Ask HN: How can I prepare for hard economic times? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How can I prepare for hard economic times?

#211

Post by danuker » Mon, Mar 14, 2022, 1:05 PM UTC

hoseja wrote: post #185

danuker wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We've only lived long enough to suffer from the effects of meat in the past century or two. Here are videos exploring studies about meat, which convinced me. https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/meat/

We've hunted large portion of large fauna to extinction. Agricultural society is a way to factory-farm peasants to use in warfare.

How is that actionable? Move to a hunter-gatherer state?

How is meat produced, if not agriculture?

In any case, agriculture barely employs anyone nowadays, with mechanization and animal factory-farms.

Re: Ask HN: How can I prepare for hard economic times?

#212

Post by pibechorro » Mon, Mar 14, 2022, 1:07 PM UTC

astrange wrote: post #114

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #87

I've always found that "living at my means" has paid dividends. To many folks, 'round these parts, they'd consider it "living below my means," but that's mostly because they "live beyond their means." I avoid personal debt like the plague. If that means living in a small house, and driving an old car, then so be it. I've also found that learning to deliver software, as opposed to just "writing" software, has made me…

> I avoid personal debt like the plague. If that means living in a small house, and driving an old car, then so be it. Going into debt that you can pay off and will make you a profit is good - because making a profit is literally the thing that gets you through bad times. (That's why having savings be 100% cash is riskier than investing - you are 100% guaranteed to not have it go up.) And recent years' zero-to-negati…

Debt is leverage. When times are good you are great, when they are not and the repo man cometh, they are awful. The banks always win via bailout or not.

Staying debt free is the only safe place, you have flexibility.

Re: Ask HN: How can I prepare for hard economic times?

#213

Post by coffeefirst » Mon, Mar 14, 2022, 1:07 PM UTC

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #87

I've always found that "living at my means" has paid dividends. To many folks, 'round these parts, they'd consider it "living below my means," but that's mostly because they "live beyond their means." I avoid personal debt like the plague. If that means living in a small house, and driving an old car, then so be it. I've also found that learning to deliver software, as opposed to just "writing" software, has made me…

This is sound. The difference between "below my means" and "at/above my means" is having a bunch of cash on hand so layoffs and market crashes are annoyances rather than crises. Not everyone can do this, but if you can, it's worth it for your sanity alone.

Also learn to cook. Cooking is infinitely cheaper than eating out.

There are a lot of comments about streaming services, which is similar to "make your own coffee." You can cut all that out of your budget at the drop of a hat. It's not particularly important as long as your saving margins are significant.

Re: Ask HN: How can I prepare for hard economic times?

#214

Post by toxik » Mon, Mar 14, 2022, 1:07 PM UTC

CPLX wrote: post #190

Swenrekcah wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you may be missing the qualifier that actually makes this advice true. >But going into debt for a depreciating asset like a car is a bad idea, yes. It's important to not go into debt for frivoulous consumption. If you buy an old car, it actually doesn't depreciate very much as long as it's kept in working order. The same with a computer, if I go into debt to get the new M1 Max because I need a computer to cod…

The problem is that qualifier isn't correct. The test needs another qualifier, it should be a depreciating, non productive asset. Many assets that are incredibly productive depreciate. If you're making a living as a house painter you definitely want to invest in paint brushes rather than smearing the paint all over the walls with your hands. The fact that the brushes wear out pretty quickly is irrelevant. Same goes f…

You don’t take a loan to buy paint brushes, you may take a loan to bootstrap a painting business - the business is not depreciating.

I agree though, you’d take a loan to buy eg a CNC mill, and you’d expect it to depreciate. On the other hand, you could buy a CNC mill second hand and avoid the large initial depreciation.

Re: Ask HN: How can I prepare for hard economic times?

#215

Post by tonyedgecombe » Mon, Mar 14, 2022, 1:08 PM UTC

CPLX wrote: post #186

sofixa wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For many, an investment in a car can ultimately be cheaper than most other modes of transportation. That's a joke, right? It's entirely dependent on one's location, and i think for more people here on HN the inverse would be true ( I'm assuming the majority of users here live in or around big cities, where tech was traditionally concentrated). In well developed big cities ( so excluding the many failures at urban d…

> i don't think there are any places around the world where owning a car is cheaper than paying for public transit ( with the caveat that depending on how you measure the time spent could alter that) That's the world's biggest caveat. Investment in a modest car that stops you from spending 3 hours each way commuting over 4 separate bus routes from exurban home to exurban job is about as high a return on money as you'…

>Investment in a modest car that stops you from spending 3 hours each way commuting over 4 separate bus routes from exurban home to exurban job is about as high a return on money as you're ever going to see.

I know your example is exaggerated but even so making decisions about where to live and work like that is on a parallel with making poor decisions about your finances.

Re: Ask HN: How can I prepare for hard economic times?

#216

Post by BOOSTERHIDROGEN » Mon, Mar 14, 2022, 1:09 PM UTC

wanderingmind wrote: post #43

usednet wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Commodity ETFs

Wow never knew about them. Always assumed ETFs are only on equity. Thank you

GSG ETF from iShares

Re: Ask HN: How can I prepare for hard economic times?

#217

Post by jjoonathan » Mon, Mar 14, 2022, 1:10 PM UTC

CaptArmchair wrote: post #120

unionpivo wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With exception of USA, individuals cost of healthcare is not that high. I pay several times more for my phone+internet per year than for my healthcare (and I have 2 separate chronic conditions)

> individuals cost of healthcare is not that high What you don't pay for out of pocket, you do pay either in quality of care or through your taxes, one way or the other.

It's definitely possible to win this game compared to the US, because the situation in the US is so bad. We pay double and our health care isn't twice as good, not even close. You have to hustle hard in order to argue that it's even a smidgen better, let alone twice as good, because mostly it's just more expensive.

Re: Ask HN: How can I prepare for hard economic times?

#218

Post by rr808 » Mon, Mar 14, 2022, 1:12 PM UTC

I'm surprised no one is talking about RSUs. They are very dangerous because if your employer starts doing badly you're at risk of losing your stock ownership in the company as well as your job. You should sell most of RSUs as they vest esp if they're a big chunk of your net worth.

Re: Ask HN: How can I prepare for hard economic times?

#219

Post by ianai » Mon, Mar 14, 2022, 1:13 PM UTC

davedx wrote: post #142

So much complicated advice in this thread, wow. Keep it simple: do things that let you accumulate cash, so if you lose your job you won't also immediately get kicked out of your house and you'll have reserves to draw on. Consider that you might need to re-train etc. Just build your savings. Don't do risky things that add to the complexity and your stress levels. Avoid crypto in particular. I also have a family and I'…

And the traditional, near-cash liquidity hedges like precious metals already follow inflation. No need to dabble into such risky things as crypto.

Re: Ask HN: How can I prepare for hard economic times?

#220

Post by uxp100 » Mon, Mar 14, 2022, 1:14 PM UTC

nradov wrote: post #205

bsenftner wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the key take away here is learning to deliver , as that is what companies actually, finally care about - everyone else is nice, but without the final person that ties the bow to get the product out the door, you're fluff. And the advice to treat dept like a disease is worth following. There is no better feeling than telling the car sales failure you want $5K off because you're paying in cash, with a spreadshe…

Car dealers don't give cash discounts anymore. In fact it's often the opposite because dealers get volume incentives for financing more customers through the manufacturer's captive lender. And interest rates now are often still lower than the inflation rate, so if you have good credit you're actually coming out ahead by borrowing.

Right, asking for a cash discount is going to have the salesman laughing behind your back. They might give a financing discount, but they don't want cash. So read the fine print, but it may make sense to finance a vehicle for the anti-cash discount (like a $1000 discount coming from some program run by the lender) and then pay off the loan completely after a month. Depends on fees etc if this makes sense for you, but it might.