A Twitter employee making $160,000 a year says he's only scraping by in San Francisco

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Tyler9000
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Re: A Twitter employee making $160,000 a year says he's only scraping by in San Francisco

Post by Tyler9000 »

When the median rent is $50k a year and the taxes on a salary that size are another $50k, it's easy to see how things can get out of hand very quickly. Two-thirds of your money is already gone even before the typical consumer spending kicks in.

I still consider it clickbait that obscures deeper issues, but it works because it's believable.
Last edited by Tyler9000 on Thu Mar 02, 2017 2:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

bryan
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Re: A Twitter employee making $160,000 a year says he's only scraping by in San Francisco

Post by bryan »

> median rent is $50k a year

He says it is $36k/year.

Yeah taxes would be ~$48k a year (yay CA and SF income taxes!), assuming his wife does not work, filing jointly, and is not using any tax advantaged HSA/401k/etc. ~$42k if he is maxing 401k. Crap.. I didn't include the child/dependent subsidy the government gives you either.. so it should be a bit less w/ two kids.

But that (after taxes, rent) still leaves him at around $75k, no? Seems OK..

Definitely expensive to raise a family in that city/area. Didn't see any mention of what they are doing for schooling, which is it's own issue in SF. Most people choose to commute for cheaper housing (he could live in a 2br duplex near BART offering a 35m commute for a low end of $1500/mo + $200 BART/mo).

Tyler9000
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Re: A Twitter employee making $160,000 a year says he's only scraping by in San Francisco

Post by Tyler9000 »

Yeah, I didn't mean to imply that I think he's truly a victim with no choice but to live paycheck to paycheck. I'm guessing some combination of private schooling and entertainment budget (eating out every meal is not uncommon) is a significant contributor. But the article is typical of the genre that pushes a victim narrative over details. Those in SF nod approvingly, those outside roll their eyes, and both supply the monetizing clicks.

El Duderino
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Post by El Duderino »

I like hearing how other people spend their money. Probably a big part of why journals are interesting to read. We all value different things and have a different capacity to pay.

Here's a little poem I just came up with.

Be rich or be broke. 'Spending power' is the punchline to that joke.
Be wealthy or be poor. Difference is thinking you need more.

jacob
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Re: A Twitter employee making $160,000 a year says he's only scraping by in San Francisco

Post by jacob »

Of course, he could move into an RV park in the east bay (tele)commuting to SF for about $6k/year/person and pocket the difference. People do do that. Two out of three of my neighbors did exactly that when I lived there.

Overall, though, this mainly illustrates the difference in Wheaton levels although admittedly picking a sensationalist 2-3 sigma consumer as a reference point.

However, based on statements from struggling coworkers et al. I have some level of sympathy when it comes to #firstworldproblems. For example, daycare that provide lessons in Mandarin Chinese to infants can easily run 3-5k/month. Yes, everybody knows it's silly, but if you got the money, why not? Loafs of foie gras cost $75+ per pound. Renting a temperature controlled storage unit (not easy to gain access to) for your wine cellar because you don't have the space in your multi-story 1200sqft dwntwn condo is .. somewhat more than it costs to compensate for silly middle class hoarding proclivities... but an affordable need. You'll store your whiskey there too because you're unaware that temps don't matter much at that proof. And then there's all the time spent trading restaurant subscriptions with your coworkers in order to get into or onto a table at a 2+ Michelin star restaurant. Fancy restaurants can sell access by subscription because turning ignorant consumerism into predictable cashflows is not just a thing for the middle class.

Point being ... all that "struggling" supports multiple people doing just fine taking the money.

BRUTE
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Re: A Twitter employee making $160,000 a year says he's only scraping by in San Francisco

Post by BRUTE »

his biggest expense is the $3,000 he drops on rent for a two-bedroom house in San Francisco
who did this guy murder to get that lease? that's essentially living for free.

Smashter
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Re: A Twitter employee making $160,000 a year says he's only scraping by in San Francisco

Post by Smashter »

@Brute +1, what the heck?

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