[Finance Director, Tech Startup] [San Francisco, CA] - $240K Base + Startup Equity
I am a Finance Director at a Tech Startup. I have an MBA and have worked in Corporate finance for 10+ years with a total experience of 13 years. I live in San Francisco. My comp is now $240K and combined with my husband's, our HH income is ~$530k. Since we are both at start ups now, we don't have the big tech stock upside or AI upside in our portfolio. His startup might go IPO in a few years, which will change our financial picture but I see no such thing in my career at the moment.
Our total net worth is ~$1.5M including retirement accounts. No debt. We are mid-30s so I know objectively speaking this is a decent amount of money. However, my anxiety has me in a chokehold and I feel like everyone in the Bay Area is making more than us/has much higher net worth. Is there anyone else in a similar boat in the Bay Area/SF or do you think I have a lot of catching up to do? Again, only looking for people in a similar field and in the same geographical area. I understand that this is a decent amount of money in general. I have public company experience and I want to break into a publicly traded large tech company, but it seems really difficult in this market.
Also, if there is another subreddit where I should be posting this, please let me know. I just didn't know where I can post this. Thank you in Advance!
**[Edit]**Didn’t expect this to blow up. A few clarifications since my original post may have been confusing:
I know $530K HHI and $1.5M NW is a strong position in absolute terms. I said that in the original post. To the folks who confirmed that I am doing okay or shared their own journey, thank you. I was asking specifically whether other people in non-technical roles, at startups, in the Bay Area are seeing the same gap between their comp/NW and their tech-adjacent peers who got equity windfalls or work at large public tech companies. I should have referred to ‘others in the Bay Area’ in general since I am specifically asking for perspective from folks in tech.
To the question of whether this is about career or net worth - honestly both, and they’re tied together for me. A good chunk of the anxiety isn’t just the number, it’s watching friends/acquaintances with a less deliberate career trajectory than mine end up with 2-3x my net worth because they joined the right public company/pre-IPO company at the right time. It makes the whole thing feel more like I made a poor call switching from public company to startup which has been a harder thing to sit with than plain envy and also feels like I am missing out.
On career progression / role level: happy to share more detail if useful context for advice, but the short version is 13 years in corporate finance, public company experience, currently an IC Finance Director at a startup.
Thanks to everyone that has pointed out that this is delusional, a first world problem etc. Frankly, I appreciate the perspective and reality check.
Thanks to everyone who pointed me to r/HENRYfinance, r/HENRYwomen, and FireyFemmes