[slavetologic]

You should realize that faang swe income, on a risk adjusted basis, is the best you will get. Hold on as long as possible and invest your earnings into the stock market. Ignore the noise. You quit when you have enough to retire

[posix_monad]

I think you can go higher working in finance, trading etc as a SWE. However, it's more difficult to get through the door.

[gaws]

> However, it's more difficult to get through the door.

Indeed. An expert-level knowledge of C++ helps.

[chpatrick]

I think there is something to be said for starting a company when you're younger and more risk-tolerant though. If you wait until you're middle aged and set for life you might never do it.

[VirusNewbie]

conversely, money early on in life is worth more than money later on in life. This can be especially true once you get into a house you're happy with.

Your housing expenses are likely to be your single largest (fixed) expense, so if someone can work hard for a few years and buy a place, it's a lot easier to coast on lower paying jobs.

[ethbr1]

Agreed from personal experience. And a huge component of housing is where you live.

I'd argue that the single most financially-beneficial choice you can make as a SWE is finding a remote or hybrid job, then leveraging that to live somewhere you enjoy that allows you to save much more money.

[barbazoo]

What's the "risk" in this case?

[TOMDM]

I assumed they meant compared to a startup where potential reward is massive but most of the time isn't.

[RobRivera]

Remove 'into the stock market'

But otherwise yea concur.

I'm a stickler for diversified asset class allocation

Edit: Normally I am not a fan of explaining myself, but the most fundamental principle of wealth management, diversification, calibrating your risk exposure to various markets, is being downvoted. Thank you for the reminder people

[practicemaths]

Where else are you supposed to get average ~10% returns?

Or is your last bit just saying like do some other investments besides purely stock?

[RobRivera]

The latter

[jdewerd]

(this post sponsored by Masterworks)

[RobRivera]

What is Masterworks?

[jdewerd]

A company that lets you "invest" in fine art. They sell shares in famous paintings & such that they buy, hold, and sell (and charge big fees to do so, naturally). I think they predate the NFT craze, but when they saw it happening they started running extremely aggressive astroturf / content marketing campaigns trying to convince people that fine art was an "alternative asset class" worthy of investment. These articles/posts had a bait and switch quality to them: you would start reading something that sounded conservative and reasonable about the importance of diversification and then BAM, they hit you with "alternative asset classes like fine art" and then you would realize you had been reading an ad. That's what I'm parodying here.

[RobRivera]

Ah - Well for those tracking this comment chain, other asset classes include: Bonds, Real Estate, Currency, Commodities.