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I Feel Like I Have No Real Interests; My Only Interest Is Making Money

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Re: I Feel Like I Have No Real Interests; My Only Interest Is Making Money

#101

Post by astura »

bumby wrote: post #92
HEmanZ wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the USA top 5% income is about $300k USD[1]. With the relatively low tax rates, I would expect you can take home at least $200k (depends on the state). Like the original poster said, it's not that hard to live off of $50k in most of the US (even in the bay or NY, but you live like a college student). That leaves savings of 150k USD/yr from one source of income. Many families have two working professional adults an…

> Many families have two working professional adults and can almost double these numbers It happens, but only if you have a loose definition of "many". If a family makes $531k, they are in the top 1% https://dqydj.com/average-median-top-household-income-percen...

I think the GP way trying to say that if you are a high income earner you tend to attract/marry other high income earners.

Re: I Feel Like I Have No Real Interests; My Only Interest Is Making Money

#102

Post by ajuc »

pyrrhotech wrote: post #6

I felt like that until I got to around $2.5 million liquid net worth. Now I still like money, but each additional dollar is starting to show diminishing marginal utility. Though of course I'm still trying to grow my net worth, it's no longer the main focus of my life, especially now that I'm "retired" from my main career at least. I split my time between gaming, running, reading, socializing and working on my trading…

Well, I'm in my mid 30s and I only have a fraction of your net worth, but I've decided a few years ago that I'll be splitting my time +- 2 years of working, 9 gap months (spring-autumn), etc. I have a lot of health problems that will probably kill me before retirement one way or another so I don't feel like saving till I'm 45.

It helps a lot that I work remotely in IT and live in Poland which is a very cheap country and I'm very low maintenance (for example my ideal vacations is biking and playing D&D on the internet which is all I did in 2019 ;) ). I have 0 interest in cars and drive 1997 Fiat Punto in which a replacement engine costs less than my daily salary :) I know because we've burned it once by accident :)

I don't think money have to be the main focus, as long a your have a sustainable plan with big margin of safety. I could live for 10 years out of my savings easily, that's enough freedom for me if the alternative is delaying the freedom till I'm old. It would probably be a little different with kids, but we don't want to have kids with my wife, so that's not an issue.

Re: I Feel Like I Have No Real Interests; My Only Interest Is Making Money

#103

Post by castlecrasher2 »

pyrrhotech wrote: post #10
nicoburns wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So 99.99% of the world can't be happy? Don't you think it's quite selfish of you to prioritise achieving this for yourself over allowing a greater number of people to have a more reasonable level of wealth?

I shouldn't speak for everyone. For me personally, I was happyish during my career but I'm definitely much, much happier now that I'm wealthy and retired. And it's not a short term buzz, I've been retired for 2 years and the feeling hasn't worn off. I know it sucks we don't have unlimited resources for everyone in society to be free and 100% happy. Maybe someday we will with full automation. In the meantime, most peo…

Out of curiosity, what do you do with your day now that you're retired?

Re: I Feel Like I Have No Real Interests; My Only Interest Is Making Money

#104

Post by ckdarby »

uniclaude wrote: post #82
pyrrhotech wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

salaries in the Bay Area are very high, and if you avoid the common pitfalls, you can save a lot. Personally I made about $200-220k average during my 10-year career and lived on 30-40k while saving the rest and investing mostly in equities (of course taxes take a big chunk). Now I spend $50k-ish but I pay for everything for me and my fiance. I plan on spending $75kish once we have a family of four eventually which is…

To anyone confused by the explanation (as $220x10 Given the market of the last decade, investing everything above the 30-40k expenses and income tax in the S&P500 and re-investing the dividends would have brought GP there. Not really sure about how one can make it with 30-40k including rent in the Bay Area, but this sounds like the most reasonable takeaway for most readers.

Apartment $5k/m ($2.5k your half).

Prior to covid, find apartment within 30 biking to work, get two bedroom, split with roommate.

Going out $150/month

Limit yourself to going out with coworkers once a week, social gatherings once a week and a rule of only buying one drink while out.

Groceries & clothes $400/m

Make all your meals at home unless your work offered fully subsided meals and or on specific days subsided meals.

For clothing, only buy once the piece no longer serves it's function. Do not buy simply because it looks good or it has some "new feature".

Subscriptions $70/m

Netflix, Spotify, GitHub, Youtube Red, and Audible.

Books $50/m

Libraries are a good saving spot here but sometimes you're unable to get some of the new technical books.

Bike maintenance $500/yr

You're going to put wear and tear onto the trusty bike.

Remaining $0-10k/Yr

Yolo. Flights back to see family. Replacement bike if it gets stolen. Random transit trips to see friends.

Re: I Feel Like I Have No Real Interests; My Only Interest Is Making Money

#105

Post by throw0101a »

mastax wrote: post #99
throw0101a wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You don't have freedom if you don't have a lot of money and you can't be 100% happy without freedom, at least in my experience, though I know opinions vary here. The amount of money one 'needs' depends on a lot of things, like cost of living in the area you happen to be in. While US$ 2.5M may not seem like a lot in the US, one can live like a king in may other areas. One doesn't even need to live in one particular…

Never thought I'd see Sailing Uma on HN. That's the dream, just waiting for starlink to have more coverage.

See also SV Delos (with their 'giant' satellite dish), Sailing Ruby Rose, Sailing Ran, and the Wynns. (La vagabond has become too lifestyle-y for me; liked their earlier stuff on the Beneteau.)

Re: I Feel Like I Have No Real Interests; My Only Interest Is Making Money

#106

Post by bumby »

astura wrote: post #101
bumby wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Many families have two working professional adults and can almost double these numbers It happens, but only if you have a loose definition of "many". If a family makes $531k, they are in the top 1% https://dqydj.com/average-median-top-household-income-percen...

I think the GP way trying to say that if you are a high income earner you tend to attract/marry other high income earners.

You're right, thank you for the correction. In fact, although it's been awhile since I've read up on it, two high income earners marrying is a major contributor to the growing wealth inequality. Decades ago it was more common for a high income earner to marry a non-high income earner but (IIRC) that trend has been decreasing

Re: I Feel Like I Have No Real Interests; My Only Interest Is Making Money

#107

Post by scrollbar »

I find this young person’s perspective so refreshing. They reflect on the different facets of the experience they’re going through. They have self awareness, and cultural awareness. They’re in a hard spot and have some desire to change- and while they beat themselves up a little bit about it they also understand that this self-judgement may not be healthy either!

To the author, please keep it up. You remind me a little of me at 25 yet much more articulate and aware. Keep asking the questions, keep paying attention to your feelings, keep on trudging the path. And therapy could really help! Good luck.

Re: I Feel Like I Have No Real Interests; My Only Interest Is Making Money

#108

Post by thecleaner »

It just feels like a bad approach to making money. Theres nothing wrong with focussing on money as heartless as it may sound. Also why believe that Google trends are useful proxy what might be viral ? The issue seems to be a lack of precision in execution than simply lack of passion. Also passion hypothesis is deeply flawed and is a source of major mental issues and career dissatisfaction. Please read Carl Newport's book for the anecdotal evidence( the book is So Good They Cant Ignore You). Here it just feels like the OP didnt apply the skills efficiently.

Re: I Feel Like I Have No Real Interests; My Only Interest Is Making Money

#109

Post by [deleted] »

demygale wrote: post #45
hprotagonist wrote: post #9

“Don’t be cross, uncle!” said the nephew. “What else can I be,” returned the uncle, “when I live in such a world of fools as this? Merry Christmas! Out upon merry Christmas! What’s Christmas time to you but a time for paying bills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older, but not an hour richer; a time for balancing your books and having every item in ’em through a round dozen of months presented dead…

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? —Mary Oliver, Summer Day https://www.loc.gov/programs/poetry-and-literature/poet-laur...

[deleted]

Re: I Feel Like I Have No Real Interests; My Only Interest Is Making Money

#110

Post by ChrisArchitect »

brutal post. So you are soulless and starting to realize it. Was this a subtle brag post I dunno.

Aren't more and more people starting to realize the endless push for side-hustles and youtube subscibers and making stuff just to sell isn't worth it/healthy? We need more balance

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