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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?

#281

Post by fasteddie31003 »

itake wrote: post #278
fasteddie31003 wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 who…

I have a pretty risk tolerant personality. Cutting down trees is not for everyone. It takes planning and skills. If you live your life on a keyboard, you probably shouldn't jump into cutting down trees to start.

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

#282

Post by blaser-waffle »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #229
nivenkos wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

For people who struggle with their finances it's not just the gym membership. It's the gym membership, media subscriptions, daily latte, oversized car(s), holidays abroad, eating out daily, mortgage payments on a McMansion, new phone every year, overflowing wardrobe and on and on. Most people live pay check to pay check.

What you're describing is a lack of impulse control, not anything related to a gym membership specifically.

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

#283

Post by revax »

ddorian43 wrote: post #138
uxcolumbo wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So on a plant-based diet you can't save yourself? Plant-based meals require far fewer resources and is cheaper, which means maintaining societal stability when resources are becoming low - as there is more to go around. A lot of farm land is being used to grow foods for livestock. We could use that land to grow food for ourselves.

> So on a plant-based diet you can't save yourself? I'd generally go for keto since that is more studied compared to strict carnivore. > Plant-based meals require far fewer resources and is cheaper, which means maintaining societal stability when resources are becoming low - as there is more to go around. But your health will (probably/maybe) be worse. There are ways to make cheap keto (ex: eating 10 eggs/day in my l…

>Then eat grass-fed meat. I do so myself.

I'm not sure there is enough grassland in the world for everyone to eat grass-fed meat.

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

#284

Post by oDot »

cinntaile wrote: post #279
oDot wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That's only a problem if I advise people will go in a certain direction (which is what the original comment did). Instead I suggested people think about their decisions.

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

#285

Post by caeril »

coffeefirst wrote: post #213
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.…

> having a bunch of cash on hand

Not the best choice if denominated in a currency that loses its purchasing power by 8% annually and whose supply is managed by the people who called the 2007 housing market as "a little frothy", the 2021 inflation as "transitory", and habitually gives in to the crack addict tantrums and demands of the market for easy money if they even hint at tapering asset purchases. These people are somewhere on the spectrum from totally incompetent to actively malicious, and trusting them to steward the value of your cash savings is pants-on-head idiocy.

Identify any and all durables and non-perishables that you know for a fact you'll use in the future. Convert your fiat into those goods as fast as you possibly can. Appliances, canned food, dry rice/beans/wheat, toothpaste, keyboards, printer toner cartridges, whatever it is you use regularly, buy it now.

If you have variable-rate debt, pay it down. Pay it down now. The next rate adjustment is going to murder you.

You can also somewhat mitigate the collapse in purchasing power by converting your worthless currency into precious or base industrial metal ETFs, or globally-diversified equities. Just bear in mind that the government will steal 15-30% of your realized "gains" (which are not actually gains, just standing still in terms of purchasing power). Your half of a grass-fed cow in the freezer and 800lbs of Jasmine Rice will be taxed at precisely 0% when you eat it.

Or you can buy TIPS or other inflation-indexed securities and gamble and pray that the bullshit PCE/CPI deflator they pull out of their ass and dramatically lowballs cost-of-living increases we actually experience doesn't put you too deep into negative real yields.

There's no real winning when both your currency and your fiscal policy is managed by sociopaths, but we can still try to mitigate the damage by escaping the currency.

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

#286

Post by Nitramp »

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.

I think this is a reasonable observation, but in certain high cost of living areas, and if you're willing to leave to save money in case of trouble, the math is slightly different.

E.g. in SF, you'll pay $3500+ for housing, and salaries are largely adjusted for that level of expense. But your savings are "future money", and you can choose where to spend that. Saving $300 a month, $4k a year, can add up to sums that are significant in a lower cost of living area.

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

#287

Post by ganzuul »

yossarian1408 wrote: post #104
ganzuul wrote: post #99

Started preparing 5 years ago by leaving IT for a more stable industry. As a machinist I won't be sent to the front lines because they need me alive to rebuild society. That's a pretty bleak outlook, I know. However right now the depressive realism I had when I chose to switch is looking prescient, up here in the North East of Europe. No worries. :)

Similarly, I've begun tactical combat and firearms training. The most essential part of a society is it's stability, and the government's ability to exert power in the name of this stability. It would be counterintuitive to send me to the front, as they need me for the rebuilding.

I think the stability vs. flexibility issue is more nuanced.

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

#288

Post by ddorian43 »

revax wrote: post #283
ddorian43 wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So on a plant-based diet you can't save yourself? I'd generally go for keto since that is more studied compared to strict carnivore. > Plant-based meals require far fewer resources and is cheaper, which means maintaining societal stability when resources are becoming low - as there is more to go around. But your health will (probably/maybe) be worse. There are ways to make cheap keto (ex: eating 10 eggs/day in my l…

>Then eat grass-fed meat. I do so myself. I'm not sure there is enough grassland in the world for everyone to eat grass-fed meat.

I believe (not really studied myself, but as with most things in life, I only do enough research on how to choose who to believe, not really KNOW MYSELF, reality is so complex that I don't have enough time to really know, and even if I do have time, I'm often not genetically predisposed to be good at it, so I still dont decide for myself, only who to believe)

that you should do keto or carnivore. Feel free to read or believe the vegan doctors or the keto/carnivore ones. But I've made my choice and I ~mostly have been right in my life, including this. Feel free to become a psychiatrist/psychologist/sports-science and do your studies and bring a better way.

Until then, eat keto/carnivore with the best red meat you can afford. And then worry about the world. And humans are smart enough to fix this particular issue.

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

#289

Post by reitanqild »

kergonath wrote: post #271
fortylove wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 situatio…

If anything, Ukraine shows that civilization doesn't necessarily immediately collapse.

Despite the madness the only thing I learn about looting from Ukraine is:

- civilian would-be looters still getting punished

- Russian soldiers are looting

i.e. when your rations expired you get desperate and since the Russian army is armed and know they are an utter disgrace anyway this happens.

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

#290

Post by micromacrofoot »

oDot wrote: post #192
micromacrofoot wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

hundreds of millions of indians are vegetarians just fine, people who talk like this have usually read too many anti-vegetarian memes

Or are just aware of the individuality of food.

fear mongering about vegetarianism implies a distinct lack of food awareness
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