- 16 hours ago
Raymond Zeng lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and works as a software engineer at Meta, earning $306,500 a year. Despite his high salary, he lives minimally, saving aggressively with the goal of retiring by age 30. Instead of spending on material things, Zeng prioritizes travel, hobbies, and investing, using credit-card points and perks to help fund trips around the world.
In this episode of Cost of Living, Raymond breaks down exactly how he budgets, spends, and invests his money while living in one of the most expensive regions in the US.
In this episode of Cost of Living, Raymond breaks down exactly how he budgets, spends, and invests his money while living in one of the most expensive regions in the US.
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FunTranscript
00:00I'm Raymond Zhang. I work as a software engineer making $306,500 and I live in the San Francisco
00:06Bay Area. I'm going to be sharing all of my finances between my bills and my investments.
00:11This is cost of living. I'm a software engineer working at Meta. In terms of my role, I earned
00:18$306,500 on average. After taxes and retirement contributions, I am currently taking home about
00:25$4,000 a month. I currently do not have any other sources of income.
00:33I work anywhere between 40 to 50 hours a week on average. In terms of my day-to-day, it
00:37can be
00:38really anything. My role is fairly dynamic, so I could be doing anything from software engineering
00:43and actual coding to some of the more sort of project management or product management stuff,
00:49as well as some data science sort of analysis.
00:53Prior to joining my current company, I had spent two years living in Dallas and I moved
00:57here about seven or eight months ago back in July of 2025. In terms of base rent, I am paying
01:02$2,600
01:04a month. Amenity fees are included in the base rent. Utilities will cost anywhere between $150 to $170
01:11a month. My electricity bill here is about 50% higher than it was in Dallas, from about $20 to
01:17$30
01:18per month to about $50 a month. I feel like I am getting good value. A lot of the comparable
01:23areas
01:24that are closer to my work could run anywhere between $3,500 to $3,700 per month and I'm getting
01:30everything that I wanted out of this apartment. I live a little bit further away from either the
01:35major cities of San Francisco or San Jose or Oakland, but still within commutable distance of all three.
01:40Even though I had access to a relocation expert, I decided to do a lot of the research on my
01:47own,
01:48taking a look at all the things that I wanted to focus on from a living perspective. And after
01:54making the decisions, I decided to sign the lease sight unseen without actually having seen the place
01:59in person. Hey, welcome to my apartment. So this is the main kitchen area. It's quite spacious compared
02:07to my last apartment. The only complaint that I really have are these countertops aren't exactly
02:13ideal for the amount that I'm paying, but it's all right. In terms of fridge and freezer,
02:20I got some meal prep stuff from the night before as well as a whole host of drinks and mixers.
02:27In the freezer, very similar thing where I've got a couple of frozen things as well as some dumplings
02:33that I actually wrapped myself when I was really bored one day. Over here, we have my main sort of
02:39living slash workshop area. This is where I get all my work done as well as my personal projects.
02:44The decision to do without a couch and a TV is really just based on my own needs. I don't
02:50really
02:50watch a whole lot of TV. I just use my computer. I don't host people in my apartment, obviously.
02:56If I do decide to hang out with friends, I'll usually go to their place or maybe a third place.
03:00And in the case of hanging out with my friends in virtual reality, well, everyone's sort of
03:05split off in their own physical space. We've also got a couple of other things over here, just
03:11the DJ controller because I really don't have a lot of other space to put it, as well as my
03:16robot
03:16cleaner, which gets the job done. It's not perfect, but it definitely helps out in terms of having to
03:22clean. Over here, we've got just the bedroom. I mean, there's really not much to my bedroom. It gets the
03:30job done for me. I have my blanket, my pillow, a filing cabinet doubling as a nightstand, as well
03:37as my charger there. It's all that I really need at this point. And this is my bathroom. The highlight
03:44of this is really the bidet that I installed. It was about $400 or so, but it was a really,
03:50really nice quality of life improvement for myself.
03:57I don't spend a lot of time out here as you may be able to tell, but it is a
04:01nice way to get some
04:02fresh air in. I've been told by many of my friends that my living situation is very spartan, but
04:08really it's an intentional choice to pick and choose parts of my life that I decide to spend more or
04:13less
04:13money on. So even though my living situation right now is fairly sparse, that doesn't mean that it's
04:18going to stay that way. Say if I decide to have a partner or have kids.
04:26Between ride sharing and public transit, I'll sometimes spend around $30 per month, but most
04:31of the time it's zero. I live in the Bay Area without a car. And so I think one of
04:37the big things
04:37to me is the accessibility to public transit. I live about five minutes away from the nearest Bay Area
04:43rapid transit station. I'm actually quite used to living car-free. I had lived previously in
04:48Dallas for two years without a car and got around in very similar ways. I picked out this apartment
04:54also specifically for its proximity to all the things that I would really want to go to on a
04:59regular basis. So that would be cafes, boba shops, as well as the grocery store. For those, I just walk.
05:05And for anything else, I would either take the public transit or in certain cases, take rideshare.
05:11Our company, like many other companies around the Bay Area, have shuttles that go around
05:16the area, and I utilize those to get to and from work.
05:23I spend about $300 per month on groceries. I usually budget $75 per month for eating out,
05:29but I usually don't hit that maximum. I used to get online delivery for my groceries,
05:34but not anymore given that it's so close to my apartment. I should stock up on some more instant
05:40noodles. In terms of what I cook on a daily basis, I don't really have a set plan because of
05:45the fact
05:45that my company subsidizes both my breakfast and my lunch. But yes, beef short rib, $14.34,
05:52or $10.99 per pound. This is a cut that usually isn't super widely available in western grocery
05:59stores, so always nice to pick some up from the Asian grocery store. In terms of dinner,
06:04I'll usually meal prep some sort of protein as well as vegetables. So that could be chicken,
06:08it could be some fish. It really just depends on my mood. This herbal tea. This stuff is gas.
06:18Also a ton of sugar in there, but really, really good. So a pack of six for $3.99.
06:25I'm lucky enough to be in a situation where food prices have not really affected how
06:29I socialize or make these decisions around food choices. All righty, let's go ahead and make our
06:37way to the other grocery store. Round two. Let's go. In terms of cooking versus eating out, I am almost
06:43always cooking at home. I very rarely dine out. Man, people are fiending for the Coke Zeroes. They ran
06:50out of the large ones. Here's what I got at the Western supermarket. A loaf of white bread,
07:00a bag of white rice,
07:04a dozen eggs,
07:07a bottle of Coke,
07:10and a gallon of whole milk. In total, this came out to be $22.34. Now, this isn't necessarily what
07:18I
07:18would get on a regular basis, but it's just to give an idea of how things, how much things cost
07:23in my
07:23area. What do you do for fun in your free time? Uh, that's a, that's an excellent question.
07:30In terms of what I do in my free time, there are really three major areas that I spend my
07:35money on.
07:36The first is finances. So really a lot about the credit cards and churning and that sort of thing,
07:41as well as my personal finances. There's also a big aspect of travel, whether that's domestic or
07:45international, and I am also an active participant in the furry community. I currently spend about
07:50$1,000 a year just for the privilege of owning the credit cards that I currently hold onto.
07:55In terms of my hobbies, I generally spend between $400 and $500 a month across all of them,
08:01though in certain cases I will spend a little bit more money, and I'm currently saving up for a
08:05fursuit. On average, depending on where your maker is, as well as how reputable they are,
08:10a fursuit will generally cost between $4,000 to $7,000.
08:14The furry community means a lot of different things to various people. To some people,
08:18it's a way of expressing themselves, sometimes in adult ways, and other times it's just a way of
08:23designing a fictional character and sort of living in a bit of a mascot costume for a while.
08:30To me, being part of this community really means designing my own characters, as well as embodying
08:35them in the form of either commissioning art, or in some extreme cases, commissioning fursuits.
08:40And all of this faux fur, or at least part of it, will eventually end up on the head.
08:46This is a bigger part of the project, especially since I'm not super familiar with sewing, but
08:51it'll eventually end up on there.
08:53So my character currently is a bit of a cyborg hybrid between a canine as well as a robot,
08:58known in the community colloquially as a protogen.
09:01I think for really anything mentioning furry in the furry community as well, because of it
09:08being a sort of historically marginalized community in the social space, there are a lot of concerns
09:14around doxxing as well as in general people not necessarily being super comfortable with being
09:20public with this. I just happen to be one of the stupid people that decided to go public with this.
09:25I don't really spend a lot of money on improving my finances. It's more so of a lifestyle choice to
09:31take a look at credit cards and the perks that they offer and whether or not it's really worth it
09:36to me.
09:36In terms of maximizing your value for the points, this is really a process of trying to earn those
09:41points in the most efficient way and spending those points in the most efficient way.
09:45Generally, in terms of earning, you're going to be getting those from signup bonuses rather than everyday spend.
09:50In terms of actually cashing in those points, you're going to be trying to look for value
09:54where say maybe a business class ticket might be $5,000 but only $2,500 worth of points.
10:01I was fortunate enough to grow up in a household where my mother was very financially literate,
10:05and she was actually the one that got me interested in credit cards and churning in the first place.
10:09The most recent trip that I did was to Southeast Asia, so Singapore as well as Malaysia.
10:14I was fortunate enough to bring my dad along as well as my sister.
10:19I have health insurance provided by my employer.
10:21I am currently paying for a high deductible plan and I spend about $17 per month.
10:26I currently do not have any recurring healthcare costs.
10:29In terms of staying fit, my apartment has a gym, but in case I'm lazy to do that,
10:34I also do bodyweight fitness and for cardio and aerobics, I do dancing.
10:41One of the big parts about the furry conventions as well are the raves that happen in person.
10:48And there are some people there that know how to dance.
10:58In any given month, I will save anywhere between $5,000 to $20,000.
11:02In terms of that large range, it really depends on whether or not my 401k is maxed out,
11:08whether or not I have any stock vesting, and whether or not I have any bonuses.
11:12In terms of matching out my 401k with my employer,
11:14I contribute $24,500 up to the maximum limit that I can contribute alongside my employer contributions.
11:22In addition to that, I make after-tax contributions all the way up to the IRS limit of $72,000.
11:28So in total, about one-sixth of my compensation is going towards my 401k.
11:32In terms of my other investments, I also max out my Roth IRA and HSA every single year,
11:37and then any additional money goes into my brokerage account.
11:40I am currently about 80% invested in the US stock market and 20% internationally.
11:46I think like with many other parts of my generation, there is very much a big split
11:51in terms of financial literacy among other things.
11:54There is a swath of people who are fairly well-educated in terms of personal finances,
12:00and there are a lot of those who are just getting by.
12:03I view personal finance in a very similar way as I do personal fitness.
12:07A lot of the core concepts are fairly simple,
12:09but it doesn't mean that it's easy to follow and there are a lot of traps along the way.
12:13I'm aiming to retire by the age of 30, in which case I'll need about $1.6 million to do
12:18so.
12:19In terms of why I decided to start pursuing the path of financial independence and retiring early,
12:24I wanted to build a life for myself where I wouldn't have to work for money all the way up
12:28until 65.
12:30There's a lot of moving parts when it comes to retirement planning,
12:33and even establishing a goal number is a bit of a moving goalpost in general.
12:37The rule of thumb in the community is to multiply your expenses by 25, or otherwise known as the 4
12:43% rule.
12:43And if you're retiring earlier than say around 40 or so, you might want to add some leeway to that.
12:50And so my budget is a little bit greater than the actual 4% rule.
12:54There's a lot of different projections in terms of how much I'm going to be contributing in the future,
12:59as well as how the stock market is going to do over that course of time.
13:02I have way too many sheets in this, so every month I'll create a copy of this sort of base
13:10spreadsheet.
13:11I designed it myself. I don't really have a template that I follow, and I prefer it this way.
13:16It's more of a DIY approach of if I decide that there are certain categories that I don't want,
13:21or categories that I do need, then I'll just add it onto the spreadsheet,
13:25and it'll be copied over for the remainder of however long I decide to do this budgeting.
13:29I actually do have a larger tax sheet that does track down in terms of like taxes that I'm paying,
13:36in terms of the income that I'm getting, the expected amount of paychecks.
13:41And then over here, I just have some pretty straightforward projections in terms of actually
13:47where I'm going to be at financially for a given year and age, assuming certain figures for growth
13:53as well as investment outcome. And yeah, so by age 30, assuming that all goes well,
13:58I'm expecting that I might have somewhere north of around $2 million invested. And this is also
14:04tracking the active price of some of my investments, and so this will fluctuate over time.
14:10And by age 40, I'm expected to be retired at that point, so I do have empty columns in terms
14:15of
14:15my actual investments. But at that point, I might have somewhere in the north of $7 million invested.
14:22I think a very interesting part of the FIRE community is that it has splintered off into
14:27various groups and evolved from its original form around the 2010s that was largely focused on
14:34frugality at all costs. Now there are folks such as myself that sort of can have their cake and eat
14:40it too, where we are able to live a very fulfilling lifestyle and save a lot for retirement. In terms
14:46of
14:46lifestyle after retirement, I don't expect that I'm going to stop working entirely. I might pick up
14:50some odd jobs or contracting work every now and then, just if I decide that it's interesting to me.
14:57Other than that, it's really going to be populated with travel as well as attending conventions and
15:02just being myself. I think one of the biggest privileges for myself is that I am able to earn
15:07enough of an income where I could reasonably support my family if they were ever in trouble,
15:11and in the case of a future family, that would be something that I would have to readjust over time.
15:18Moving here has definitely been worth it. Even though the cost of living is higher,
15:22the job compensation and the opportunities available here are really unmatched.
15:27In terms of staying here long term, I am…
15:32That's an existential question. I think in terms of long term living, I plan to move back to the Los
15:39Angeles area. I could definitely see myself in the position of starting a company in the next couple
15:45of years or decades, but no plans for that currently. My biggest piece of advice is something that's
15:51fairly widely shared among the folks in the FIRE community, and it's build the life you want,
15:55and then save for it. There may be a situation where you can't have everything all at once now,
16:01and you just kind of have to pick and choose whether or not you want to live in a favorable
16:05location,
16:06or you decide to spend more on, say, travel and other experiences, or maybe on some of the other
16:12material goods that you're looking at. Oh man, I'm going to get roasted by so many people. It's going
16:20to be the people who are going to comment on my form, the people who are going to comment on
16:24the
16:24the furry thing, the people that are going to comment on my apartment.
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