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> Most people here probably have around $5-10M in assets given we’re mostly in tech

Nothing against you OP but this the perfect highlight how out of touch HN can be from the reality.

> Most people here probably have around $5-10M in assets

There is no way this is true. FAANG pays well, but that is still an eye popping amount of wealth unless you're an executive or absolute top-echelon engineer.

> Most people here probably have around $5-10M in assets given we’re mostly in tech

Even in a SV world I'm trying to get my head around the logical leap that gets you to this number. Median comp in SV is <500k - that's 20 years in the business to earn $10m ignoring taxes & your actual living expenditure. Obviously we can jump that with equity, but that's still not moving the dial far enough for the "majority" to be up at those heights.

I don't see how we're getting anywhere near these figures without generational wealth (assume this is the answer).

> Most people here probably have around $5-10M in assets given we’re mostly in tech.

Maybe if you are in SV. I know this post is about the US but tech in EU definitely doesn’t put you in the 10m€ bracket

"before i joined FAANG i was poor"

I dont think that's in the books for everyone

> Most people here probably have around $5-10M in assets given we’re mostly in tech

Some European making 3k/month net probably wept reading this.

I think your comment strikes at an issue that everyone feels but is hard to articulate - there's true poverty (Appalachia, say) and then there's "working-class poor" which you can try to define but nearly everyone puts themselves into it. Perhaps a better term is "paycheck to paycheck" - by almost any measure, anyone gainfully employed in the USA is rich beyond the world's wildest dreams - but telling a family making $40k a year that they make more than 90% of the world doesn't help.

I have a box full of cables, that's what I have.

An awful take from someone who clearly hasn’t studied California itself.

Around 17% of CA residents live below the poverty line, which means MILLIONS of adults that are not students. Elderly are a significant chunk of that number.

https://www.ppic.org/publication/poverty-in-california/

https://calbudgetcenter.org/resources/young-californians-fac...

If someone works for 50 years, and earns 100'000$ per year, he will have 5 million dollars at the end.

If he manages to not spend anything, like on housing, or food.

This really only applies to certain class of SV people who've ridden the tech wave by arriving at the correct time.

Not sure about that "most people here". Maybe in SV? Not in Europe.

If I were to liquidate my whole existence, I'd probably end up at maybe 300k€? Maybe? And that is already rather high up here in Germany.

I'm not sure it applies to SV either. Like definitely some, but not even most.

I’m in NYC and I don’t make that kind of money.

> Most people here probably have around $5-10M

I expect most people here to certainly be nowhere near that.

> Most people here probably have around $5-10M in assets given we’re mostly in tech.

You would be surprised. Not only because, as you point out, recent graduates often have a negative net worth, but also because people tend to increase their spending in lockstep with their income.

Saving millions takes the intersection of multiple factors: sufficient disposable income, prioritizing investing over lifestyle, long-term discipline to stick to the plan, and luck to keep it all going smoothly.

>Most people here probably have around $5-10M in assets given we’re mostly in tech.

In yen perhaps.

Jaw dropping that you would think that, even in SV. Many people in tech are losing their jobs to AI, many cannot afford a home.

You're looking at the tower above but maybe you should look at the valley below.