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Comment by ardit33 | Hacker News Reader

Google agreed to dish 48m, in retention bonuses. There about 100 employees, so that averages about 480,000 per employee. Not sure what the vesting period is, but assuming it is at least 2 years.

Not bad, but not life changing either. After taxes, you can afford the downpayment of a Condo in SOMA + a bit more, or buy a small one bedroom in Mountain View.

Moral of the story, if you want to be rich, start your own startup.

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Retention bonuses are never distributed equally. Often, you only give them to a fraction of your employees - your best.

It's certainly possible that a few of the senior people walked away with a few million apiece (as a way of compensating them for the fact that they earned nothing in the sale).

By that logic, if you want to be rich, win the lotto.

Or, to combine the two: start a lotto.

That reminded me of "How to win at Roulette": http://i.imgur.com/6euVL.jpg

Another great way to win at Roulette (and a great read): http://amzn.to/bxgmk5

A few hundred thousand can easily be life-changing, especially at a young age. It means freedom to choose projects without drawing a salary, or at a below-usual salary, for many years. Even just socked away, it could mean an extra $million+ by retirement age. It could also be destructive -- if it encourages new addictions or other unsustainable increases in consumption. Either way, nothing to sneeze at.

Around here, that $480k would buy a 100 year-old 1,200 sq. ft house on 20 acres of land with a few outbuildings and have about $200k left over for toys.

For me that would be life-changing: no mortgage and the ability to do whatever I felt like.

As far as I can tell, succeeding in a startup that you own, even if you're a founder and make out pretty well, largely boils down to the rule of pinball:

Win, and you get to keep playing.

> After taxes, you can afford the downpayment of a Condo in SOMA + a bit more, or buy a small one bedroom in Mountain View.

There has to be some other measuring stick to money than real estate...

It's better than what USA Today would use. They'd tell you that if you converted it into pennies and stacked it straight up it would be the third largest building in the world.

Tesla Roadsters?

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