Complains about pop ups and modals on the modern web.. has an email modal pop up randomly while you are reading.
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Get ahead by not shooting yourself in the foot
31–40 of 66 posts
Re: Get ahead by not shooting yourself in the foot
#32I grew up in Germany, where, for reasons I don't really know or understand right now, paying rent has been common and normal across a large part of the population since long before I was born. Buying an apartment or even house to live in almost seemed to be more like a "luxury" for rich people to me. I moved to the US a decade ago, and (I knew this before) the mindset seems to be that renting is only a temporary situ…
Something else to factor is that Germany probably has much stronger rental protections than many US states. Renter-landlord rights are fundamentally at tension so jurisdictions have to choose where that balance lies. If rights are lopsided towards the landlord it becomes much less desirable to rent because you have little control over your living situation.
Re: Get ahead by not shooting yourself in the foot
#33> The typical employment lifecycle of an engineer is: Get frustrated by the current company culture and/or benefits, let this frustration sit for way too long, snap and choose a random company whose recruiter just happened to reach out, join there, and repeat the cycle all over again. It's scary how real this is, but it's easy to say "don't do that", when all the inhibitions about leaving your current job rotate arou…
it is really hard to gauge company culture from outside when you are interviewing them. I don't see how this problem can be solved.
Re: Get ahead by not shooting yourself in the foot
#34I grew up in Germany, where, for reasons I don't really know or understand right now, paying rent has been common and normal across a large part of the population since long before I was born. Buying an apartment or even house to live in almost seemed to be more like a "luxury" for rich people to me. I moved to the US a decade ago, and (I knew this before) the mindset seems to be that renting is only a temporary situ…
A big piece of this is that 30-year mortgages in the USA are strongly subsidized and encouraged (see, mortgage interest tax deduction, loan guarantees, flood insurance, sewer and road system subsidies, etc). So for a middle-class person, there's a giant incentive to buy a house as it's the next-best thing after 401k matches to 'free money'.
Meanwhile, as we continue to not build housing (a trend over the last ~50 years), the price of renting continues to increase and the value of a house that you had previously bought also increases.
I would rather avoid buying a house for flexibility reasons, but it just seems like such a waste when I compare against my peers who have bought property. Hopefully things change, but these are some of the reasons why it's such a good deal in Germany vs the US to rent. (granted I don't know much about the German side)
Re: Get ahead by not shooting yourself in the foot
#35I grew up in Germany, where, for reasons I don't really know or understand right now, paying rent has been common and normal across a large part of the population since long before I was born. Buying an apartment or even house to live in almost seemed to be more like a "luxury" for rich people to me. I moved to the US a decade ago, and (I knew this before) the mindset seems to be that renting is only a temporary situ…
A big piece of this is that 30-year mortgages in the USA are strongly subsidized and encouraged (see, mortgage interest tax deduction, loan guarantees, flood insurance, sewer and road system subsidies, etc). So for a middle-class person, there's a giant incentive to buy a house as it's the next-best thing after 401k matches to 'free money'. Meanwhile, as we continue to not build housing (a trend over the last ~50 yea…
> Meanwhile, as we continue to not build housing (a trend over the last ~50 years), the price of renting continues to increase and the value of a house that you had previously bought also increases.
Yeah, that of course would be the major incentive to buy a house. But on the other hand, living in the Bay Area, buying into this market feels a bit like gambling to me. Do I really believe property prices will come crashing down? Not really. Am I certain enough to lock myself into a suboptimal situation at a gargantuan price? Also no...
Re: Get ahead by not shooting yourself in the foot
#36I grew up in Germany, where, for reasons I don't really know or understand right now, paying rent has been common and normal across a large part of the population since long before I was born. Buying an apartment or even house to live in almost seemed to be more like a "luxury" for rich people to me. I moved to the US a decade ago, and (I knew this before) the mindset seems to be that renting is only a temporary situ…
Something else to factor is that Germany probably has much stronger rental protections than many US states. Renter-landlord rights are fundamentally at tension so jurisdictions have to choose where that balance lies. If rights are lopsided towards the landlord it becomes much less desirable to rent because you have little control over your living situation.
Almost certainly, yeah. I try to counteract this by choosing "good landlords" (a lesson I learned after my first apartment here, which was owned by a corporation that was terrible to deal with), but there's only so much you can do of course. Right now we lucked out, and it feels mutually beneficial.
Re: Get ahead by not shooting yourself in the foot
#37> Here are the dragons: ... Buying a house or an apartment will disproportionately affect other areas of your life I agree with the general caution about buying a property and the baggage it comes with. Unfortunately with kids there be dragons in renting as well: having to move when getting priced out.
> Unfortunately with kids there be dragons in renting as well: having to move when getting priced out.
And the cost of moving with kids is much greater than moving alone or as a couple. You will need to find new schools, activities, etc. It constrains your search space and will inevitably take a toll on your time budget.
The areas with decent schools etc also tend to be more expensive. When you buy property in such an area you can at least lock in a flat rate on your rent for the next 10-20 years or so, until your kids have grown up and can leave the nest.
So it does make a lot of sense to buy when you have kids. Either way, those "risky career moves" are anyhow much less of a good idea when you need to provide for a family.
Even as a couple it can be a challenge to move because of your career — it's rare that both partners get a career bump out of a joint move.
Re: Get ahead by not shooting yourself in the foot
#38I grew up in Germany, where, for reasons I don't really know or understand right now, paying rent has been common and normal across a large part of the population since long before I was born. Buying an apartment or even house to live in almost seemed to be more like a "luxury" for rich people to me. I moved to the US a decade ago, and (I knew this before) the mindset seems to be that renting is only a temporary situ…
A big piece of this is that 30-year mortgages in the USA are strongly subsidized and encouraged (see, mortgage interest tax deduction, loan guarantees, flood insurance, sewer and road system subsidies, etc). So for a middle-class person, there's a giant incentive to buy a house as it's the next-best thing after 401k matches to 'free money'. Meanwhile, as we continue to not build housing (a trend over the last ~50 yea…
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Re: Get ahead by not shooting yourself in the foot
#39I get the general attitude/perspective and I'm largely in agreement.
I'll nit-pick on his point of buying experiences vs things.
Though I agree that instagrammable experiences don't have much meaningful value, I do value a lot experiences where I paid not an insignificant amount of money.
I'm assuming the author meant some balance but called something out based on his impression of an audience (maybe some projection on his part). But "paid experiences" can meaningfully lead to personal growth, perspective of other countries/peoples, deepening friendships.
That being said - you should have good long term finances to even make all that viable.
Re: Get ahead by not shooting yourself in the foot
#40> The typical employment lifecycle of an engineer is: Get frustrated by the current company culture and/or benefits, let this frustration sit for way too long, snap and choose a random company whose recruiter just happened to reach out, join there, and repeat the cycle all over again. It's scary how real this is, but it's easy to say "don't do that", when all the inhibitions about leaving your current job rotate arou…
it is really hard to gauge company culture from outside when you are interviewing them. I don't see how this problem can be solved.
There are now sites for anonymous feedback on companies, such as Glassdoor or Blind, but those are always suspect to either corporate astroturfing or random trolling.