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"Ten Commandments of Salary Negotiation" ...for those looking for a position in the top 1% of salaries within rich companies within rich countries. E.g. "I’m t

by lucb1e 5y ago

"Ten Commandments of Salary Negotiation" ...for those looking for a position in the top 1% of salaries within rich companies within rich countries. E.g. "I’m talking $100K+ more" really? You think I can get $145k when they just offered me $45k and that was a good offer considering living expenses, what others in this role with similar experience get paid, well above national median income, more than what my higher-educated spouse was offered, etc.? In what world is 100k more realistic? If "I helped her get $5.4M more on her offer" does not sound like this might apply to you, this is where you can safely stop reading. Also, who needs $5.4M per year extra? It might be unfair not to get it for the same work, but either way: if that was in reach for most mortals, we'd all work one year and retire with literal boatloads of money to spare. At $5M/year (total, not extra), you need to work 2.4 months until you can safely withdraw 40 grand a year just from the interest. Work the remainder of that third month and you can buy a private helicopter in cash. This kind of negotiation advice is just not relevant to anyone here, bit disappointed in the article...

munk-a 5y ago
An interesting observation on the topic of salary disparity is that the more punishing taxes on high earners are the more it incentivizes companies to pay people more evenly since more of that money will actually end up in your employee's pockets.
- lucb1e 5y ago
  More likely, above something like $150k/year you instead get the money via some legal construction that doesn't yet count as salary and is not taxed until you turn it into privately owned cash (since it's not as if you need that much money in the first place, so you don't need to tax it all now). I think the way I heard this works is that you aren't officially employed, but you start a company that is hired. Companies pay something like half of the highest tax bracket on profits (2x% vs. 50% iirc), and the name of the game is to make a loss: buy more houses, invest in a renovation of your properties, etc. so you don't even pay (most of) that reduced rate.
  - robotresearcher 5y ago
    Salaries, bonuses and RSUs at FAANG are regular W2 income. The high salaries you read about at these places are highly taxed. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. I'm just saying there's little shelter along the lines you describe for a well-paid engineer at $BIGCO.
    - ashtonkem 5y ago
      The real opportunities to dodge taxes are only available to founders and major stakeholders. At those levels you can take out extremely low interest loans backed by your stock to fund your lifestyle. These loans are continually rolled over, and only finally paid back upon your death (via sales of stock). Even if your initial grant of stock was taxed as income, as is usually the case for non-founder executives, the tax reduction is significant. Regular engineers at FAANG companies don't get anywhere near enough stock granted to them to pull this off. It would be legal too, they just don't have enough shares to convince Wall Street to let them.
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
foogazi 5y ago
> for those looking for a position in the top 1% of salaries within rich companies within rich countries. Ah yes, my favorite: any advice must apply to everyone on the planet - after reading this Paraguayan field workers are starting to polish their resumes on LinkedIn

by lucb1e 5y ago

munk-a 5y ago

An interesting observation on the topic of salary disparity is that the more punishing taxes on high earners are the more it incentivizes companies to pay people more evenly since more of that money will actually end up in your employee's pockets.

lucb1e 5y ago
More likely, above something like $150k/year you instead get the money via some legal construction that doesn't yet count as salary and is not taxed until you turn it into privately owned cash (since it's not as if you need that much money in the first place, so you don't need to tax it all now). I think the way I heard this works is that you aren't officially employed, but you start a company that is hired. Companies pay something like half of the highest tax bracket on profits (2x% vs. 50% iirc), and the name of the game is to make a loss: buy more houses, invest in a renovation of your properties, etc. so you don't even pay (most of) that reduced rate.
- robotresearcher 5y ago
  Salaries, bonuses and RSUs at FAANG are regular W2 income. The high salaries you read about at these places are highly taxed. I'm not saying that's a bad thing. I'm just saying there's little shelter along the lines you describe for a well-paid engineer at $BIGCO.
  - ashtonkem 5y ago
    The real opportunities to dodge taxes are only available to founders and major stakeholders. At those levels you can take out extremely low interest loans backed by your stock to fund your lifestyle. These loans are continually rolled over, and only finally paid back upon your death (via sales of stock). Even if your initial grant of stock was taxed as income, as is usually the case for non-founder executives, the tax reduction is significant. Regular engineers at FAANG companies don't get anywhere near enough stock granted to them to pull this off. It would be legal too, they just don't have enough shares to convince Wall Street to let them.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]

foogazi 5y ago

> for those looking for a position in the top 1% of salaries within rich companies within rich countries. Ah yes, my favorite: any advice must apply to everyone on the planet - after reading this Paraguayan field workers are starting to polish their resumes on LinkedIn