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On Quitting

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Re: On Quitting

#71

Post by djb_hackernews »

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?

I've done it, twice. (And probably a 3rd time in the next 12 months) And I'm definitely not a trust fund kid.

First time I took a year off to ski bum and travel (late 2008 just as the recession started to get rolling) In 2012 I took nearly a year off to start my own thing.

I noticed both times that as soon as I didn't have any income, I knew where every dollar I spent went and lived very frugally to stretch my funds.

In general, I live way below my means and save as much as possible. I'm early 30s and have always had shared living situations (either SOs or roommates) and that means right now my living expenses are about ~12% of my take home pay, so basically that means even after I max out my 401k I have a few thousands of dollars per month to do what I want with.

Re: On Quitting

#72

Post by johnward »

caseysoftware wrote: post #47
YuriNiyazov wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 sa…

I appreciate the suggestions and trust me I'm working on it. I wasn't trying to turn this into a thread about my money issues. It's just that HN tends to have a lot of very young and very very well paid people who tend to think everyone else is in that same situation. I'm not sure they realize how fortunate they really are.

Re: On Quitting

#73

Post by mathgeek »

johnward wrote: post #61
mathgeek wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't need to be single or a renter to save. You just need to make it a priority. I'm the sole breadwinner with a wife and two kids, and we pack away 20% out of every paycheck. We own our home and both cars. Do we live a garish lifestyle? Certainly not, but we travel a lot and adhere to our budget (thank goodness for remote jobs).

Not to be a dick but it sounds like you just make a lot of money. I'd consider owning a house and 2 cars to be pretty garish compared to the average middle class family. The luxury of being able to travel is something not many people have. Plus if you have ever had a parent help you with any significant expense you are much luckier than the majority of people. This sounds like one of those /r/personalfinance threads…

> Not to be a dick but it sounds like you just make a lot of money.

I do not. I make just over $70k a year now (a lot more than a few years ago) and before we had kids, we cut back so that my wife's income at the time went entirely to paying off debts. Our home is worth ~135k (three bedroom in a nice cheaper US city), and our cars are nothing to write home about but they get us where we need to go. My total income now is higher than our combined income was then. Like I said before, planning goes a long way.

Your comment does come off as a bit dickish, by the way. You made a lot of assumptions about me that are not true.

Re: On Quitting

#74

Post by hiou »

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?

I think you are forgetting how much money someone like this makes at their job. We're talking something like 5 or more times what someone at the bottom of the income ladder makes. So technically just saving for 3 months will give you more than a year of runway in a much less expensive lifestyle.

Re: On Quitting

#75

Post by GFischer »

caseysoftware wrote: post #47
YuriNiyazov wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 sa…

You got me interested, but step 1 is already too steep, I guess I should convert it to local currency. And what's that thing about "mortgage"...

Looks like it's too naïve, but it's good advice for people living in the U.S. and that have mortgages.

Re: On Quitting

#76

Post by johnward »

mathgeek wrote: post #73
johnward wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to be a dick but it sounds like you just make a lot of money. I'd consider owning a house and 2 cars to be pretty garish compared to the average middle class family. The luxury of being able to travel is something not many people have. Plus if you have ever had a parent help you with any significant expense you are much luckier than the majority of people. This sounds like one of those /r/personalfinance threads…

> Not to be a dick but it sounds like you just make a lot of money. I do not. I make just over $70k a year now (a lot more than a few years ago) and before we had kids, we cut back so that my wife's income at the time went entirely to paying off debts. Our home is worth ~135k (three bedroom in a nice cheaper US city), and our cars are nothing to write home about but they get us where we need to go. My total income no…

Just for the record when someone says "not to be x" they are almost always about to be X. I was wrong. You are in a situation similar to me though. About the same income/housing price with a wife and first child on the way. There is no way I'm saving 20% in the foreseeable future though. I have two car payments though. One that will be paid off this year and the other I'd like to get rid of but I'm too upside down right now.

Re: On Quitting

#77

Post by YuriNiyazov »

hoorayimhelping wrote: post #54
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 save a good portion of every paycheck, and I've slowly watched my savings grow. There's no way I would quit a job without some kind of way to pay my day to day expenses or some kind of prospect to be able to do it in the future. The angles I look at this raise the same question: how can people do this? If people have no savings and no job lined up, how can they put food on the table? If they have savings, and know…

If I saved up to live for six months, there's nothing crazy about taking a three month break and using up about 50% of one's safety net.

Re: On Quitting

#78

Post by mathgeek »

bluedino wrote: post #59
mathgeek wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't need to be single or a renter to save. You just need to make it a priority. I'm the sole breadwinner with a wife and two kids, and we pack away 20% out of every paycheck. We own our home and both cars. Do we live a garish lifestyle? Certainly not, but we travel a lot and adhere to our budget (thank goodness for remote jobs).

> 20% Is that including retirement savings or not?

That's out of net, after IRA contributions.

Re: On Quitting

#79

Post by mathgeek »

johnward wrote: post #76
mathgeek wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Not to be a dick but it sounds like you just make a lot of money. I do not. I make just over $70k a year now (a lot more than a few years ago) and before we had kids, we cut back so that my wife's income at the time went entirely to paying off debts. Our home is worth ~135k (three bedroom in a nice cheaper US city), and our cars are nothing to write home about but they get us where we need to go. My total income no…

Just for the record when someone says "not to be x" they are almost always about to be X. I was wrong. You are in a situation similar to me though. About the same income/housing price with a wife and first child on the way. There is no way I'm saving 20% in the foreseeable future though. I have two car payments though. One that will be paid off this year and the other I'd like to get rid of but I'm too upside down ri…

> There is no way I'm saving 20% in the foreseeable future though.

Absolutely understandable. We certainly went through a few years where we were just happy that we didn't have debt and could live off my income. Good luck with your own journey!

Re: On Quitting

#80

Post by gregd »

frou_dh wrote: post #67
gregd wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

What exactly is it that you are feigning surprise over? That people on high salaries can save a significant sum of money? What's counterintuitive or surprising about this?

Because I'm in tech and have yet to see one of these "high salaries". Nobody seems to acknowledge outside help. Does she have parents that she can always go back to live with if shit falls apart? And then there's a shit ton of "you're living beyond your means, if X isn't true for you.."
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