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A Fixed Income Is a Sucker Bet

stevepavlina.com

11–20 of 37 posts

Re: A Fixed Income Is a Sucker Bet

#11

Working for someone else is not scalable. "Trading time for money" My creative/artist friends amaze me because they have mastered the art of income diversification (freelancing, multiple P/T jobs, selling stuff on CL, babysitting). While not in the realm of Pavlina's success, they seem to be unafraid of the two things most white-collar professionals may be most afraid of: 1) being laid-off or fired and 2) quitting yo…

As a freelance designer myself, I can see exactly what you mean @wallflower. One of the up sides of all the economic woes of late is that it's helped me build a resistance to the normal fears that creep in, ie. being laid off or fired. Lose a few clients and you'll quickly learn how adept you are at filling the gaps. Trading time for money is just working for someone elses dream.

Since you're new here... @ is unnecessary and generally frowned upon since HN is displayed in a hierarchy.

Re: A Fixed Income Is a Sucker Bet

#12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a freelance designer myself, I can see exactly what you mean @wallflower. One of the up sides of all the economic woes of late is that it's helped me build a resistance to the normal fears that creep in, ie. being laid off or fired. Lose a few clients and you'll quickly learn how adept you are at filling the gaps. Trading time for money is just working for someone elses dream.

Since you're new here... @ is unnecessary and generally frowned upon since HN is displayed in a hierarchy.

Not to mention that dumping on Twitter is a national sport on HN

Re: A Fixed Income Is a Sucker Bet

#13

Sounds like a guy selling some kind of pyramid scheme. Oh wait, he is a motivational speaker, one level above the "get rich quick" folks. I found his post to be almost insulting (I'm rich, I'm making plenty of money and you are an idiot for not listening to me).

(I'm rich, I'm making plenty of money and you are an idiot for not listening to me) So, like a pg essay? Don't get me wrong, I think pg offers great advice after all. I do find it ironic though that there are several "defenders of the religion" here on YC that don't seem to see the similarities between the messages that pg conveys and every other self-help guru out there. (Yes, boiled down, Paul Graham is basically a…

In the last decade or so there's been a boom in pop-science self-help for yuppies, put out by a new crop of public intellectuals, like: Malcolm Gladwell, Jared Diamond, Chris Anderson, nearly all non-fiction in the New Yorker, the majority of TED speakers, etc.

Re: A Fixed Income Is a Sucker Bet

#14

Working for someone else is not scalable. "Trading time for money" My creative/artist friends amaze me because they have mastered the art of income diversification (freelancing, multiple P/T jobs, selling stuff on CL, babysitting). While not in the realm of Pavlina's success, they seem to be unafraid of the two things most white-collar professionals may be most afraid of: 1) being laid-off or fired and 2) quitting yo…

Except they probably work every waking hour. There's no reason (especially if you're creative/artist) that you can't get the security of a 40 hour a week job and be creative the rest of the time.

Re: A Fixed Income Is a Sucker Bet

#16

For anybody who's read the black swan, fixed income is mediocristan & variable income is extremistan which means that the upside to the variable income lifestyle is a relatively small proportion of people living the glamorous lifestyle that Pavlina is selling but the downside is the much larger number of people who are barely scraping by making ends meet on the same system. We'd all like to believe that we could be w…

> how much of a loser we actually are.

And if that happens, then you go back to fixed income and live happily ever after. At least you're not left with the unknown.

Re: A Fixed Income Is a Sucker Bet

#17
Yet people with a scarcity mindset spend a lot more time nitpicking their expenses and taxes than they invest in boosting their income. Not a good trade off... not by a long shot.

Bullshit. Acquiring more money by requiring less is infinitely easier than convincing people to pay you more, be it an employer or a customer. There's a ceiling to this, as everyone needs a roof over their heads, food to eat, and something interesting to do in their spare time, but this statement is bogus.

Re: A Fixed Income Is a Sucker Bet

#18

Working for someone else is not scalable. "Trading time for money" My creative/artist friends amaze me because they have mastered the art of income diversification (freelancing, multiple P/T jobs, selling stuff on CL, babysitting). While not in the realm of Pavlina's success, they seem to be unafraid of the two things most white-collar professionals may be most afraid of: 1) being laid-off or fired and 2) quitting yo…

As a freelance designer myself, I can see exactly what you mean @wallflower. One of the up sides of all the economic woes of late is that it's helped me build a resistance to the normal fears that creep in, ie. being laid off or fired. Lose a few clients and you'll quickly learn how adept you are at filling the gaps. Trading time for money is just working for someone elses dream.

Freelancing is still trading time for money. Just a diverse set of sources of that money, but its still not scalable.

Re: A Fixed Income Is a Sucker Bet

#19
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(I'm rich, I'm making plenty of money and you are an idiot for not listening to me) So, like a pg essay? Don't get me wrong, I think pg offers great advice after all. I do find it ironic though that there are several "defenders of the religion" here on YC that don't seem to see the similarities between the messages that pg conveys and every other self-help guru out there. (Yes, boiled down, Paul Graham is basically a…

In the last decade or so there's been a boom in pop-science self-help for yuppies, put out by a new crop of public intellectuals , like: Malcolm Gladwell, Jared Diamond, Chris Anderson, nearly all non-fiction in the New Yorker, the majority of TED speakers, etc.

And?

Re: A Fixed Income Is a Sucker Bet

#20
I guess the biggest advantage for Mr. Pavlina is that his wife is psychic so surely she can alert him to any big shit that's going to hit the fan so he can prepare for it and juice his income streams appropriately.
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