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Why I quit a $500K job at Amazon to work for myself

danielvassallo.com

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Re: Why I quit a $500K job at Amazon to work for myself

#111

Post by cpursley »

pureagave wrote: post #101
cpursley wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What bubble/ivory tower part of the country are you in? $1m is enough. Especially with a paid-off mortgage. Most people get by for way, way less than that.

In the bay area and almost everywhere on the west coast you are looking at over $1k/month in property taxes for that house with a "paid-off mortgage." In most states you never really "own" your home. You only own it while you pay tax every six months until you are dead.

There's more to the US (and the world) than the West Coast.

Re: Why I quit a $500K job at Amazon to work for myself

#112

Post by BeetleB »

Someone1234 wrote: post #35
Dayshine wrote: post #6

> When I first hit $100K income, I would take a peek at my W2 for a few days admiring the six digits, but then it wore off. When I hit $200K, $300K, $400K, and $500K, it was the same thing. I would be delusional to think that earning $1M, or $10M would suddenly make it different. >What is out there that I could do that would make me excited waking up every day for the next 45 years that could also earn me enough mone…

> you'd have $275k net. If you remove generous expenses, you have $200k a year in savings. In Seattle Washington? You'd have an extremely hard time making ends meet on $75K, it certainly isn't "generous." For example median home value in Seattle is $725K.

>In Seattle Washington? You'd have an extremely hard time making ends meet on $75K, it certainly isn't "generous."

Renting an 1800 sq ft 3 bedroom house is $40K/year. That leaves $35K. Per month that's almost $3000.

If you are having an "extremely hard time" paying for everything else with $3000, you may want to reevaluate your lifestyle.

I'm not saying it's a fantastic lifestyle, but it's not a poor lifestyle. You'll still be able to afford a lifestyle better than most of the country.

Re: Why I quit a $500K job at Amazon to work for myself

#113

Post by [deleted] »

hprotagonist wrote: post #3

I’m going all in on independence, and I’m going to try to make a living with my own bare hands starting from nothing. 500k/year in your last year is "nothing", huh? It really undercuts the entire thrust of the post, because you're starting with a nice big war chest and a hell of a safety net, not "nothing".

[deleted]

Re: Why I quit a $500K job at Amazon to work for myself

#115

Post by chipperyman573 »

wnevets wrote: post #12
hprotagonist wrote: post #3

I’m going all in on independence, and I’m going to try to make a living with my own bare hands starting from nothing. 500k/year in your last year is "nothing", huh? It really undercuts the entire thrust of the post, because you're starting with a nice big war chest and a hell of a safety net, not "nothing".

"All I got was a small loan of a million dollars"

This was the exact thought I had when I read the article. It's not even that far away from it, his yearly salary is half a million.

Re: Why I quit a $500K job at Amazon to work for myself

#116

Post by DVassallo »

jayonsoftware wrote: post #21

How do you make 500K at Amazon, is that 200K base, 50K bonus and 250K in stock ?

My base was $160K for a long time. I think it's the max at Amazon. The rest was stock. I got lucky that AMZN stock grew a lot in the last few years. Without the growth it would have been about $380K/year (i.e. that's what I was granted originally before the stock grew).

Re: Why I quit a $500K job at Amazon to work for myself

#117

Post by [deleted] »

sadris wrote: post #109
pureagave wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the bay area and almost everywhere on the west coast you are looking at over $1k/month in property taxes for that house with a "paid-off mortgage." In most states you never really "own" your home. You only own it while you pay tax every six months until you are dead.

Why would you retire in a high cost of living area?

[deleted]

Re: Why I quit a $500K job at Amazon to work for myself

#118

Post by chipperyman573 »

sadris wrote: post #109
pureagave wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the bay area and almost everywhere on the west coast you are looking at over $1k/month in property taxes for that house with a "paid-off mortgage." In most states you never really "own" your home. You only own it while you pay tax every six months until you are dead.

Why would you retire in a high cost of living area?

Because you like living there

Re: Why I quit a $500K job at Amazon to work for myself

#119

Post by tonyedgecombe »

Someone1234 wrote: post #35
Dayshine wrote: post #6

> When I first hit $100K income, I would take a peek at my W2 for a few days admiring the six digits, but then it wore off. When I hit $200K, $300K, $400K, and $500K, it was the same thing. I would be delusional to think that earning $1M, or $10M would suddenly make it different. >What is out there that I could do that would make me excited waking up every day for the next 45 years that could also earn me enough mone…

> you'd have $275k net. If you remove generous expenses, you have $200k a year in savings. In Seattle Washington? You'd have an extremely hard time making ends meet on $75K, it certainly isn't "generous." For example median home value in Seattle is $725K.

You'd have an extremely hard time making ends meet on $75K

That isn’t much less than the median income in Seattle.

Re: Why I quit a $500K job at Amazon to work for myself

#120

Post by DVassallo »

kookoopuffs wrote: post #77
DVassallo wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Author here. Agree. But I bet most of the audience here is already earning enough. Once you cover the basics, the returns of additional income diminish quickly. I chose to say how much I was earning just to emphasize that everything was really going well at my job, including compensation.

Have you ever thought that the amount of motivation for money is the issue? In other words, what if the main factor that motivated you to work hard was not money? What if you kept the job but you shifted your motivation on producing impact for other people instead of yourself? To add to your point, even if you do build a successful business, you'll get to a place where you will have this same problem correct of dimin…

What I found is that there are some motivators that don't diminish. I'm pursing earning a living fueled by those intrinsic motivators instead of by money, fame, promotions, etc.
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