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A Dark Room: From Sabbatical Year to $800k

failory.com

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Re: A Dark Room: From Sabbatical Year to $800k

#11

Post by ghostbrainalpha »

The math on this makes no sense at all.

>

- Live off of $15k a year. Don't buy a house. Don't buy a fancy car. Just save.

- Do this for a year.

- Land a job that makes you $100k a year. Save the rest. Max out your 401k contribution.

- Celebrate by living off of $30k a year.

- Do this for three years.

- Land a job that makes you $140k a year. Save the rest. Max out your 401k contribution. Get a Roth, put $5k a year into that.

- Celebrate by living off of $60k a year.

- Do this for three years. >

He is talking about SAVING, $500,000. Then needing to liquidate your 401k, just to take off a year?

If he is capable of living on 60k before this, he should be able to live almost 10 years just on his savings without liquidating the 401k.

Re: A Dark Room: From Sabbatical Year to $800k

#12

Post by justinpombrio »

evmar wrote: post #4

"If we spend a second thinking about this, if 9 out of 10 startups fail, then we only need to roll the dice 10 times and the last startup will (by statistics) achieve success." That is not how statistics works. : With a 90% failure rate, your chance of failing 10 times in a row is (9/10)^10 ~= 35%.

They're also not independent trials. If you just failed 9 times in a row, you're probably not the best at startups.

Re: A Dark Room: From Sabbatical Year to $800k

#13

Post by scarmig »

ghostbrainalpha wrote: post #11

The math on this makes no sense at all. > - Live off of $15k a year. Don't buy a house. Don't buy a fancy car. Just save. - Do this for a year. - Land a job that makes you $100k a year. Save the rest. Max out your 401k contribution. - Celebrate by living off of $30k a year. - Do this for three years. - Land a job that makes you $140k a year. Save the rest. Max out your 401k contribution. Get a Roth, put $5k a year in…

He did apparently have a girlfriend during his sabbatical, whom he supported.

I suspect most of those budgets were aspirational as well, and he ended up spending 10k more for each of them.

Re: A Dark Room: From Sabbatical Year to $800k

#15

Post by warent » 

  But if you really want numbers, here are some of the numeric 
  sacrifices I made to role the dice _once_
  ( ... big list of qualifications ... )
  Now you can take a year and a half off and roll the dice
  _once_
The author did great and should be proud, but I wholeheartedly disagree with this part.

You don't have to have these ridiculous qualifications to take a risk (let alone "roll the dice once") and be successful. Choose not to live a lavish lifestyle and you can "roll the dice" many times.

Re: A Dark Room: From Sabbatical Year to $800k

#16

Post by cvaidya1986 »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #7
cvaidya1986 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regret minimization framework. Looking back from your old age would you wish you had done something like this? Can you earn it all back with a good fall back plan on your expertise ?

And if you can’t earn it back, are you prepared to work until you die?

Opportunities are always there for those who keep an open mind and a growth mindset.

Re: A Dark Room: From Sabbatical Year to $800k

#17

Post by rubicon33 »

mkagenius wrote: post #10
rubicon33 wrote: post #2

> I liquidated my 401k savings (took all the tax penalties up front), and said "alright, gonna live off of this for as long as I can until I figure something out". This is the hard part in all of these stories. Props to him for having the courage (stupidity?). I think this forum is full of people who would not just love to quit their job and work on their own project, but would THRIVE in doing so. The problem is the…

> The problem is the paycheck. Do I want to risk it all, throw away my savings, all for a chance at success Reading this, it feels better in India. Here I can work for 2 years in a good company, save enough to quit job and do something of my own for 3 years before needing money. (Lots of other stuffs are shitty in India, but this aspect is good)

That's awesome. I love hearing about how this scenario is for people in other countries.

Here in California, I don't think that's possible. Cost of living is too high to live for 3 years off of 2 years of savings. Maybe if you were very careful with spending and had a good rent situation, you might be able to do it.

Re: A Dark Room: From Sabbatical Year to $800k

#18

Post by cvaidya1986 »

purplethinking wrote: post #8
cvaidya1986 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regret minimization framework. Looking back from your old age would you wish you had done something like this? Can you earn it all back with a good fall back plan on your expertise ?

I think more people would regret it if they knew what they were giving up, but most would probably not make that calculation. If he had kept his corporate job and spent the initial $30k a year he could have retired early only 10 years later. Maybe less if he'd be willing to live very frugally. Then he would be free to build as many apps and games as he wanted, giving him many chances at getting a big hit. I'm in this…

Moonlight unless your co owns your IP? Post traction go independent?

Re: A Dark Room: From Sabbatical Year to $800k

#19

Post by [deleted] »

rubicon33 wrote: post #6
cvaidya1986 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regret minimization framework. Looking back from your old age would you wish you had done something like this? Can you earn it all back with a good fall back plan on your expertise ?

> age would you wish you had done something like this? Not if I was 65 and still working, because I liquidated my 401k back when I was 30 and it never panned out. But yea, I would regret being 65 and having never built a business. > Can you earn it all back with a good fall back plan on your expertise? I don't know. Probably, if you were able to dramatically cut costs and go into hyper-saving mode. This can be a chal…

[deleted]

Re: A Dark Room: From Sabbatical Year to $800k

#20

Post by rubicon33 »

wuliwong wrote: post #9
rubicon33 wrote: post #2

> I liquidated my 401k savings (took all the tax penalties up front), and said "alright, gonna live off of this for as long as I can until I figure something out". This is the hard part in all of these stories. Props to him for having the courage (stupidity?). I think this forum is full of people who would not just love to quit their job and work on their own project, but would THRIVE in doing so. The problem is the…

I've been considering this same move a lot recently. I know this is appealing to some people and seems completely insane to others. I believe that I understand my own psychology pretty well. The situation where every productive hour of my life can be devoted to creating my own product and my own business as well as every passing day being a step further towards zeros dollars in the bank is a way to push me into the m…

I'm in the same boat as you when it comes to my psychology and ability to get motivated. I am fairly risk averse though, and find myself unwilling to risk my nest egg.
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