I would like to travel before I have kids and eat out often while I am under 40 and (thankfully) my gut can digest all that. I would like to invest in my hobbies, stay in a fancy apartment and drive a cool car while I don't have a lot of responsibilities. But I also read about investing smartly, savings, building assets when you don't have a lot of household expenses to take care of. How do you strike a balance between the two? For those who chose one over the other, would you change your decision if you have to go back? Edit: I can only do either of the two (live my life or save) because I earn peanuts in a non tech role.
Genuine question here, does Axtria gives you that much freedom?
I added an edit to the post. Does that answer your question?
Realize that most material things are pretty much useless. They give you a quick shoot of happiness but it goes away in one or two days. Experiences are what life is worth living for. That is; traveling, meeting people, learning a new sport etc. I realized quickly that a lot of my friends spend 70k$ to drive in a fancy BMW but never get out of the country. Buy a cheap reliable car, live in a cheap one bedroom or get flatmates and if you are in tech you will be able to both save , invest and live all those crazy experiences. Don't fall for the materialistic American bullshit
If you make more than 150k, you can literally live a good life in sf., Travel and save 3/4k a month. Of course don't stay in a 400$/night hotel, but if you are ok living an adventure for a medium budget you will be fine.
150k is 7.4 after tax - 3k rent - 1.5k misc and you only have 2.9k left each month before saving...
Yin and Yang.
Looking back on all the years I travelled, had some best experiences because I chose to spend even when I couldnāt afford to. I met amazing people, had great intimate encounters, both dating and complete strangers, learned things about different cultures I never would watching tv. Save emergency fund while you can and then spend 2-3 years traveling, learning. Not on meaningless materialistic things that will lose value. You will never regret it.
You had āintimate encountersā during travel? Mind elaborating?
It's not uncommon. I have had those too in my limited travel experience, and so have my friends.
You can still travel and live luxury with tech salaries, you just wonāt save much. Itās completely personal, Iād say experiences > savings = lux . If you donāt care about buying a home soon etc you can just spend. Divide your tc into can spend and want to save as percentages. Realize how much you can move. A lot of people want to save a lot; if you donāt care about early retirement, buying house and saving for kids college etc you can spend extra.
If you make more than 150k, you can literally live a good life in sf., Travel and save 3/4k a month. Of course don't stay in a 400$/night hotel, but if you are ok living an adventure for a medium budget you will be fine.
Buy stuff you like, spend as you like, don't get married, date, travel, experience new cultures, make a mark in the world, and die!
Don't forget YOSO - You only save once.
People who save are the ones who want to retire early. I want to enjoy now and do what makes me happy. My parents are in early 70s, have traveled more than 100 destinations and they work still. But guess what they never regretted saving or retire early. They love the way they lived and love their work. As long as you have a good emergency fund you are good to go.
He who dies with the most debt wins
YOLO is the priority! Money is just a number in the bank account and you need to materialize it. More money = more risk. If you have lots of money, you are more likely to get sued by others who are trying to get a slice of your money for any small incident
Microsoft hiring bar must be low nowadays
lol wut mate