Did you get a PhD? Cause there's nothing like punting years of potential income and career development for existential crises in an underpaid lab setting. Source: my PhD.
More than 25 years... My career has been very non linear with very few lessons. Main skill I learned is how to work well with people ( TLDR, treat them with respect and be as genuine as you're allowed to be. Listen a lot)
Why avoid new managers? Also do you have any advice for someone who have severe anxiety? I get panicky talking to people which prevents me from networking.
Is there better advice than practice? If anxiety is so severe that you are crippled, you need medication and/or therapy. Otherwise, you just have to take baby steps towards putting yourselves out there. Maybe the first step is just to go to a networking event, stay in one place and let people come to you.
So you're saying being a good person got you to a million dollar salary? You'd be the first in history my friend. Maybe if your subordinates were the ones that got to choose their manager, but companies don't promote people who put the little guy first, its just not good business unfortunately.
If youāre interested in giving more, this org does really good work finding which charities actually have an impact on lives saved : https://www.givewell.org
I'm a CPA with high-income clients in the Bay Area and maybe 1% of my clients donate over $5K/year. Rich people are stingy and have less empathy for the poor. Also, not a lot of people go to church.
If the year was 1880 and no income tax existed you can argue that charity is critical things keeping poor people up in life. When you pay half of your income in taxes accusing people of not donating much on top of it is imo ridiculous.
This feels like hasty generalization. I could draw the opposite conclusion. Iām regularly over 20k a year in nonprofit donos and about 80% of my friend group is over 10k. Add in tips, gofundmes, cash to the less fortunate, and Iām at about 40k a year. Last time, I used a CPA I was making a fifth of my current income. Really I donāt know the numbers, but Iām hopeful techies are generous.
Iām Christian but gosh Iām struggling to interpret your last sentence charitably. What did you mean by āalso not a lot of people go to churchā?
Youāre more generous than most and I admire that. The clients that donate the most are Christians and they have church donation letters showing $10K-$30K. I was pointing out that not a lot of people in the Bay Area go to church regularly which is why donations are small.
Iāve filed tax returns for over 1,000 high income families and while donations for $100/each to several non-profits is not uncommon, thatās often the extent of their charitable giving.
Well, thereās a difference between income and wealth. High income people want to protect the financial futures of themselves, their families, etc. Maybe donate to favorite politicians or organizations.
Thereās so much precariousness nowadays that itās better to donate to political causes than some random charity.
Or they reasonably doubt that charities are making effective use of their money, making it harder to self compel to give.
Another reason to tax us more in my opinion. Keep the emotions out of it and pool the money to be used by people who spend their lives becoming experts on their respective fields, organized by the government.
What was your RSU trajectory at your current org? More sizable grants over time or did you go big when you negotiated your offer? Or just massive appreciation?
On the cash flow side, is the retirement something like mandatory distributions from a retirement account, even though youāre still working? Is the loan payment like a note receivable, someone repaying a debt to you?
OP, if i were to make a diagram like yours but my realized capital loss is greater than realized capital gains, do i include both numbers separately? If so where? Or do i just net the number which becomes minus but where do i put them?
Just curious how much is in your taxable and non taxable accounts? If you donāt want to share that, then what kind of income will you have in retirement? Also, is your house paid off?
Jesus. How do I get that much other income? I think you said RSU but that is massive. Your base salary is less than mine but you gross many times more because of that stock.
Iāve heard conflicting things on this topic though unfortunately. Some folks say no one is taking the time to look at your github. Other folks say itās a good differentiator. Iām definitely not opposed to building more cool things though
Thanks for the input. Iām civil myself. Not looking to switch, but curious- do you still recommend this career path to younger engineers or think there is saturation of EE/CS majors? Do you think the field will hold stability over the coming decades? Also Incredible progression and well done, hope you enjoy retirement.Ā
I did my schooling for Eng Mgmt and have always had a strong interest in tech forward companies. I ended up in a Civil Eng. path, any advice for pivoting? Thanks for your post btw, definitely makes me want to work harder
did you draw a NW line, where you would be comfortable to retire?
With all the jobs going to India or to AI, I am not sure how long this party is going to last.
Also do you convert Roth or leaving in pretax?
How has the culture now changed from like 2015? Or even 2022?
Culture as in work culture? More stress for all, better income for some.
Work culture yes
Idk why I follow this page. Always just reminds me how I worked harder not smarter
I worked like a fucking moron.
Edit: I mean seriously, there's working smart, there's working dumb, and then there's me
Did you get a PhD? Cause there's nothing like punting years of potential income and career development for existential crises in an underpaid lab setting. Source: my PhD.
Good job! If nobody has told you lately, some random dude on the internet is proud of you. Pass on the good vibes and keep going.
Thank you so much š
Two random dudes. Nice job! Happy for you.Ā
Thank you random #2 !
Imagine living in a world of random dudes happy for each other? Fucking A, dude. Good vibe tribe.
$418k into savings, good lord. Congrats
I mean with that income its not that crazy. They still spent like 200+k lol. Still good tho
what is your level ? number of reports ?
L7 equivalent ,about 40
Thatās closer to a director than a sr manager
That is baseline M2 at FAANG. Directors will usually have larger scope than that.
Nice! Congrats. Is the other income RSUs?
Exactly
Damn I really screwed up going the TPgM route. The comp gap at L7 is crazy.
how many years of experience did it take to get here? and what did you have to do? and what skills did you need to learn? thank you in advance!
More than 25 years... My career has been very non linear with very few lessons. Main skill I learned is how to work well with people ( TLDR, treat them with respect and be as genuine as you're allowed to be. Listen a lot)
Iāve a new new manager recently, he hasnāt figured that out yet.
Fingers crossed for you. Avoid new managers if you can
Why avoid new managers? Also do you have any advice for someone who have severe anxiety? I get panicky talking to people which prevents me from networking.
I'd say practice? But that might be dumb advice
Is there better advice than practice? If anxiety is so severe that you are crippled, you need medication and/or therapy. Otherwise, you just have to take baby steps towards putting yourselves out there. Maybe the first step is just to go to a networking event, stay in one place and let people come to you.
So you're saying being a good person got you to a million dollar salary? You'd be the first in history my friend. Maybe if your subordinates were the ones that got to choose their manager, but companies don't promote people who put the little guy first, its just not good business unfortunately.
I'm just talking about my experience. I generally avoid generalizations lol
what is other income?
what is age?
why calling it quits in 2 years?
what is bi-weekly, monthly take home after tax?
thanks and nice job raking in that much cash, son!
Thx a bunch :)
Thank you too, for being opened to answering these questions!
What field(s) are you considering for your PhD?
Poly sci or economics. Want to juxtapose with AI
nice! all the best. i donāt know you but i just have a strong gut feeling youāll succeed at whatever path you go!
What is this app called because Iād like to chart my savings
Monarch.
$855 to charity, very generous
Not nearly enough ,for sure
If youāre interested in giving more, this org does really good work finding which charities actually have an impact on lives saved : https://www.givewell.org
Thank you !
Yeah thatās pretty embarrassing man. Ā Just donate 1,000 or something to the Red Cross. Ā Thereās also may be options for company match as well
How much did you donate?
I'm a CPA with high-income clients in the Bay Area and maybe 1% of my clients donate over $5K/year. Rich people are stingy and have less empathy for the poor. Also, not a lot of people go to church.
If the year was 1880 and no income tax existed you can argue that charity is critical things keeping poor people up in life. When you pay half of your income in taxes accusing people of not donating much on top of it is imo ridiculous.
Pretty good take. Income tax is the new charity.
Damn straight!
lol church. Fk dat.
I paid $800k+ in fed + state income taxes this year. Surely that is going towards some program to help the general population.
Remaining money is for my family.
If the news is to be believed, Somalia thanks you for your donation lol.
YEP. Except for church. Lots of immorality in church. F that
This feels like hasty generalization. I could draw the opposite conclusion. Iām regularly over 20k a year in nonprofit donos and about 80% of my friend group is over 10k. Add in tips, gofundmes, cash to the less fortunate, and Iām at about 40k a year. Last time, I used a CPA I was making a fifth of my current income. Really I donāt know the numbers, but Iām hopeful techies are generous.
Iām Christian but gosh Iām struggling to interpret your last sentence charitably. What did you mean by āalso not a lot of people go to churchā?
Youāre more generous than most and I admire that. The clients that donate the most are Christians and they have church donation letters showing $10K-$30K. I was pointing out that not a lot of people in the Bay Area go to church regularly which is why donations are small.
Iāve filed tax returns for over 1,000 high income families and while donations for $100/each to several non-profits is not uncommon, thatās often the extent of their charitable giving.
Well, thereās a difference between income and wealth. High income people want to protect the financial futures of themselves, their families, etc. Maybe donate to favorite politicians or organizations.
Thereās so much precariousness nowadays that itās better to donate to political causes than some random charity.
Or they reasonably doubt that charities are making effective use of their money, making it harder to self compel to give.
Another reason to tax us more in my opinion. Keep the emotions out of it and pool the money to be used by people who spend their lives becoming experts on their respective fields, organized by the government.
Taxes is charity
No, it's taxes. Charity is given willingly.
When you pay hundreds of thousands in taxes every year, it becomes hard to convince yourself to give more on top of that.
So weird to categorize rsu as other income. I mean itās viewed the same as salary from a tax perspective.
Works for me š and yes it's the same tax wise
No I meant to visualize it on here in that fashion. makes the rsu portion of TC seem obscure / opaque.
Hire me pls?
Curious what car and education are you spending on? Education seems really high for someone who already is working.
Kids college. And car is a lovely 15 year old Lexus I just got
youre doing well, a stranger is proud of you
What did you use to create this graphic?
Monarch
What is the retirement income, interest income, and loan repayment income?
What was your RSU trajectory at your current org? More sizable grants over time or did you go big when you negotiated your offer? Or just massive appreciation?
Did good on negotiations and lucked out on appreciation
Bonkers. Do you sell at vest or hold any?
I always like seeing stuff like charity donation. 0.001% of your income going to charity is the lowest Iāve seen so far LOL
Too low for sure
Math isnāt mathing.
1.1M title but gross is only ~763k
Maybe taxes
Taxes make up the difference
Taxes
AMEN!
M1?
L7/M2
And good stock growth, no?
Nothing extreme
I don't know if you'll read this, but you're truly an inspiration to me.
I want to go into engineering or computer science, and to see another woman succeed so much in this field really gives me hope.
I really appreciate you posting, and I'm just proud that you're out there repping us.
Enjoy your retirement, you've earned it many times over.
I appreciate the support - best of luck to you !
What was your degree in? Masters? phD?
Comp sci undergrad , electrical engineering masters. No PhD
Any quality advice for ambitious 18 yo just starting out into the tech career?
Code every day.
Which FAANG and what level if I may ask
L7. One of the FAANGs :)
L7 at Google or Amazon is usually ~$700k so you are doing well
Yes, I'm very lucky
On the cash flow side, is the retirement something like mandatory distributions from a retirement account, even though youāre still working? Is the loan payment like a note receivable, someone repaying a debt to you?
Sum of retirement savings (401k + Roth) and mortgage balance reduction
Wait your company helps pay your mortgage? Genuine question. Sorry if stupid.
No they don't . It's just how the tool I'm using is accounting for the mortgage payments
Wish I could have a job like this
Whats your take on RSU's and actual retirement / stability? Curious how much to hedge against a cliff with a non diverse portfolio.
Same day sale upon vesting
How is tax reflected here?
It's not. All numbers shown are post tax
are you a people manager or technical manager?
Great job! Whats the other income?
Restricted Stock Units
Iām impressed!
what is the source of other income if you donāt mind me asking?
Rsu
Age and net worth? Just curious how youāre thinking about the 2 year retirement goal.
Wtf this sankey
Just curious, Engineering Management? Did I read that right?
Yes
So, did you do any masters of Engineering Management, would love to hear your experience...
Did a masters in engineering,and ended up in Management. I never studied management per se
Do you negotiate your pay or did they just start paying you more because of your value?
Where is your housing expense?
Mortgage and property tax ,a bit of home improvements
Maybe Iām blind but where is mortgage?Ā
You're not blind ,the tool missed my mortgage ,around 30k/year
Looks like I ned to get back into engineering management lol.
Why do you enumerate your income from the investment accounts? I mean are you selling assets to lock in those gains? Or they just gains on paper?
Income from CD and bonds
You spent what I made this year on car maintenance
It was several expensive fixes for a 15 yo car. Also the numbers are for maintaining 5 cars. Still too much lol
OP, if i were to make a diagram like yours but my realized capital loss is greater than realized capital gains, do i include both numbers separately? If so where? Or do i just net the number which becomes minus but where do i put them?
I guess it depends on the software you're using
14k in maintenance and 6k in gas is nuts
Yes ,it was a car I got that ended up with several expensive issues. Also this is for 5 cars ( spouse,me,kids)
Can someone ELI5 what this is? I consistently see FAANG making this much money and iām like really..? Not even doctors really make that much
Doctors donāt have shares of stock.
What kind of cars do you drive? The maintenance line item really popped
An old Lexus which I got earlier this year and had to fix a bunch. Also maintain 4 other cars my kids drive
2 questions: 1. Is this post tax money? Confused by income and retirement going into same big pool.
Post tax What's an MEM ?
Masters in engineering management
You are spending retirement money now? Why does it come in from the left?
It's just how the software is accounting for retirement savings
Ballpark, what's your total portfolio up to? Why 2 more years? Are you close to a target number?
Yes ,close to my target number
Education?
Bsc in comp sci ,msc in electrical eng
Oh no management degree, nice!
Two questions: 1. No mortgage? House is paid off? 2. Have you been getting stock refreshers to keep your TC high?
1.Got a mortgage ,hence the housing expenses 2. Yes pretty much
Am I missing it? I only see property tax and home improvement
Yes you're right ! I'll check why it's missing. It was about 30k in 2025
Are your student loans what you mean by education ?
Yep. And student housing
Wow, 57k is what some people make in a year. To pay off that amount per year must be a crazy financial burden
One kid is doing a masters program and has outstanding student loans which we pay, and the other kid is in undergrad which we pay. Hence 57k
Just curious how much is in your taxable and non taxable accounts? If you donāt want to share that, then what kind of income will you have in retirement? Also, is your house paid off?
Paying for private school?
Colleges
Jesus. How do I get that much other income? I think you said RSU but that is massive. Your base salary is less than mine but you gross many times more because of that stock.
Note that this is post-tax. Pre-tax my base is 300k ish
You donāt have to pay for housing??
He pays property tax so likely has his house paid off.
If youāre able to out away half a mil a year in savings, having a paid off house isnāt unrealistic.
I do, something like 30/year. For some reason its not showing in the report
I'm confused on the income side - doesn't add to 1.1m and the categories are tripping me up. What is "retirement" for example?
1.1M is pretax. The numbers shown are post tax. The retirement number is just Monarch's weird way of accounting for 401k and Roth savings
This is incredible. Any advice for someone with 7 YOE trying to break into FAANG? (Other than dedicate all my free time to leetcode lol)
Just build stuff , your GitHub is your real resume
Iāve heard conflicting things on this topic though unfortunately. Some folks say no one is taking the time to look at your github. Other folks say itās a good differentiator. Iām definitely not opposed to building more cool things though
youāre literally hearing from engineering management what to do brother
What is this app? Or how did you visualize this?
Monarch
Do you have an engineering background? Whatās your education for this type of position?Ā
Bsc + Msc in CS+EE
Thanks for the input. Iām civil myself. Not looking to switch, but curious- do you still recommend this career path to younger engineers or think there is saturation of EE/CS majors? Do you think the field will hold stability over the coming decades? Also Incredible progression and well done, hope you enjoy retirement.Ā
How to make this chart?
Monarch
I might be dumb but I only see ~$760K. Where did $1.1M come from?
Taxes make up the difference š
[deleted]
It's more around grant date
Dude youāre a legend making that much money and giving money to charity! I know people who make a lot more and donāt give to charity
I don't think I give enough.
House fully paid off?
No, there's a 6-figure mortgage which is not showing up in the report for some.reason
I feel like thatās the kind of expense that should be showing up in a reportā¦
I did my schooling for Eng Mgmt and have always had a strong interest in tech forward companies. I ended up in a Civil Eng. path, any advice for pivoting? Thanks for your post btw, definitely makes me want to work harder
Am I dumb, whereās the 1.1 coming from?
Taxes
Well hopefully my shares are going with these salaries
What is the other income?
Rsu
did you draw a NW line, where you would be comfortable to retire?
With all the jobs going to India or to AI, I am not sure how long this party is going to last.
Also do you convert Roth or leaving in pretax?
What was your career progression? Also, when did you get into a FAANG position?
Have you actually paid $0 on housing the whole year? Iām in NYC. Rents + mortgages are the lionās share.
Monarch didn't include mortgage for some reason. Mortgage for the year is about 30k
Good for you, friend! Too bad for me - thatās even less than two months of my mortgages + rents.
Here's a better infographic including housing and donations, and less confusing income's
https://preview.redd.it/z6jhnaauhaag1.png?width=1584&format=png&auto=webp&s=c1b2f20d49140d57d6c2003d5d55c1e6256edb61
Finally some truth here with about $1850~ per month at restaurant/bars, ive seen so many of these where that number is $0
The only things you've posted about are how much money you make and infinite jest.
The jokes write themselves.
Jokes aside ,infinite jest is an amazing book.
How do you get RSUs and interest, etc under income on monarch?
link up your investment accounts to monarch and categorize those inflows into those investment accounts as income
does your partner stay at home fulltime or you have separate monarch accounts for the two of you?