> $25-30k in liquid cash hanging around all the time
That's like 3-4 months of post-tax pay for a twitter engineer (and not a senior one at all). Yeah, i would expect them to be able to have that much in savings.
If someone cant accumulate roughly 15% of their annual compensation in savings, while earning $200-400k/yr, then I have no idea what else could be done here to help.
> If someone cant accumulate roughly 15% of their annual compensation in savings, while earning $200-400k/yr, then I have no idea what else could be done here to help.
The thing with those crazy Valley salaries that you hear about here is that a lot of the time a good amount is in the form of stock that vests on a rolling basis. So maybe you get $150K in cash and $75K in stock. After 401k, California and federal taxes, California housing costs, and California <everything costs>, I can understand how someone making “$225K” in the Valley might not be able to save a whole lot.
> The thing with those crazy Valley salaries that you hear about here is that a lot of the time a good amount is in the form of stock that vests on a rolling basis.
This doesn't make any sense. Yes, your stock "vests on a rolling basis" the same way your salary "vests" every two weeks.
If you are making 150k in cash and 75k in stock, then you get access to 225k (minus tax) of liquid cash every year. The vesting schedule is irrelevant.
Sure, but you have to sell it in full every single year to get that money, which means you have to forego the possibility of that stock being worth a lot more in the future. And there’s the whole “stock might go down” thing. So no, it’s not the same as cash salary.
Not selling the moment you vest is the same as deciding to purchase the stock. Even if you do it for Tax Reasons it's still a choice you're making, and there are potential downsides.
Yup. Pretty much cut 45-50% off the top for federal and state taxes immediately. Divide the remainder between stock that won't actually vest for years and your base pay. It's way more complicated than "you're making six figures!!! why can't you SAV3!!1 too much avocado toast!"
Should people be more disciplined? Isn't it possible to do better? Sure, totally. But let's start with reality and not boomer bootstrap fan fiction.
That's like 3-4 months of post-tax pay for a twitter engineer (and not a senior one at all). Yeah, i would expect them to be able to have that much in savings.
If someone cant accumulate roughly 15% of their annual compensation in savings, while earning $200-400k/yr, then I have no idea what else could be done here to help.