Video Summary - Breaking Down My $306,500 Salary In San Francisco

Overview

Raymond Zeng is a Meta software engineer living in the San Francisco Bay Area on a $306,500 average salary.
After taxes and retirement contributions, he takes home about $4,000/month and has no other income sources.
He works about 40–50 hours/week, with day-to-day responsibilities that can include coding, project/product management, and data analysis.

Moved to the Bay Area in July 2025 (from Dallas, where he lived for 2 years).
Rent: $2,600/month (amenity fees included)
Utilities: $150–$170/month
- Electricity is ~50% higher than Dallas (about $20–$30 → ~$50/month)
He feels the apartment is good value compared with similar closer options that might run $3,500–$3,700/month.
He chose the apartment for commute access to San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland and did sign the lease sight unseen after self-research rather than using a relocation expert.

Kitchen is spacious; countertop quality is a minor complaint.
Meal prep includes frozen items and convenience drinks/mixers.
Home is intentionally “spartan”:
- No couch or TV; he mainly uses a computer and avoids hosting at home.
- Has a DJ controller and a robot cleaner (helps though not perfect).
Bedroom is minimal (blanket, pillow, filing cabinet/nightstand, charger).
Bathroom highlight: installed a bidet (~$400), described as a big quality-of-life improvement.
Has a small balcony but doesn’t use it much.

Lives about 5 minutes from a Bay Area rapid transit station.
Typically spends:
- ~$30/month on ride-sharing/public transit sometimes
- Most of the time: $0 (car-free lifestyle)
He uses:
- Walking for nearby basics (cafes/boba shops/grocery)
- Public transit or sometimes ride share
- Company shuttles for commuting to work

Groceries: about $300/month
Eating out: budget $75/month, usually doesn’t reach it
He stopped online grocery delivery because everything is close enough.
Cooking pattern:
- Because the company subsidizes breakfast and lunch, dinners are the main self-cooked meals.
- No strict daily meal plan; dinner is often meal-prepped protein + vegetables (chicken/fish depending on mood).
Notes from grocery shopping:
- Buys more specialty cuts from an Asian grocery store (example: beef short rib cut).
- Wants to restock instant noodles.
- One example grocery haul from a “western supermarket” totals $22.34 (loaf of white bread, white rice, eggs, Coke bottle, whole milk).
Personal drink preference:
- An herbal tea he calls “gas,” with a note about it having a lot of sugar.

Has employer-provided health insurance:
- Pays about $17/month for a high-deductible plan
- No recurring healthcare costs mentioned
Fitness:
- Apartment includes a gym, but he also does bodyweight fitness when he’s lazy
- Cardio/aerobics is done separately

Free-time spending priorities fall into three areas:
- Finances/credit cards/churning
- Travel (domestic and international)
- Furry community involvement
Credit-card hobby costs:
- About $1,000/year just for holding the credit cards
General hobbies spending: $400–$500/month
Saving up for a fursuit:
- Typically $4,000–$7,000 depending on maker/reputation
Furry project details:
- Designing his own character (cyborg hybrid: canine + robot “protogen”)
- Mentions commissioning art and, in some cases, fursuits
- References concerns in the community around doxxing, and says he chose to go public anyway

Saves $5,000–$20,000/month depending on:
- Whether 401k is maxed
- Stock vesting
- Bonuses
Retirement contributions:
- 401(k): contributes $24,500 up to the maximum along with employer contributions
- After-tax 401(k): up to the IRS limit of $72,000
- Roth IRA and HSA: maxed every year
- Extra money goes into a brokerage account
Asset allocation mentioned:
- ~80% US stocks
- ~20% international

Goal: retire by age 30, needing about $1.6 million.
Uses a FIRE “rule of thumb”:
- Multiply expenses by 25 (the 4% rule), with extra buffer for retiring earlier (under ~40).
Budgeting/tools:
- Maintains a DIY monthly budgeting spreadsheet (and a larger tax sheet plus projection tabs).
- Plans through projected market/growth assumptions and tracks investment value over time.
Projection snapshots mentioned:
- By age 30: “north of” ~$2 million invested
- By age 40: “north of” ~$7 million invested
Philosophy shift in FIRE community:
- Not everyone is “frugality at all costs”
- He describes a “cake and eat it too” approach: a fulfilling lifestyle while still saving heavily.

Core advice (from FIRE community):
- “Build the life you want and then save for it.”
If you can’t do everything at once:
- Choose between location, travel/experiences, and material goods.

Speaker: Raymond Zeng (software engineer at Meta)
Locations: San Francisco Bay Area; Dallas (previous); San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland (commutable); Los Angeles (plans to move back); Singapore and Malaysia (recent trip)
Transit: Bay Area rapid transit station (about 5 minutes away); company shuttles
Apartment/product mentions: bidet (~$400), robot cleaner, DJ controller
Food/product mentions: Coke Zero/Coke; instant noodles; beef short rib (Asian grocery store); herbal tea (~pack of 6 for $3.99)
Health: employer high-deductible plan (~$17/month)
Financial concepts/tools: FIRE community; 401(k), Roth IRA, HSA; personal spreadsheet budgeting; “4% rule” (x25 expenses)
Community/hobby: furry community; protogen character; fursuit commissions/designs