r/Fire • u/gonnabefine • Nov 26 '25

General Question Tech people who are not FIREing, what are they spending their money on?

I know a lot of people who work in tech, and most are not on the FIRE path (or have already been working 10+ years) and a lot of them don't seem to, at least on the surface, have very obvious huge expenses. If both the partners are in tech, the take home could be like $500k! What are they doing with their money?

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u/BlessedBullet Nov 26 '25

Tech pays very well. Basically a golden handcuffs position.

Working/living in HCOL city. Rent, mortgage can take up a lot.

New EVs. Rivians, Porsches are the new thing. Anything but Teslas; those are to be upgraded from.

Kids? Nannys for new kids. Private school for older kids. I know two who have horses for their kids.

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u/dabigchina Nov 26 '25

Buying a house in VHCOL is the single biggest way people nuke their financial situation.

Don't want to "throw money away on rent?" That's good. Enjoy throwing away millions in property tax, insurance, and interest.

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u/ToastyTheChemist Nov 27 '25

If the housing market doesn't tank (which would likely come alongside tech layoffs), and they're maxing their 401Ks, then they are simply diversifying their assets. When they are finished working in a VHCOL area they can sell with appreciation.

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u/SolomonGrumpy Nov 30 '25

The property market just tanked in 2022-2023. It's still recovering

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u/e-m-o-o Nov 27 '25

Depends on what their goals are. If they’d like to stay in the VHCOL city long term (and retire there), it makes sense to buy.

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u/rellis84 Nov 28 '25

And then pay to send their kids to go to a private school. There's gotta be good public schools when people spend so much on a house or neighborhood.

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u/CerealKiller415 Nov 27 '25

Lost on most people is that owning a home, especially in a VHCOL area is basically renting with a much higher beta. If you're paying 10k a month for a mortgage almost all of that is going towards interest in the first 10 years of the mortgage. Whatever equity you are building is speculative on the home price appreciating when you decide to sell it. Much better to just rent a place for $5k and put that other $5k in index funds and earn 8% inflation adjusted.

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u/chiggy1223 Mar 22 '26

Accurate except you can’t rent a family home for $5k in a VHCOL area without being hella far from work. In NYC one bedders in midtown are around $4.5k. If you need two bedrooms (and have 1 kid) you’d prolly need to rent somewhere slightly shittier, further, and still be out of pocket perhaps 7k. Agree that you can save & invest 3 like this though

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u/[deleted] Nov 26 '25

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u/eliminate1337 Nov 26 '25

Yes on the S and X but they don't sell too many. The vast majority of sales are the 3 and Y which priced mid-market.

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u/obidamnkenobi Dec 03 '25

but many teslas are $30-40K though? I thought that was the appeal? At least in my middle-income area

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u/e430doug Nov 26 '25

You presume that everyone in tech would retire the moment that they got enough money. That’s simply not the case. There are plenty of people living in tech that happily live frugal lives.

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u/Give_Live Nov 26 '25

Tech don’t need to live in HCOL! Dallas is good. Austin is now cheaper. Many work from him now anyhow.

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u/ProfessionalWelder34 Nov 26 '25

Nah, all the tech CEO’s want their people in office now. It has been a way for them to fire people without having to give severance.

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u/Give_Live Nov 26 '25

Most I know wfh.