Live data from Hacker News

Independently Poor: A Twist on FU Money – a.k.a. “FU, Money”

streetlifesolutions.blogspot.com

111–120 of 160 posts

Re: Independently Poor: A Twist on FU Money – a.k.a. “FU, Money”

#111
post #85

Thanks to covid, I have experienced how it must be to not have fu money. I'm not entirely sure why, but many companies are now hoping to take advantage of the rise in unemployment by trying to lock in highly skilled workers at a low salary. The way those job offers were presented, it seemed like they were feeling like my savior in a shining armor for offering job openings in these challenging times. But they were ask…

"I'm not entirely sure why" That is what people usually call the law of supply and demand. Your salary is not a function of your skill but of how rare they are on the market relative to the number of job opening.

Judging from the number of offers I got in recent weeks, it seems the number of job openings currently is higher than before. Shouldn't that drive up prices?

Re: Independently Poor: A Twist on FU Money – a.k.a. “FU, Money”

#112

FU Money, and FU Paperwork, is basically what I gradually came to live, after gradually unsubscribing from all of it. It's been an amazing experience, and yes, very freeing.

What's FU paperwork? Only relevant Google hit I see is pointing to this comment.

I believe that it should not be necessary to fill out paperwork in order to exist. So I don't do it.

Re: Independently Poor: A Twist on FU Money – a.k.a. “FU, Money”

#113
post #86

My wife and I have probably hit a point where if we really wanted to we could cash in and probably just go the grid for the rest of our lives. We're not rich, but we've put together a plan where it would be possible to do this if either of us ever really said "fuck it". The anxiety really comes when we start thinking about old age. Where dipping back into the workforce if we needed to is not really possible and unexp…

Sounds like old age medical expenses is the biggest fear - have you all considered emigrating to a country with govt provides healthcare to address that possibility?

Recommendations?

Re: Independently Poor: A Twist on FU Money – a.k.a. “FU, Money”

#114
post #86

My wife and I have probably hit a point where if we really wanted to we could cash in and probably just go the grid for the rest of our lives. We're not rich, but we've put together a plan where it would be possible to do this if either of us ever really said "fuck it". The anxiety really comes when we start thinking about old age. Where dipping back into the workforce if we needed to is not really possible and unexp…

Sounds like old age medical expenses is the biggest fear - have you all considered emigrating to a country with govt provides healthcare to address that possibility?

Yes. We plan on retiring outside of the U.S. primarily due to the medical nonsense making our expected cost of living much lower in old age.

Re: Independently Poor: A Twist on FU Money – a.k.a. “FU, Money”

#115

FU Money, and FU Paperwork, is basically what I gradually came to live, after gradually unsubscribing from all of it. It's been an amazing experience, and yes, very freeing.

The main problem with this blend of "liberating experiences" is that they are all fine and dandy when you're in your 20s and 30s. When health concerns start to kick in and your ability to generate income is hampered by the fact that you've decided to pay no attention to your career then that's where the consequences of your decisions start to catch up with you. It's like those hedonists who choose to spend their life…

You speak of health concerns down the road, but I have concerns over the health of my soul right now. I do not want to get to old age and realize that I've just been doing pointless shit for money my whole life, just to stay safe, meanwhile building someone's stupid dream instead of my good dream.

Where are those advertising campaigns I worked on so hard, putting in extra hours to hit the arbitrary deadlines? Gone, forever forgotten.

Where is that loan lifecycle management application I put so much effort into? How has it helped the world? It hasn't. I helped someone else funnel money into financial instruments.

When someone asks me what I did with my life, will I say that I helped a brand sell more product? That I did very thorough testing of ad delivery components to ensure that the tracking was reliable? That I helped increase conversions by 30% by optimizing the UI?

I don't think getting more help with health issues down the road is a worthwhile tradeoff for all this. It sounds like fear-guided. Yet medical industry cannot help with most situations when body is already damaged. They can only help with symptoms, and often poorly. Having seen relatives through it, I would like to avoid it as much as possible.

Many health issues are developed from not enough sleep, over-work, and over-stress. I believe that if I am careful, I can actually live longer AND better by not sacrificing my health for jobwork. I really like that quote by IIRC His Holiness the Dalai Lama, which goes like this: people trade their health for money, then try to use money to get their health back. I don't want to live that life.

It's nice to have enough time for a party or two, it's unhealthy to not go to one occasionally, IMO.

Re: Independently Poor: A Twist on FU Money – a.k.a. “FU, Money”

#116
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I'm not entirely sure why" That is what people usually call the law of supply and demand. Your salary is not a function of your skill but of how rare they are on the market relative to the number of job opening.

Judging from the number of offers I got in recent weeks, it seems the number of job openings currently is higher than before. Shouldn't that drive up prices?

If those openings stay open for a long time, perhaps. In the short term it says more about how many people are looking vs how many people they've evaluated/interviewed/hired/rejected.

Re: Independently Poor: A Twist on FU Money – a.k.a. “FU, Money”

#117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Judging from the number of offers I got in recent weeks, it seems the number of job openings currently is higher than before. Shouldn't that drive up prices?

If those openings stay open for a long time, perhaps. In the short term it says more about how many people are looking vs how many people they've evaluated/interviewed/hired/rejected.

Thanks for pointing that out :) I completely hadn't thought about the rejection rate as a factor. But given that I rejected them, too, maybe there's so many openings purely because they are bad offers.

Re: Independently Poor: A Twist on FU Money – a.k.a. “FU, Money”

#118

Thanks to covid, I have experienced how it must be to not have fu money. I'm not entirely sure why, but many companies are now hoping to take advantage of the rise in unemployment by trying to lock in highly skilled workers at a low salary. The way those job offers were presented, it seemed like they were feeling like my savior in a shining armor for offering job openings in these challenging times. But they were ask…

"take advantage of the rise in unemployment by trying to lock in highly skilled workers at a low salary"

>> By 'take advantage' do you mean offering jobs to people who might be interested in accepting them?

>> By 'lock in' do you mean employing people until whenever those people feel like moving on to something else?

If so, those are strange definitions. Doesn't sound like anybody is being forced into anything.

"offered less than what I currently make for part-time"

>> In which case, as a free person, you said 'no,' right?

Re: Independently Poor: A Twist on FU Money – a.k.a. “FU, Money”

#119

Thanks to covid, I have experienced how it must be to not have fu money. I'm not entirely sure why, but many companies are now hoping to take advantage of the rise in unemployment by trying to lock in highly skilled workers at a low salary. The way those job offers were presented, it seemed like they were feeling like my savior in a shining armor for offering job openings in these challenging times. But they were ask…

Just take whatever job you can o pay your bills and jump ship when the pandemic is over and you can find a better paying job.

More generally - take the best job you can, then keep looking and take a better job when you find one. Hopefully you'll end up looking a long time before you find a better one (meaning that your current job is relatively great).

I think this applies always, regardless of the pandemic.

Re: Independently Poor: A Twist on FU Money – a.k.a. “FU, Money”

#120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's FU paperwork? Only relevant Google hit I see is pointing to this comment.

I believe that it should not be necessary to fill out paperwork in order to exist. So I don't do it.

You've then misunderstood what "FU money" means. It doesn't mean you disregard money, on the contrary. It means you have enough money to make the choices you're happy with. Most common case being you don't have to do work that makes you unhappy. I think this was laid out in the article well enough.

In the same vein "FU paperwork" should mean you have powerful enough paperwork to disregard some annoyances in life. It does not mean you can skip doing paperwork.

Post reply on HN