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High-Earning Men Are Cutting Back on Their Working Hours

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Re: High-Earning Men Are Cutting Back on Their Working Hours

#161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not their potential mortality. It is their mortality. Very real, and always imminent. Once it stops becoming a “potential” thing, and it’s accepted as reality, then you start making real choices. The outcome is telling but not surprising. It’s among the oldest human wisdom.

Doesn't everyone wonder if they're the first immortal to be born?

I have found no evidence against it to date

Re: High-Earning Men Are Cutting Back on Their Working Hours

#162
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the number of top earners that get their money from investments isn’t a very significant number compared to the top earners via labor. They might make a large percentage of the money in that top 10%, but there aren’t nearly as many of them.

Only if you remove real estate income. A great many of the top earners (say 100-200K/year) are pumping their money into property via mortgages on their houses. After say 30 years of work, what percentage of their net wealth will be from salary and how much from property appreciation? Then in their 30+ year retirement, how much will come from investments stemming from that original salary?

100-200k people a year is still a small fraction of top earners. You're looking at millions in the top 10% of earners.

Re: High-Earning Men Are Cutting Back on Their Working Hours

#163

Key phrase: The top-earning 10% of men in the U.S. labor market. So nowhere near the top 10% of income earners. The real top earners don't do much traditional "work", instead earning money thorough investment and/or family income streams. I would also quibble with the definition of "work", as many activities of top earners would not be considered work by the majority of people. I've been to my fair share of "conferen…

This is a myth, the 90th percentile income earner for men isn’t that high of a salary (iirc around 135k$) and most successful tech and finance careers would fall into that category. For better or worse the passively rich now inhabit the 97th+ percentiles (probably worse if you look at the exponential increase in income above 90th)

This is true.

If you earn $85,000 and are 25-30, you're in the top 15% of earners in that age bracket in the U.S., iirc.

Re: High-Earning Men Are Cutting Back on Their Working Hours

#164
post #18

I’m over 40 and cut my hours to zero. I quit four months ago. I’m sure I’ll Need to find another job and I don’t know if can find another job that pays what old job paid with one month PTO but oh well. My sanity was too important.

Same. Last day is Tuesday. Life is too short, friend.

Re: High-Earning Men Are Cutting Back on Their Working Hours

#165
post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But more than half of them have switched to reduced hours. Why are they switching to reduced hours? This sounds like the value/output equation is out of line. Why not pay more, or hire more judges to reduce the workload?

A judgeship is often a specific job. They are paid good money and, like tenured professors, cannot have their salary easily reduced. It's like being the mayor of a town. If a mayor wants to reduce their worked hours, you cannot just hire another one to make up the difference. Their income is protected. There can be only one.

The obvious answer to this is not to allow the reduced hours - either do the full job, or do something else. Not exactly progressive, but then there aren't many jobs with these special conditions, so that's fine.

Re: High-Earning Men Are Cutting Back on Their Working Hours

#166
post #154
post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Intelligence is multi-faceted. Could be witty, could be street-smart, could be emotionally intelligent. Either way, you don't need it if you have the other two (with "funny" being a euphemism for "not dull"). Height especially. I don't have a dog in that race as a gay man, but the way that "preference" bleeds into the way people treat you in the office and in social settings (and even in the classroom) is pretty frus…

Yes, those are all colloquially accepted meanings of intelligence, but what people in this thread mean is g, fluid intelligence.

Not really. Or at least it’s not what I meant.

Charisma (rizz) is closer, but on the opposite side of the fence.

You want to aim for charisma, not fluid intelligence. But getting there requires creativity and confidence, which often go hand in hand with intelligence.

In other words, if you have a high g spot, you’re in a good position. Fluid intelligence good to have. But you have to translate it into something social-facing: jokes, a hobby, something other than merely being a meat-based database of knowledge. People can get that from google.

Re: High-Earning Men Are Cutting Back on Their Working Hours

#167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nearsighted view that's probably not common among those raised with a long term values perspective. Being a broke bartender is maybe cute in your 20s and maybe they are enjoying the "great women" they are dating. The problem is - once you hit 30 and beyond, being a broke bartender ain't that cute, and the kind of women stuck dating them aren't that *great" either. And there's no easy leap from a broke bartender in yo…

I love how you cannot imagine a world where the women is the high earned, pretty insanely conservative to me.

https://www.google.com/search?q=why+women+dont+date+down

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22407388

https://hbr.org/2002/04/executive-women-and-the-myth-of-havi... (Control-F “Slim pickings in partners”)

> Let’s start with the fact that professional women find it challenging even to be married—for most, a necessary precondition for childbearing. Only 60% of high-achieving women in the older age group are married, and this figure falls to 57% in corporate America. By contrast, 76% of older men are married, and this figure rises to 83% among ultra-achievers.

> “The hard fact is that most successful men are not interested in acquiring an ambitious peer as a partner.”

Re: High-Earning Men Are Cutting Back on Their Working Hours

#168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A judgeship is often a specific job. They are paid good money and, like tenured professors, cannot have their salary easily reduced. It's like being the mayor of a town. If a mayor wants to reduce their worked hours, you cannot just hire another one to make up the difference. Their income is protected. There can be only one.

The obvious answer to this is not to allow the reduced hours - either do the full job, or do something else. Not exactly progressive, but then there aren't many jobs with these special conditions, so that's fine.

>> not to allow the reduced hours

Lol. Try telling a pregnant judge that she cannot reduce her in-the-office hours. Or a judge suffering long covid. Or an older judge with medical issues. The dynamic is very different when dealing with very senior and qualified people, especially ones unafraid of courtrooms. And any elected judges are basically untouchable.

Re: High-Earning Men Are Cutting Back on Their Working Hours

#169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see job postings with "must be able to multitask" and "high intensity environment" and I think the 80s called and it wants its 8 ball of coke back. It's common knowledge - or should be - multitasking is a productivity loss, not gain. And the last thing the world needs is another headless-chicken culture where working hard and frantic is confused with smart and efficient. Guard your calm...no one else will.

What are some strategies for guarding your calm that have worked for the HN crowd?

With the risk of being fired, pushing back and saying no if your plate is full is an okay stategy. I think the stated risk is worth it

Re: High-Earning Men Are Cutting Back on Their Working Hours

#170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not their potential mortality. It is their mortality. Very real, and always imminent. Once it stops becoming a “potential” thing, and it’s accepted as reality, then you start making real choices. The outcome is telling but not surprising. It’s among the oldest human wisdom.

Doesn't everyone wonder if they're the first immortal to be born?

Yes, all the way until age 40. Then, reality.
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