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America’s Professional Elite: Wealthy, Successful and Miserable

nytimes.com

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Re: America’s Professional Elite: Wealthy, Successful and Miserable

#461

Post by swagasaurus-rex »

lovecg wrote: post #81
dangwu wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not about living on 500k vs 1 million. It’s about much, much earlier retirement.

To expand on this, many people who make this much as employees have a great deal of anxiety about the future of tech, and a reasonable doubt that this level of income cannot continue indefinitely. From that point of view it seems foolish to walk away from the opportunity.

People outside of tech have anxiety about the future of tech.

People inside tech having anxiety about it?

Seems to me the anxiety has far less to do with tech than with the nature of the economy and employment in general.

Re: America’s Professional Elite: Wealthy, Successful and Miserable

#462

Post by tathougies »

QualityReboot wrote: post #412
_fq4v wrote: post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How'd you get into the management consulting world? Is there a 500k/yr salary just waiting for me if I fake like I'm a Wall St guy from the 80s? Straight from undergrad. I went to a tech-focused school, majored in math and CS, and did a financial course series as a requirement for a scholarship. That, and I guess I'm a good interviewer / have people skills? > I can appreciate that you might need a wardrobe with nic…

That's fascinating. I had no idea about the 'classes' thing. I wonder if there's an alternate track for someone already established in another field. Could an established software developer somehow transition to getting a "big bucks" management position? Or does it all flow through that class system, and if you didn't enter at the bottom, you're not able to get to the top?

> "big bucks" management position? Or does it all flow through that class system, and if you didn't enter at the bottom, you're not able to get to the top?

Unless you are bringing in substantial expertise in the strategy side of technology (and most importantly, have a rolodex full of rich potential clients), it is unlikely that you would be hired. Outside of the traditional hiring rounds from undergrad and biz school, it is exceedingly rare to be given an employment offer.

Re: America’s Professional Elite: Wealthy, Successful and Miserable

#463

Post by haihaibye »

Nasrudith wrote: post #355
sonnyblarney wrote: post #312

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not that easy. 'High status' jobs in many ways entail a 'high status' lifestyle. Example: they got the jobs in the first place as the result of their parents ability to pay for private school, and Ivy League. So in that lifestyle context, you're going to be doing the same thing, it's part of the cycle. Very expensive. Partners in law firms or consultancies are really in sales . They are using their business rela…

I can't help but wonder - shouldn't these people be getting their metaphorical lunch eaten by those who don't engage in absurd conspicuous consumption? That has happened before certainly throughout history as "gentry" have had their delusions of superiority and even relevance shattered in spite of their abundantly privileged start.

Shouldn't peacocks get their metaphorical lunch eaten by those who don't engage in absurd conspicuous plumage?

Re: America’s Professional Elite: Wealthy, Successful and Miserable

#464

Post by SZJX »

BucketSort wrote: post #112
QualityReboot wrote: post #64

I just don't understand this at all. If you can earn a million a year, do it for 3-5 years, never have to work again, and pursue your passions in life. I think the problem for most workers is the lifetime of toil, not the meaninglessness of the work. I'd happily dig ditches for 8-12 hours a day for 3 years if I knew I was completely financially independent with millions in the bank that. Actually, I'd rather do that…

Most people don't have passions in life, they do have a passion for possession and social status though. Our culture also looks down on the people that don't have all these status symbols, and people naturally do not want to be looked down upon, so they keep racing to keep up just so their peers respect them. Our culture breeds depression. There are farmers in third world countries that live a more meaningful and joy…

I wonder if the problem is simply exaggerated. Is this really only the case with white-collar Americans? I'd imagine that throughout the human history the vast majority of human beings have always been working like this, or even much worse, e.g. actual slaves who constituted a huge percentage of the population. Maybe it's just that there isn't that much of a tradition to talk about the problem that often, and now that our material comfort is quite advanced, we think about such issues more and more, which is a good thing. We're not quite there yet but at least we're rethinking our lives and trying to find solutions, instead of just passively accepting whatever is thrown at us.

Re: America’s Professional Elite: Wealthy, Successful and Miserable

#465

Post by SZJX »

I wonder if the problem is simply exaggerated. Is this really only the case with white-collar Americans? I'd imagine that throughout the human history the vast majority of human beings have always been working like this, or even much worse, e.g. actual slaves who constituted a huge percentage of the population. Maybe it's just that there isn't that much of a tradition to talk about the problem that often, and now that our material comfort is quite advanced, we think about such issues more and more, which is a good thing. We're not quite there yet but at least we're rethinking our lives and trying to find solutions, instead of just passively accepting whatever is thrown at us.

Re: America’s Professional Elite: Wealthy, Successful and Miserable

#466

Post by SZJX »

QualityReboot wrote: post #64

I just don't understand this at all. If you can earn a million a year, do it for 3-5 years, never have to work again, and pursue your passions in life. I think the problem for most workers is the lifetime of toil, not the meaninglessness of the work. I'd happily dig ditches for 8-12 hours a day for 3 years if I knew I was completely financially independent with millions in the bank that. Actually, I'd rather do that…

I wonder if people actually do this and then go on to "pursue their passions in life". I wonder how you'd feel if you actually went through what you described here. What makes one's passion and one's work two strictly separate entities? In fact many people who retire early feel really lost and even depressed because they lose their bearings and aren't contributing to the community meaningfully.

If you dislike the current job a lot why not change it? For example, some people might only consider programming in functional programming languages. The number of job openings might be smaller but they are really passionate about the technology and they can be much happier on the job.

Re: America’s Professional Elite: Wealthy, Successful and Miserable

#467

Post by SZJX »

rakejake wrote: post #424
TrackerFF wrote: post #387

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's easy to fall prey to the lifestyle creep. Suddenly your $300k house/apartment is too small, and you aim for one that's 5-10 times more expensive. Then your cars get more expensive. You start looking at a summer home. You get a couple of kids...and they turn out to be extremely expensive: - Daycare - Prep-schools - Private tutors - Prestigious Universities Because you want to maximize their chances of success, an…

Great comment. I'm still in school but I noticed how my lifestyle got slightly more expensive after I made some money through internships, or after I've been on vacation and enjoyed myself (and seen others enjoy themselves). I used to think of myself as a very minimalist no-frivolous-spending kind of guy. I would do meticulous research on products to maximize the quality to price ratio (with strict upper bounds on pr…

There are apparently people who are able to maintain a frugal, minimalist and prudent lifestyle even when they're very rich, seeing from various stories and anecdotes. But yeah the moral of a lot of stories we hear is always to remind people constantly about how they should not lose themselves after they get rich. Says exactly how hard it really is for a large portion of people then.

Re: America’s Professional Elite: Wealthy, Successful and Miserable

#468

Post by ForHackernews »

r00fus wrote: post #65
ForHackernews wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Life is fundamentally empty. Unless you're religious: you live for a while then you die. Maybe you successfully procreated, and your descendants live until something gets them too. Eventually climate change, or asteroids or supernova gets everyone left.

Unless we have a diaspora. Believing in the future of humanity is a thing. Not all higher callings are religious.

Nothing lasts forever. Eventually the heat death of the universe will come for humanity, no matter how many solar systems you imagine we might colonize.

Re: America’s Professional Elite: Wealthy, Successful and Miserable

#469

Post by SZJX »

seem_2211 wrote: post #255

I think we're focusing on the wrong thing here (broadly), which is mocking the guy making $1.2m a year. Yes, that's a lot of money, and almost all of us (myself included) struggle to see how to spend that money. But at the same time, I feel some empathy for that guy - he's increased his expenses proportionally and he feels trapped doing something he doesn't enjoy with no end in sight. I know I've moved my expenses up…

This makes a lot of sense. Retiring early doesn't necessarily make people happy. In fact many could feel lost and unhappy since they're not contributing anything meaningful to the community anymore. A lot of advice mentioned working a job where you feel autonomy and passion, which I think does make a lot of sense and probably should be the way to go.

Re: America’s Professional Elite: Wealthy, Successful and Miserable

#470

Post by esturk »

obastani wrote: post #104
fermentation wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously, it was hard to feel much sympathy for the person earning $1.2M/yr when they could very easily retire if they just stopped somehow spending hundreds of thousands of dollars every year.

Perhaps they are earning $1.2M/yr because they never found anything they enjoyed to do with their time outside of work?

So the problem lies with said individual then.
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