Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

231–240 of 341 posts

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

#231

Post by atwebb »

nivenkos wrote: post #184
dmje wrote: post #74

Diversify in as many areas as you can. In income terms, diversify away from a single source by learning new skills, training up in areas you're a bit rusty in, learning totally new ones. In savings or investments: diversify where you put them, spread them around so you're not dependent on any one scenario. In eating: eat more interesting and cheaper things. Become vegetarian, if you aren't already. In exercise: drop…

> In exercise: drop any gym memberships, use things like body weight to train. Run one day, do yoga the next. This is a bit like the avocado toast nonsense though - a gym membership costs about $50 a month which is nothing compared to the near $2000 mortgage payments.

Also $7,200 per decade or 3.5-4 months of mortgage/rent payments. Stack it with other similar cuts, each adds 3-6 months of living expenses. It isn't about the 1 it is about the whole. That said, I can definitely see the QoL argument, the original question tends to accept that QoL trade offs are made for financial gain.

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

#232

Post by llampx »

astrange wrote: post #145
MagnumOpus wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you weren't just interested in derailing the conversation, you would have looked up how this stacks up with a better index. I did, so you might be cheered to know that the S&P 500, a cutting edge market-weight based broad index, dropped 20.2% from 1990-07-03 to 1990-10-11 compared to the DJIA's 18%.

Yes, but there's never any good reason to bring up DJIA unless you're a TV reporter who needs a big number, so I think it's always a good deed to complain about it.

The DJIA selects a certain type of stock. Think more PG than TSLA.

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

#233

Post by bryanrasmussen »

PhoenixReborn wrote: post #152
bryanrasmussen wrote: post #84

I believe it was Tim Bray who had an essay nearly 2 decades ago now where he argued that to have a good career in IT you should 1. Move into government work just prior to periods of economic downturn - making the standards and requirements that will be needed in the future. 2. Move into private sector work during parts of economic upturn where you could take advantage of all the stuff you had a hand in during step 1.…

The reality in today's world (at least for software developers in the US) is that government work pays so much less than private sector work that I don't imagine it pays to go into government work at any point of your career.

Ok well it may be the case now, but I remember when I was in government work - Danish government not U.S. - in approximately 2005 I was earning about 77% of what I would have in the private sector before taxes (so in Denmark not that appreciable a difference) but with

1. significantly more vacation.

2. I often worked 5-6 hour days (because I was done) and just went home with no one complaining.

3. much better pension.

So I sort of think it was actually about the same in value, except of course money is more liquid and thus more valuable than perks, but perhaps the great difference in value people see is partially illusory.

on edit: not sure what the difference would be nowadays as I consult and earn about 5-6 times per hour what I was earning back then.

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

#234

Post by [deleted] »

Freak_NL wrote: post #86
dmje wrote: post #74

Diversify in as many areas as you can. In income terms, diversify away from a single source by learning new skills, training up in areas you're a bit rusty in, learning totally new ones. In savings or investments: diversify where you put them, spread them around so you're not dependent on any one scenario. In eating: eat more interesting and cheaper things. Become vegetarian, if you aren't already. In exercise: drop…

> Become vegetarian, if you aren't already. A laudable goal in terms of sustainability and health, but in most developed countries not a cost saving measure. Meat is way too cheap, and often forms part of the bargains supermarkets use to attract customers. In the long term and the most pessimistic scenarios doing without meat may be cheaper though.

[deleted]

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

#235

Post by Swenrekcah »

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…

Yes that's correct of course, I have always only considered this as personal advice, not a buisness advice.

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

#236

Post by cinntaile »

bloopernova wrote: post #175
tarsinge wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean? While strict vegetarian might not be the best it seems there are still more health implications to account for when eating meat.

My wife has health issues that mean many foods will cause her gastrointestinal pain or worse. Unfortunately many of the meat substitutes that vegans/vegetarians eat will hurt her.

Your wife is not the norm and it does not give us any general info about vegetarianism being supposedly unhealthy.

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

#237

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

sillysaurusx wrote: post #226
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 don’t understand how delivering software is related to “how can I prepare for hard economic times?” Let me tell you, as one of the highest performing team members in every organization I’ve been at: if a manager doesn’t care about you, no amount of performance will help you. It didn’t help me. And whether a manager cares about you is mostly luck of the draw. Sure, there’s politics at play. But the most common situa…

Well, for one thing, it means that you have no problem hanging your own shingle. This is useful, for example, if you are an older fellow, and no one wants to play with you.

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

#238

Post by fasteddie31003 »

Learn how to do things yourself. Learn how to cook, fix your car and repair your house. I've saved so much money over the years by being a DIYer and it's very fulfilling. Some examples of me saving money: Replacing the transmission in my truck: shop wanted $7k, I did it all for $2.5k. Fixing my deck and expanding it: contractor wanted $55k, I did it for $7k. Leaky pipe in ceiling: plumber wanted $1k, I fixed it for $25. I could go on for days...

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

#239

Post by cinntaile »

oDot wrote: post #169
tarsinge wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you mean? While strict vegetarian might not be the best it seems there are still more health implications to account for when eating meat.

I am very much in the valley of despair on this manner, but for me individually (and food is indeed very individual), meat consumption leads to a much greater quality of life, with perceived health benefits. I went fully carnivore and it lead to various health improvements. While I moved away from it due to my foodie tendencies, I currently do consume mainly animal products. I plan on doing a vegan experiment as well…

You were insinuating there are negative health consequences to vegetarianism without providing any scientific evidence.

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

#240

Post by rory »

yossarian1408 wrote: post #107
bigthymer wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the crash is inflationary, then yes. If deflationary, then no. Will the future be more inflationary than the market currently expects?

If your country has a central bank, I promise you the crash is going to be inflationary.

I think a more measured stance is that the crash WON'T be (significantly) deflationary.

If the crash is "naturally" deflationary, the central banks have now shown a commitment to sustaining inflationary policy to keep inflation at target.

But in the case of a "naturally" inflationary recession (stagflation), central banks will be hesitant to ramp up deflationary policy, because regaining employment levels will be a higher priority, and deflationary policy tends to hurt employment.

Post reply on HN