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

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

#271

Post by kergonath »

fortylove wrote: post #98
CJefferson wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has there ever been a time in the last 100 years when this kind of model has been useful. I understand the attraction, but I can't imagine how we could end up in the kind of situation where what you describe would be useful, without say total nucular war, at which point what you describe isn't enough.

I mean, it might be useful in Ukraine right now.

It does not protect you from being bombed to oblivion, or summarily shot by anybody with an ak-47 jealous of whatever you have, or raided by a military looking for food or entertainment, or expropriated in the unstable years ahead.

It might help if things don’t go too pear shaped, but this kind of event (a foreign invasion by a military with no regards for civilians) is basically game over regardless of your situation. The best outcome is you survive and rebuild.

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

#272

Post by tharne »

sofixa wrote: post #256
tharne wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lol, you clearly don't live in the U.S. With the exception of Manhattan, and some parts of D.C. and SF, no car = no job.

That's why i said that most cities in the US are massive urban design failures. NYC, DC, SF have mostly decent transit, and I'm willing to bet there are more Americans here on HN who live around there than outside of around there. When you add the people from European or Asian or African cities with good transit, i presume we're in the majority.

> NYC, DC, SF have mostly decent transit, and I'm willing to bet there are more Americans here on HN who live around there than outside of around there.

I'd take that bet. America is a big place and unlike Europe, our population is not concentrated in one or two major cities. There are huge numbers of tech jobs in places most people outside the U.S. have never heard of. Just as a for instance, there are over 15 cities in the U.S. larger than San Francisco, like Houston, TX or Jacksonville, FL.

I'm not going to argue about urban design, I agree the U.S. could do much better on that front. But for now, a car is an absolute necessity for the vast majority of Americans, including Americans who work in tech.

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

#274

Post by tomrod »

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…

> 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.

I agree with the other comment that performance is a necessary but not sufficient condition.

You build your own brand. A good manager helps with that. A poor manager takes the credit and you aren't acknowledged.

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

#275

Post by tharne »

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'…

> That's the world's biggest caveat.

Exactly. Not having a car is only a money saver if you place next to zero value on your time and what you can do with it.

If I switched to taking public transit to work, the additional childcare costs alone from the increased hours I'd be outside of the house would likely negate any savings I might have otherwise achieved.

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

#276

Post by itake »

sofixa wrote: post #259
majewsky wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm guessing GP was thinking of non-US residents when making their claim (although I'm very skeptical of the implication that non-US-based citydwellers make up the majority of HN).

Non-US based city dwellers+ US city dwellers from the few cities that get public transit right-ish, is, in my opinion, the majority here.

What cities in the US get public transit right-ish? Nyc and ??

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

#277

Post by tharne »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #215
CPLX wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

> 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.

Except for the fact that non-terrible housing in U.S. cities comes at a premium, and in the U.S. the majority of jobs are now in the suburbs, not the cities.

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

#278

Post by itake »

fasteddie31003 wrote: post #258
wnolens wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does the math pan out when compared against salary increases in tech? I happily DIY things, but for the joy of self sufficiency. USA software engineer bias: At several 100k raises possible (which you receive every year going forward), even 50k one time savings are drops in the bucket over the course of a career.

I've thought long and hard about this issue. Why DIYing makes sense for millionaires: 1. Depth vs breadth of skills: You could double down and become the most efficient software engineer, giving you great depth of skills and you could just pay people to do things for you. This leads to a boring life and a flat personality in my opinion. I know too many people who just know how to do one thing well. They are very bori…

I don't think SWE lacks breadth. There are so many problem areas that are both technical and non-technical. As a SWE, you could produce YouTube content or develop a new programming language instead of spend 1-2 hours per day DIYing in the real world.

re 4/ Manually digging or chopping down trees has a high body tax. Non-symmetrical high impact motions are terrible for your body. Plus there is risk in falling in a whole or a tree landing on you. IMHO, low impact cardio (e.g. walking) or weight training with slow controlled movements at medium weight offers a safer alternative to manual labor.

If DIY makes you happy, then sure. But purely from a logical standpoint, its not efficient.

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

#279

Post by cinntaile »

oDot wrote: post #268
cinntaile wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I was saying that there could be negative effects, which is evidently true since I have experienced some. People should check what's good for them instead of blindly following information they got by osmosis. Especially with regards to health.

Yeah you said so but we still don't know what those effects are and how your food supposedly caused them. Maybe there are different explanations for why you feel better now. I do agree that this can be very individual, but that is also the danger when people talk about their experience. You won't notice the long time consequences either, by definition.

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

#280

Post by blaser-waffle »

tharne wrote: post #227
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…

Lol, you clearly don't live in the U.S. With the exception of Manhattan, and some parts of D.C. and SF, no car = no job.

I made it around just fine in Seattle, Vancouver, DC (Tenlytown), and Nashville without a car. Bikes and ubers. Everywhere but Nashville was pretty easy to be a person, and Nashville was a PITA at times but doable.
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