85,000 tech layoffs so far this year.
75+ employees cashed out $6.6B in stock sales last fall, earning up to $30M each.
I'm not writing this to pick a side or strike fear, but this contrast is one of the most defining things happening right now, especially here in SF, and it has real financial implications for everyone involved regardless of which end you're on.
On one side, layoffs are up 33% over the same period last year. Meta cutting 10% of its workforce, Oracle letting go of 30,000, Coinbase cutting 14% as part of a restructuring, and the list goes on. I've helped people through this, and the questions are immediate. How long can I actually afford to stay unemployed? What happens to my retirement accounts? Do I need to change my financial plan for my loved ones?
On the other side, leading AI labs like OpenAI, Anthropic, and xAI are paying average stock-based compensation of roughly $1.5M per employee. The median total compensation for engineers at these firms reportedly still exceeds $900K. The financial questions here are just as urgent, just quieter. How much of this will I owe in taxes? What if I make the wrong decisions? And is my family actually taken care of if something happens to me?
And if you're somewhere in the middle, which is many of us, the most important question is whether your financial foundation is solid enough to weather movement in either direction.
The economy is reshuffling who builds wealth and how fast. Planning isn't about predicting which headline you'll be in but rather about being ready for wherever you land.
I'd genuinely love to connect, or drop a comment with your thoughts. See thrivent.com/social for important disclosure information. Figures referenced from WSJ, Reuters, and CNBC reporting.