6 ms·

Why not retire and contribute to open source? You can set your own schedule and speak to whomever you want or no one at all. It amazes me that people in their

Why not retire and contribute to open source? You can set your own schedule and speak to whomever you want or no one at all. It amazes me that people in their 40s are working as software developers. Did everyone gamble their money away? 20 years in software developement is easily a few million in the bank + retirement account + home. Why not retire?

deanmoriarty 8y ago
This is harsh but true. I am an average 32 years old software engineer in the Bay Area, and in my average 8 years career I amassed roughly $1.2M by diligently saving, investing in index funds and living frugally. My real hope is that by the time I’m in my mid 40s this amount, including the new savings, will have at least doubled (if not 3X), and I’ll be able to retire or take some very light job in a cheaper area, not worrying about this nonsense software engineering bias against age.
- liftbigweights 8y ago
  Yeah. I'm surprised that I'm downvoted. If you are clearing six figures ( most software devs should in this environment ), you could max out your 401k/ira/etc ( $40K ) to lower your tax basis and then save half the remaining income easily. Especially if you are single with no kids. My biggest problem was hitting the max and not being able to shelter more income from taxes. $40K per year in retirement + $20K or $30K in saving and interest + capital gains will easily make you a multimillionaire over 20 years. I don't think people understand how long 20 years really is and how consistent savings starts to add up. As long as you don't gamble away your money or do something stupid with it, a six figure salary as a software engineer should make you are multimillionare ( in assets ) by your 40s.
  - deanmoriarty 8y ago
    Fully agree. Just out of curiosity, is the $40k pre-tax including 401k contributions of a spouse too? Otherwise, how can I, as an single person, achieve retirement contributions of $40k? In general, working for startups with crappy retirement plans, retirement accounts have been a big pain point for me, a big portion of my assets are actually held in taxable accounts, which is not too bad if you invest in tax efficient funds which at most provide qualified dividends, and during a downturn you can do some valuable tax loss harvesting, but I would gladly take advantage of more tax deferred space.
- quickthrower2 8y ago
  Its quite rare across all software devs across all countries. I started on $30k. Not all would have invested in the stock market during the biggest boom it has had. Many people like myself software has paid cost of living plus some modest savings to get a deposit on a house.
richrichardsson 8y ago
How have you arrived at that conclusion? A few million = 3-5 million. Even at the low end that involves having 150k spare a year, plus a house and retirement fund? You're having a laugh.
- deanmoriarty 8y ago
  Why is that laughable? 150k spare a year, diligently invested 20 years with an overall real return rate of 5% (which should be relatively achievable with index funds, otherwise our capitalist machine is in serious trouble and it won't matter too much what my portfolio does) compound to $5.2M. And that's a real return rate so it should be protected against inflation (add a ~3% if you want to do pre-inflation calculation and see the number skyrocket to ~$7M). In fact, that's what I've been doing myself, and I am just on track at ~Y8 like I said in my other comment, all while being an average productive software engineer in the bay. The key is to live frugally and invest in a very diversified way. I live frugally in the bay area with ~$40k/y, I don't succumb to peer pressure of having fancy houses and cars, so for me saving ~150k/y (a bit less actually) is rather easy, and I'm lucky enough to be in a relationship with a woman who feels the exact same, and my life couldn't be any fuller: I'm not slave to material possessions, I live in a decent apartment close to work, my weekends are full of nice outdoor experiences, I work on world-class technology in the bay, and I'm building some serious wealth in the process so I can gain absolute freedom in early/mid 40s (hopefully). I should also say, for full disclosure, that I don't plan on having kids (I have a huge extended family with tons of nephews, so that's enough for me), and I might just adopt much later in life if I'll feel the need, so that might heavily affect my savings numbers. Math: - Y1: $157,500.00 - Y2: $322,875.00 - Y3: $496,518.75 - Y4: $678,844.69 - Y5: $870,286.92 - Y6: $1,071,301.27 - Y7: $1,282,366.33 - Y8: $1,503,984.65 - Y9: $1,736,683.88 - Y10: $1,981,018.07 - Y11: $2,237,568.98 - Y12: $2,506,947.43 - Y13: $2,789,794.80 - Y14: $3,086,784.54 - Y15: $3,398,623.77 - Y16: $3,726,054.95 - Y17: $4,069,857.70 - Y18: $4,430,850.59 - Y19: $4,809,893.12 - Y20: $5,207,887.77
  - conqrr 8y ago
    You are indeed lucky to find a partner who fees the exact same way as you about saving and having kids. Is the 150k joint savings or your individual savings per year?
kayoone 8y ago
Well, completely different game in Europe, even if you live frugally. Not even close. Some of you Bay Area guys are really condescending

deanmoriarty 8y ago

This is harsh but true. I am an average 32 years old software engineer in the Bay Area, and in my average 8 years career I amassed roughly $1.2M by diligently saving, investing in index funds and living frugally. My real hope is that by the time I’m in my mid 40s this amount, including the new savings, will have at least doubled (if not 3X), and I’ll be able to retire or take some very light job in a cheaper area, not worrying about this nonsense software engineering bias against age.

liftbigweights 8y ago
Yeah. I'm surprised that I'm downvoted. If you are clearing six figures ( most software devs should in this environment ), you could max out your 401k/ira/etc ( $40K ) to lower your tax basis and then save half the remaining income easily. Especially if you are single with no kids. My biggest problem was hitting the max and not being able to shelter more income from taxes. $40K per year in retirement + $20K or $30K in saving and interest + capital gains will easily make you a multimillionaire over 20 years. I don't think people understand how long 20 years really is and how consistent savings starts to add up. As long as you don't gamble away your money or do something stupid with it, a six figure salary as a software engineer should make you are multimillionare ( in assets ) by your 40s.
- deanmoriarty 8y ago
  Fully agree. Just out of curiosity, is the $40k pre-tax including 401k contributions of a spouse too? Otherwise, how can I, as an single person, achieve retirement contributions of $40k? In general, working for startups with crappy retirement plans, retirement accounts have been a big pain point for me, a big portion of my assets are actually held in taxable accounts, which is not too bad if you invest in tax efficient funds which at most provide qualified dividends, and during a downturn you can do some valuable tax loss harvesting, but I would gladly take advantage of more tax deferred space.
quickthrower2 8y ago
Its quite rare across all software devs across all countries. I started on $30k. Not all would have invested in the stock market during the biggest boom it has had. Many people like myself software has paid cost of living plus some modest savings to get a deposit on a house.

richrichardsson 8y ago

How have you arrived at that conclusion? A few million = 3-5 million. Even at the low end that involves having 150k spare a year, plus a house and retirement fund? You're having a laugh.

deanmoriarty 8y ago
Why is that laughable? 150k spare a year, diligently invested 20 years with an overall real return rate of 5% (which should be relatively achievable with index funds, otherwise our capitalist machine is in serious trouble and it won't matter too much what my portfolio does) compound to $5.2M. And that's a real return rate so it should be protected against inflation (add a ~3% if you want to do pre-inflation calculation and see the number skyrocket to ~$7M). In fact, that's what I've been doing myself, and I am just on track at ~Y8 like I said in my other comment, all while being an average productive software engineer in the bay. The key is to live frugally and invest in a very diversified way. I live frugally in the bay area with ~$40k/y, I don't succumb to peer pressure of having fancy houses and cars, so for me saving ~150k/y (a bit less actually) is rather easy, and I'm lucky enough to be in a relationship with a woman who feels the exact same, and my life couldn't be any fuller: I'm not slave to material possessions, I live in a decent apartment close to work, my weekends are full of nice outdoor experiences, I work on world-class technology in the bay, and I'm building some serious wealth in the process so I can gain absolute freedom in early/mid 40s (hopefully). I should also say, for full disclosure, that I don't plan on having kids (I have a huge extended family with tons of nephews, so that's enough for me), and I might just adopt much later in life if I'll feel the need, so that might heavily affect my savings numbers. Math: - Y1: $157,500.00 - Y2: $322,875.00 - Y3: $496,518.75 - Y4: $678,844.69 - Y5: $870,286.92 - Y6: $1,071,301.27 - Y7: $1,282,366.33 - Y8: $1,503,984.65 - Y9: $1,736,683.88 - Y10: $1,981,018.07 - Y11: $2,237,568.98 - Y12: $2,506,947.43 - Y13: $2,789,794.80 - Y14: $3,086,784.54 - Y15: $3,398,623.77 - Y16: $3,726,054.95 - Y17: $4,069,857.70 - Y18: $4,430,850.59 - Y19: $4,809,893.12 - Y20: $5,207,887.77
- conqrr 8y ago
  You are indeed lucky to find a partner who fees the exact same way as you about saving and having kids. Is the 150k joint savings or your individual savings per year?

kayoone 8y ago

Well, completely different game in Europe, even if you live frugally. Not even close. Some of you Bay Area guys are really condescending