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Ask HN: Work-life balance?

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Re: Ask HN: Work-life balance?

#101

Post by citeguised »

justsomeguy3591 wrote: post #90
citeguised wrote: post #11

8 Hrs max at the office, 5 days a week. Rest is mostly family and sleep. I cut down personal projects to a minimum after reading "Why we sleep", and it helps with overall well-being. Commuting via Bike is also a big health-win for me. One hour on most work-days (sometimes the temperature or other circumstances require the car).

Reading through the book right now (great book by the way, highly recommend it) - but curious why you cut down personal projects? Were they keeping you up too late or something else?

Yes, and it seemed to be the one thing that can be put on hold without negative consequences, in contrast to sleep and family. I still do some lighter things on the side (like DevLids.com), but nothing that takes much time like game-dev.

Re: Ask HN: Work-life balance?

#102

Post by rsrx »

seekingcharlie wrote: post #95
rsrx wrote: post #26

I'm a 29 year old freelancer / digital nomad, been traveling and doing high-profile tech contracts for last 5 years. I go with the flow. It really depends on the contract and what's currently going on in my life, or where I am. Last summer I was in Europe and I've been working 10-12h per day in August (my peak month so far). June-November approx 4-6 hours a day. Now I'm in Koh Phangan, Thailand and work few hours a m…

Where are your clients based mostly? What hours do you work in Thailand?

USA, had few from bay area as well. I work in the mornings or just read the news and learn some new things since I am more-or-less on holidays now and will start looking for full-time contract more actively soon.

Timezone difference (+13h) can be PITA.

Re: Ask HN: Work-life balance?

#103

Post by dawidw »

schmookeeg wrote: post #55

I freelance, and call myself semi-retired. I turn 42 this year. I'll cherry-pick projects that interest me. I don't usually seek them out, it will be former clients, business associates, or people who know me who bring me the things to work on. I usually only commit to average 15-20 hours/week on a project. I don't accept on-site work, save for maybe a week of ramp-up or meet and greet. I don't accept daily stand-ups…

> plus I feel weaker generally

Have you done your blood tests? Sugar/insulin [1], vitamin D, Ferro, liver, morphology? There are plenty "new"/silent civilisation diseases: insulin resistance, hashimoto, diabetes...

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glucose_tolerance_test

Re: Ask HN: Work-life balance?

#104

Post by raztogt21 »

j45 wrote: post #44

Maybe you can share what you're looking to improve? Hard to answer with strategic answers, tactics are relative. Also, I don't know about work/life balance.. And just try to keep harmony. The future of work is changing in general, and tech is way out there. It's all about maintaining stamina. Dip too much and you aren't putting back more into the tank than you're taking out. The 8 hour a day model is largely outdated…

Nice answer, thanks for taking the time.

Re: Ask HN: Work-life balance?

#105

Post by thiago_fm »

rak00n wrote: post #77
thiago_fm wrote: post #23

30 days of vacation and I work only from 9 to 6, sometimes a little bit more, but not so much. Not really counted as overtime. Europe, ofc. I go to gym and try to enjoy the summer as much as I can. Productivity tips: organize your life and move to a decent country with a decent culture. American work culture is terrible, so is Asia. You can make 10 trillions of dollars, but there is no way you can buy the 30 seconds…

On the other hand software engineering job in US pays a lot so you can do a (relatively) quicker home run to financial independence if you don't fall into consumerism.

Can you give me an example of somebody that did that? :-)

Re: Ask HN: Work-life balance?

#106

Post by justsomeguy3591 »

citeguised wrote: post #101
justsomeguy3591 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reading through the book right now (great book by the way, highly recommend it) - but curious why you cut down personal projects? Were they keeping you up too late or something else?

Yes, and it seemed to be the one thing that can be put on hold without negative consequences, in contrast to sleep and family. I still do some lighter things on the side (like DevLids.com), but nothing that takes much time like game-dev.

That makes sense, thanks!

Re: Ask HN: Work-life balance?

#107

Post by niij »

thiago_fm wrote: post #105
rak00n wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand software engineering job in US pays a lot so you can do a (relatively) quicker home run to financial independence if you don't fall into consumerism.

Can you give me an example of somebody that did that? :-)

Mr. Money Mustache is the big name in the FIRE (financial Independence; retire early) community. But a lot of people doing FIRE are in tech in some way. I think it's a left brain thing, which people in software/tech have both the left brain mentality and financial capability to make early retirement happen.

Resources: https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/blog/ https://www.bogleheads.org/ https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/

Re: Ask HN: Work-life balance?

#108

Post by thiago_fm »

niij wrote: post #107
thiago_fm wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you give me an example of somebody that did that? :-)

Mr. Money Mustache is the big name in the FIRE (financial Independence; retire early) community. But a lot of people doing FIRE are in tech in some way. I think it's a left brain thing, which people in software/tech have both the left brain mentality and financial capability to make early retirement happen. Resources: https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/blog/ https://www.bogleheads.org/ https://www.reddit.com/r/financial…

I believe he makes more money from this than he was able to saved up. It is really a thing in America to believe in schemes that will make you rich/enable you to live off your investments. I know it.

Why retire early? I value being able to work. Not to mention that they generally talk about living frugal lifestyles, which I'm not a fan of. I like investing, making money etc. But all those retire before X schemes rely on people not understanding economics. Today you might have like 25x your yearly income or something that would enable you to retire, but as inflation, new currencies and changes in taxation and government policies, you will eventually get wrecked in the next 30-40 years. Just check how much the taxation in America has changed in the last 30-40 years and now try to believe that with your saved money you can live until you die.

Re: Ask HN: Work-life balance?

#109

Post by niij »

thiago_fm wrote: post #108
niij wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mr. Money Mustache is the big name in the FIRE (financial Independence; retire early) community. But a lot of people doing FIRE are in tech in some way. I think it's a left brain thing, which people in software/tech have both the left brain mentality and financial capability to make early retirement happen. Resources: https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/blog/ https://www.bogleheads.org/ https://www.reddit.com/r/financial…

I believe he makes more money from this than he was able to saved up. It is really a thing in America to believe in schemes that will make you rich/enable you to live off your investments. I know it. Why retire early? I value being able to work. Not to mention that they generally talk about living frugal lifestyles, which I'm not a fan of. I like investing, making money etc. But all those retire before X schemes rely…

> It is really a thing in America to believe in schemes that will make you rich/enable you to live off your investments

Personally, I don't think living frugally is a scheme. Spending less than you make and resisting the urge to buy things you don't need are the basic ideas behind financial independence. Investing your excess income allows for passive income to be generated.

Obviously this isn't viable for everyone, but if you're in a position of highish income and don't mind living frugally for some years, it's amazing what you're able to save. Some countries that tax their residents very high amounts (ex: many European countries) it might be harder to get ahead, but still not impossible to save I'd imagine.

> Why retire early? I value being able to work

There's nothing wrong with that! But for people who are interested in retiring early, they may have other goals in life besides their career. Retiring early allows for travel while you're still young and healthy, volunteer work, etc. Loving your job is a great thing and I think it's possible to work towards financial independence and enjoy your work.

> Just check how much the taxation in America has changed in the last 30-40 years and now try to believe that with your saved money you can live until you die

I'm not sure how taxes relate to the ability of my investments to generate returns. Could you elaborate a bit more on this?

Re: Ask HN: Work-life balance?

#110

Post by thiago_fm »

niij wrote: post #109
thiago_fm wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe he makes more money from this than he was able to saved up. It is really a thing in America to believe in schemes that will make you rich/enable you to live off your investments. I know it. Why retire early? I value being able to work. Not to mention that they generally talk about living frugal lifestyles, which I'm not a fan of. I like investing, making money etc. But all those retire before X schemes rely…

> It is really a thing in America to believe in schemes that will make you rich/enable you to live off your investments Personally, I don't think living frugally is a scheme. Spending less than you make and resisting the urge to buy things you don't need are the basic ideas behind financial independence. Investing your excess income allows for passive income to be generated. Obviously this isn't viable for everyone,…

Saving is very important. I live in Europe, it is kind of mandatory, saving and working until you are 65. Even though I don't own a car or anything of value, mostly save in a city with good disposable income. I'm quite well versed in economics, read it actively. The way you describe it, clearly displays a weakness either on your thought, or the American financial system. If a random guy from a Internet forum can do it, possibly, a lot of Americans can do as well. Now, who is going to work to keep society running while your frugal lifestyle supports you? Not to mention I would feel a bit like taking advantage of others, if I would just wake up everyday and enjoy life meanwhile I have a gardner, one person to clean my swimming pool, buy everything on the supermarket(which was made by somebody), just getting services, but not using my fully capability in order to help society thrive.

About the American thing. The US has been printing a lot of money lately and there are many signs that this party will be over in a very bad way. People will riot, go to the streets, question why some developer at FB makes 400k+ year not to mention the executives doing some bullshit work, burn down things and in the end they will possibly need to make America more socialist. The same type of mockery and abuse the US does to socialist countries, will be done to its own capitalist people. You really don't understand the dimension of power the US has been using(and losing) over the years with the Dollar. Nowadays to be honest, almost everything I buy is from China, not the US. I wonder how the US can survive running huge deficits and creating conflict with other countries.

America nowadays just export dollars. It is a product that more and more people are with their hands full. Instead of questioning me about that, I think you would be better off asking your government how to make anything that you earn and save Today, will have ANY value at all in the future.

In summa, good luck with that.

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