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> if you’re making engineer money, SV & big tech engineer money. Majority of engineering fields do not make that kind of money to retire at 50. Comfortable co
by delfinom 10mo ago
> if you’re making engineer money,
SV & big tech engineer money.
Majority of engineering fields do not make that kind of money to retire at 50. Comfortable compared to the rest of the country, sure.
- karlgkk 10mo agoI think maybe that was implied, considering the topic of conversation and website we’re on. That said if you’re making $250k+ a year and not on track to retire by 50, seriously please open a retirement calculator and figure out what you need to do to get there.
- ghaff 10mo agoWhich is a pretty high salary in the US in tech generally. That said, a lot of people in US tech can probably retire relatively early if they run the numbers and don't have a lot of external expenses.
- brandall10 10mo agoI wouldn't assume. The readership of HN is quite vast. I've never worked at big tech and don't plan to.
- noncoml 10mo ago$250k+ a year means ~$12k monthly salary. A semi decent apartment in SV will cost you ~$3k Bills(phone, internet, electricity, etc) another $1k. If you are married, groceries at least $1k. Even if we assume you don’t do anything else in life, and you are in perfect health best case scenario would be $6k savings a month or $72k a year. It would take you 10 years to save $720k plus whatever you make from investments. That’s not enough to even buy you a house in SV. How are you going to retire? Unless you assume you will get $250k straight out of college and keep up salary raises for 25 years. Sure, if you don’t have kids, age with no health problems, never enjoy anything in life, you may be able to retire at 50 in Thailand or Philippines.
- karlgkk 10mo agoRent? Ever heard of equity? If you make 250k you can afford a nice condo. Right away that blows a huge hole in your math. Also $1k month on bills? Groceries too? Judging by your inflated costs for everything, and ann idea that a house (versus more modest accommodations) is what the goal is, you’ve got Lifestyle creep. And, things certainly get a lot easier when your spouse also works.
- reactordev 10mo agoBro, not everyone has daddy to give them the down payment to buy anything remotely affordable in SV.
- karlgkk 10mo agoBro, I can tell you haven’t even tried. Talk to a mortgage advisor.
- reactordev 10mo agoI’ve been trying for the last decade boomer. Housing keeps going up and my salary keeps staying the same. It’s to the point where a 30 year mortgage will take me to 80 years old. Where a down payment would cost me a decade of saving and nothing but saving. No life, no food, no other bills.
- karlgkk 10mo agoI’m not a boomer and the core conditional of this whole thread is that you make $250k a year. If you’re making $250k and you still think what you just said, you are completely incorrect.
- assemblyman 10mo agoRenting can be much better financially than buying. Edit: all % numbers are per year Consider the case of condos in cities. If you were to buy outright, you effectively get a return by not paying rent (i.e. paying yourself rent). Rent is usually ~5% of the condo cost. HOA + property taxes is 2-3% so subtract that from the rent return i.e. net return 2-3% (5-2/3%). The rest of the return is appreciation from the underlying real estate prices. I am excluding maintenance costs because they are negligible in condos. On the other hand, if you rent and put the entire amount (that you would have paid to buy the condo), you get ~10% per year. To break even between the two scenarios, you would need real estate prices to grow 7-8% (2-3% + 8-7% = 10%). Beyond this, there are psychological reasons to buy vs rent. Buying - ability to customize the space, peace of mind because of perceived stability etc. Renting - flexibility, peace of mind because of no long-term obligations etc. A mortgage is an interpolation of the two cases at the cost of the interest one pays. It is noteworthy, at least in the US, that for most people, this is the only time they can borrow several hundreds of thousands at relatively low costs.
- bigstrat2003 10mo agoThere are a whole lot of people here who work in the tech industry but aren't working in SV. There are even a decent number who aren't in the tech industry at all.
- encrypted_bird 10mo agoI can back you up on that. I regularly frequent HN, and even comment from time to time, but I don't work in tech nor do I make bank. I'm a cashier at a gas station. Lol. I'm lucky if I make $16000 a year after taxes.
- throw234234234 10mo agoTax rates, cost of living differences, etc depending where you are in the world don't always make this a good salary. Generally outside SV: - If you are making $250+ it is at least middle management (not tech work) AND - Only in zones where cost of living is eating this up (e.g. UK/Europe/Australia/etc can get to this equilvalent salary but costs for example for rent, food, tax, etc are much higher). In most countries SWE is above average pay, but it isn't life changing and it still unfortunately has the boom/bust cycles. I've met some very good engineers who have built some great large scale solutions who are on less than this salary often in non tech firms being outside of the SV area due to personal reasons (e.g. can't move due to family, too old to do the interview dance SWE has become these days, etc).
- phantasmish 10mo ago... if you're making $250+k/yr as an individual in your 20s, yes. If you've just hit that at age 40+, maybe you're just looking at a comfortable 60-67ish retirement. The US medical system gives you exposure to well into the five figures of risk per year on top of at least high-four-figures in premiums per year (at age 50). Each extra year puts an early retirement without crazy money behind it at serious risk, because your expenses could suddenly and unavoidably shoot up by tens of thousands per year for several years on end.
- onraglanroad 10mo agoWhen you can retire depends on how little you need. Though, of course, if you're living from investment income you should be aware you're living off the work of other people.
- anonymars 10mo agoUnless you're churning your own butter and manufacturing your own solar panels, isn't retirement inherently living off other people regardless of income?
- reactordev 10mo agoIsn’t social security living off the backs of other people too?
- anonymars 10mo agoChildhood too, no? Maybe it turns out life was the original "pyramid scheme"
- reactordev 10mo agoChildhood was that new car smell and your parents dreaming of the kind of equity they’ll get only to get frustrated with all the maintenance.
- onraglanroad 10mo agoYes, they both are, it's just less obvious for investment income.
- incompatible 10mo agoIsn't getting wages in a wealthy country so that you can afford a multiple of work hours from poorly-paid people elsewhere inherently living off other people?
- 10mo ago
- reactordev 10mo agoThis. People act like we’ve gotten $200k+ for more than a decade. Most of us haven’t. It wasn’t until 10 year into my career that I hit $100k so this is boomer math that doesn’t account for inflation of everything.
- wakawaka28 10mo agoA majority of software engineers don't make enough money to retire at 50. People who have retired so young tend to be very lucky in both employment and their investments. Most probably stayed unmarried, inherited significant amounts of money, and/or married into even more money. It also helps to be lucky enough to start with a $100k+ job at age 23 and never have any bad luck to set you back. I've met people who check some/all of these boxes, and even they seem to not be retiring at 50.