“You’re nobody here at $10 million” - Oy!

[figner]

As I have stated before, Silicon Valley can make a lot of sense for the single person who lives below their means. In other words, for anyone who does not spend most of their salary. For such a person, it makes sense to go to the places with the highest salaries.

My last few years I was spending less than 20% of my gross salary income, even including international trips (which I did cheaply). Unfortunately, taxes (including FICA, medicare, fed/state income, state disability tax) were another 30% or so.

Kramer, seems like I'm following in your footsteps... renting in LA for about the same amount while stashing a decent percentage of my salary from IT work. Taxes are my biggest expense as well. I like reading your posts 'cause I hope I'm just a few years behind you!

 

[kramer]

Kramer, seems like I'm following in your footsteps... renting in LA for about the same amount while stashing a decent percentage of my salary from IT work. Taxes are my biggest expense as well. I like reading your posts 'cause I hope I'm just a few years behind you!

Hey figner, I wish you the best! I could not believe how fast FI came on. I went from zero net worth to having a nice enough pile to semi-retire in just 9 years. And very little came from stock options (in fact, my total after tax stock option take was less than my school loan debt) -- it was just LBYM, stashing away regular savings and investing virtually everything in index funds. Of course, it is unlikely that future market returns will be nearly as good, but you never know.

My only advice right now is to guard yourself from burnout. I got burned out and had to drop out early -- in retrospect, it would have been wiser to change jobs a couple of years beforehand to avoid burnout -- but I kept hoping for the generous layoff package in my current job and I didn't have the confidence and willingness to move around when I was making so much money just staying in place. So, it would have been nice to save for a couple more years, but I just couldn't take it anymore. However, I have absolutely no regrets. I am leaving in just a few weeks for my first FIRE safari, Asia, for a trip that I hope lasts four to six months.

Kramer