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Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

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Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#351

Post by keiferski »

phonerphone wrote: post #336
keiferski wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's one that I have dealt with personally: paying taxes as an American that lives abroad (and wants to use the foreign income exclusion) is a nightmare filled with misinformation and tedium. I don't know if this is actually a market worth pursuing, but I do know that I paid some company $500 to fill in a form for me and help figure out the process. They probably spent an hour or two on my case. With the increase o…

Which country did you do this in? I will need a similar service soon

I used a company called Greenback.

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#352

Post by medvezhenok »

TimPC wrote: post #190
orochimaaru wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

You don't understand how tax brackets work. You never make less money by moving up a bracket. The bracket rate only applies to income within the bracket.

The more correct statement is "you never pay more in taxes by moving up a bracket" - though even that is not correct in all cases.

There are a lot of things (IETC for example, or benefits, or health insurance) which have $ cutoffs. Or tax breaks (i.e. electric vehicle credit) that only apply below a certain income. Exceeding those fixed points can certainly make you make less money.

One thing I ran into recently was fiscal incentives for homeownership (though not directly related to taxes) - there is a cutoff at a certain income level where if you stay below it you get a $10K credit towards closing costs. The tax code is full of things like that.

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#353

Post by ghaff »

riehwvfbk wrote: post #327
wepple wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Everyone should attempt to start a small business or a side consulting gig. Failing that, you should strive to make it to VP-suite Utter horse shit. I want to earn enough to live without too many worries, and spend time with friends and family. Being able to leave at 5 is irreplaceable

I don't think there are many places in tech where an employee can leave at 5 and expect to keep their job.

I've always been somewhat flexible, especially when traveling, but I've pretty much never worked super-long days as a routine.

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#354

Post by desdenova »

keiferski wrote: post #221

It's interesting how so many people have an aversion to being a business owner / entrepreneur, and will instead put in so much effort to optimize being a well-paid employee, instead of learning how to start and run a business. These salaries listed are great salaries, no doubt, but they are not dramatically more than say, a guy running a successful local plumbing business. And the ceiling is limited as an employee, w…

And how, exactly, does one "learn" that?

To me it's always been a matter of personality. As an introvert, I can't picture myself doing the kinds of social interactions required to sell a business on my own.

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#355

Post by Maxatar »

xeromal wrote: post #250
QuercusMax wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a common misconception among people who haven't done even the slightest bit of research. Or done their taxes themselves. Confidently stating stuff that is obviously false SHOULD be ridiculed.

Seems strange that ridicule should be your instinct rather than simple education

I hate to agree with the ridicule point, but honestly ridicule also deters other people from making a similar mistake.

I agree ridicule should be used cautiously, but in a case like this where someone speaks so confidently and boldly gives advice on a topic they clearly do not understand, I think ridicule is a good way not only to inform them, but also indicate to others that it's not okay to give people this kind of advice unless you have a basic understanding of the topic.

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#356

Post by nequo »

reaperman wrote: post #329
nequo wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The pile of downvotes drives the point home. No need to ridicule, education is better. If you can't educate the poster, at least you educate other readers who also didn’t know, without the unnecessary noise of ridicule.

I don’t think I see the same pile of downvotes that you’re seeing? My comment of ridicule got +10 votes in 15 minutes before I edited it, and now is down to +9 an hour after editing the ridicule out. I see that “Calm down. It's a common misconception” did get downvoted.

I mean the original comment that misunderstood marginal tax rates. That one looks very gray to me.

(And I think your comment is better without the ridicule! The sources you found for your follow-up comment are interesting and I learned from it.)

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#357

Post by dontlikeyoueith »

keiferski wrote: post #221

It's interesting how so many people have an aversion to being a business owner / entrepreneur, and will instead put in so much effort to optimize being a well-paid employee, instead of learning how to start and run a business. These salaries listed are great salaries, no doubt, but they are not dramatically more than say, a guy running a successful local plumbing business. And the ceiling is limited as an employee, w…

> And the ceiling is limited as an employee, whereas it's virtually unlimited as a business owner.

It's also unlimited as a gambler. That doesn't mean everyone should start buying lotto tickets.

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#358

Post by jtbayly »

redblacktree wrote: post #205
orochimaaru wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

That's not how tax brackets work, but it is a common misconception. If you salary goes up, your take-home goes up, full stop. If you are making $191,950/year (the very top end of the 24% bracket for 2024) you will pay $39,110.50 in federal income tax, (before any deductions) for a net of $152,839.50. (You may notice that this is less than 24%) If you make an additional $1,000/year: $192,950, only the additional $1,00…

There are cases where if your salary goes up, your take-home goes down, especially for lower income levels. It’s just not on the basis of tax brackets. There are means-tested benefits that you can lose if you cross certain income levels where an increase in income of $5 can cost you thousands of dollars.

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#359

Post by medvezhenok »

reaperman wrote: post #203
orochimaaru wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

[Edited to remove snark/barbs as per HN guidelines]. I am genuinely curious though - you seem like you've had a successful career and life. I typically assume people in your position are rather familiar with the basic math behind personal taxes, 401k's, HSA's, child tax credits, standard deductions vs. large charitable deductions, etc. I think I may have been grossly mischaracterizing a potentially large group of peo…

It's a common misconception because there are plenty of situations where making more money actually decreases your take-home pay. It's just not via the bracket system, it's via other incentives in the tax code (and welfare benefits in certain cases).

There are a lot of things (IETC for example, or benefits, or health insurance) which have $ cutoffs. Or tax breaks (i.e. electric vehicle credit) that only apply below a certain income. Exceeding those fixed points can certainly make you make less money.

One thing I ran into recently was fiscal incentives for homeownership (though not directly related to taxes) - there is a cutoff at a certain income level where if you stay below it you get a $10K credit towards closing costs. The tax code is full of things like that (or getting your student loans forgiven if you make less than $X for Y years).

If you want to see how bad the welfare cliffs are, there are cases where a single mother is better off making $28,000 per year (and receiving all federal benefits), than making ~$70,000 per year (and qualifying for none of them).

Image of the welfare cliff effect, example in Pennsylvania:

https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-7de186ce44f6a86805609...

Re: Ask HN: Is it possible to make FAANG salaries without working there?

#360

Post by fuzzfactor »

keiferski wrote: post #242
epicureanideal wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I mean a SAAS that solves a boring problem for other businesses with money to spend. Profitable software-based ideas are increasingly difficult to find. Thousands of people are exploring every niche and trying to start startups in them, which is great, but competition is fierce and unexplored niches are shrinking. And of course, it's still not straightforward even if you find a relatively unexplored niche. Most peo…

People say this but I don’t buy it at all. If anything, it feels like the vast majority of the business world is still operating on some combination of Excel and a software program that was outdated a decade ago. The main issue is that their problems are too boring and obscure for anyone without direct personal experience to care about them.

>their problems are too boring and obscure for anyone without direct personal experience to care about them.

And the problems were so important that somebody, anybody, stepped up to the plate with a digital solution as soon as it was barely possible.

Sometimes you have to admire that effort to a greater degree than a more technically advanced alternative.

I'm sure some of these are ripe for transition to a truly more effective approach in every way but often there is no fooling them trying to provide anything less.

And disruption itself can be the enemy in some things like this.

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