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Comment by Animats | Hacker News Reader

A lot of people who are making $300K a year in Silicon Valley are going to be in that situation around age 50.

That can be accurate, but keep in mind that the people ins Silicon Valley are there using the brain and therefore more aware of the financials of their lives. Artists and sportists on the other hand can be a bit more detached from how much they make. I am not saying that this happens in 100% of the cases but there is a correlation.

I kind of agree with your sentiment but you make it sound a bit like artists don't use their brain, or are outright stupid - which I don't think you meant and I don't think is true.

I am not responsible of how it sounds to you. But you are free to think that I have directed an insult to millions of people out there, of course.

Well, it goes both ways. No shortage of tech worker manchildren who despite their financial situation still have no idea how to behave in a way that will encourage people to like them.

There's going to be a lot of difference in practice between accumulating a lot of money over the course of decades until you're in a pretty good place in your 50s, and having all of that dumped on you in one fell swoop when you're 19.

Among the things that a SV engineer who manages that has to think about is if they have children, what happens when they die. It's nice to pass some things on to your children, but at the same time, plopping a million dollars in assets down on your kid all at once may not be doing them favors. Best to look at your options. (I'm not going into it here just because it's really more than fits into an HN message, nor should you take the advice from me; I'm aware that there are options.)

Most people who make a lot of money blow through it in about 7 years.

I know a couple who blew through $15 million. The wife ended up working as a cook in a restaurant.

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