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On Quitting

lindaeliasen.com

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Re: On Quitting

#41

Post by NDizzle »

johnward wrote: post #17
YuriNiyazov wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you not save any money when you work? If you are not saving 10% - 15% of your paycheck into an account where the money is immediately accessible, you are living above your means.

TIL I live beyond my means. Welcome to America. Having 10-15% cushion to save is a luxury for a lot of people. Probably not most people on HN but still.

Wow, 10 to 15 percent is a luxury? I left the bay area because I wasn't happy with a 20% savings rate! I'm currently at a 60% savings rate and I'm 3 hours away from SF. I'm mid 30s with 3 kids.

Should I just blow it all on something ridiculous? Like what? Every single month?!

Re: On Quitting

#42

Post by gregd »

timjahn wrote: post #13
gregd wrote: post #4

I have never been in a position to just up and quit a job without having something else lined up. Are you all trust fund kids?

You and me both. We must be doing something wrong. :)

Right? I keep reading these stories of people who up and just quit jobs at dream companies, which I can totally understand. But what I'm absolutely gobsmacked about is, "then I took 13 months off and roamed the country". Da fuq?

I've been working since I was in 9th grade and have NEVER had enough money saved up to take 3 weeks off, much less 13 months.

Re: On Quitting

#43

Post by tljr »

gregd wrote: post #4

I have never been in a position to just up and quit a job without having something else lined up. Are you all trust fund kids?

No we have principles.

Re: On Quitting

#44

Post by johnward »

NDizzle wrote: post #41
johnward wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TIL I live beyond my means. Welcome to America. Having 10-15% cushion to save is a luxury for a lot of people. Probably not most people on HN but still.

Wow, 10 to 15 percent is a luxury? I left the bay area because I wasn't happy with a 20% savings rate! I'm currently at a 60% savings rate and I'm 3 hours away from SF. I'm mid 30s with 3 kids. Should I just blow it all on something ridiculous? Like what? Every single month?!

Maybe it's easy to save 60% if you make 200k per year?

Re: On Quitting

#45

Post by jfaucett »

This article reminded me in spirit of the jobs quote: "Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle."

I'm happy the author is not giving up, we in first world societies actually have the luxury to pursue our passions, we have wellfare systems that provide much higher living standards than the majority of the worlds population. Given the relatively low risks of pursuing what you love and the fact that you only get one pass around at life, I feel everyone should live this way

Re: On Quitting

#46

Post by ajkjk »

panders wrote: post #30
debacle wrote: post #11

There's literally no detail to any of the logic or rationale in this story. People like faffing about these fantasies, but the most important advice I've ever received in my career was from my father - "Don't quit your day job."

Seriously, you can't just quit your job without having any other plans laid out beforehand. This is just incredibly dumb and irresponsible...

Of course you can, if you set things up appropriately. Life's not all about work.

Re: On Quitting

#47

Post by caseysoftware »

YuriNiyazov wrote: post #26
johnward wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TIL I live beyond my means. Welcome to America. Having 10-15% cushion to save is a luxury for a lot of people. Probably not most people on HN but still.

You do. Either that, or (if you are in tech) you are massively underpaid at your job.

@johnward

More likely you have a lot of optional things that you can trim away. Do you have cable? How often do you eat out? Do you smoke? Do you have a budget that you stick to?

It's all about priorities. If you don't prioritize it, it won't happen. It's not easy and emergencies and unexpected bills come up but the freedom is amazing.

Check out the Ramsey Plan. We wiped out most of our debt in about 2 years while saving for a house. And that's while renting, 3 kids, and living just outside DC.

Re: On Quitting

#48

Post by jtheory »

at-fates-hands wrote: post #29

Seems like she left a LOT out of the story. She never mentioned what specifically caused her to burn out. Maybe she felt she wasn't good enough as a designer, maybe the work was too demanding, maybe it was too many hours. Maybe this is another cautionary tale about being a woman in tech. The fact she conveniently leaves out huge parts of the story makes me wonder what the real reason was she left. As such, I can't co…

I got the impression she's not fully sure what happened, herself.

I'm curious to hear the next post, when she's had a bit of time to digest it.

Re: On Quitting

#49

Post by jo909 »

gregd wrote: post #4

I have never been in a position to just up and quit a job without having something else lined up. Are you all trust fund kids?

It's called saving. There are many ways to do that, but I prioritised to have enough _liquid_ capital to be able to get me through many many months without earning anything.

Of course it might still be irrational, stupid and risky to quit before the next job is secured, and I would also avoid it when possible. But being able to afford risk and to allow for ones own stupidity is a great comfort.

Re: On Quitting

#50

Post by gregd »

nkohari wrote: post #28
YuriNiyazov wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you not save any money when you work? If you are not saving 10% - 15% of your paycheck into an account where the money is immediately accessible, you are living above your means.

I really have no idea why you're getting such bad feedback on your comment. It's kind of terrifying to see such negative responses to the idea that people should save money.

It's because of his assumption that if you aren't saving a specific amount (some arbitrary amount that made sense to OP), then you're living beyond your means.
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