4 ms·

8500 USD after taxes here :) (in Poland) I spend around $1000 per month of that.

galfarragem 9y ago
Be thankful, you might probably afford the best living standards that is possible to afford as an employee... worldwide. I was an expat in Poland for some years (unfortunately non-STEM job) and with that money your only limit is yourself.
- taway_1212 9y ago
  My plan is to retire in 5-7 years. I could do that sooner if I went into stock market (and prayed that the mythical 4% per year returns will be sustainable in the future) or became a landlord, but I prefer to play it safe.
  - Luc 9y ago
    Would you be retiring in Poland? What kind of monthly expense do you foresee? I'm also dreaming of doing this, though currently on the other side of the world.
    - taway_1212 9y ago
      > Would you be retiring in Poland? What kind of monthly expense do you foresee? Yes, retiring in Poland. My plan is to go broke at 90-95. I'm thinking 5000-6000 PLN per month ($1300-$1500), plus owning a property, will allow for a great living. This should even cover a very good nursing home (well as far as these places can ever be very good) when I'm unable to take care of myself. (I dont' and won't have children). BTW there seems to be plenty of people from the UK who moved permanently to SE Asia (I imagine it can be cheaper than Poland + no winters) and who are sustained via rent from their London flat/house.
      - Luc 9y ago
        Yes, I actually know of a couple on a sailboat living off the rent of their house in London. I would like to retire in Europe. Thanks for your answer, it's nice to have a realistic ballpark figure.
  - charlesdm 9y ago
    What is playing it safe? Keeping it in cash in a bank account?
    - taway_1212 9y ago
      > Keeping it in cash in a bank account? Yes. There are accounts in Poland which pay around 0-2% post-tax above inflation (the number vary year-to-year, depending on current economical conditions), which will help the capital still earn a bit of money.
      - charlesdm 9y ago
        Keeping your entire net worth in one currency seems pretty risky to me. Nothing is ever as it seems.
        taway_1212 9y ago
        Yes that is a risk. Maybe I'll put some money into USD/EUR too.
mamon 9y ago
I never thought such kind of money is possible in Poland, except in one shitty company that shall remain unnamed here. Could you tell what do you do to earn such a salary ?
- taway_1212 9y ago
  One was a remote job at a SV startup and now I'm making pretty much the same in an in-office job in an international corp. I filled a niche they badly needed to fill (it's not like I'm some unicorn though) hence the unusally high pay.
  - mamon 9y ago
    Is that niche called Machine Learning? :)
    - taway_1212 9y ago
      Nope, it's Big Data (infrastructure, pipelines etc.). Nothing exciting or innovative, it's just that there are too few people in this field who know what they're doing compared to the demand.
      - mamon 9y ago
        That's weird, because most Big Data jobs I know about are paying below average rates, like 3000 USD after tax, no more. Basically there's almost no market for such skills in Poland, yet.
kornakiewicz 9y ago
For all, be aware that this kind of money are extremely rare (but doable in some niches) in Poland. Half of that is generally perceived as very good salary for most IT jobs, and median is probably quarter of that.
- gambiting 9y ago
  Yep - even our prime minister/president doesn't make that much a month, more like half that. I used to know a Polish guy making million Polish zloty/year(so about $300k) but he was the head of the Polish division of a major German insurance company. Most of my Polish friends working in Poland as programmers(ranging from C++ to Web development) make about ~$2500-3500/month, and that's considered extremely good for where they live(Krakow and Warsaw).
  - taway_1212 9y ago
    Yep that's true. I don't count on making this kind of money locally (I don't even go through Polish job ads any more, as I can make more remotely or by taking up a contract in Western Europe), I just randomly found this opportunity. But still, you can work remotely for a US company and make that kind of money. That's pretty realistic and was probably the source of the fortune cookie wisdom.
    - twa19999 9y ago
      >> But still, you can work remotely for a US company and make that kind of money. How does one do that, except by working for infamous Crossover company?

Be thankful, you might probably afford the best living standards that is possible to afford as an employee... worldwide. I was an expat in Poland for some years (unfortunately non-STEM job) and with that money your only limit is yourself.

taway_1212 9y ago
My plan is to retire in 5-7 years. I could do that sooner if I went into stock market (and prayed that the mythical 4% per year returns will be sustainable in the future) or became a landlord, but I prefer to play it safe.
- Luc 9y ago
  Would you be retiring in Poland? What kind of monthly expense do you foresee? I'm also dreaming of doing this, though currently on the other side of the world.
  - taway_1212 9y ago
    > Would you be retiring in Poland? What kind of monthly expense do you foresee? Yes, retiring in Poland. My plan is to go broke at 90-95. I'm thinking 5000-6000 PLN per month ($1300-$1500), plus owning a property, will allow for a great living. This should even cover a very good nursing home (well as far as these places can ever be very good) when I'm unable to take care of myself. (I dont' and won't have children). BTW there seems to be plenty of people from the UK who moved permanently to SE Asia (I imagine it can be cheaper than Poland + no winters) and who are sustained via rent from their London flat/house.
    - Luc 9y ago
      Yes, I actually know of a couple on a sailboat living off the rent of their house in London. I would like to retire in Europe. Thanks for your answer, it's nice to have a realistic ballpark figure.
- charlesdm 9y ago
  What is playing it safe? Keeping it in cash in a bank account?
  - taway_1212 9y ago
    > Keeping it in cash in a bank account? Yes. There are accounts in Poland which pay around 0-2% post-tax above inflation (the number vary year-to-year, depending on current economical conditions), which will help the capital still earn a bit of money.
    - charlesdm 9y ago
      Keeping your entire net worth in one currency seems pretty risky to me. Nothing is ever as it seems.
      - taway_1212 9y ago
        Yes that is a risk. Maybe I'll put some money into USD/EUR too.

mamon 9y ago

I never thought such kind of money is possible in Poland, except in one shitty company that shall remain unnamed here. Could you tell what do you do to earn such a salary ?

taway_1212 9y ago
One was a remote job at a SV startup and now I'm making pretty much the same in an in-office job in an international corp. I filled a niche they badly needed to fill (it's not like I'm some unicorn though) hence the unusally high pay.
- mamon 9y ago
  Is that niche called Machine Learning? :)
  - taway_1212 9y ago
    Nope, it's Big Data (infrastructure, pipelines etc.). Nothing exciting or innovative, it's just that there are too few people in this field who know what they're doing compared to the demand.
    - mamon 9y ago
      That's weird, because most Big Data jobs I know about are paying below average rates, like 3000 USD after tax, no more. Basically there's almost no market for such skills in Poland, yet.

kornakiewicz 9y ago

For all, be aware that this kind of money are extremely rare (but doable in some niches) in Poland. Half of that is generally perceived as very good salary for most IT jobs, and median is probably quarter of that.

gambiting 9y ago
Yep - even our prime minister/president doesn't make that much a month, more like half that. I used to know a Polish guy making million Polish zloty/year(so about $300k) but he was the head of the Polish division of a major German insurance company. Most of my Polish friends working in Poland as programmers(ranging from C++ to Web development) make about ~$2500-3500/month, and that's considered extremely good for where they live(Krakow and Warsaw).
- taway_1212 9y ago
  Yep that's true. I don't count on making this kind of money locally (I don't even go through Polish job ads any more, as I can make more remotely or by taking up a contract in Western Europe), I just randomly found this opportunity. But still, you can work remotely for a US company and make that kind of money. That's pretty realistic and was probably the source of the fortune cookie wisdom.
  - twa19999 9y ago
    >> But still, you can work remotely for a US company and make that kind of money. How does one do that, except by working for infamous Crossover company?