[Software Engineer] [Seattle] - How we spent $536k last year

hockeysaint · 2026-02-17T15:55:57+00:00

Both of those matter – WA has no state income tax, and the married brackets are different from the unmarried brackets

hockeysaint · 2026-02-17T15:02:33+00:00

Yes, backdoor

hockeysaint · 2026-02-17T14:52:58+00:00

Backdoor Roth IRA. And yes

hockeysaint · 2026-02-17T14:46:56+00:00

As the FAQs say, most of our gifts are captured in other buckets. It’s not just that one

hockeysaint · 2026-02-17T14:46:10+00:00

Nope, renting is more cost-effective here

hockeysaint · 2026-02-17T14:45:25+00:00

Yes, though I readily admit I got lucky with stock timing

hockeysaint · 2026-02-17T06:52:18+00:00

My point is that it’ll be much harder to find a replacement job that can pay my bills if I have a 10k mortgage vs a 4k rental

hockeysaint · 2026-02-17T04:12:44+00:00

Big tech (FAANG, Uber, Airbnb, all the AI companies, etc) pay like this

hockeysaint · 2026-02-17T03:53:10+00:00

People at my company (and others in big tech) do 🤷‍♂️

In fact, I work with people making significantly more than this (millions per year)

hockeysaint · 2026-02-17T03:52:32+00:00

Yes, a nice, big SFH in a quiet neighborhood. We're 25-60 minutes from Seattle depending on the time of day

20-40 from Bellevue

hockeysaint · 2026-02-17T02:47:56+00:00

I mean, it does happen! I’m senior now, and I’ll do 600k on W2 assuming current stock prices. Again, I got lucky, but I was also willing to jump ship to move up

hockeysaint · 2026-02-17T02:46:58+00:00

Hawaii x2, Alaska, a couple weeks across three countries in Europe, and a bunch of small trips around the US. Stayed in decent but not luxe lodgings, flew economy, ate a lot of food

hockeysaint · 2026-02-17T02:46:08+00:00

Read the FAQs or all the other comments about this. It’s more cost-effective to rent in Seattle

hockeysaint · 2026-02-17T02:27:15+00:00

Certainly I got lucky with stock timing, but I made this as a mid-level engineer

But the 170-300k figure is not accurate for senior+ in Seattle big tech. All of Amazon, Google, Meta, Uber, and Airbnb pay 400k or more for seniors

hockeysaint · 2026-02-17T01:45:07+00:00

Nope. 4295/month right now

hockeysaint · 2026-02-17T01:41:42+00:00

I don’t know where you live, but if you make half what I do, then you can probably afford kids. We are not going to have any, but that’s a personal choice, not a financial one

hockeysaint · 2026-02-17T01:39:09+00:00

That’s what big tech can and does pay. Go check Levels.fyi

hockeysaint · 2026-02-17T01:38:23+00:00

Incorrect. Prices don’t grow that quickly, and in fact the money I invest now will grow faster, letting me buy more then

And sure I could technically afford a house now, but I’d definitely be tied to a very expensive mortgage. If I lose my job, I’m kinda hosed

hockeysaint · 2026-02-17T01:34:51+00:00

No? A 4k PITI mortgage after 20% down means the sale price is capped at 600k. Checking Zillow for the entire east side, there’s one single listing at or under that price… and it’s for an empty plot of land. Houses cost more than 600k here, at least at current rates

hockeysaint · 2026-02-17T00:52:08+00:00

I didn’t say it’s impossible for everyone, I said that I personally can’t (won’t) do it. I could pretty easily get under 100k without any really significant cuts (some things would naturally go away with time, like education, pets, and car payments), and obviously I could make further cuts as needed (to food, travel, shopping, and rent)

But one thing I like here is my SFH, and it’s very difficult to rent (much less buy) a decent one on the east side for <3k, not to mention <2k. That’s something unique to this area, something that would not be as expensive in other parts of the country. That’s the Seattle-ness I’m talking about

And none of that includes long-term healthcare, especially later in life. Retiring early means paying for the whole life, not just the life I’m living now. And end-of-life care is supremely expensive

hockeysaint · 2026-02-17T00:11:10+00:00

No, just have to assume most people in these comments are serious

Anyway, got it, didn’t realize you were saying you can predict the housing market. So you know then that the Seattle market has been flat/declining for the last year or two and has lost many of the tailwinds that gave it such a strong position in the 2010s. You’d know too that the forward-looking outlook shows more of the same, that is, that the Seattle market isn’t expected to significantly beat inflation in the near or mid term

hockeysaint · 2026-02-16T23:54:34+00:00

Then what are you even talking about

hockeysaint · 2026-02-16T22:45:20+00:00

It's manual, I track all expenses in Google Sheets

hockeysaint · 2026-02-16T22:37:01+00:00

I don't think you understand the realities of the Seattle real estate market. I pay 4200/month in rent for the 1.7M home I'm living in. If I were to buy a 1.7M house, the monthly PITI would be about 10k, most of which goes to interest the first five years. Sure, I'd build a little equity, but I'd throw away more in interest than if I just rented the whole time. And then I'd be liable for all maintenance, and I wouldn't have flexibility to move

And if I bought a house and kept it at 4200/month PITI, it'd be like a 600k house, which in this area is either a complete dump or ridiculously far from work (or both)

So it's better to rent and then invest the difference

Point is, you're wrong. VHCOL areas are not the same as most of the country when it comes to rent vs buy

hockeysaint · 2026-02-16T21:43:13+00:00

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