> "Let's assume you want to live in a major metro area, send your kids to private school..." That's his problem. When we moved to this country, my dad had an H

> "Let's assume you want to live in a major metro area, send your kids to private school..." That's his problem. When we moved to this country, my dad had an H1B visa and was making far below what an entry level Google employee is making. Nonetheless we had quite a comfortable life: rented an apartment in a suburb with a good school. Later, my parents (both of them finally rising to market rate) were able to afford a house and send me to college (two years of community college and then transferring to a university) without taking a penny of financial aid. This isn't just a rant against the OP and this has nothing to do with "fuck you money" (I have my own opinion on it, but I am not qualified to state it). I am sick and tired of the premise that these days a comfortable family life is two six digit incomes. No, you don't need a private school, no you don't need to live in San Francisco or a New York (try a suburb instead, which also solves the "private school" problem), no you don't need a single family home, no you don't need two BMWs. Even if you don't retire, it makes sense to live below your means to have money available for a rainy day. If you know how to live below your means than even as an employee (looking to make a few hundred thousand from options) you have the chance of earning de-facto "fuck you money": the sum of money which means you no longer have to accept a boring/stifling job just to have a job; the money you need to take the time off to work on a "science project" (a technical project that doesn't have an immediate business model).