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Comment by toomuchtodo | Hacker News Reader

Some expenses you have no control over (alimony, child support, chronic healthcare costs, elder care come to mind from my circle of associates). Yes, don’t spend frivolously (luxury vehicles, eating out all of the time), but sometimes (at least in tech), you have far more control over the income side of the equation. If you can switch jobs and make $100k/more a year, that’s easier than trying to cut all of your expenses to the bone, or expenses that are non-discretionary and simply can’t be cut.

Run hard, every hour you work is an hour you’ll never get back, so max the comp for each of those hours. Your future self will thank you.

(Huge mmm fan btw)

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Yeah the other issue is if you increase income, your imputed income for child support is now effectively permanently higher. Child support imputed incomes ratchet up with raises, generally not back down. You will never be able to 'relax' back at a slower/less lucrative job because now the judge says pay the higher rate or go to jail.

Another way to view it: say you get a pay boost 90k -> 190k. The custodial parent will request the imputed income to be recalculated. You now owe an extra 20k PER YEAR. That's your new imputed income, even if you don't get a job like this again and it only lasts a year. Eventually you lose that job and can't find one like it again -- fast forward 10 years. You've paid an extra $200k, just to make an extra 50 or 60k net in one year. You lost $200k by working a higher paid job for a year.

One year of raise followed by 17 years of a slightly more relaxed job at your original income means you LOSE money. In this example, falling from 190k back to your 90k income means child support went from 1/3 of your net check to 2/3 of your net check. A brutal risk to take if you don't think you'll be making the high wage for life.

Please don’t forget about social security, that one year would make up the largest contribution of your social security benefits, and if you worked at least 10 more years after that, the AWI-adjusted Gross Income would drastically increase your Average Indexed Monthly Earnings (AIME). Anyway I don’t see why you wouldn’t use your savings from that first year to lawyer up a case for child support modification, there is no law that promises past earnings indicate future earnings.

>there is no law that promises past earnings indicate future earnings.

Strictly no, but this is basically what imputed income does. It's saying you have the capability to earn it. If you actually HAVE earned that amount, it can be extremely difficult to convince a judge that the certainty that you HAVE earned that amount is countered by some vague uncertainty you may not be able to again. Fighting against a known factual salary history with some hand waving about not being able to do it anymore is a hell of a hill to climb. Plenty of anecdotes show people having extreme difficulties lowering child support.

Not just "huge mmm" but also huge "American problems only"

The massive amounts of money available for software professionals is an American problem I hope to some day have.

Of course colleges are admission free, insurance prices are fairly reasonable, property taxes are nonexistent, public infrastructure is top notch, car dependence is cool (and to own/pay for more than one car). Non problems really

I've made the switch and yeah, the compensation easily covers those and more.

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