Climbing the Wealth Ladder • Hacker News Board

Re: Climbing the Wealth Ladder

#321

Post by brailsafe » Thu, Dec 19, 2019, 12:22 AM UTC

Retric wrote: post #300

brailsafe wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think one is trying to get out of ruin in general, whereas the other potentially risks financial ruin

You can be poor and have financial security. Pensions that fail to keep up with inflation would often strand the elderly with minimal income. But, assuming they had heath insurance they where generally in an very stable situation.

Right that's what I meant. No debt, but no money, doesn't strike me as financial ruin. Though a sudden extreme expense could put you there. In either case, the term financially vulnerable could apply.

Re: Climbing the Wealth Ladder

#322

Post by OnlineGladiator » Fri, Dec 20, 2019, 2:36 AM UTC

MrFantastic wrote: post #315

OnlineGladiator wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> like notable entertainer or cardiac surgeon Google says cardiac surgeons make $400-800k, assuming that's true a very talented engineer at FAANG can easily match this (staff or senior staff level) without being mired by an additional 10 years of school. I personally know engineers making 7 digits in liquid compensation. Obviously these are not your average engineers, but it's doable if you're the 1% (to be good enou…

There are 4000 Cardiac Surgeons in the USA. Do you think there are 4000 engineers that make over $500k?

I'm not sure what the point of this comment is, but I believe there are many, many more than 4,000 engineers that make over $500k. I'd guess it's an order of magnitude more. I bet well over 1,000 engineers just at Google alone make over $500k. Then you have the rest of FAANG, the unicorns, high frequency trading, and other industries known for paying extremely well.

Engineers at Google can make over $500k starting at the staff level, so I think my estimate of 1,000 is pretty conservative considering the company has over 100,000 employees.

https://www.levels.fyi/

Re: Climbing the Wealth Ladder

#323

Post by BrandoElFollito » Sun, Dec 22, 2019, 4:43 PM UTC

Nice, I used to say that I feel comfortable when I choose my yogurt and do not look at the price.

I realize that I am objectively much higher on the wealth axis today, but this is what I tell my children. Live without needing much and do not worry if what you really want is 500€ more expensive.

I like this chart because it also tells that some people can be happy by buying the 15€ fast lane at the airport (this is what we did with my wife, the kids queued up). Or getting the 500€ more expensive version of vacation to have more space.