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The Real Silicon Valley

jfornear.co

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141–150 of 154 posts

Re: The Real Silicon Valley

#141

Post by protomyth »

chiph wrote: post #131
paulsowden wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's also HSA (although still taxed in California you'll still avoid federal taxes) which is tax deferred and if used for qualified medical expenses you'll never pay federal tax. After age 60 it can be drawn down on similar to an IRA. (Has the caveat that it to maintain an HSA you need to be on a HDHP, which for a healthy 20 something is probably a reasonable choice).

HSAs are a great choice for someone without ongoing medical costs. I'm currently earning 2% in mine. Best part about it is that contributions stay in the account & continue earning interest, unlike an FSA where it's use-it or lose-it each year.

and since FSA maximum got cut and HSA maximum increased, it makes a lot more sense

Re: The Real Silicon Valley

#142

Post by sliverstorm »

arethuza wrote: post #125
sliverstorm wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, ideally you should earn as much money as possible, and spend as little as possible. Money only does you any good when you don't spend it.

Though, if you never do anything with your money then it's pretty pointless.

That's what I was attempting to sarcastically point out :)

Re: The Real Silicon Valley

#143

Post by intellegacy »

yen223 wrote: post #117
acchow wrote: post #33

> Technically I am now homeless and unemployed. But if you can code, you could be in a 100k job with a 10k signing by Monday. That's hardly "homeless".

Where are these 100k jobs that people keep talking about? Because there is no such thing where I come from.

Silicon valley, Boston, and NYC are paying $100k for senior level developers.

Of course Malaysia and S.E.Asia and the rest of the world has a lower level of salary (except perhaps Singapore).

Re: The Real Silicon Valley

#144

Post by peripetylabs »

I read countless horror stories before launching my own startup, without hesitation. If your goal is to do what you love, and hopefully earn a living from it, you have my sympathy; if your goal is to get rich quick, well, that's always been a fool's game.

Re: The Real Silicon Valley

#145

Post by arethuza »

sliverstorm wrote: post #142
arethuza wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Though, if you never do anything with your money then it's pretty pointless.

That's what I was attempting to sarcastically point out :)

Sorry, I'm British so I have to turn my sarcasm detector off to read HN!

Re: The Real Silicon Valley

#146

Post by dennisgorelik »

noname123 wrote: post #11
fearless wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone knows startups are not the optimal economically rational way to make money. But to an entrepreneur, living off 6% muni bond interest is profoundly uninteresting, and dare I say soul crushing. Repeat after me: If you think it's only about the money, you're missing the point. And even if it is all about the money, most 25 year olds would jump at a 1% chance to make $10 million over a $100% chance to make $200K…

Better way to make money is to take out a personal loan for 100K, same opportunity cost of two years of programmer-salary on startups. Buy out of the money options on small-cap pharmacuetical facing FDA decisions, you have the ability to also make $10 million overnight with 30% success. Go for insider-tips to max out on your success.

That sounds like the beginning of typical amateur trader career that ends up with 90+% probability in losing all invested money.

Re: The Real Silicon Valley

#147

Post by oscargrouch »

braga wrote: post #140
oscargrouch wrote: post #36

I quit my TI job, lost my beautiful fiancee, lost my friends and came back to live with my parents, and all of this after thirty.. Im pretty sociable guy.. and had a very rich and good social life before all this.. Im living in Brazil, without access to this garden of VC funds you guys have in the Valley.. But i live in front of a beautiful beach, where i go out everyday to run, and let some stress behind me.. Im sti…

Although very far from SV levels of funding, it's not that hard to find VC if you're in Rio or São Paulo. If you need any details or help, feel free to contact me.

Not in Rio or SP, but in Fortaleza.. but i know that at least in the fresh start.. i will need to move, because of the workforce quality..

the project is in c++, using the chrome source code as a base.. graph database and algorithms, net protocol architecture, VM embedding.. will need help with all that.. but not easy to find people who still face this sort of chalenges

anyway.. how can i contact you?

Re: The Real Silicon Valley

#148

Post by trhtrsh »

rgbrgb wrote: post #128
michaelochurch wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Academia is not like that. You don't have much immediate job risk, because jobs have defined lengths of time (2-year postdocs, 6-year tenure race, indefinite tenure) but the career risk is intolerable. Academia has a terrible job market; it has sold out a generation and a half and I don't see it being able to unwind that. Academia has almost no financial upside but a lot of downside.

I've had a lot of CS professors that consult in industry for huge payouts (particularly in more applied fields like biometrics and graphics) and I know there are applied math people doing the same. It looks incredibly hard to get a tenured academic job, but I think once you're there in an applied field, your title can be very lucrative.

That's the same as saying post-IPO/acquisition founders are well-positioned for future life. It's not an answer the question of "is it worth taking the risk of putting in a decade of effort?"

Re: The Real Silicon Valley

#149

Post by jseliger »

arethuza wrote: post #125
sliverstorm wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, ideally you should earn as much money as possible, and spend as little as possible. Money only does you any good when you don't spend it.

Though, if you never do anything with your money then it's pretty pointless.

I get the point here, and I'm not advocating never spending money or doing anything with your money, but the vacation house and expensive cars seem like unforced errors that don't really add much to one's life, especially relative to their costs.

Re: The Real Silicon Valley

#150

Post by fudged71 »

SeoxyS wrote: post #74

If you're buying into the Silicon Valley hype, and then get disappointed, you're doing it wrong. Silicon Valley is not a place that's amazing a first, and then awful once you fail. It's simply a place that happens to have the highest concentration and best resources for building tech companies. Ultimately, though, surviving Silicon Valley comes down to one simple rule: don't build stupid shit. Work on a business , ge…

How important is this concentration for modern technology, anyway? Do flights to SF not make up for this in terms of meeting investors and other contacts?

And sometimes I feel like the SF filter bubble is harmful. There are niche markets around the world called "cities not named San Francisco". I know that where I live, there are no good quality websites for local services or other keen initiatives. Many of the SF "Failures" could easily kickstart themselves in a town like mine, I think.

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