Ask HN: Did you become millionaire after working in tech?

You might want to be more specific. "Millionaire" just means "assets one million dollars or more". You can get there after several years at a decent salary.

My path was just getting a regular old mid-level engineer job at a rapidly growing company, where I still work. Nothing fancy. I will say my timing was good though. (Pure luck)

Being a millionaire isn't enough for most people to retire these days unless you are older or relatively close to death.

Hit $1M after about 6 years at FAANG

  > sum(130*1.1**i for i in range(6))
  1003.0293

Yes, probably cashed out at around $1.5m - but a long journey. Co-founded startup around turn of the century, growth slow but upwards. Institutional investors come on-board, and maybe 5 years in was the opportunity to sell some founder stock to institutional investors. Because this is not my first rodeo, we knew that when there’s an opportunity to get some cash, if you don’t take it, the chance might not come again. Sold enough for a house (would be a deposit now...). A few years later, IPO gave the opportunity to cash out up to 25% of each founders individual holding at more or less IPO price, so I did. Which was lucky, as the company got hammered by the markets (couldn’t continue hockey stick growth), and eventually it got gobbled up by one of those funds that picks up undervalued SaaS companies for a song, which was what I got for the remaining holding.

$1.5m is not enough for helicopter retirement, but it is enough to dig out of a hole when life takes unexpected turns, and you need to do things like buy a new house at 30 days notice without having to (or being able to) sell your old one.

Yep, I crossed $1m in investments this year.

I wanted out of the rat race ASAP so I have lived frugally and am set to quit tech for good in a few months. I would have already quit were it not for covid – figured I might as well make some more $ given the restrictions on life.

I have usually saved 80% - 90% of my income for the past few years. This translates to monthly index fund investments of $15k - $20k.

How? I lucked out big time and have managed to work remotely as an engineer for a Bay Area company with Bay Area pay while living in cheaper places. I also have stock in said company that will likely be worth >$2m (of course I value startup stock at 0, but things are looking very good for this particular company).

I haven't had to live under a rock to save all of this money, either. I spent years traveling and adventuring around the world pre-covid. Travel does not have to be expensive – I'd go as far as to argue that spending a lot of money for travel means you're getting a prepackaged mass-manufactured experience optimized for comfort. I like adventures and challenges, not being comfortable :)

I used to be cheap like my refugee parents, but I've since found a nice balance. I happily use money to eat healthily and solve problems like missing a flight. I enjoy spending money on making other people happy. But fuck the newest iPhone – who needs that shit when your old phone works just fine?

I abhor consumerism and live as minimally as possible out of my small backpack (excluding adventure gear). That doesn't mean I hate stuff – I just hate the kind of stuff you tend accumulate without thinking and the stuff that costs more in freedom than the value it offers. For example, I just spent $3k recently on top-of-the-line winter gear because I want to expand my adventures into arctic climates this winter. But the idea of buying a mattress or a costume for halloween gives me anxiety. I'd rather completely avoid or outsource owning things like that.

For me, the freedom of being able to put my clothes and laptop into a backpack and walk into a flight is priceless. A lot of the annoying things about travel (having to drag your suitcase around, standing in line for a spot in the overhead compartment, having to go to your accomadation right away to drop off your stuff) are completely solved when your backpack fits under the seat in front of you in flights and on your lap even in the most crowded bus. (My adventure gear is usually parked somewhere, but I can carry around my larger backpack, too.)

I feel most alive when I'm doing something in the great outdoors. I have taken month or two chunks of unpaid time off every year for my adventures, but I'm really looking forward to being completely free from work obligations next year.

My life has not been easy – my childhood was really fucked up so I became an introvert full of shame, anxiety, and trauma. I did learn to program and escape into the virtual world of computers, but otherwise I have had to fight many battles against my demons to grow into someone I actually like being. The encounters with so many kind strangers during my travels and my experiences with psychedelics have helped me shed who I thought I had to be and embrace who I am with my flaws and all. I'd choose that over my money every single time, but I'm glad to have both.

I now find myself at a place where I am comfortable being vulnerable and creating space for others to share the darkest parts of themselves. To make use of that skill, I recently started doing volunteer work with youth – I can no longer help the poor, lost little boy that I once was, but I can help kids who are as fucked up as I once was. Last time, a young girl opened up about her suicidal thoughts, depression, and eating disorder for the first time. She has a ways to go, but it's a huge step for her.

I think there is a severe lack of authenticity in our world and I want to do my small part to change that post-tech. Other than more adventures of course :)

I have about $1.5m in my investment account heading into my late 30s. I would say about half of it came from regularly investing leftover income in index funds, 25% from a condo that I bought and sold in the bay area, and 25% from my parents. Despite spending the majority of my career working as a developer at startups, very little of it came from equity.

I think if I had worked a little harder, I probably could have made a lot more money by just chasing after higher paying gigs. But on the other hand, I don’t cope well with stress and I don’t regret sticking to lower paid (but still pretty good in the grand scheme) and more relaxed jobs. I even took a fairly large pay cut once to get out of a stressful job.

$1.5m certainly does not feel like a lot of money, especially with a single income family and kids. I drive a used car, fly economy, etc., so I definitely wouldn’t say I’ve made it big. Maybe if I had $10m... but even then there are going to be a lot of things you still can’t afford.

I got my first million by being an early employee at a startup for a few years, and cashing out: horrible deal, absolutely horrible reward compared to the risk taken and the years invested, I could have gone to FAANG and get at least that much with minimal risk (and likely much, much more considering their stock growth over those same years!).

I got the second million by working at FAANG, finally convinced that being an early startup employee on average is for suckers.

The third million came by investing in boring index funds throughout my entire adult life.

Currently working on the 4 million mark, by working a very lucrative but mind-destroying tech job in finance.

When I arrive at $4M, I might call it quit and go to Thailand for a few years, which I love. I’m 34, no kids and no plans of having any, my parents are relatively well off and unlikely to need financial help from me, so $4M should last me for the rest of my life with a general minimalistic lifestyle.

No, I'm not a millionaire. Pretty much everyone working in tech (in the US) can be if they work long enough and live within their means. It will probably take me close to 25 years to amass that amount since I have a family and an average job.

I'm feeling disillusioned after reading some of the replies. Does anyone else have anxiety from "not having enough" money in savings and retirement funds?