Live data from Hacker News

High-Earning Men Are Cutting Back on Their Working Hours

wsj.com

191–200 of 300 posts

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

#191

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?

Scientifically speaking, the human death rate is a surprisingly low 93%. This is the obvious calculation: the number of people who died divided by the number who were born.

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

#192

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.

Typically women don't like to marry down in income and earning potential. When they do, it's done reluctantly because the clock is ticking or they're tired of being forever alone and have lowered their standards.

Anecdotally, I've yet to see a marriage in my peer group where the woman marries down to last more than a handful of years.

Men almost always have no problem marrying down in terms of income & earning potential, as long as their partner is otherwise supportive (i.e. not just using them).

(Obviously unless they're looking to do FIRE or DINK or something: i.e. where dual income, retire early is the life goal)

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

#193

Great. I count myself amongst this group. I used to regularly do a bit of work across weekends, and stay late or start early to always be the one willing to adjust for the timezone differences of other people. I no longer do this, I work my set hours, with an hour buffer in the morning and afternoon (8AM-6PM local time) and I don't work weekends. My weekends are now sacrosanct and used for social hobbies, spending ti…

Hiring people in this current climate hurts shareholder value. It’ll be a long winter before that changes. Be prepared for employers to start blaming everyone internally when metrics aren’t met.

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

#194

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.

> I love how you cannot imagine a world where the women is the high earned

That doesn't necessarily imply they can't imagine a woman who earns decent money.

It implies that the women earning high salaries aren't dating men that have low salaries (either dating men who also have high salaries or are single).

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

#195
post #11

The article talks about top 10% – $175k+/year https://www.investopedia.com/personal-finance/how-much-incom... That’s a fun grey area where you’re making a lot but not a lot . And the path to making more is paved with leverage, not with hours. You absolutely cannot get to the top 1% by just grinding away. I can’t find the study right now, but I remember reading that “work for money” tops out at about $400k. The highes…

Clearly some people make more than 400k and work a normal W-2 job. I’m well into 7 figures and slave away. I struggle daily on whether it’s worth it.

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

#196
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’d also argue that for young men - unless you’re an absolute unit and breathtakingly handsome… you’re always going to need to make more than your partner for a long term relationship. Being a bartender or taking a lower wage job is a surefire way to only being able to sleep around. I’ve only met a few women who earn more than their spouse and can actually only think of one off the top of my head. Every other couple…

Yup. When I met my girlfriend she was really clear that she didn't want to date someone who didn't have a similar level of accomplishment to her. It wasn't about money entirely, but money was a part of it. She has a master's degree and manages a department of people at a fairly big company. I only have a bachelor, and I don't manage people, but I earn more than her. So I guess it balances out? She would never date a…

It's just different preferences. Men select on beauty and women select on success.

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

#197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's something to be said for wearing suit and tie. It's a handy way to look "smartly/fashionably dressed" in a general context, that you have to put literally zero effort in thinking about. It's also, to some extent, an overt signal that you're committing to being professional and considerate of others - an often dismissed 'bourgeois' norm that's nevertheless a building block of society, if perhaps one that most…

A suit is a signal of being considerate of others? Since when?

Since the suit became popular as informal clothing in the Western world, starting from the mid-19th to the mid-20th c. Look at old photos from that era and you'll see pretty much everyone wears suit-style clothes in public, even and perhaps especially folks we would consider "lower class" today. There was a reason for that, and it had a lot to do with signaling respect and being considerate to others.

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

#198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup. When I met my girlfriend she was really clear that she didn't want to date someone who didn't have a similar level of accomplishment to her. It wasn't about money entirely, but money was a part of it. She has a master's degree and manages a department of people at a fairly big company. I only have a bachelor, and I don't manage people, but I earn more than her. So I guess it balances out? She would never date a…

Wow, I am sorry your girlfriend has such superficial values.

I don't think that "I want a partner who works as hard as I do to succeed" is superficial.

I think "I want a partner who is at least 6 feet tall" is superficial.

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

#200

I’ve been trying unsuccessfully to move to a 4-day, or 80% (or even part time) position for a few years now. Most companies have no real support for it, or want to do it in a backwards or messy way (“we’ll negotiation more vacation time”). You’d figure I’d be able to capitalize on a FANG resume but so far no real luck. I don’t want to earn more in my career. I’m already rich. I want to work less and do my own thing m…

Try contracting / consulting. I feel like contracting has a different set of expectations, there's more of an expectation that contractors kind of do their own thing. There's also an expectation that contractors are a bit flaky, so a reliable contractor at 80% time is still a solid asset, whereas an employee at 80% time is communicating "I'm not 100% invested". I guess the difference is that with contractors the rela…

Contracting sounds nice but you have to be making a LOT more than W2 for it to be worth it. Health insurance, HSA, your portion of self-employment tax, 401(k) matching are things you no longer get. Also you have to start doing things over and above that you didn’t have to as an employee, like finding clients, billing, accounting, fighting clients for payment. You need to charge enough to make it worthwhile.
Post reply on HN