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by cbhl 615 days ago
> how much could you conservatively make in a replacement job? If you set your current spending based on that level of income

I didn't love the numbers in the article -- they assume $500k total comp, but the levels.fyi heatmap from a few days ago shows SFBA median total comp is $263k, with 64% being base so $169k. Federal taxes are 64k, state taxes are 21k. That leaves you with maybe ~$80k in liquid salary.

A market-rate studio apartment is $2700-$3000/mo which is about $36k in annual expense. That's about half of your income. Add food and transportation and there's not much left to save for retirement or emergency fund.

If for some reason you are in the lurch and have to start driving ubers or working at starbucks, you're not going to be able to afford the same kind of apartment that you need to do hybrid work and join meetings at a FAANG job.

1 comments

Wouldn't your non-base salary (nearly $100k) be your savings/emergency fund?