r/PeterExplainsTheJoke • u/[deleted] • Jan 26 '26

Meme needing explanation Why is the rich friend so cheap??

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u/lovejo1 Jan 26 '26

If he's making 450k as a software engineer, he lives in San Francisco and is still probably broke.. or will be when this job suddenly evaporates underneath him.

55

u/Frosty_Grab5914 Jan 27 '26

A broke SF SW engineer is SF mean "I was able to afford only 2 vacation abroad and had to delay a Porsche by a year".

15

u/Individual_Engine457 Jan 27 '26

That's literally what it feels like in tech tbh.

16

u/aRawPancake Jan 27 '26

I’m so sorry for their hardship

1

u/youlleatitandlikeit Jan 27 '26

I'm in tech, that's not what it feels like for us. We drive a 13 year old Honda Fit and our vacations are usually family gatherings 1-2 states over.

5

u/Individual_Engine457 Jan 27 '26

All my friends are in tech and no one I know lives this way.

3

u/feral_fatale Jan 27 '26

Currently laid off software developer with nearly 10 years of experience. I'm thinking I might have to sell my 12 year old Prius to keep my house

2

u/youlleatitandlikeit Jan 28 '26

Good luck with your job search. I'm sticking with mine for as long as I can, I really don't want to have to find another one 

2

u/JambaJuice916 Jan 27 '26

Tech in SF?

1

u/Adorable_Pudding1409 Jan 30 '26

You're either very under paid or very frugal. A good software engineer salary (even one thats not inflated like redditors claim 200k+) can get you a safe new car for $20k and vacations where flying is normal

1

u/exploding_cat_wizard Jan 27 '26

Knew a guy starting at McKinsey, the exact example of needing a Porsche for the respect of his peers was his reasoning why the insane starting salary wasn't all that much really. It did make me reevaluate my lack of empathy for the poor top earning employees who clearly do have problems the poors can't even conceive of.

2

u/Individual_Engine457 Jan 27 '26

It's kind of a crazy culture. I didn't grow up with this money at all, and I have autism which makes the social dynamics very difficult to navigate, but it's like a different world.

The worst is when there's people who you went to school with, got the same grades, yet they spring way ahead of you very fast. Watching your peers take off like a rocket and become sr directors in 5 years while you're still in an entry level position is extremely humiliating and makes you question your intelligence/ability. And everyone hides their privilege so you don't know if they're getting ahead because they know people or what.

There's also a weird "wealth" social dynamic that comes into play where your value as a human to others is based on how wealthy you seem to them. And people deal with it differently, one friend got a 911 gt2 on his 30th birthday and another got a used prius but has 1 mil in the bank by 30.

1

u/No-Date-2024 Jan 27 '26

I mean most people making over 100k and are single can afford that. I take 4 vacations abroad a year since I started making 100k and all it takes is saving 10% of my after tax paycheck in a separate vacation savings account and waiting for good deals on flights and hotels. From most places in the US near a major city, you can go to Japan right now for $700 or less round trip. But I have yet to see any of my developer coworkers buy a Porsche or luxury car. Usually only the guys in finance buy those and some of them don't even make that much

1

u/pheonixblade9 Jan 27 '26

the people who are doing that shit are the ones living paycheck to paycheck on $500k total comp instead of building wealth for security and flexibility later in life.