I’m not saving ninety percent of my income for myself • Hacker News Board

Re: I’m not saving ninety percent of my income for myself

#91

Post by thoughtfunction » Sat, Jun 08, 2019, 5:20 PM UTC

malshe wrote: post #36

The line about saving $1.7 million caught me off guard! Btw, the woman's blog "Merry for Money" that's linked at the end of the article has a few extreme methods such as how to make money from PornHub: https://merryformoney.com/make-money-pornhub/

Make $100-$200k/yr from your equity compensation, have that same equity comp go up 2x (amazon) and you get 800k-1.6m for 4 years of work pre-tax. Add a few more years on top of that.

Re: I’m not saving ninety percent of my income for myself

#92

Post by joshbaptiste » Sat, Jun 08, 2019, 5:24 PM UTC

xenihn wrote: post #12

I'm honestly so jealous of the husband's situation. 7-figure networth before hitting 30, a 4-bedroom home in a major tech hub, and a compulsively frugal wife who is obsessed with financial planning and amplifying your shared incomes/networths. The dream. This article just feels like a vector to drive traffic towards her sites, though.

Once he placed the ring on her finger he accepted her terms .. as an American who hasn’t grown up with Asian cultural norms I would never marry someone with an obligation to take care of their parents also in America.

Re: I’m not saving ninety percent of my income for myself

#93

Post by DoubleCribble » Sat, Jun 08, 2019, 5:30 PM UTC

This reminds me of the generation that were kids during the Great Depression. The trauma of food scarcity & poverty often resulted in extreme forms of frugality that lasted for the rest of their lives. It wouldn't surprise me if this author also saves/reuses food plastic wrap, scraps of aluminum foil & rinsed out plastic sandwich bags as my own grandmother did.

Re: I’m not saving ninety percent of my income for myself

#94

Post by RodgerTheGreat » Sat, Jun 08, 2019, 5:37 PM UTC

ThrowawayR2 wrote: post #43

cercatrova wrote: post #3

When I read stories like this, I always think of the systemic factors that are creating this behavior; that America, and indeed many countries in the world, do not have the social safety nets to take care of its own people when they can't work anymore. It would be better and more efficient for a nation as a whole to take care of its children so that they can choose their own avenues of success rather than needing to…

> Imagine where mankind could be if we had everyone being able to have the basics, and ample free time to think, to explore, to experiment, to create. Realistically? Probably better than 99% of people would play video games and watch TV their whole lives. Not everybody is oriented to be an artist/author, an inventor, a scientist, or some other creative type.

If for every thousand people that spent all their time playing video games- or doing other enjoyable activities that don't leave a lasting legacy- one person was allowed to create an invention or make a scientific discovery or write a great novel, our civilization could easily still come out ahead. I also doubt it would be nearly so binary. I believe that most people do possess self-directed creativity and productivity, in varying ways and to varying degrees.

The percentage of people who take full advantage of being freed from working to survive isn't terribly important; it's the number.

Re: I’m not saving ninety percent of my income for myself

#95

Post by losvedir » Sat, Jun 08, 2019, 5:38 PM UTC

maxaf wrote: post #56

I’m 100% the opposite way. My wife is very frugal, but I save nothing. What’s the point of pinching every single penny? That’s not life; it’s survival. Even more ironic is the fact that this is multiple decades of mere survival all aimed towards one goal: ensuring survival in those decades when work is no longer possible. Perhaps I’m obtuse, but this isn’t a life worth living. I want to enjoy my healthy years in the…

On the contrary, living paycheck to paycheck is survival. Being able to just say "fuck it" and walk from a job that's bothering you, or investing in a business idea you get, or starting a family dynasty, these are taking advantage of and enjoying life to the fullest.

I live frugally, and I feel like my accumulating wealth is a laser cannon strapped to my back, ready to deploy as I see fit. The freedom is exhilarating.

Re: I’m not saving ninety percent of my income for myself

#96

Post by codingdave » Sat, Jun 08, 2019, 5:39 PM UTC

joshbaptiste wrote: post #92

xenihn wrote: post #12

I'm honestly so jealous of the husband's situation. 7-figure networth before hitting 30, a 4-bedroom home in a major tech hub, and a compulsively frugal wife who is obsessed with financial planning and amplifying your shared incomes/networths. The dream. This article just feels like a vector to drive traffic towards her sites, though.

Once he placed the ring on her finger he accepted her terms .. as an American who hasn’t grown up with Asian cultural norms I would never marry someone with an obligation to take care of their parents also in America.

Then it might surprise you that 30 states in the USA have laws requiring you to be financially responsible for your parents' care if they cannot cover it themselves.

Re: I’m not saving ninety percent of my income for myself

#97

Post by elamje » Sat, Jun 08, 2019, 5:40 PM UTC

cercatrova wrote: post #3

When I read stories like this, I always think of the systemic factors that are creating this behavior; that America, and indeed many countries in the world, do not have the social safety nets to take care of its own people when they can't work anymore. It would be better and more efficient for a nation as a whole to take care of its children so that they can choose their own avenues of success rather than needing to…

I like the idea of those things. However, this is HN, and full of people that would try to be productive/creative for society if they had a safety net that allowed them to pursue awesome endeavors. Many people work to earn money, not to free up time so pursue their passions and hobbies. There are a significant amount of Americans that would enjoy the safety net by watching Netflix, eating, gambling, etc. There is nothing inherently wrong with those things if you enjoy them, however, a benefit of the current model is that people who aren’t creative/ambitious/driven end up spending 40ish hours a week working on things that are useful for other people or businesses.

I’m not sure I see a case where the economic machine speeds up by giving people limitless free time.

I like the idea of a safety net for healthcare btw, bc even privately we pay too much, and the current system sucks to use, pay for, experience, etc. A world where the basics are given sounds nice, but there are a seriously concerning amount of people that are wildly lazy (I wish there was a dataset to measure this I was aware of, but I’m going off of the towns I grew up in and people I knew.)

Re: I’m not saving ninety percent of my income for myself

#98

Post by cm2012 » Sat, Jun 08, 2019, 5:43 PM UTC

malshe wrote: post #36

The line about saving $1.7 million caught me off guard! Btw, the woman's blog "Merry for Money" that's linked at the end of the article has a few extreme methods such as how to make money from PornHub: https://merryformoney.com/make-money-pornhub/

That's more legit than I thought. It could be that this is actually a good resource, hah.

Re: I’m not saving ninety percent of my income for myself

#99

Post by savant_penguin » Sat, Jun 08, 2019, 5:52 PM UTC

In spite of all that her son may not be accepted in Harvard for being asian

Re: I’m not saving ninety percent of my income for myself

#100

Post by StillBored » Sat, Jun 08, 2019, 5:54 PM UTC

mruts wrote: post #64

xenihn wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I've made a bunch of assumptions about what the husband is like based on what can be inferred from this article. I'll keep that to myself because I don't want to offend anyone and get downvoted, though a lot of it is drawn from what I was like when I dated someone like the author. She only had to spend half of her post-China childhood in poverty before her mom started earning doctor money, but she still thought…

Hasn’t really helped Japan get out of their 30 year depression, though.

And who wouldn't love to live in their "Depression" They have 2% unemployment and some of the highest quality of living standards in the world. Sounds like they are doing something right.

If you opt out of the growth is required mindset its perfectly possible there are other economic models which work just fine to live under despite the scary sounding descriptions.