5 ms·

I feel this post is really hard to understand. You are: * A phd in quant finance in London * You joined due to high comp * You say getting a home would cost

I feel this post is really hard to understand. You are: * A phd in quant finance in London * You joined due to high comp * You say getting a home would cost 10 times your salary * You have a partner earning multiples of your salary (?!) * You want to retire early I guess I just feel like this story doesn't seem like the numbers make any sense? A quant finance phd should be able to afford a home. A quant finance phd with a partner earning multiples of them should easily be able to afford a home. Maybe not in cash, but certainly with a mortgage, even in this market. You say "an 'adequate' house in London would cost at least 10 times my salary", but that seems manageable with your partner's help? It seems like your economic position is incredibly favorable to me, and that you wouldn't really experience any difference economically if you got a more pleasant job with lower income if your partner is going to be the breadwinner, in such a way that you can make life better for the both of you. edit: The housing thing is really throwing me for a loop. Perhaps I have no sense of the London market, but I'm going to assume no person can be unsatisfied living a million dollar home, that a quant finance phd must earn at least $100k per year, and that a partner earning multiples of that must earn at least $300k per year. How do these numbers check out?

nickthemagicman 5y ago
Google people make 200k starting as Jr devs so I'm assuming 400k. Esp with PhD. Agreed not super clear what's going on.
- soylentgraham 5y ago
  Google juniors are more like £40k in london. Jobs over £100k are not the norm, even in finance in london. The awful london housing market (small market, people do NOT sell) starts around £320k for a terrible studio. Banks nowaways tend to loan around 4-4.5x gross salary. (And you need a good chunk already saved, which is also hard as tax and rent is high) £100k salary doesn't buy an average 1 bed in london (and you're competing against at least 4 cash buyers) As someone who recently left london, the story checks out.
  - illwrks 5y ago
    Seconded. Most 100k+ jobs in London ( that I'm aware of ) are contracting ones. Houses ( for anywhere so-so ) are 400k at minimum, or else your aiming for a rabbit hutch. Taxes of every shape and size will eat a tonne of your income. Right now your better off looking outside of London. WFH has changed the landscape and it will not be business as usual for the coming years.
  - jokethrowaway 5y ago
    Stocks also play a role. The creator of Redux was making 100k£ (+35k£ in stocks) at FB. That said, there is a huge disparity in salaries in London. I was making 100k£ per year as a random full time engineer with 15 years of experience in some unknown company and working (potentially) fully remote before covid. I know VPs and CTOs making 120-200k£. I could get a contract for 600£-700£ daily and the top contracts I've heard for senior engineers from my friends are 1k£/1.2k£ per day (generally Java or Angular jobs in banking where things are on fire). There are plenty of engineers who never go past 50k£.
  - dom96 5y ago
    To add another data point, an FB junior would make around £65k base + ~£27k stock per year (+bonus). So getting over £100k at a FAANG in London seems pretty common to me, I would expect finance to pay even more. Personally I sympathise a lot with OP. I have a similar "stuck" feeling, I often wonder whether it's all downhill from here (comp-wise) for me. I cannot see myself working for a FAANG forever, so what other choices are there?
  - nickthemagicman 5y ago
    Wow, I just learned so many shocking things. (Not being sarcastic) Google pays Londoners wayyyy less. It's impossible to afford a house in London on a six-figure salary. We live in strange times.
    - agent008t 5y ago
      Another thing to note is that the income distribution in London seems bimodal. And so if you are earning a good amount, you may still find it a bad idea to assume similar good income in the future and therefore not want to get into a huge mortgage. So yes, you may technically be able to afford a decent house, but in practice find it a very bad idea to do so. E.g. imagine if the OP got herself into a massive mortgage - she would feel even more trapped than she is now.
tim333 5y ago
You don't get that much for $1m in London.

nickthemagicman 5y ago

Google people make 200k starting as Jr devs so I'm assuming 400k. Esp with PhD. Agreed not super clear what's going on.

soylentgraham 5y ago
Google juniors are more like £40k in london. Jobs over £100k are not the norm, even in finance in london. The awful london housing market (small market, people do NOT sell) starts around £320k for a terrible studio. Banks nowaways tend to loan around 4-4.5x gross salary. (And you need a good chunk already saved, which is also hard as tax and rent is high) £100k salary doesn't buy an average 1 bed in london (and you're competing against at least 4 cash buyers) As someone who recently left london, the story checks out.
- illwrks 5y ago
  Seconded. Most 100k+ jobs in London ( that I'm aware of ) are contracting ones. Houses ( for anywhere so-so ) are 400k at minimum, or else your aiming for a rabbit hutch. Taxes of every shape and size will eat a tonne of your income. Right now your better off looking outside of London. WFH has changed the landscape and it will not be business as usual for the coming years.
- jokethrowaway 5y ago
  Stocks also play a role. The creator of Redux was making 100k£ (+35k£ in stocks) at FB. That said, there is a huge disparity in salaries in London. I was making 100k£ per year as a random full time engineer with 15 years of experience in some unknown company and working (potentially) fully remote before covid. I know VPs and CTOs making 120-200k£. I could get a contract for 600£-700£ daily and the top contracts I've heard for senior engineers from my friends are 1k£/1.2k£ per day (generally Java or Angular jobs in banking where things are on fire). There are plenty of engineers who never go past 50k£.
- dom96 5y ago
  To add another data point, an FB junior would make around £65k base + ~£27k stock per year (+bonus). So getting over £100k at a FAANG in London seems pretty common to me, I would expect finance to pay even more. Personally I sympathise a lot with OP. I have a similar "stuck" feeling, I often wonder whether it's all downhill from here (comp-wise) for me. I cannot see myself working for a FAANG forever, so what other choices are there?
- nickthemagicman 5y ago
  Wow, I just learned so many shocking things. (Not being sarcastic) Google pays Londoners wayyyy less. It's impossible to afford a house in London on a six-figure salary. We live in strange times.
  - agent008t 5y ago
    Another thing to note is that the income distribution in London seems bimodal. And so if you are earning a good amount, you may still find it a bad idea to assume similar good income in the future and therefore not want to get into a huge mortgage. So yes, you may technically be able to afford a decent house, but in practice find it a very bad idea to do so. E.g. imagine if the OP got herself into a massive mortgage - she would feel even more trapped than she is now.

tim333 5y ago

You don't get that much for $1m in London.