Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by johnqpub 1702 days ago
I'm in Seattle so the situation is a bit better than the valley. But here's a breakdown:

L6 at Amazon, single, no kids:

~$400K TC $33,333 per month gross

About $100K in federal tax, no state income tax in WA. $8333 per month

Healthcare: $34 a month for an HSA plan. $3,650 over the course of the year goes into the HSA, including the employer portion. That ends up being about $205 out of my pocket. This is a bit complicated if you're not American and familiar with the different account types but it's basically money you're saving that's not taxed, but you can only use it for healthcare expenses.

$3000 max out of pocket per year for medical expenses. For all intents and purposes you can assume that's the most I'll ever pay. Out of network stuff makes it more complicated, but my network has essentially everyone. $250 a month, but you can use the HSA funds from above, so net $0.

Rent: In the Seattle area a newish one bedroom that's about 50-60 m^2 will run you say, $2200 a month. You can go cheaper or more expensive, but that will get you something that's plenty nice. Commute is extremely dependent on exact location, but if you're in the city, the majority of it has a commute time of less than an hour.

$33,333 -$8333 -$34 -$205 -$2200 = $22,561 income remaining.

I think you'd be able to survive :)

Obviously doesn't account for internet, a phone, a car, utilities or anything else, but that's maybe another $2K a month on the high end.

5 comments

Another data point.

My salary is just above $200k. After 6% contribution to retirement (max my employer will match), and $25k a year set aside for employee stock purchase program (max I can set aside - our ESPP is really good), I get just under $10k a month in direct deposit.

My rent is $3k a month. My discretionary spending is also around $3k a month. So I save $4k a month (in cash).

I also get around $350k in stock compensation. A bunch get sold off to cover taxes, but I don't sell anymore, as I believe in the company, and it has done well in the last 2 years.

Altogether, I save above $250,000 a year - in vested stock, and cash.

Out of curiosity, assuming the retirement you mention is a 401k, why don’t you elect to contribute the yearly maximum?
I just put the extra money into regular investment account. My investments account tend to perform better than the rather boring results that 401k accounts give me. Would be different story, if I was allowed to contribute to Roth IRA. I actually didn't know about the backdoor conversion until this year, but that loophole seems to be on its way out.
you can usually roll your company's 401k savings into a self-managed IRA with level 2 options once a year, FYI
oh.. changing my elections now! thanks.
Unrelated: My company has an internal project named sharpy just like your nickname. It is a Python to C# source translator.
FYI - HSA is also basically a SEP IRA you can cash out when you're 65. A lot of people I know never plan to actually spend any of their HSA on healthcare until they're 65. https://www.fidelity.com/viewpoints/wealth-management/hsas-a...
Yeah, that's what I actually do. I didn't want to scare the non-Americans even more than they already are with our insurance :D

Note I didn't even get into IRAs, 401k, Megabackdoor Roths, etc.

If you want to purchase a home, you probably need to replace 2k with 4k-5k/month for a mortgage on a home (30 year loan) + ~1k/month in property taxes.

Add two kids, each 2k/mo/child in daycare.

That's 7k/month extra.

Still leaves you a nice chunk though.

> with 4k-5k/month for a mortgage on a home (30 year loan) + ~1k/month in property taxes.

That’s if you’re buying $1.3M house. There are plenty of good houses to be had in Seattle for $900k.

I haven't been looking, but i was under the impression that you could have some ... Last year, not in the recent months?

Maybe you are right, then the math changes, but only slightly?

I own a 1500 sq ft townhouse that I bought in 2017 for $480K with $80k down (all from RSUs, which if I had kept in AMZN would be worth... a lot more). My mortgage (refi'd in 2019) + HOA + taxes are $2500 a month.
> single, no kids

Yeah that is playing on easy. Now try with a big suburban home, private schools, and wife who needs a lot of healthcare.

Private school will sure cost you a lot, but healthcare will not, annual out of pocket maximums on most company plans are <$5k.
Thank you for this detailed breakdown.