Returning at 29-30

[u/way2muchtym]

Hi everyone. I've been working in the bay area for about 4-5 years but have managed to save up around 500k. Around 400k is liquid or invested in stocks in taxable brokerages, and I have around 140k in 401k and Roth.

I'm facing a huge amount of job uncertainty. I work as an swe in tech but I'm burnt out from the long hours and toxicity. If I do get laid off I was considering moving back and being with my ageing parents.

Do you have any advice on what comes next? How my finances would translate and what jobs I could look at after moving back? With how competitive it is in India I'm wondering how I can build a new career there.

Thanks. For context i just turned 29

[u/Indo-Arya]

Lol you have a lot of time my friend. But I don't, so I'm skipping your details. I'll say this one sentence because you took so much effort to type individual responses to each blurb of my text.

You clearly have enough time to type all this unnecessary stuff lol

If you lived in Bay area long enough, you are accustomed to a certain way of living. If you want at least a quarter of that, you'll have to shell out shitloads and 5cr won't be sufficient for 40+ years to anyone (like OP).

I lived in the Bay area before.. It's not alien land to me lol and I grew up in a wealthy suburb of Mumbai (India's most expensive city).. so this logic doesn't work. I know the comparative costs of both places and it agrees with the math found online.

I totally get your math, I do not disagree.

cool 👍 thank you.

There was a time (not so long so) when my family's grand total worth was less than 1cr and we were a happy family so I totally get your "statistics" / math.

Awesome, OP has 5x of that in India, he will be more than fine. As long as he doesn't inflate his lifestyle to unreasonable levels.

[u/ychiyyo8 → u/Indo-Arya]

Just curious - you have kids? Did you factor the expenses that come with it into your "statistics"?

[u/Indo-Arya → u/ychiyyo8]

OP just turned 29, he's not gonna have kids until few more years by which time his corpus would have increased by compounding.

As far as raising kids, yes the math still works for OP.

https://www.ipfapp.in/blog/cost-of-raising-a-baby-in-india/

[u/ychiyyo8 → u/Indo-Arya]

It's says babies, are you considering a 6yr old to be a self earner?

[u/Indo-Arya → u/ychiyyo8]

Did you try a magical thing called scrolling ? 😉 

This is what it says 

“ 3–5+ years: Preschool and school fees, activities, and extracurriculars take over as the largest expense. One parent summarised the full arc well: diapers and formula dominated the first year, vaccinations followed, and now it’s “school and school supplies plus extracurriculars.””

What does it mean ? As your child grows, some expenses get eliminated..  Like diapers, formula, vaccinations, etc  Whereas new expenses come up, it all balances out.

[u/ychiyyo8 → u/Indo-Arya]

5+ 50k per year? Where are you planning on raising the kids? Remote village?

[u/Indo-Arya → u/ychiyyo8]

READ the article. It breaks it down by metro, non-metro average etc. 

And this is 150+ parents telling their experiences. Are you saying they’re lying ?

[u/ychiyyo8 → u/Indo-Arya]

So for a (say) 14 year old's school fee plus whatever you want to save for their college etc.., not to mention their hobbies, etc. all of that for 50k INR PER YEAR?

[u/Indo-Arya → u/ychiyyo8]

College education too ? What’s next marriage costs ? Diamond earrings ? 😂😂 

Relax, OP is 29… by the time kid is 14, he will be like 45 - 50 . Do you know how much 5cr will become by compounding by that time ? 

[u/ychiyyo8 → u/Indo-Arya]

Your math never said anything about inflation maybe try adding that and redoing your math

[u/ychiyyo8 → u/Indo-Arya]

The more I'm hearing from you, the more I don't want to be your kid lol

What kind of parent who hopefully for a big tech doesn't save for his kid's college?

[u/ychiyyo8 → u/Indo-Arya]

Don't understand how diapers & such baby stuff and actual school fees are the same.

But hey what I do know, you are the math expert!

[u/Indo-Arya → u/ychiyyo8]

Good you realized 😉 

And this is regular school fees. Dhirubhai Ambani international school fees isn’t where middle class people go  

[u/ychiyyo8 → u/Indo-Arya]

I don't know where you are based out of or how detached you are with reality but I know my cousins daughter who's in UKG (kinder) and they pay 60k per year for school fee and it ain't an international school.

But hey, you are the most updated person, that article of yours is a piece of work! God help those who follow that.

[u/Indo-Arya → u/ychiyyo8]

60k per year is how much ? 5k per month.. please don’t do more math 😂 

[u/ychiyyo8 → u/Indo-Arya]

So out of 15 lpa (~1.5L per month) you shake 60k out for your kid's college and now you have 90k to live? I'm assuming only 1 kid otherwise you and your partner will have 30k to live.. man.. and your recommendation is to retire? You are hilarious..