[sharpy]

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.

[tshaddox]

Out of curiosity, assuming the retirement you mention is a 401k, why don’t you elect to contribute the yearly maximum?

[sharpy]

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.

[VRay]

you can usually roll your company's 401k savings into a self-managed IRA with level 2 options once a year, FYI

[sharpy]

oh.. changing my elections now! thanks.

[lostmsu]

Unrelated: My company has an internal project named sharpy just like your nickname. It is a Python to C# source translator.