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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

#511

Post by phendrenad2 »

mabub24 wrote: post #13
grenoire wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, as a youngling in Europe I feel like I'm about to get the shitty end of the stick by the time I hit my 30s. 600k/year (inflation-adjusted) seems like a pipe dream...

Tbh it's a pipe dream for essentially everyone else as well, even 95-99% of Americans. For instance the American President makes 400k/year. That's a wild annual salary and only possible for an exceedingly small smidge of the population. And this guy is earning more.

The president's salary is sort of a joke though, everyone knows that every single president will have a lengthy tour and series of book deals after their term. They'll be paid advisors to companies and non-profits.

Back to tech though, there are probably 100 100k roles for every 400k role. So if you start out making 100k in tech, you have to be 1 in 100 to move up to a 400k role.

Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#512

Post by Retric »

smileysteve wrote: post #177
Retric wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Living off 4% works in retirement because you can in part live off principle. In early retirement it’s not going to work out nearly as well because you get the reverse of dollar cost averaging, removing money in down markets is more expensive than in good ones. You need either dramatically reduce spending when your portfolio is down or to live well below the expected returns.

But in the Us, you are currently free of 7.5% payroll tax and your income tax caps to 15%. Plus, you no longer need to save 15% of your income for retirement. The most expensive early retirement tax in the us is health insurance.

Saving on payroll tax is a benefit, but it’s also a significant risk for early retirement. Up to 50k/ year for a single person is a real cushion if you start to run out of money. Retire at say 35 and you can probably still get something from SS, but you need to be significantly more cautious.

Similarly saving 15% for retirement is critical, but saving enough to cover inflation is just as important with an early retirement.

Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#513

Post by kamaal »

ant6n wrote: post #366
MichaelRazum wrote: post #358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh boy that is true. Honestly, everyone who is born in the US is kind of privileged compared to 99% of the world. Especially if you are willing to work hard.

The US is 4% of the world.

The parent post to yours is actually true, being born in US indeed does wonders to ones access to opportunities, infrastructure, culture, soceity etc.

The USA really makes it easy for people to win. It can be hard to notice it if you've been there all life(or at least most of it), but people like me who have spent our whole lives outside USA(Indian Citizen) and then stayed in the USA for a couple of years(for work) and returned to our home countries can absolutely relate to this.

The difference is like night and day, and it's not even like remotely comparable, being born in the USA even in under privileged conditions gives you lots of edge compared to your peer group.

Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#514

Post by ZephyrBlu »

AYBABTME wrote: post #486
ZephyrBlu wrote: post #460

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm early in my career and I'm bullish on myself, but I would never go around preaching that there's a "high probability of success" of a SWE making >$500k because clearly there is not. I'm bullish because I have evidence to support that possibility. Most people have zero evidence that they would ever make >$500k, let alone having a "high probability of success".

But you don't need to pull 500k/y to end up with >1M$ after 12y. Just compound interest will get you there rather quickly if you save half of your 105k median dev salary. Of course doing so isn't comfortable, but I'm sure you can agree it's doable. Also while 500k/y is a stretch and usually occurs due to stock appreciation (not salary), you can reasonably assume that landing a job at big tech will lead you to a 300k…

I was under the impression we were discussing the authors position (Very high salary + multimillions in the bank), not just >$1M after 12 years.

But in any case...

> I'm sure you would agree it's doable

It's literally not doable.

https://www.investor.gov/financial-tools-calculators/calcula...

Plug in:

- Initial Investment: $0

- Monthly Contribution: $4200 ($50400 annualized)

- Length of Time in Years: 12 years

- Estimated Interest Rate: 8%

- Interest rate variance range: 0

- Compound Frequency: Monthly

The output is $1,010,135.22

This is with a generous rate of return compounding monthly, very high savings rate and not taking income tax into account.

> you can reasonably assume that landing a job at big tech will lead you to a 300k total comp

Joining Big Tech is already an unreasonable assumption for the vast majority of developers: https://twitter.com/GergelyOrosz/status/1400506450124935171.

Someone's propensity to play the career game doesn't magically increase their capability to do so.

Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#515

Post by borski »

anamax wrote: post #473
borski wrote: post #433

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, they aren’t. They are saying you should consider if and how your privilege helped you out, because sometimes that isn’t transferable to other people; someone black in a job interview may not have the same experience someone white does, and that’s okay, but it’s important to recognize if and how being white helped so that someone who isn’t white can account for that and adjust. It has nothing at all to do with gui…

> They are saying you should consider if and how your privilege helped you out Yes, they are. "Check your privilege" is often used to say "you didn't do that." Even if you assume that "privilege" is a big reason why you had an opportunity, there are almost always many people with the same "privilege" who didn't do said thing. Moreover, it's almost always some skin color argument. There are many "don't look white" peo…

The idea is simply to acknowledge where your privilege helped you, and how others may not have had the same experiences or ease of access to certain things, etc.

The trope of “he’s black and rich, and I’m white and poor” is irrelevant, as there are different kinds of privilege. In rural Alabama, being white and poor is going to lend you a much closer set of relationships than being black and rich. In SF, it may be the other way around - the point is everyone should simply be aware of how various privilege has helped them.

And again: this takes nothing away from hard work. It simply acknowledges that another person who worked just as hard but had a different set of lived experiences and privileges may not have the same result. That’s not bad; just fact.

And again: it has nothing to do with guilt. You shouldn’t feel guilty about it; ~everyone has some kind of privilege. But ignoring it or pretending it doesn’t exist is the exact opposite of the point, which is, at the end of the day, an exercise in empathy.

Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#516

Post by borski »

DangitBobby wrote: post #459
borski wrote: post #433

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, they aren’t. They are saying you should consider if and how your privilege helped you out, because sometimes that isn’t transferable to other people; someone black in a job interview may not have the same experience someone white does, and that’s okay, but it’s important to recognize if and how being white helped so that someone who isn’t white can account for that and adjust. It has nothing at all to do with gui…

It does have something to do with guilt, because the ultimate concession of acknowledging privilege is that you didn't truly earn your advantages, which is a root cause of perpetuated injustice. That's where the guilt lives: being the beneficiary of systematic injustice. This doesn't make you a bad person, of course; pretty much anyone in a position of privilege will capatalize on it, as that is human nature.

Acknowledging privilege doesn’t imply you didn’t earn your advantages; it implies there were some that were handed to you. Plenty of others need to be earned.

It is rare, extremely rare, to meet someone with absolutely no privilege, and that isn’t a place to aspire to.

Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#517

Post by borski »

vanusa wrote: post #483
borski wrote: post #433

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, they aren’t. They are saying you should consider if and how your privilege helped you out, because sometimes that isn’t transferable to other people; someone black in a job interview may not have the same experience someone white does, and that’s okay, but it’s important to recognize if and how being white helped so that someone who isn’t white can account for that and adjust. It has nothing at all to do with gui…

It has nothing at all to do with guilt. Guilt is too strong of term. But it is very much used as a kind of penalty box, or way of distancing the receiver from the speaker. And as far as enlightening those who supposedly need uplifting to the higher, more evolved plane that the speaker inhabits -- it just doesn't do much.

I agree people often misuse it, in the same vein that people often misuse other “you are the other” type arguments like equating conservative with Trumper or liberal with “socialist” or pick your favorite.

But it’s misuse shouldn’t change the meaning of its intent. At least I hope it doesn’t, because I believe there is still value in empathy.

Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#518

Post by novok »

vecinu wrote: post #505
novok wrote: post #478

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also to add, when your income starts getting into tech amounts, it's actually MORE tax efficient to not be married than to be married unless your spouse does not work. Also there is nothing preventing you getting rings, having a wedding and having a marriage relationship.

Can you expand on this? TurboTax always recommended filing joint for all the years I was married even though my wife earned a lot less than me. My tax rate went up a ton after the divorce.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/marriage-penalty.asp

Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#519

Post by kamaal »

andreilys wrote: post #285
rexreed wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason why I think these articles score poorly is because I think my reaction is like most reactions (not all, but most). I read the article, saw the salary table, did an eyeroll, and then skimmed the rest. The article can be summed up as "get a high paying job in a career that requires technical skills, save more than you spend, and invest what you save". Did I miss anything in that summarization?

There's some other tactical advice which is self-evident if you spend any time working in tech but for outsiders it might not be clear. For example he talks about interviewing every 3 years, and keeping your interview skills sharp. Specifically he says Practicing your interview skills is the best financial investment you can make This IMO is the best way to grow your compensation, the way companies structure their co…

This strategy too has some limits, its not like you can keep interviewing forever.

Most companies will flag you eventually if all you've done in your career is write a 100 line bash script and leave every six months, in fact if they are a serious shop they'll likely not want to touch you with a 10 foot pole.

The next problem of course is ageism, you are likely to enter that issue as soon as you are in your late 30s. Of course starting a family in your late 30s, or buying a home, getting fit just keep harder and harder with age. And being known and being used to being a drifter wont help much as you get older.

Let's be honest this kind of a lifestyle demands making some lifestyle priority choices and getting very lucky early life, but even that has a cost as you age and its not exactly good.

Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#520

Post by joebiden2024 »

dang wrote: post #470
joebiden2024 wrote: post #468

I’m in a similar but worse boat - my net worth is only now reaching $375k after 3 years in the market. Most of my friends and coworkers are pushing 750k to 5-7 million. The biggest takeaway is, of course, in-flow over spending.

Can you please not use a trollish username? We ban such accounts because it has the effect of subtly trolling every thread the account posts to. Maybe you didn't intend it that way, but these effects end up happening regardless of intent, and we've learned it's better to deal with this early than to let the problem compound over time. If you'd like to pick a different username we'll be happy to rename it for you. htt…

Sure, how about something like PfizerPham2021 (a play on my name)
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