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How is it that people are on insane salaries like $200-300k but are still terrified of being fired? Don't you have savings? In from the UK and earn about a qua

How is it that people are on insane salaries like $200-300k but are still terrified of being fired? Don't you have savings? In from the UK and earn about a quarter as much and I could be unemployed for several years before I had to start caring. I'm not trying to brag. My salary is shit compared to the US. Just genuinely curious.

aaomidi 4y ago
Healthcare. Mortgages.
jedberg 4y ago
> In from the UK and earn about a quarter as much and I could be unemployed for several years before I had to start caring. Luckily you live in a still mostly civilized society, where you don't lose your health care when you lose your job, and you have a decent welfare program so you don't lose your house and can still eat. We don't have that here. Also, in the Bay Area, $300K will barely get you by if you bought a house in the last five years.
swatcoder 4y ago
Those salaries are a new experience to a lot of people. In some cases, because they came out of school into them and have little experience with financial management in the first place, and in other cases because the prior benchmark for tech industry was like 30-50% of that until fairly recent (and remains that way at many US tech companies). And like with a lot of "new money" experiences, the answer to your question is: no. You get excited to taste a luxury lifestyle and get carried away buying an dangerously expensive house because it fits your Peleton and your bank says you're good for it. With this being your first time through a tech boom, you didn't believe the old cynics telling you there was a second act coming. But now you might get laid off and have $15,000 per month in bills to pay lest that house go back to the bank. It's an understandable story, and a tragic one. :(
haswell 4y ago
People come from a myriad of circumstances. In addition to the other responses, two major factors for me: 1. At the time, I wasn’t making anywhere close to that salary. The tech job market in my region at the time didn’t pay anywhere close to SV salaries, and even less as someone working tech at a non-tech company. 2. I only had a few years of decent earnings at that point, and was funneling most extra funds into debt. Having enough savings to quit for a few years is amazing, but a privilege that few people have.
PuppyTailWags 4y ago
I have a disability in which stable access to healthcare is extremely important. Due to the way healthcare works in this country, switching a job means switching the company that provides my healthcare. This new company can declare that I haven't had enough evidence to prove my healthcare needs and decline to continue my regimen, which worsens my disability and risks my continued employment.
tbrownaw 4y ago
Planning ahead for unexpected problems isn't that common. Even planning ahead for expected cyclical income is something people have had issues with at least since the time of Aesop.
hoelle 4y ago
They got married and have kids. Imagine a tech couple earning >$400k, combined income after tax about 20k a month. Awesome right? Now they need a house with square footage for kids to play and sleep, a home office, and close enough to downtown to maximize family time. That housing runs at least 5k/mo. A nanny is another 5k. Add in food, bills, transportation, a few yearly trips to see grandma, another 5k. Said couple might be saving 50k/year. Great! And after a few frugal years together that makes a 10-20% home down payment and they can start their family. But even though they're both well paid, they're really twice as vulnerable. Either one losing their job puts them at a rapid household burn rate. Something will have to give. The Nanny loses their job, trapping one parent into a caregiving role. Or they can no longer afford flights to see family. Etc.
- charlie0 4y ago
  People should live within their means. That means not spending so much of their income that being unemployed for a few months threatens their entire lifestyle.
  - Apocryphon 4y ago
    Maybe housing in tech hubs shouldn't cost $5k a month.
  - hoelle 4y ago
    Perhaps. Or perhaps our socioeconomic systems shouldn't be so insanely misaligned with the literal continuation of our species. Fertility rates and birth defects forced our hand. Saving longer just raises your chances of holding nothing but blood and ashes at the end.
  - grioghar 4y ago
    Means don’t care about home repair, particularly foundation repair, new windows to remove draftiness, and siding repair all hitting around the same time, draining your savings right when layoffs start occurring. We do quite well, living well within our means, allowing us to be able to cover these types of big once-in-a-home owner’s lifetime surprises, but a layoff could mean we’re simply making the place nice for the next folks while we bail out to find something new. Life ain’t cheap and the social safety net has been used and abused to the point bad timing can destroy everything you’ve worked for with one unexpected meeting with HR on some random Tuesday.
charlie0 4y ago
The Americans dream is to live in debt. It's normal and even expected for you to live at the edge of (or even beyond) your means.
- gedy 4y ago
  Yeah it's hard to generalize, but as someone who tries to live within our means - in good times people think you're cheap or not doing well, in bad times they think you're some privileged ass because you're not in debt or in trouble like they are.
- pharmakom 4y ago
  Yep. Even if your basic needs are met, there’s always conspicuous consumption and lifestyle creep to eat into the remainder. This is what is really dangerous about remote work to the status quo: if I take a SWE salary to a low CoL area, I don’t have the same pressure to burn through it like in a tech hub. I can live comfortably compared to my neighbours and still save. This gives big business far less leverage.
pandaman 4y ago
People are not afraid of losing the job. People are afraid that the job they will get next will be much worse (in pay, in conditions, in work etc.) $200-300k is not normal in the US and if you are getting fired from one of the few firms paying that much you might have some elevated anxiety that it will take a lot of effort to find another job with such a pay and perks. But if you are a part of a massive layoff and you read that other such firms are going through layoffs too then you are really afraid that you might not be able to get an equivalent job in the near future as your former colleagues will be competing with you for the reduced number of these high-paying jobs left.

aaomidi 4y ago

Healthcare. Mortgages.

jedberg 4y ago

> In from the UK and earn about a quarter as much and I could be unemployed for several years before I had to start caring. Luckily you live in a still mostly civilized society, where you don't lose your health care when you lose your job, and you have a decent welfare program so you don't lose your house and can still eat. We don't have that here. Also, in the Bay Area, $300K will barely get you by if you bought a house in the last five years.

swatcoder 4y ago

Those salaries are a new experience to a lot of people. In some cases, because they came out of school into them and have little experience with financial management in the first place, and in other cases because the prior benchmark for tech industry was like 30-50% of that until fairly recent (and remains that way at many US tech companies). And like with a lot of "new money" experiences, the answer to your question is: no. You get excited to taste a luxury lifestyle and get carried away buying an dangerously expensive house because it fits your Peleton and your bank says you're good for it. With this being your first time through a tech boom, you didn't believe the old cynics telling you there was a second act coming. But now you might get laid off and have $15,000 per month in bills to pay lest that house go back to the bank. It's an understandable story, and a tragic one. :(

haswell 4y ago

People come from a myriad of circumstances. In addition to the other responses, two major factors for me: 1. At the time, I wasn’t making anywhere close to that salary. The tech job market in my region at the time didn’t pay anywhere close to SV salaries, and even less as someone working tech at a non-tech company. 2. I only had a few years of decent earnings at that point, and was funneling most extra funds into debt. Having enough savings to quit for a few years is amazing, but a privilege that few people have.

PuppyTailWags 4y ago

I have a disability in which stable access to healthcare is extremely important. Due to the way healthcare works in this country, switching a job means switching the company that provides my healthcare. This new company can declare that I haven't had enough evidence to prove my healthcare needs and decline to continue my regimen, which worsens my disability and risks my continued employment.

tbrownaw 4y ago

Planning ahead for unexpected problems isn't that common. Even planning ahead for expected cyclical income is something people have had issues with at least since the time of Aesop.

hoelle 4y ago

They got married and have kids. Imagine a tech couple earning >$400k, combined income after tax about 20k a month. Awesome right? Now they need a house with square footage for kids to play and sleep, a home office, and close enough to downtown to maximize family time. That housing runs at least 5k/mo. A nanny is another 5k. Add in food, bills, transportation, a few yearly trips to see grandma, another 5k. Said couple might be saving 50k/year. Great! And after a few frugal years together that makes a 10-20% home down payment and they can start their family. But even though they're both well paid, they're really twice as vulnerable. Either one losing their job puts them at a rapid household burn rate. Something will have to give. The Nanny loses their job, trapping one parent into a caregiving role. Or they can no longer afford flights to see family. Etc.

charlie0 4y ago
People should live within their means. That means not spending so much of their income that being unemployed for a few months threatens their entire lifestyle.
- Apocryphon 4y ago
  Maybe housing in tech hubs shouldn't cost $5k a month.
- hoelle 4y ago
  Perhaps. Or perhaps our socioeconomic systems shouldn't be so insanely misaligned with the literal continuation of our species. Fertility rates and birth defects forced our hand. Saving longer just raises your chances of holding nothing but blood and ashes at the end.
- grioghar 4y ago
  Means don’t care about home repair, particularly foundation repair, new windows to remove draftiness, and siding repair all hitting around the same time, draining your savings right when layoffs start occurring. We do quite well, living well within our means, allowing us to be able to cover these types of big once-in-a-home owner’s lifetime surprises, but a layoff could mean we’re simply making the place nice for the next folks while we bail out to find something new. Life ain’t cheap and the social safety net has been used and abused to the point bad timing can destroy everything you’ve worked for with one unexpected meeting with HR on some random Tuesday.

charlie0 4y ago

The Americans dream is to live in debt. It's normal and even expected for you to live at the edge of (or even beyond) your means.

gedy 4y ago
Yeah it's hard to generalize, but as someone who tries to live within our means - in good times people think you're cheap or not doing well, in bad times they think you're some privileged ass because you're not in debt or in trouble like they are.
pharmakom 4y ago
Yep. Even if your basic needs are met, there’s always conspicuous consumption and lifestyle creep to eat into the remainder. This is what is really dangerous about remote work to the status quo: if I take a SWE salary to a low CoL area, I don’t have the same pressure to burn through it like in a tech hub. I can live comfortably compared to my neighbours and still save. This gives big business far less leverage.

pandaman 4y ago

People are not afraid of losing the job. People are afraid that the job they will get next will be much worse (in pay, in conditions, in work etc.) $200-300k is not normal in the US and if you are getting fired from one of the few firms paying that much you might have some elevated anxiety that it will take a lot of effort to find another job with such a pay and perks. But if you are a part of a massive layoff and you read that other such firms are going through layoffs too then you are really afraid that you might not be able to get an equivalent job in the near future as your former colleagues will be competing with you for the reduced number of these high-paying jobs left.