Well, it's 70 hours sitting in front of a PC. All things considered, it's about as easy as it gets in life besides being born rich.
If You’re So Successful, Why Are You Still Working 70 Hours a Week?
111–120 of 275 posts
Re: If You’re So Successful, Why Are You Still Working 70 Hours a Week?
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Putting in long hours in your 20s and 30s to have a massive nest egg that will last you the rest of your life by your 40s seems like a good trade-off. Even amassing 7 figures by your late 20s/30s (very difficult to do reliably, also implies no debt, no adverse life events, etc.), is not remotely enough to make a "comfortable" living for the next ~5 decades of your life.
$1M at 30 without any further contributions will be worth (after inflation) nearly $4M at 50, and nearly $8M at 60. If you're not "comfortable" spending every single penny you make while your nest egg grows, you have a spending problem.
> that will last you the rest of your life by your 40s seems like a good trade-off.
I read that to mean "retire at 40". If you retire at 40, your $1M isn't going to grow to $4M at 50.
Re: If You’re So Successful, Why Are You Still Working 70 Hours a Week?
#113The only true answer is that out there are 8 billion people waking up every day. And all they do is seeking social relevance, and by doing so they are inadvertedly diluting your own social relevance. There is not a mechanism which allows you to stop working and freeze your social relevance in place as some sort of videogame checkpoint type manner. You stop working and your relevance is eroded away...hell you could ke…
I think this is sort of a false dichotomy, and potentially a defeatist take. There is an increasing body of evidence that any work done above 40hrs/wk for thought work is only beneficial for a few weeks at a time. After which overtime is necessary just to maintain what would have otherwise taken only 40hrs. What this tells me is that it's essential to learn how to strategically work longer hours, knowing that the rec…
> but to actually recognize when it's important to spend effort on some new trend, and when it's important to ignore other trends
And in order to do that you need to put in the work to study the trends and understand if they are the future or a simple fad.
The only way to do that is to put in the work, studying papers, reading a lot etc.
That is still work, because sure as hell it ain't leisure
Re: If You’re So Successful, Why Are You Still Working 70 Hours a Week?
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Having a high wage but not enough stored wealth to feel invincible against an increasingly uncertain future Hate to be the one to tell you this, but there is no guarantee on what the future may bring, money can't fix everything, and true security is a lie. Live your life in the here and now, before you regret wasting it.
I appreciate the angle but I think it's oversimplified. I work almost just as much as I used to before but my life gets easier and better the more money I make. It's incredible to me the difference money makes. Compound interest is real and determining when it's enough is about determining the rate of growth in absolute terms relative to the cost of living you'd be happy with.
ok
Re: If You’re So Successful, Why Are You Still Working 70 Hours a Week?
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 8 billion people waking up every day. And all they do is seeking social relevance, No they don’t. Most of this earth is seeking food and clean water and substance. You’re lucky enough to have that and seek your social relevance
> Most of this earth is seeking food and clean water and substance. You are underestimating the intelligence of people in 3rd world countries. They might be fighting violently to procure themselves those things, but in their mind there is always the thought of reaching a point when their social status is so high that they won't have to fight violently, but other people in the village would bring food and water to the…
I sincerely recommend you go test your hypotheses out in the field.
Re: If You’re So Successful, Why Are You Still Working 70 Hours a Week?
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
no most of those 8 billion are just trying to put food on the table by whatever means - relevance is probably the last thing on their mind - you can't blame people for trying to survive yes everything in this capitalism dominated world is owned by somebody so even for food to survive, you have to engage in economic activity yes if you work on problems that nobody needs solved, nobody's gonna solve any of your problem…
> no most of those 8 billion are just trying to put food on the table by whatever means - relevance is probably the last thing on their mind - you can't blame people for trying to survive You are underestimating the intelligence of people in 3rd world countries. They might be fighting violently to procure themselves those things, but in their mind there is always the thought of reaching a point when their social stat…
I sincerely recommend you go test your hypotheses out in the field.
Re: If You’re So Successful, Why Are You Still Working 70 Hours a Week?
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
Exactly. If society were to fall apart, the number in your bank account will matter very little, if it even exists anymore...
That is highly unlikely - thankfully there is a much more reasonable way to read how important it is to live for today. Nobody intends to be hit by a bus but some people are - make sure you're getting what you want out of life before you get hit by a bus.
Unlikely but not highly unlikely. If you expect to live for another 50 years, there is a nontrivial chance that you will face a crisis that happens once every 500 or 1000 years on the average. Dying prematurely is one kind of risk, outliving your society is another.
Re: If You’re So Successful, Why Are You Still Working 70 Hours a Week?
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
I appreciate the angle but I think it's oversimplified. I work almost just as much as I used to before but my life gets easier and better the more money I make. It's incredible to me the difference money makes. Compound interest is real and determining when it's enough is about determining the rate of growth in absolute terms relative to the cost of living you'd be happy with.
ok
That’s because you’re already above where money would constrain you. The vast majority of people are not. I suspect you know this.
Re: If You’re So Successful, Why Are You Still Working 70 Hours a Week?
#119Wages for professionals, such as law, medicine, tech, finance, consulting, etc., have really ballooned over the past decade, since 2008 especially, even after accounting for student loan debt and inflation. This makes working long hours more attractive, as the financial payoff is so great both in terms of wages but also by investing one's income in rapidly appreciating assets such as stocks and real estate (the post-…
> Putting in long hours in your 20s and 30s to have a massive nest egg that will last you the rest of your life by your 40s seems like a good trade-off. Even amassing 7 figures by your late 20s/30s (very difficult to do reliably, also implies no debt, no adverse life events, etc.), is not remotely enough to make a "comfortable" living for the next ~5 decades of your life.
It is if you own a house mortgage-free. Dividend income on let’s say $1.5 million would be around $60,000/year. That’s pretty comfortable if your expenses don’t include shelter.
That’s why my advice to young people is always to do what you have to in order to establish working credentials, then move somewhere cheap, buy a house and work remotely as much as you can. You’ll get it paid off in no time and that level of freedom cannot be overstated. Then you can start really saving.
On the downside, you’ll probably be living somewhere small and uncool and that may not be enough incentive to leave the bright lights of the city.
Re: If You’re So Successful, Why Are You Still Working 70 Hours a Week?
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
I appreciate the angle but I think it's oversimplified. I work almost just as much as I used to before but my life gets easier and better the more money I make. It's incredible to me the difference money makes. Compound interest is real and determining when it's enough is about determining the rate of growth in absolute terms relative to the cost of living you'd be happy with.
ok
You have reached a solid threshold where your basic needs are met and you have various luxuries that make life comfortable.
From here on out you’ll have diminishing returns on the money/life improvement axis.