5 ms·
Of course this will vary widely, but how much can people living in the bay area, working for FAANGS expect to save every month? Can somebody share an estimated
by siscia 7y ago
Of course this will vary widely, but how much can people living in the bay area, working for FAANGS expect to save every month?
Can somebody share an estimated figure?
- bt848 7y agoIf you are renting you can expect to save exactly nothing because landlords simply raise rents to whatever level the market will bear. OTOH if you can control your housing cost inflation then you might be able to save. Note also that "savings" are often strongly tied to share price performance. If you were a mid-career senior engineer who signed a standard $600k/4yr RSU deal at Nvidia in 2014 then by 2018 you were sitting on potentially $8 million.
- filoleg 7y agoDisagreed. Even with post-tax earnings of $15k/mo and paying $4k for housing in SF (which is more than what literally anyone I know living there pays for their housing), you are still getting $11k left over. Sure, let's subtract another $3k from that number for various little expenses and a bit of fun money, and you have $8k/mo saved up. That's a far cry from "nothing".
- bt848 7y agoThe median 2br rent in SF stood at $4,630 earlier this year. $4k is the all-in price for a $550k mortgage + property taxes + insurance if you buy a house. Of course, you can't buy a house at that price. If literally nobody you know pays $4k/mo for housing that says more about the population of your friends than it does about the economy of the Bay Area.
- scarejunba 7y agoThat's the marginal median 2 br rent. Very few people living here for the last 3 years or longer pay that much. The true median 2 br rent is much lower. I'd venture to say even maybe a third lower. EDIT: I can't respond to the comment below, so here's the other thing: rent control guarantees no rent changes, but you don't need it. Personal landlords don't change rent that much, often they prefer keeping tenants and handling cost pass-throughs rather than raising rent to maximize revenue. I live 4.5 years on a $1.5k rent / 1 br in Portola that terminated only because I moved away from the Bay (back now).
- bt848 7y agoMost jurisdictions in the Bay Area don’t have rent control. Nothing about tenure protects tenants from inflation.
- opportune 7y agoDepends on rent. I know people who decide to “splurge” on rent getting a 1 or 2 bed for just themselves in a decent spot. I also know people with multiple roommates and about an hour commute. And of course how much you eat out, buy expensive stuff, etc is a factor. For me I only spend about $3-3.5k/mo including rent, all bills, flights home and vacations, and other crap. So my savings rate is relatively high
- bradlys 7y agoNo car and living with roommates? I can imagine that lifestyle in SF. But not in the rest of the bay.
- opportune 7y agoIf you live with roommates there are some luxury apartments nearish to Caltrain where you can get by fine. Usually lots of shopping around there
- bradlys 7y agoI guess if you're not going anywhere but along caltrain (and within caltrains hours) then sure. Otherwise, if you have an active nightlife or like to explore further away from caltrain (Or have to pay for caltrain and aren't getting it for free through work) then you'll quickly run up lyft/uber fares into car ownership territory. The luxury apartments are so expensive too! Renting one bedroom in a two bedroom is comparable to having a non-luxury one bedroom.
- opportune 7y agoI suppose you’re right about being limited but it doesn’t bother me. Wrt to luxury apartments the optimal strat is definitely to live in larger units (3+ bedrooms) and preferably a couple or two as well. You can get your rent down pretty low while maintaining a pretty high standard of living
- 7y ago
- jonluca 7y agoI can outline my rough budget. Rent is roughly $2400, recurring charges and utilities is roughly $200, and then other expenses and "fun" is about $1200. Luckily all 3 meals are paid for from my employer 5 days a week. Once all is said and done (all stock accounted for and distributed on a weekly basis rather than on the vesting cycle) and the expenses above are taken out, there's ~11k left over a month. This is post tax.
- bradlys 7y agoYou have more leftover than I make as a senior software engineer at a unicorn startup in Palo Alto. lol FML...
- scarejunba 7y agoI cut my total comp in half to move to a startup. That's just the price you pay. If you've worked in both environments, you know what you prefer. I don't think I'd go back to the other one. The only thing I miss is that there's a lot of diversity in bigger companies you don't find in startups. Here, everyone is like me :D
- bradlys 7y agoI wasn't taking an option. I just never got an offer from a public tech company. Not from a lack of trying - mind you! I'm pretty confident if I was making 2-3x what I am now - I would stay with that. As it stands - I cannot afford to continue living in silicon valley on this current salary.
- hellofunk 7y agoHow many square feet do you get to yourself for that rent, and how many roommates to share with?
- bradlys 7y agoFor that rent and utilities - I presume he lives alone unless he's in a luxury apartment. There are studios and 1-bedrooms for that price even in SF.
- throwawayjava 7y agoI save $100k annually on a $300k salary without trying too hard (e.g. I have expensive hobbies). The key is to bank everything except salary and not go insane buying dumb toys or luxury living space