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My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

software.rajivprab.com

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Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#521

Post by dang »

joebiden2024 wrote: post #520
dang wrote: post #470

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you please not use a trollish username? We ban such accounts because it has the effect of subtly trolling every thread the account posts to. Maybe you didn't intend it that way, but these effects end up happening regardless of intent, and we've learned it's better to deal with this early than to let the problem compound over time. If you'd like to pick a different username we'll be happy to rename it for you. htt…

Sure, how about something like PfizerPham2021 (a play on my name)

The Pfizer part is also kind of trollish at this point.

Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#522

Post by bradlys »

andreilys wrote: post #292
JCM9 wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the fallacy with this approach IMHO. Yes you can save a ton my living on minimal spend with no kids. That’s also not a life many/most people desire to live. I’ll all for saving and do broadly follow a similar approach. With kids I won’t be retiring in my 30s or 40s but I’m investing in life now so that when I do retire it’s a much more well rounded and wholesome experience. To each their own, but most of the…

To each their own, but most of the “I’m not gonna have kids and just save all my money” types I know say later they made a poor life choice that’s hard to fix once that realization is made. You can make the same sweeping generalization with parents who raise kids that are ungrateful and/or complete disappointments. I know plenty of parents that feel abandoned by their children, who only get a courtesy call once or tw…

The difference is that those parents are usually assholes and deserve everything they got (or don’t get). People who chose to not have kids and just Scrooge their way to FIRE aren’t necessarily going to be the same people.

By all accounts - if you are certain that you don’t want kids, you’re not going to be a decent parent, or you have some severe issues then yeah maybe don’t do kids. But often what I see is a deeper issue of cheapness/scarcity/whatever that could be addressed with therapy and then happy children with happy parents could emerge from that.

Truth is - if you’re in SV and under 35 - you’ve likely had incredible parents. The overwhelming majority of my younger colleagues in SV love their family and were raised somewhat decently. They’re not the meth heads you’ll find scattered throughout rural America.

Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#523

Post by tdfx »

MichaelRazum wrote: post #358
bjornsing wrote: post #51

> Disclaimer: I acknowledge that I’ve been very privileged, especially in the educational opportunities I’ve had. This might sound reasonable from a US-centric perspective, but to me it reads like utter nonsense. The main privilege here is access to the US labor market and tax policy. There are no stories like this one where I live (in Sweden). Absolutely none.

Oh boy that is true. Honestly, everyone who is born in the US is kind of privileged compared to 99% of the world. Especially if you are willing to work hard.

The US passport is an enormous privilege. As well as being a native English speaker for business purposes.

Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#524

Post by ethbr0 »

joshuamorton wrote: post #456
ethbr0 wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The report itself [0] notes many of the contradictions in the US: > "Despite scoring high on the Work Opportunities (83.0) pillar—because of its low unemployment rate—as well as on the Technology Access pillar (90.2), it has the lowest score in the region on the Fair Wages pillar (43.8 against an average of 64.6 for the region). With an incidence of low pay (less than two-thirds of median wages) at 24.9, it has one o…

> 'You have the opportunity to succeed greatly, and be rewarded extremely well, but this requires financial resources at birth This is the opposite of financial mobility.

No, it is not. The opposite would be that it requires financial resources of the class you want to be part of to be part of a class.

Which wasn't what I (or the report) said: the idea is that it takes some level of financial resources as a prerequisite for a chance at top-level success.

Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#525

Post by anamax »

borski wrote: post #515
anamax wrote: post #473

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They are saying you should consider if and how your privilege helped you out Yes, they are. "Check your privilege" is often used to say "you didn't do that." Even if you assume that "privilege" is a big reason why you had an opportunity, there are almost always many people with the same "privilege" who didn't do said thing. Moreover, it's almost always some skin color argument. There are many "don't look white" peo…

The idea is simply to acknowledge where your privilege helped you, and how others may not have had the same experiences or ease of access to certain things, etc. The trope of “he’s black and rich, and I’m white and poor” is irrelevant, as there are different kinds of privilege. In rural Alabama, being white and poor is going to lend you a much closer set of relationships than being black and rich. In SF, it may be th…

Bull. I've seen "check your privilege" used to shut people down, to shame them, etc. I've never seen it used as a positive thing.

It's telling that you really want to say that no black person has privilege. You'd certainly never tell one to "check your privilege."

How much time have you actually spent in rural Alabama?

I say that because the most racist places in the US are urban, the NE and the coasts, not the south. Yes, there are racists everywhere, but the only places where blacks and whites interact productively at scale are in the south.

Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#526

Post by anamax »

borski wrote: post #517
vanusa wrote: post #483

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has nothing at all to do with guilt. Guilt is too strong of term. But it is very much used as a kind of penalty box, or way of distancing the receiver from the speaker. And as far as enlightening those who supposedly need uplifting to the higher, more evolved plane that the speaker inhabits -- it just doesn't do much.

I agree people often misuse it, in the same vein that people often misuse other “you are the other” type arguments like equating conservative with Trumper or liberal with “socialist” or pick your favorite. But it’s misuse shouldn’t change the meaning of its intent. At least I hope it doesn’t, because I believe there is still value in empathy.

> But it’s misuse shouldn’t change the meaning of its intent.

The use is the intent. And it's used as a weapon.

Notice when it's used, and when it isn't. (You'd never say it to a black or brown person. Did I have "privilege" when I lived in a labor camp?)

> At least I hope it doesn’t, because I believe there is still value in empathy.

There is value in empathy, but "check your privilege" isn't empathy.

You know nothing about my "privilege". You have no basis for telling me to "check my privilege" and saying that only proves that you not only have no empathy for me, you have no interest in me except to accomplish your political goals.

Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#527

Post by elendee »

These articles always describe the arithmetic of compound interest; I would be very interested if instead they read “I made 2 million dollars over time. Here is what my childhood, personality, family and friends were like.”. I think the mere fact of how someone -identifies- and prioritizes things at a young age account for 95% of these outcomes, and the arithmetic of investing maybe 5.

Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#528

Post by vecinu »

novok wrote: post #518
vecinu wrote: post #505

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you expand on this? TurboTax always recommended filing joint for all the years I was married even though my wife earned a lot less than me. My tax rate went up a ton after the divorce.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/marriage-penalty.asp

Right, as your link details, I experienced a marriage bonus due to my partner earning a lot less than I did. So I suppose I was in the happy/lucky camp but I didn't realize it's a penalty for 2 high earners.

TIL, thanks.

Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#529

Post by vecinu »

bradlys wrote: post #510
vecinu wrote: post #504

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> California is not a common law state. My apologies, you're absolutely correct. I have no idea why I thought CA was common law. Probably after the divorce I got bombarded with information and it was all soup in my brain. > I’m proposing avoiding the legal contracts that will not do you any good. It's only an issue if you have kids and/or plan to immigrate to a different country. Being married helps there.

Marriage for kids isn't necessary. You can prove you're a parent and that you have a legal right to your child even if you are unmarried. I've known plenty of couples who had kids without being married and it wasn't an issue. The immigration part is more difficult but you can get married temporarily for the purposes of immigration unless you're specifically moving to that place to live there forever . I've known peop…

Right, I actually was in the exact situation you describe in the middle, moving to a new country with a non-working spouse, so marriage was a requirement and there was no way she would have come with me if I asked her to divorce after. That's ludicrous.

I see your overarching point though.

Re: My Path to Financial Independence as a Software Engineer

#530

Post by vecinu »

dragonwriter wrote: post #506
vecinu wrote: post #504

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> California is not a common law state. My apologies, you're absolutely correct. I have no idea why I thought CA was common law. Probably after the divorce I got bombarded with information and it was all soup in my brain. > I’m proposing avoiding the legal contracts that will not do you any good. It's only an issue if you have kids and/or plan to immigrate to a different country. Being married helps there.

> I have no idea why I thought CA was common law. My guess is that it isa conflation of “community property” with “common law”, as both relate to marriage and are similar enough in name that it is easy to swap them in memory. Also, community property is the one more relevant to what happens in divorce, while common law is about formation of marriage.

You're right, that's where I got confused. Since I was married, everything was considered community property, so it's good to know California doesn't enforce community property on non-married couples, since it doesn't recognize common law marriages.
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