Are you a consultant then? What type of projects do you do and how do you find clients? This is something I'd love to do once my current gig is done.
I've also gone and worked for a postdoc salary (at Berkeley, on the Bloom language) because the project was so interesting. Once you own a home outright, and health insurance is taken care of, the other expenses are completely manageable. I don't need to earn a lot to lead a rich life.
That is the checklist of a rich person, own home outright, health insurance taken care of, and manageable other expenses.
If you were the same age, but had no home ownership, no health insurance, and dependants how would that change your perspective?
Maybe your definition of rich is incorrect?
Also, I've worked as a barista. My high paying tech job is waaaay easier.
A young person with desired skills could easily be making more than twice this amount in the Bay Area. Owning a house is strictly optional (and a bit mad, to own a house in earthquake country, esp at those prices!)
Point is, many people vastly overestimate how much they need to enjoy a rich life. There's plenty of room at the bottom :)
Now, 50K is huge for the vast majority of the population, so this is all still rich talk. But the HN community is probably in the top 2 percentile of the world's population, so I feel little freer in saying so.
I lean right on political issues, but it wouldn't hurt my feelings at all if a Democrat won in 2020 and actually pushed through significant healthcare reform.