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Comment by almost_usual | Hacker News Reader

You’d be surprised how quickly that money is spent in the Bay Area considering taxes, housing costs, and childcare for parents.

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If you are living paycheck to paycheck on $480k/yr comp you're doing something wrong. Even in the bay

that's just enough to get the nice spot under the bridge

Let's see: 480/yr -> 240/yr after tax -> 20/mon. May or may not cover mortgage in the Bay Area.

20k a month isn't enough to cover a mortgage? My friend what are you saying? 20k a month mortgage means you can purchase a $4.3 million dollar house. 91% of houses on the market in SF are less expensive than that.

Your math on taxes is pretty far off too.

Does not cover the mortgage for the house I'm in. I'm in a 2bd/2ba.

If your mortgage is $20k a month then thats because you are paying it down over something like 10 years and almost all that $20k is going into capital.

No, it's a 30 year and it's because I live in San Carlos and homes are very expensive in the bay area.

See my earlier post. 20k can afford a 4.3m mortgage. 91% of houses on the market in the bay cost less than that. Let's not pretend you have you pay that high of a mortgage because there's no other choices

20k at 4.3m assumes a really low mortgage rate. Current rates are at 7%+.

$3m home. 1.44% tax rate. 7.2% mortgage 20% down. $6k/yr insurance.

=> $20k/month

The numbers are mostly made up. As I am seeing stats say the average is 7.4% for jumbo loans and insurance is really about your own risk tolerance and what you can get away with in terms of minimum coverage. Tax rate will be variable based upon your super specific plot. Could be close to 1% - could be closer to 1.5%. Zillow says 1.44% for my neighbors homes. Some estimates were saying insurance was saying $1k/month but I've seen much lower in the bay but then again - depends on how close you are to trees, hills, etc.

But I can tell you that none of the homes near me have been selling below $3m. $3m is the floor.

In which case you'll be far better off renting for half that

Financially, yes. In terms of your own sanity, no.

I have friends in $3m homes who rent and have their landlord visit almost every fucking day (like on the property for an hour+ - doing "landscaping" but really just trying to avoid their wife). You don't know who the hell you're renting from nor much of an option in this super competitive landscape.

Glad you've accepted that you were wrong though.

I make it work with 420k combined income, and I’m able to save 20% (with a kid on the way not sure how this will change but that’s also why we have been saving aggressively prior).

You don’t need to send them to private school and rent a swanky place or buy a 2M home. You can get things below the median and it’ll be ok, you’ll live.

> I make it work with 420k combined income, and I’m able to save 20%

> You can get things below the median and it’ll be ok, you’ll live

Median household income is about $140k. Well done for "making it work" on 3 times the median income.

> considering taxes

California prohibits local payroll taxes. SF doesn't charge more taxes on income than anywhere else in CA. So please, tell me, what is the undue taxation burden facing you in the bay?

$480k base. Lets assume you're the only income but still have to pay childcare (single parent)

Take home $22k a month

$10k on a swanky place like

https://www.zillow.com/apartments/san-francisco-ca/490-avenu...

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/727-Moraga-St-San-Francis...

$3k on childcare https://familychildcaresf.com/child-care-san-francisco/

Leaving $9k a month

$9k a month is still more than I have ever dreamed of making and that's after housing and childcare?

Insane

$9K/mo translates to a little over a hundred grand annually. That's not that much in our industry.

That's $9k/mo free spending _after_ taxes, _after_ childcare, and _after_ exorbitantly luxurious housing.

Yeah, this is what I mean

Sure, 9k pre-tax and pre-childcare and pre-housing isn't that unusual in our industry

But takehome after that is a really incredible salary.

Especially given how ridiculous that housing is

$9k a month after tax is about $150k before tax.

The median individual salary in California is about $50-60k

$480k on its own (ignoring stock) is a ridiculous level, it's $285k after tax.

Yet someone with $1b in investments "earning" 10% makes $270k every day.

Someone with a "mere" $10m makes that $480k gross every 6 months.

young cosmopolitan tech workers are not particularly likely to have children.

bro

Absolute cinema.

Nonsense

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