less then quarter mill after taxes.

This is capital gains, meaning 15-20% in taxes. Nowhere near half.

20% + 10% state income tax for many here

Why is it capital gains?

Because he is either selling his shares in the company, or the individual assets owned by the company, either way it should be taxed as capital gains.

Asset Purchase Agreements are taxed primarily as income. Only a sale of the company ownership or equity would be taxed differently

might have been QSBS, so no taxes < $10m

spoken like an employee ;)

welcome to the world of capital gains and QSBS!

Thanks I’m just a dumb kid.

I moved country before selling my first business for that reason.

Half a million dollars would be a life-changing amount to the vast majority of the American population.

But to an experienced programmer making a fraction of that a year at Google, it's not that much.

For someone being so pedantic about a half million dollar payday I would've expected you to consider that any amount above or below that is technically "a fraction."

I would be very curious how life changing that would be for the average HN user.

I don't make FAAANGGGG money, but I'm a pretty well paid programmer for this area and that amount would pay off the balance on my mortgage. Hell, I'd be completely debt-free if someone threw half a million in my direction and have enough left over to buy the wife a top of the line pickup truck or two. So yeah, I'd definitely consider it life changing.

It's pretty close to my FIRE number. Of course, I don't live in an expensive city.

That's 10 years of work for the average american.

But only a few years of work for author.

It's more like 2-3 years in this industry.

HN moment

You could start planning your FIRE with $500k.

It's not just half a million, he made more in business profits before the sale.

It’s 18–24k per year in perpetuity. You can have a decent living on this much in a sizeable part of the world. Not in SV though. But still, it’s nothing to sneeze at.