More Money Than They Ever Imagined—and No Clue How to Spend It

There’s more money floating around the Bay Area than people have ever seen. If only those making it knew how to spend it.

People working for AI companies are so busy and unfocused on traditional markers of wealth, many have yet to fully embrace the fruits of that labor.

They might book a custom bike trip through Italy, if they can spare the time off from work. A luxury backyard sauna and cold plunge could make sense for decompressing. But pouring money into a kitchen that isn’t going to be used is a hard no. And millions can go toward a new home, of course, as evidenced by the San Francisco real-estate market. But investing in art for their walls? Not a priority among this cohort.

“They are not flashy,” says Garret Spiecker, a senior managing director at Citizens Private Bank who runs the pre-IPO, late-stage, private stock-lending program and whose clients include employees at OpenAI and Anthropic. He says he’s never seen so much liquidity in 20 years working in the Bay Area.

“This base of individuals is also just a little different.”

Beyond their general aversion to overt luxury, Spiecker says his clients just don’t have the hours.

“They haven’t had the time to just pause and be like, ‘Oh I can afford to fly private now. I can buy this car that I’ve always wanted, I can order this luxury watch,’” he says.

Besides employees at the big AI labs, there are those working for companies like Databricks and Stripe who are taking part in tender offers. Much of their spending has been on two areas: real estate and investing in startups. Some might have had a budget of $4 million to put toward a new house that ballooned to $6 million or $7 million when they got the opportunity to cash out shares.

“Things have exploded in terms of what their next step was going to be,” says Spiecker.

Around 30% of home purchases in the San Francisco metro area were all-cash between April and June, according to Redfin, the digital real-estate brokerage.

Base salaries for more senior software engineers at AI companies are routinely above $300,000 and equity packages can put annual earnings into the eight-figure range, according to an analysis of Levels.fyi, a salary platform.

But it’s the liquidity events that have swelled purchasing power. In October, over 600 current and former employees at OpenAI were able to sell their shares for a total of $6.6 billion. Around 75 of them brought home $30 million each.

A former OpenAI employee who sold shares says his biggest-ticket purchase was a new electric vehicle. When the topic of splurges has come up with other alumni, the most commonly cited item has been an espresso machine, he says.

An employee at a leading AI lab has a total annual income including outside investments of around $1 million a year, yet still does her own manicures. Her biggest purchase: several customized computer chips and development boards that ran around $10,000. She says she doesn’t have a life separate from work to spend money on.

Daniel Kavanagh’s Oregon company builds and installs custom saunas and cold plunges. Around half of his clients are based in the Bay Area and many work in tech. (They occasionally require him to sign a nondisclosure agreement.)

“‘Looking for a space to reset’ is definitely something we hear,” he says. “Time has become the luxury for high-performers.”

Customers want to be able to operate their sauna remotely so it can be ready when they get home. Saunas built by the company, Rogue Sauna, run from $40,000 to $80,000. A cold plunge costs $10,000 to $20,000.

“Cellphones don’t work in a sauna,” he says. “The irony of tech wealth is this desire for less technology.”

Laura Smith Sweeney, who runs LSS Art Advisory, says she has clients at legacy tech companies seeking to acquire art. The real-estate boom is a prime opportunity for sales. However, she hasn’t heard from the new class of AI millionaires.

“It’s a little early,” she says.

One engineer who was an early employee at OpenAI says he purchased a home in San Francisco for over $4 million all-cash just ahead of the buying frenzy. He’s just gotten into the art world with a $35,000 antique vase. He also donated to a middle school orchestra and paid to replace the doors of a church.

Jared Silver is president of Stephen Silver Fine Jewelry, which has had a presence in Silicon Valley for decades. He says there’s still plenty of spending by tech workers and venture capitalists. Independent watchmakers like Krayon have wait lists almost a year long. One hot item: a watch that changes its face in keeping with local sunrise and sunset times. The cost? Around $170,000 and up.

One client, a longtime Googler who moved over to DeepMind, used to come in once or twice a month for a coffee and to look around.

“After he made the shift, I haven’t seen him much,” says Silver. “He doesn’t have time to come into the store because he’s so busy with this AI race.”