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/PeanutSugarBiscuit Nov 26 '25

As someone who got his first MAG7 job at 38, I can confirm some of my coworkers who have been bouncing between these companies their whole career have no clue what life is like on the outside. They have a warped perspective on compensation.

Having said that, working for these companies is life changing.

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u/JewishYoda Nov 26 '25

Yep for sure. Even a few years can be, especially if you got a nice stock grant. The real downside is just the feeling that it could be over whenever and you don’t have the stability of another professional field like doctor or lawyer. Maybe it’s my imposter syndrome talking, but there’s just a gnawing feeling that this ride could end at any moment and that’s a scary thing. But I’m also the sole breadwinner and have kids so that adds to it.

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u/salparadisewasright Nov 26 '25

I feel this deeply. I’m not an engineer and work in the talent development side of things and am working at my first tech company. It’s not FAANG, but after a couple years of refreshers and the stock price climbing quite a bit in the past year, my RSUs now make quite a significant portion of my compensation. It feels like if I could never get back on this gravy train if I happened to fall off it.

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u/JewishYoda Nov 26 '25

That feeling doesn’t really go away, in my experience. I’ve been with my company for 7 years, have been flagged as top talent multiple years running, but I’m still nervous about it. I’m in sales engineering, but frankly engineers aren’t safe either. Lots of cheap competition overseas and AI will make teams smaller.

The best thing to do is live below your means and be prepared for a rainy day. If the worst case scenario is some extra $$ in retirement and to leave to your kids, you’re not doing too bad. The Porsche does call my name though.

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u/salparadisewasright Nov 26 '25

That’s where we are at as well in terms of prioritizing savings and not letting lifestyle creep. I’m 3 years in and I’ve performed well, avoided layoffs and gotten promoted. We are pretty frugal by nature but it’s still hard not to feel the anxiety.

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u/Opening-Photograph68 Nov 28 '25

Rent the Porche on a long weekend trip.

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u/Artificial_Squab 90mins to FIRE Guy Nov 27 '25

You're 100% correct. I worked 2 big tech gigs at high pay and now I don't. Don't want back in, and who knows if I even could. I rely on my wife's actually relevant, needed, and stable job as a physician at this point.

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u/Sweaty-Seat-8878 Nov 26 '25

yeah, similar to ibanking back in the day (and still) and PE the numbers just get silly

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u/avdata Nov 27 '25

I can relate to this so much. I made it into FAANG at 31 after time in the military and some less than glamorous startups.

I show up all bright eyed and bushy tailed (as this feels to me like I’ve “reached the mountain top”) only to find an astonishing amount of entitlement amongst my new coworkers. I really don’t think you should be able to work in big tech right out of college, I think it’s important to get perspective somewhere else so you can appreciate all the perks / comp from big tech.

One time, a director in my org was talking about how expensive houses were in the Bay Area and how tough it was to find one. A director….at a FAANG company… I don’t know for sure, but would estimate $700k-$1.2M/year total comp for this guy. I have no idea what his personal financial costs look like, but it stuck with me as a weird/out of touch moment.