4 ms·

$100k after tax is only $140k pretax

• gozur88 9y ago
  Eh... sure, if you're only paying federal taxes. But in on that $140k you're going to end up with about $92k. And everything is more expensive in cities. The idea you're going to live in SF and save more than about half that, even living like a monk, is kind of fanciful. NYC is even worse - lop another thousand off and pay even more to live.
  • aianus 9y ago
    I've personally lived in both cities and you can live perfectly well on $4k a month with a couple of roommates. Better than the average American even. Then, if you invest $46k a year for 15 years at a real return of 4% you end up with ~$943k in present day dollars which is right around what the parent was saying. Not to mention $140k total compensation is relatively low for a senior dev in SF/NYC, you will likely be making a lot more 10 years in.
    • gozur88 9y ago
      Where are you going to get a real return of 4%?
      • aianus 9y ago
        US stock market has averaged 8 over the past 50 years
        • gozur88 9y ago
          That's unlikely to be true in the future for a whole host of reasons.
  • vecinu 9y ago
    You will be making $200k+ in SF even in your early years, if you climb the corporate ladder you can get to $300k in 5 years. You can definitely sock away enough even without a 4% rate of growth to put away $1MM of after-tax money in 10-15 years, if you're smart with your money.