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Ask HN: If you had $10M in the bank, would you still show up to your job?

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Re: Ask HN: If you had $10M in the bank, would you still show up to your job?

#71

Post by raw_anon_1111 »

rekabis wrote: post #5

I would still do a job, but it would be something that is important to me. And $10M would require some up-front management and ongoing maintenance to develop an index-tracked revenue stream from it. I mean, aside from an initial disbursement meant to wipe out harmful debts and get a few small toys, the vast majority of that $10M would go towards being productive revenue-generating assets. No, not from the backs of ot…

I always find it hilarious that people on HN think that there is something morally wrong with being a landlord like everyone should be a homeowner no matter what the circumstances are. Should college students buy homes? Someone who may not want to live some place for a long time?

Re: Ask HN: If you had $10M in the bank, would you still show up to your job?

#72

Post by pllbnk »

dakiol wrote: post #10

I would work, not for my current employer (or any employer) but for myself. I would setup a one-man LLC or similar and build products I'm proud of. If some of them work out and bring money, good! If not, also good. Also, I wouldn't work 40h/week on it. More like ~10h/week. I would take it very slow, focusing on the parts that I enjoy the most (like deciding the font of the website for my product, or deciding the dir.…

That’s the most refreshing take I have read on a public forum. I am really glad there are people like that. I have met a few people like that over my professional career and either coincidentally or not, they have been among the most competent and most pleasant to work with engineers. This is opposite view of the lunacy that LinkedIn is right now.

This comment feels almost as if I had written it myself.

Re: Ask HN: If you had $10M in the bank, would you still show up to your job?

#73

Post by mamcx »

I work independently as consultor/solo dev (https://www.elmalabarista.com) for years now, so with that much money (even 1 million) I just be set for life!.

But I actually love my job (programming) and do it in my spare time (after program for work!) and like to join others to learn (as I have done for https://spacetimedb.com/).

Will probably dedicate the time for my dream of build a FoxPro-alternative, and pretty certain will love it for more than a decade, so if anyone wanna help get funds I all hears!

Re: Ask HN: If you had $10M in the bank, would you still show up to your job?

#74

Post by PeterWhittaker »

How is that dissonance? The best you can hope for, in order, are: 1) not having to work, for whatever reason, and having personally meaningful interests with which to fill your time; (two-way-tie) 2a) not having to work, 2b) having to work and having a job you love that means something to you; 3) everything else.

We require sustenance and shelter and sanitation and a few other things. Those require resources, one way or another. If one has to perform some activity in order to acquire the resources necessary to those needs, then one might as well do something one enjoys, if one can.

I absolutely LOVE my job (WFH systems programming in a challenging space (cross domain)), have the best team (my boss, the owner, is a friend from way back in another cyber co; my closest colleague is a great friend from off-roading; my other colleagues are all great people, with fantastic younger team members who break every cliché and trope about their generations; etc., etc.).

And if $10,000,000 showed up in my bank account tomorrow, I would wind down my work as smoothly and quickly as possible, to not leave them hanging, carry on consulting occasionally for them, when needed, and spend a year working on my house and Jeep and learning category theory and walking the dogs and watching as many football matches as I could (heck, with that money, maybe I even would spend the $50/month to get FA Cup games on top of what I already have).

Once the house was to my - and my GF's liking - and once the Jeep was again the beast it once was, and a bit more (portals!!!), well, there would be still be football to watch and math to learn and dogs to walk. Maybe we'd move somewhere we could foster many, many dogs? Ah, the mind reels.

I might even upgrade my phone or monitors.... (I'm a cheap bastard. The dead pixels on the phone screen are a PITA, but they only really impact Quordle.)

Re: Ask HN: If you had $10M in the bank, would you still show up to your job?

#75

Post by bradlys »

krat0sprakhar wrote: post #17

$10M in the bank is very different for a family of 4 staying in VHCOL (Bay Area/ Manhattan) vs single person staying in Bangkok. The answer to this question depends on a lot on that versus job satisfaction etc.

Yep. It also depends on types of goals you have and stage of life.

I can safely say as someone who FIRE’d in his early 30’s that it doesn’t matter how much money you have because women are very adverse to a man who isn’t working. Mind you, I am quite physically ugly and so my experience is not that of everyone’s. It might be that for men who are of average and above looks that it doesn’t matter as much but for the women I encountered it mattered a lot that I wasn’t working. It didn’t matter how much money I had made. I was spending on a lavish lifestyle in manhattan as well. I gave up on pursuing a family life due to poor genetic basis, chose to be single back in the Bay Area, and go back to work since there’s nothing else to do. All my goals were revolved around family and building a life for a family. No point in those goals if you’re alone.

Re: Ask HN: If you had $10M in the bank, would you still show up to your job?

#76

Post by beAbU »

Without a shadow of a doubt. 10 mil is more than a 100 years at my current salary rate, and I live quite comfortably.

10 mil means I can take care of my family, and significantly upgrade our standard of living, and sustain this for the remainder of our lives. We can spend our time doing things we actually enjoy doing.

I love my job. Don't get me wrong. But the fact that my job means I can eat plays a very significant part in me loving it in the first place. When the need to survive is removed, I think that love will evaporate.

Re: Ask HN: If you had $10M in the bank, would you still show up to your job?

#77

Post by OkayPhysicist »

phkahler wrote: post #48
krat0sprakhar wrote: post #17

$10M in the bank is very different for a family of 4 staying in VHCOL (Bay Area/ Manhattan) vs single person staying in Bangkok. The answer to this question depends on a lot on that versus job satisfaction etc.

Not sure why people like the bay area so much. Move someplace else and retire. Most anywhere in the US is going to be dramatically cheaper. Buy a summer place on a lake in the Midwest for under 200k. Get a winter place somewhere warmer, since the weather must be what people like about CA. We have tons of retirees doing this with well under $10M.

The weather here is flawless, the culture is adequate (it's not top-tier, but it beats most low cost of living areas), the food is fantastic thanks to immediate access to most of the country's fresh produce. There's deserts, mountains, and the ocean all immediately available for day trips, and most of all, jobs here pay twice as much as they do anywhere else. Sure, the CoL is twice as high, but unless you're living paycheck to paycheck and spend 100% of your income locally, that means more money in our pockets.

Re: Ask HN: If you had $10M in the bank, would you still show up to your job?

#79

Post by aristofun »

queenkjuul wrote: post #62
aristofun wrote: post #30

If you live in a modern 1st world country and have a family, at least 1 child or some old relatives and at least minimal ambition to eat good food and have okay level of life - 10M is not much at all. It’ll get you okayish to allright property (depending on the region), will cover all basic expenses and (if you don’t have anyone with serious illness or financial problems) some non basic ones. For up to 10 years max.…

Absolutely ridiculous. $1M/year is TEN TIMES what i spend for a gorgeous apartment and all the entertainment and food i can manage in Chicago. I could last 100 years on $10M. Well, maybe 80 when you factor healthcare :)

Do you have a family? How many people do you support?

Re: Ask HN: If you had $10M in the bank, would you still show up to your job?

#80

Post by aristofun »

teom wrote: post #35
aristofun wrote: post #30

If you live in a modern 1st world country and have a family, at least 1 child or some old relatives and at least minimal ambition to eat good food and have okay level of life - 10M is not much at all. It’ll get you okayish to allright property (depending on the region), will cover all basic expenses and (if you don’t have anyone with serious illness or financial problems) some non basic ones. For up to 10 years max.…

This makes no sense. By this logic, anyone spending less than 1M per year only has an "okayish" lifestyle.

Do you have a family? How many?
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