https://www.recode.net/2018/4/30/17301264/how-much-twitter-g...
Facebook's _median_ salary is apparently over $240k...
Everyone hears about these $200k salaries, but most developers aren't making that. The median for the USA is around $100k, it's still a high salary for a job that requires only an undergraduate degree and no certifications, but it's not obscenely high like $240k.
1: https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/san-francisco-software-en...
2: https://www1.salary.com/CA/San-Francisco/Software-Engineer-I...
And $240k is very high for a non-management job, and compared to the median income and the minimum wage for the USA is obscenely high. Median household income is ~$60k, and median personal income is ~$30k. Minimum wage in the USA is around $15k.
In my books, 8 times the median income, or 16 times the minimum wage, is obscenely high. That kind of income disparity is not good for society.
But from the perspective of someone struggling to make minimum wage, I'll be it 100% is obscene...
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/letters/ct-illino...
- Income replacement in an emergency
- Income replacement in retirement
- A down payment on a home
- A home improvement project
- A child’s college expenses less need-based financial aid
All of these are inflated by living in a high-cost high-wage situation such that the larger balance has you merely keeping up in terms of the capabilities your savings buys you.
The extra savings only make a difference if you move somewhere cheap before you draw them down. That’s a great argument for doing a few years in SV in your twenties but less relevant for senior talent.
1. Rental properties
2. Securities - stocks, bonds, derivatives, REITs etc.
3. Investment opportunities not available to others. The $250k-earning employee (sorry, yeah I bumped it up $10k to make this argument) is an accredited investor.
All of the above have compounding benefits over the years. Investing $25k today is better than investing $5k, even if both are 10% of gross income of our example employees. $25k savings allows you to put a down payment on a $125k rental property in a low-cost area every year.
> All of these are inflated by living in a high-cost high-wage situation
The "high-cost" only applies if you insist on living the exact same lifestyle as you would in a low-cost area: large house, boat, large vehicles etc. It's just common sense to limit your spending on overpriced things. In the Bay Area, housing is overpriced.
I guess we should agree to disagree :-). I think you should adapt your lifestyle to the area you live in. Here's an analogy: let's say I love fresh sushi. If I live near the coast and a healthy fishing industry, it'll be good and cheap. If I live in Las Vegas, it can still be had but it'll cost me. Do I keep up my expensive sushi habit in Vegas and complain about the cost-of-living? Or do I just eat less of it and accept that there are benefits to being in Vegas that outweigh the more expensive sushi?
Besides that, no $250k-earning employee is living in a shared apartment with a commute to make ends meet in SF. If they live that way, it's to maximize their savings.
When a majority of that $250k is in Monopoly money (i.e. most of the time), they absolutely are.
I don't think that's how it works.
You can only choose to apply.