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

Cheat Codes for Life I Know at 36 That I Wish I Knew at 26

timdenning.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 81 posts

Re: Cheat Codes for Life I Know at 36 That I Wish I Knew at 26

#51

Post by vikingerik »

d23 wrote: post #36
this_user wrote: post #11

Most of this reads like the pseudo-inspirational BS that people post on LinkedIn. Things that seem deep, but are so blindingly obvious and/or incredibly broad that they are of absolutely no value to the reader.

Yeah, I was interested in this one and hoping to find more substance on the tax mechanisms that make this possible: > Working for yourself means you can earn less income than a normal salary and still make more due to tax reasons. When I clicked through to his "money" link, it was a category for his blog where he posts multiple posts per day on making money online. All with clickbaity headlines. Hard to take this ser…

The usual answer to that is you keep the money in the business entity while paying yourself a minimal salary. You spend it on business expenses (commonly stuff like travel or a vehicle or computer hardware, with some semi-plausible fig-leaf of business use), or take it as long-term capital gains later on.

The other answer that could fit the premise is a solo 401k, for the higher pre-tax contribution limit than a standard employer 401k.

I'd be surprised if there was really anything substantial besides those.

Re: Cheat Codes for Life I Know at 36 That I Wish I Knew at 26

#52

Post by spywaregorilla »

neodymiumphish wrote: post #19
giantg2 wrote: post #6

For number 4, what should one do other than work? Number 6 seems to be their answer, but that's still "work" just not at a salaried job. For number 6, any details on avoiding taxes? Are they in a different jurisdiction? My experience is that self employment taxes (FICA), and the need for benefits makes it so you cannot earn half as much and still take home more.

If you're self-employed, the income can go into the business and you can pay yourself based on what you actually need, while the rest of the income gets put back into the work/business. Even when taxed, those taxes that aren't individual income are taxed much lower than income taxes, so you can "avoid" paying taxes directly until you actually reach a point of profitability where you want to extract that wealth from t…

I'm pretty sure that applies to something like a non passthrough LLC, but would explicitly not apply to a sole proprietorship, which he is advocating for.

Re: Cheat Codes for Life I Know at 36 That I Wish I Knew at 26

#53

Post by giantg2 »

PebblesRox wrote: post #47
giantg2 wrote: post #6

For number 4, what should one do other than work? Number 6 seems to be their answer, but that's still "work" just not at a salaried job. For number 6, any details on avoiding taxes? Are they in a different jurisdiction? My experience is that self employment taxes (FICA), and the need for benefits makes it so you cannot earn half as much and still take home more.

I share your skepticism about the author’s outrageous claims, but I can give details on how self employment has given my family more flexibility with taxes and benefits. We set up a solo 401k let us max out tax-deductible contributions on the employer side as well as the employee side, which is great for our early retirement plans because we have a much higher limit than if we were contributing to a typical employer’…

Just curious, what is the state sponsored healthcare? Where I'm at, I'm only aware of Medicaid and CHIP.

Re: Cheat Codes for Life I Know at 36 That I Wish I Knew at 26

#55

Post by kelseyfrog »

the-printer wrote: post #48
kelseyfrog wrote: post #34

Genuine question: who is the audience for this? Or more broadly, what is the purpose of this piece? Any 26yr olds care to chime in? Are there people that get something out of this? What's that like?

It looks like the author is somewhere between a self-help dude and a productivity chap and a “life hack, growth hacker” man. So he’s trying to sell us a book, maybe teach us how to earn passive income. Things like that. I reckon that this post resonates with exactly who he’s describing in the title: Twenty-somethings (predominantly male), who are looking for advice that would give them (theoretically) a ten-year head…

Fascinating. It would be a real treat to engage with someone for whom this material felt transformative. It feels like there would be a rather large gap between someone such as that and myself and it would be interesting to learn what makes them tick. Thank you.

Re: Cheat Codes for Life I Know at 36 That I Wish I Knew at 26

#56

Post by PaulHoule »

yonixw wrote: post #4
PaulHoule wrote: post #2

I'd expect that somebody who believes "The world wants you to be normal. F*ck being normal. That’s when being extraordinary becomes impossible." would probably treat service workers poorly (they're normal, F*ck them) but instead there is the advice "Watch how people treat service workers. It tells you a lot about their character."

Why does being extraordinary require being a jackass to people who are often merely a front? (Is the service worker in control of the discount rates, for example?)

See (1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissism ("I'm special") and (2) vulgarity as a tracer for a lack of conscientiousness. ("The F*ck" bit)

That is, I'd expect people who use vulgar words gratuitously to be rude in general.

One interpretation is that this person is narcissistic but they are also Machiavellian and knows they'll be judged for how they treat service workers.

Re: Cheat Codes for Life I Know at 36 That I Wish I Knew at 26

#57

Post by theandrewbailey »

giantg2 wrote: post #18
theandrewbailey wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have goals and people that aren't work related. Pursue your own personal interests instead of focusing on your work or career. He kinda gives it away at the end: > 36. When you stop having big dreams that’s when you’ve died, despite not being buried yet.

How do those dreamers support themselves?

Most of them probably have a job. This list advises that one should not have a job as the top priority in life, but it doesn't advise against having one.

Re: Cheat Codes for Life I Know at 36 That I Wish I Knew at 26

#60

Post by D13Fd »

d23 wrote: post #36
this_user wrote: post #11

Most of this reads like the pseudo-inspirational BS that people post on LinkedIn. Things that seem deep, but are so blindingly obvious and/or incredibly broad that they are of absolutely no value to the reader.

Yeah, I was interested in this one and hoping to find more substance on the tax mechanisms that make this possible: > Working for yourself means you can earn less income than a normal salary and still make more due to tax reasons. When I clicked through to his "money" link, it was a category for his blog where he posts multiple posts per day on making money online. All with clickbaity headlines. Hard to take this ser…

Yeah, that one caught my eye. If this is focused on U.S. readers, that advice is extremely suspect.
Post reply on HN