kroger it remains at 0.69%. And that’s just to name a few cases. The Valencian firm not only stands out in the photo finish With respect to its competitors, the figure for 2024 also significantly improves, when the net margin was 3.88%. Images | M. Peinado (Flickr) and Mercadona In Xataka | The gap between what pork costs on farms and in supermarkets does not stop growing. The ranchers have said enough

accept earning less and less per client

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Digi Spain Telecom has completed its transformation from SL to SA, from a Limited Company to a Public Limited Company, as stated in the Official Gazette of the Commercial Registry. The change, approved on December 15, paves the way for an IPO in 2026 that seeks to raise up to 750 million euros by selling 30% of the Spanish subsidiary. The context. Spanish commercial legislation prevents a limited company from being listed on the stock market. Only public limited companies can issue securities that are freely traded in the markets, hence this change is essential to ring the bell. Why is it important. Behind this movement there is a radical strategic commitment. While the three large Spanish operators fight to increase the average income per customer… …Digi does exactly the opposite and is winning the game. In 2025 it has snatched 932,000 customers from its rivals, but its profitability per user has fallen from 8.7 to 7.8 euros, a decrease of 10% in an amount already much lower than that of competitors, closer to 20 euros. The bet. The Romanian operator has chosen a volume over margin strategy that goes against the traditional logic of the sector. He would rather have 10 million customers paying him very little than 5 million paying him little, and the numbers are proving him right, at least for now: It is already the fourth operator with 10.2 million users and it is hot on the heels of Vodafone. In figures. The results of this strategy are overwhelming: 1.5 million ports accumulated in 2025, 23% more than in 2024. 681 million euros of income, 19% more. 70 own stores in Spain, more than double that of the previous year. Average income per client of 7.8 euros, compared to figures that are around 15-20 euros in large operators. Between the lines. The IPO will be what definitively validates (or not) the model. If investors buy shares and validate that narrow margin strategy, Digi will have shown that in a saturated market like the Spanish one, the only way for a fourth operator is to be radically cheaper. And less profitable. But more massive. If this does not happen, Digi would see the sign that its growth model does not convince to finance itself under better conditions. The background. The move to SA is not the only move paving the way for going public. Yes, but. The question now is how far ARPU (average revenue per customer) can fall before the model stops working. With less than 8 euros per customer, Digi is in uncharted territory for an operator with its own infrastructure. In Xataka | The Government has had an idea so that the next blackout does not leave us without mobile data: let the operators pay Featured image | Xataka with Mockuuups Studio

be earning an indecent amount of money

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The transformation from Rheinmetall from just another contractor in the European military ecosystem to an industrial superpower with margins greater than 20% reflects the new reality of a continent that has gone from defensive austerity to massive reactivation from its military base. And here a problem has arisen for the company: winning too much money. A driven giant. While Germany commits to rebuild the largest army conventional Europe, the company has multiplied its weight thanks to almost total vertical integration: it manufactures complete ammunition, from the case to the propellant, and can produce at a rate that leaves its competitors behind. This scale has allowed it to go from margins of 5% in the previous decade to figures close to 19%with the declared objective of reaching 30% in its ammunition business by 2030. The paradox is evident: the more it produces to reinforce European security, the closer it approaches profitability levels that they can be uncomfortable for governments that finance these purchases with public money. So profitable that it threatens to become unsustainable. The paradox explained this week Bloomberg. The risk for Rheinmetall is not an eventual peace in Ukraine, but earn too much. The plan to quintuple income up to 50,000 million of euros at the end of the decade, together with a potential operating profit of 10 billion annually, raises fundamental questions: how will taxpayers react when a private arms company obtains profits comparable to those of a technological giant? Rivals like BAE are expanding their factorieswhich could balance the market and put pressure on prices. And in parallel, economists and analysts remember that defense industries have an “acceptable threshold” of profit before proposals for extraordinary taxes or regulatory controls arise. Unlike other partly state-owned European players, Rheinmetall is entirely in private hands, meaning that the impressive revaluation 1,400% since 2022 it has barely benefited German citizens. The commitment to automation. He runaway growth is supported by a wave of investments: more than 8 billion for new ammunition and gunpowder factories in Eastern Europe, automated lines capable of producing 350,000 projectiles a year with just 120 workers and a strategic expansion into the naval field after acquiring Lürssen. Rheinmetall aims to become the main supplier of NATO weapons in Europe (up to 25% of allied spending) and seeks to replicate its industrial model in traditionally less profitable sectors, like the naval. However, this intensive robotization raises another political contradiction: the huge defense budget boom does not translate into the increase in employment that many governments had promised. Unpredictable future. The key question for analysts is how long Rheinmetall can sustain a growth and margins that far exceed those of any other Western weapons manufacturer without awakening a counterattack political, fiscal or competitive. If the company continues to rack up record profits as it climbs to dominance European industryStates could demand lower prices, impose new rules or force greater public participation in the sector. In the new European war economywhere safety and profitability coexist, Rheinmetall has become a symbol of a bigger dilemma: the increasingly fine line between the urgent need to rearm and the discomfort of financing extraordinary private benefits with state funds. Image | włodi In Xataka | The “rearmament” of Europe has begun at a Volkswagen factory in Germany: instead of cars they will produce tanks In Xataka | In Europe rearmament prices are rising and cars are falling. And a Basque components factory wants to take advantage of it

how it works and how to avoid this scam to steal money by earning your trust

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Let’s explain What is the Like Scama new type of online deception that already Police and Civil Guard have warned. It is a scam that is being given in instantaneous messaging applications such as Telegram and social networks, and that will lead you to steal money after earning your trust. We are going to start the article explaining the mechanics and the procedure of this deception with which thieves earn your trust before Timing you. Then we will give you A series of tips To avoid falling into the trap. How is this scam First, scammers are going to contact you through different platforms, from Telegram to social networks. There, they will propose to you perform simple online tasks in exchange for moneysomething apparently easy that will not take you long. These tasks are things like Give and receive likes on social networksfollow profiles, etc. In exchange for this, they promise you small economic amounts for your time. With this they will feed both your trust and your greed. The tempting of all this is that At first they may pay you In exchange for what you are doing, they will give you small amounts of money. That is when your trust will be gained. When they have already convinced that they can help you earn money with little effort, they will rise to “higher groups”, where they will propose make investments in exchange for a lot of money. When you make these investments, cybercounts will simply disappear keeping your money. In addition, they will also stop paying for any task. And what is worse, the personal data you have given them to make the first payments are also possible to use them to Open bank accounts in your name and get more money at your expense. In addition, there are times when they can ask for money in exchange for continuing with these methods of winning, money that will also take. How to avoid falling this scam The first thing you should always do is distrust any method to earn fast moneysince everyone is usually deception online. It is sweet to be able to win some euros with simple tasks such as giving likes in accounts, but it is also a very common deception. Besides, suspect you who are asking for money or perform major actions. It doesn’t matter if you have been paid something, they are still people who do not know, so if you easily ascend in their ranges to be able to do greater actions, you have to suspect. Another important thing is Never give bank or personal dataand if they ask you right away you must be alert. Finally, no one with good intentions will ask you for money to continue working, even if it is an alleged “bargain” job. You must also suspect est. In Xataka Basics | Scam of the false winner on Facebook: how this scam works when you participate in competitions and how to avoid it

There are young Spaniards earning $ 10,000 a month in the Australian coal mines. But everything that shines is not gold

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“I’m going to show you how $ 5,000 every two weeks in Australia.” This is how a young Spanish named ‘Tonylopezz13’ opens a Video on Tiktok which was published a few days ago and that went viral. The premise is attractive, especially when we have the 13,81.33 euros of minimum salary in Spainbut it turns out that ‘Tony’ is not such an isolated case. There are more young Spaniards, but also from other countries that move to Australia with a goal: work in a mine. Of course, it has a small print. The Australian dream. Foreign immigrants in Australia represent a low percentage compared to other nationalities, but since 2015, when visa ‘was created’Working Holiday‘, fate became something more attractive. Australia has a high cost of life, but also one of the Base salaries higher in the world ($ 24.10 per hour, depending on the sector, becoming much higher in technological, health or mining jobs) and this visa allows a young man between 18 and 30 years to spend 12 months in the country. There are another series of visas, such as students who allow you to work certain hours per week or those who are issued to qualified workers who are hired by an Australian company. Since then, it is estimated that some 5,000 young Spaniards access the Australian labor market, many in this way and, as we see on social networks, some to work in Mines. Coal. Australia is one of the most muscle countries in the production and export of coal. Mainly, their mines are located in the state of Queensland, where there are giant mines such as BHP Mitsubishi Alliance or the mine of Carmichaelone of the largest in the world with a production of 60 million tons per year. In recent years, the Australian mining industry has faced criticism due to underground water pollution, the possible contamination of the coral barrier and, in general, due to the environmental impact that these mines have, but the activity remains one of the most important, at the economic and foreign trade level, of Australia. FIFO. And you also pay well. In a mine there are many types of positions and we can say that, depending on the role, the salary It moves between 70,000 and 150,000 Australian dollars a year. If it is a qualified position, that range is limited to between $ 90,000 and $ 150,000. These works for which a lower qualification is required usually follow a model called Fly-in Fly-out Or FIFO, which is nothing more than an attractive name for conditions that involve working about two weeks in a row with 12 -hour day day and then go home to rest … to wait for you to call you again. Temporary or casual, go. Influencers miners. The works that are usually done consist of cleaning of rooms and rooms, in the dining room or in the kitchen of the mining installation. It works, but you also earn a lot of money and it is something that young people from all over the world are making known in networks such as the aforementioned Tiktok, but also on Instagram or on YouTube Shorts. There are many publications under hashtags like #Miningalia either #FIFOAUSTRALIA in which they show their day to day and where money for only a few days of work almost always has a leading role. And they are true Influencersnot so much because of the virality of one two concrete videos, but because of the effect they have on people who want these conditions. Sienna Mallon. It is an example. This young Australian gained popularity, precisely, for giving visibility to her day to day as an employee of a mine. He studied agronomy and has played several roles in coal and gold mines, speaking in his networks about the challenges and benefits of the FIFO model and accumulating in the process about 450,000 followers among Tiktok and Instagram. Effect called. There are hundreds of comments in Mallon’s videos in which you ask how it can be applied to these jobs, something that we can also see easily in ‘Tony’, with Spanish people, but also Latin American asking for information on how to access these jobs. “When I met these videos on Tiktok, I told myself that I had to take the opportunity,” says a 25 -year -old in Lemond. All paid. And those salaries are really attractive. The first thing is that they are so high for both qualified personnel and without training because the mines are They locate in remote places. That is, they have to offer an incentive for people to want to go to those places very, far away from the cities and where you will have to make life during the working hours. But it is also attractive because there are practically no expenses. In the videos of these influencers you can see how they have private rooms with everything you need, free food, entertainment rooms, gym and, obviously, field to walk around, so you can save everything possible or invest in trips to meet the country during the rest week. Asterisk. But before you start looking at how much a ticket to Australia costs, there are other details to know. “The pay is good, but the day is exhausting,” says another young man in Lemonda, and it is something that goes in the line of people like ‘Tony’ who do not hesitate to affirm that they do not want to sell “the motorcycle to anyone: life during those 14 days is shit” focusing on ‘Tony’, on the video of 5,000 dollars every two weeks clarifies that the salary is high because it is a temporary worker. That is, you work two weeks for ten hours a day for 4,898 Australian dollars – about 3,000 euros – and then … it’s over. If you like you, they may call you again, but they may not do it. In another video sample How he was sleeping more than a week … Read more

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