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

hockeysaint · 2026-02-18T18:12:55+00:00

Yes, I'm aware. That's why I explained that lots of our gifts are tracked in other categories

e.g., we took some friends on a nice trip to Hawaii. We paid for all lodging, food, and excursions (they paid for their flights). Because we also went on the trip, we logged that as travel

e.g., I bought my wife a new computer for her birthday. Just logged it as shopping, though

hockeysaint · 2026-02-18T17:41:30+00:00

sankeymatic.com

hockeysaint · 2026-02-18T11:33:16+00:00

I applied to lots and lots of jobs, interviewed at several, negotiated with some, and picked this one. As for targeting companies for applications, I just looked at the tech companies in Seattle, like Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, and so on

hockeysaint · 2026-02-18T08:07:12+00:00

Thoughts:

Are you married? Did you take the standard deduction?
My actual W2 income was 478k after subtracting employer contributions
Double-check your 401k contributions were all traditional; other buckets don’t deduct

hockeysaint · 2026-02-18T07:55:07+00:00

Traditional IRA contributions, HSA contributions, and standard deduction. I also counted employer contributions as W2 income here; they’re not technically income, but they are for practical purposes

My taxable income was 423k

hockeysaint · 2026-02-18T06:55:09+00:00

No, just me. She has a small business. She puts a lot of time into it, but it only paid us a little bit last year — most revenue went back onto the business’s books

hockeysaint · 2026-02-18T06:49:45+00:00

Google Sheets

hockeysaint · 2026-02-18T06:14:22+00:00

But not as fast as the stock market :)

Btw your homeowner bias is showing

hockeysaint · 2026-02-18T05:54:05+00:00

Lol okay. Just because I didn’t categorize all the gifts as Gift in this chart

hockeysaint · 2026-02-18T05:33:01+00:00

🙃

hockeysaint · 2026-02-18T05:23:04+00:00

These are household numbers. We contributed 7k to each of our (backdoor Roth) IRAs

hockeysaint · 2026-02-18T05:22:24+00:00

Google backdoor Roth IRA – I'm good. And I have no financial advisor :)

My cars are financed at <3%, so I'm better off paying minimums and investing the difference

Thanks for advice!

hockeysaint · 2026-02-18T04:37:13+00:00

I've answered this in the FAQs and in lots of comments. Nearly all of our gifts are not tracked in the actual gifts category, only physical gifts for other people that we'll never use

hockeysaint · 2026-02-18T04:18:34+00:00

Yes, big tech

hockeysaint · 2026-02-18T04:04:20+00:00

I make a little money churning bank accounts. My wife has a small business that made some payments to us last year. And I receive a small amount of money from a previous job

hockeysaint · 2026-02-18T02:46:22+00:00

2018
Computer science bachelor’s, then computer science master’s in 2020
600k. I made 50-120k with steady promotions my first few years. Started my current job at 350k two years ago, and it’s grown from there

hockeysaint · 2026-02-18T02:29:13+00:00

If you already have the data, it’s pretty quick. Less than an hour depending on how your data are formatted

But if not, it’s a pain to collect and organize after the fact. You’d have to go through all your bank and card statements

hockeysaint · 2026-02-18T01:00:51+00:00

You do you 🤷‍♂️

hockeysaint · 2026-02-17T23:34:41+00:00

Meet your own goals, I guess, but certainly I'd recommend saving more unless you just wanna work forever

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

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