> Cost of living must be insanely high in the U.S

It's really not, especially if you have good health insurance through work. You can splurge and live life on a grand scale, or sock away generational wealth on American tech salaries.

> Cost of living must be insanely high in the U.S. For me, these numbers are so high - I can't imagen what someone would do with all this money.

First is secure yourself with fuck you money so you do not need to sell your labor to procure the things you want, especially shelter (land), food, water, energy, healthcare, and education.

Second is play the game against other high earners. Get involved in other businesses or politics, etc.

> Mostly housing and trying to self fund retirement for 20-30 years.

There are tax reasons for lowish CEO pay. You get income just up to the highest tax bracket (~120000 eur for married single income in Germany) and funnel the rest through dividends into a holding entity.

Save/invest so that I can escape the rat race before I'm too hold to do anything I actually want to do with my time.

> I can't imagen what someone would do with all this money.

Either splurge or save.