There are a lot of people on this very site making 500k+ pre-tax. You're going to be taking home 300ish after taxes in that case, and it's not entirely unreasonable to "only" have 150ish for savings/investments/disposable income after your housing and living costs are taken out of that
If someone has $12k+ to spend per month and won't spend $10k to save their pet's life, they're an asshole IMO
I agree that people complaining about the higher tax brackets are oblivious at best, but I'll add that there's no income test to post here. I feel like I do OK (especially given that I have a job that doesn't require the sale of my soul), but it's far from 500K lol.
You should go get that money, dude. Life's too short to waste it all working
Pick a FAANG you don't feel too bad about, hit the LeetCode hard for a few months, then go work there for 5 years. You can save up $750k+, which is enough to leave Silicon Valley and eke out a barebones retirement somewhere in the real world (~$30k/year at a 4% safe withdrawal rate)
There are a lot of people on this very site making 500k+ pre-tax. You're going to be taking home 300ish after taxes in that case, and it's not entirely unreasonable to "only" have 150ish for savings/investments/disposable income after your housing and living costs are taken out of that
If someone has $12k+ to spend per month and won't spend $10k to save their pet's life, they're an asshole IMO