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My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

software.rajivprab.com

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Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#141

Post by whimsicalism »

andi999 wrote: post #21
ThePhysicist wrote: post #17

To have 1 MM USD/EUR at the end of your thirties given an average 4 % yearly return on investment, you need to save around 4.000 USD/EUR per month starting at age 25. In Europe, if you earn around 100k EUR per year your free income will be around 5.000-6.000 EUR per month. Saving 4.000 EUR / month is doable with that but you'll have to live very frugally, not traveling much and you better not start a family unless yo…

European countries usually don't pay 100k for 15 year olds, also after tax it is (well depending on country) 4.5k in Germany. If you live frugally you can save 3k.

Assuming you meant 25 rather than 15

Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#142

Post by andi999 »

andi999 wrote: post #21
ThePhysicist wrote: post #17

To have 1 MM USD/EUR at the end of your thirties given an average 4 % yearly return on investment, you need to save around 4.000 USD/EUR per month starting at age 25. In Europe, if you earn around 100k EUR per year your free income will be around 5.000-6.000 EUR per month. Saving 4.000 EUR / month is doable with that but you'll have to live very frugally, not traveling much and you better not start a family unless yo…

European countries usually don't pay 100k for 15 year olds, also after tax it is (well depending on country) 4.5k in Germany. If you live frugally you can save 3k.

25 year old, I meant.

Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#143

Post by dsomers »

thesimon wrote: post #137
dsomers wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What an absolute joke. The United States has terrible class mobility compared to the Netherlands or Germany for example. You don’t have anything to support what you said other than a skewed perspective created by American centric media. Edit: I guess the down voters here hate facts. The US scores lower on social mobility than the majority of European countries https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Social_Mobility_In…

Using a different metric the Netherlands are slightly better than the US, but Germany is slightly worse. https://www.oecd.org/els/soc/1-5%20generations.png

And the majority of Europe is still ahead of the US, so what’s your point?

Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#144

Post by cutler »

darkwater wrote: post #127
sneak wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your flip comment seems to belie the fact that he's only earned at least a half a million dollars for one year. Most of his years he earned substantially less than that. The majority of his NW comes from investment and savings, not income. The point of the article is that cutting expenses, saving, investing wisely, and aggressively pursuing pay raises can yield a few million well before retirement age. These sort of…

So you have to not enjoy the best years of your life and spend time and energy keeping track of investments to... get bored as hell later because your brain is so used to just work and save and nlt enjoying life that you will feel guilty spending that money? I want to retire at 55 but I'm really skeptical about the FIRE community, especially by the ones in their 20's

Yeah, can't imagine this guy's conversation on a date. Oh, wait - having a partner is an additional expense so out of the question.

Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#145

Post by thesimon »

htormey wrote: post #120

This is very similar to my story. I moved to America from Ireland in 2007 after graduating with a degree in cs. I did a year in grad school before working in tech in the Bay Area for more than a decade, including at two companies from FAANG. I also ran a consulting business and for the last 3 years worked at Coinbase. I don’t consider myself in anyway special. I know many people from Europe who went down this path. T…

>I did a year in grad school before working in tech in the Bay Area for more than a decade, including at two companies from FAANG.

I guess moved there with a F-1 visa, then F1 OPT and then H1-B?

The "best" flow at the moment from what I have seen seems to be working for FAANG in Europe and then moving with a L1 visa, though that depends of course on the company.

Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#146

Post by [deleted] »

berdario wrote: post #130
mmarq wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the UK, the stronger drag on wealth accumulation for the poor is the absurd taxation on the middle incomes (50K+), especially given the very low level of service of public schools, healthcare system, childcare, etc…

Agree that the stronger drag is the cost of childcare, but the poor don't earn 50k+ In fact, if you earn 50k as a single without dependants (or if you are a couple with 2x50k income) you're definitely richer than the majority of folks. Also, the UK tax system is incredibly generous to high income folks: 40k+ tax exempt pension contributions, 20k ISA allowance, 12k cgt allowance. It means that you can accumulate a goo…

[deleted]

Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#147

Post by DrAwdeOccarim »

astura wrote: post #62
DrAwdeOccarim wrote: post #54

Just to add an additional avenue for any people earlier in their career, starting salaries for research associates (bench-based wet lab work) in the Boston area right now, fresh out of undergrad with a 4-year degree, is $100k.

If we are comparing this to the article you'd need a starting salary of ~$128,000 in 2021 dollars to have a comparable salary of $100,000 in 2009 dollars, fwiw.

Totally. With a masters, starting salary is $120k, so much more in line with OP. Also, OP is total comp, which a BS hits with equity and bonus targets.

Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#148

Post by georgeburdell »

lordnacho wrote: post #64
tdrdt wrote: post #41

The author was lucky to earn a huge amount of money. 99% of the people can't do anything with this advice because they don't have any savings to begin with. I wonder if the author even understands how lucky he is.

I think the real luck is getting on the ladder in the first place, where you have a prestigious job that is a natural step to even more prestigious jobs, ie you are always a likely candidate for the job above. Most hedge funds and FAANG employers get a lot of resumes that will never even be read. Also you really don't know what you're actually applying for when you're a graduate. You think you know but only those who…

True in my experience. The path is set long before you think it is. Yes, you can jump on the prestige track later on (in my field, this means joining Apple after 5-10 years of working), but a Stanford grad naturally walks into these jobs. My spouse and I have the same degree and background, aside from alma mater, but they joined a FAANG, in a design role, out of school because that’s where everyone in their Stanford circle was going. I joined a tier 2 company in QA because that’s where my school was feeding people. 6 years later, my spouse is a multi-millionare* and I’m around 1 with 4 more years of experience.

I’ve been trying for years to jump to a FAANG and correct my initial career mistake, but it’s extremely difficult and I’ve only seen the top 10% of my company, in the right positions (not QA), do it. I need to do two jumps: QA to design, then tier 2 to tier 1. As a result, I’ve actually decided to throw in the towel and “reroll” as a software dev.

* For the purposes of retirement we track our net worths separately

[Edit] I also would like to mention that the article says as much

Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#149

Post by dan-robertson »

tiagobraw wrote: post #138

> but as someone without children this is a huge factor that influences almost every other decision he listed there: - living with roommates or renting a cheap apartment - not wanting to buy an apartment - having the time to do side hustles - even changing career paths is challenging when you have a family to take care of - saving the majority of his annual compensation I don’t want to say his advices are bad, just k…

It’s also worth noting that the OP did most of these things at a young age, when most people don’t have kids anyway. Though they may find that that $2.4m won’t generate sufficient income if they do have kids, but then I think they could probably just go back to work if necessary.

Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#150

Post by htormey »

thesimon wrote: post #145
htormey wrote: post #120

This is very similar to my story. I moved to America from Ireland in 2007 after graduating with a degree in cs. I did a year in grad school before working in tech in the Bay Area for more than a decade, including at two companies from FAANG. I also ran a consulting business and for the last 3 years worked at Coinbase. I don’t consider myself in anyway special. I know many people from Europe who went down this path. T…

>I did a year in grad school before working in tech in the Bay Area for more than a decade, including at two companies from FAANG. I guess moved there with a F-1 visa, then F1 OPT and then H1-B? The "best" flow at the moment from what I have seen seems to be working for FAANG in Europe and then moving with a L1 visa, though that depends of course on the company.

Yep. That was my plan, do the cheapest best course that would get me an F1 (student visa) then do an internship with OPT and switch to full time.

Agreed, re FAANG or other companies that have a USA presence.

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