[xyzzy123]

I think the risk is more feeling trapped. e.g. buying into a housing market you probably couldn't afford if you were taking more risk or bootstrapping. It catches up to you fast, especially if you're in the midlife crisis age band.

Getting "paid more than you'd be worth anywhere else" has its price.

[Karrot_Kream]

Yeah I'm leaving a Big Tech feeling this pain now and it's exactly this. I stayed careful over the years to stay clearly within my means and have the freedom to walk away but still hold onto previous saved earnings. But I have coworkers who bought huge houses in high COL neighborhoods and nice luxury cars who feel too trapped to leave Big Tech.

[germinalphrase]

For you, does ‘leaving Big Tech’ also mean moving yourself/your family to a lower cost of living area?

[Karrot_Kream]

No because I've lived very frugally over the years and my partner also works in tech. For years we had no car and only recently bought one for the family. We stay well within our means and save most of what we earn. We have a small mortgage on a cozy townhome. Nothing we can't comfortably pay off on a non Big Tech TC.

[germinalphrase]

Nice. Good stuff.

[metalforever]

This is extremely accurate.

I worked at a big tech company and saw a good portion of my team buying houses at the same time, a lot of which were a lot more junior than me. I know what they bought, where and roughly how much it cost. A lot of the time, they're only making it work by having (2) two big tech salaries or 1 big tech salary and a second senior-level tech salary. My thought at the time is that it was very high risk.