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Comment by thrownawaysz | Hacker News Reader

> Most people here probably have around $5-10M in assets given we’re mostly in tech.

Maybe if you are in SV. I know this post is about the US but tech in EU definitely doesn’t put you in the 10m€ bracket

Yes, salaries in the EU are generally pretty bad, and then you have high taxes on top. That's a good reason for why I left the place.

(Though to Singapore, not to the US. Salaries are higher than in the EU (though less than in SV), taxes are a lot lower than in either. Quality of life is higher than in the US for me.)

Even in the USA you're not getting to $5m net worth on salary alone, not without decades of it.

(Or as more likely, you've been in SV since Apple was a twinkle in the garage and your house is worth north of $5m.)

For comparison purposes, $5m invested well should be about $150k a year forever (3% safe withdrawal rate). If you have a net worth of $5m you should be able to live without working - if you want to (median US household income is $87k).

Anyway, off to buy some $10 bananas.

> For comparison purposes, $5m invested well should be about $150k a year forever (3% safe withdrawal rate). If you have a net worth of $5m you should be able to live without working - if you want to (median US household income is $87k).

This is all getting more annoying with capital gains taxes (and inflation, since capital gains taxes are usually levied on nominal gains).

I moved to a place with simpler taxes, including no capital gains taxes.

> If you have a net worth of $5m you should be able to live without working - if you want to (median US household income is $87k).

Depends on how much you want to live off.

> Even in the USA you're not getting to $5m net worth on salary alone, not without decades of it.

I don't think the original commenter was talking about juniors who just started?

Although looking at Levels.fyi, salaries in London are significantly more than Singapore, and that's with the CoL apparently being higher in Singapore.

You need to look at net salaries after taxes. And for CoL it depends on what your consumption basket is. My cost of living would be higher in London. (I lived in both places.) I don't drive, I don't smoke, I use public transport a lot, and I pay for household help. I do drink beer, which is expensive in Singapore, but it's a small part of my overall budget.

I save a lot of money on 0% capital gains taxes here.

I regularly check London jobs and interview for them, but the numbers haven't made sense so far.

Nowhere BUT the US puts you in that bracket.

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