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Working for someone vs. doing your own thing

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Re: Working for someone vs. doing your own thing

#141

Post by m0zg »

jbay808 wrote: post #119
m0zg wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I pay $15K/yr for a family of 3 for health insurance. Where I live it costs $95K/yr post-tax for a family of 3 to maintain middle class lifestyle (verified by not working for a year), including about $3K/mo mortgage, $1k/mo real estate tax, $1K/mo groceries, and a modest vacation in the tropics in December. So while $15K is clearly expensive, it's not dominant in the grand scheme of things. Of these numbers, BTW, it'…

Try changing your viewpoint on real estate taxes. I assume you live in a city (or else you wouldn't be paying much). By allotting your parcel of land for private use, everyone else's destination will be just a little bit farther away on average when a trip from A to B takes them past your land. (Ref: why were medieval cities so dense despite their low populations and plentiful surrounding acreage? Everything had to b…

Medieval cities are dense because they had walls outside for protection. It's not like the US has insufficient acreage. I kind of got why the real estate tax was so high when my state wasn't charging sales tax on internet purchases out of state, but now it does, and yet the tax just keeps going up every year, and they also pile on the levies to boot.

Re: Working for someone vs. doing your own thing

#142

Post by lotsofpulp »

tempsy wrote: post #91
fastball wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm confused. You're currently paying $300 pp pm. That is much better than $530 pm.

the per person amount hardly matters for a family's budget...the fact is you're paying far more than a single person

Of course per person health insurance costs matter when discussing health insurance costs. Why would one compare the cost of one apple to the cost of a bag of apples?

Re: Working for someone vs. doing your own thing

#143

Post by lotsofpulp »

tempsy wrote: post #73
Thorentis wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not at all! Using some simple online calculators, assuming you earn $125k in San Fran, your take home pay after tax is $85k. In Australia, your take-home pay after tax is $88k (and that includes the medicare levy deduction if you don't have private health cover). So not only are you being taxed more in the US, you also have to pay for healthcare on top of it. Insane.

if you're working a regular job then that's not true because employers heavily subsidize your premium or pay for it in full if you're working full time. if you're self employed then your health care premium is 100% tax deductible

Half of Americans don’t have employer sponsored health insurance:

https://www.kff.org/health-reform/press-release/coverage-at-...

Re: Working for someone vs. doing your own thing

#144

Post by lotsofpulp »

deedubaya wrote: post #71
camhart wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was looking last year in Washington. Cheapest option for my family was ~$1800 / month, and that had a 14k deductible and ~20k max out of pocket. It also couldn't be used outside of Washington state (which sucks). Went with the health ministry route because we align with their principals already, plus we can visit family out of the country and be "covered".

Can confirm similar prices for a family of 3, no prior health issues.

Since 2010 and ACA, health insurance companies are not allowed to factor in pre existing conditions for premium costs.

When you search for health insurance, you’re only asked for age and location and smoking. Basically, nowadays in the US, your health insurance premium is simply a function of age, and the premium for oldest person at 65 is limited to be a multiple of youngest (healthiest).

Re: Working for someone vs. doing your own thing

#145

Post by lotsofpulp »

camhart wrote: post #69
tempsy wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is your definition of prohibitively expensive? I've bought a gold plan off the exchange in California for Kaiser and it's $530/mo with no deductible. That's lower than I expected.

I was looking last year in Washington. Cheapest option for my family was ~$1800 / month, and that had a 14k deductible and ~20k max out of pocket. It also couldn't be used outside of Washington state (which sucks). Went with the health ministry route because we align with their principals already, plus we can visit family out of the country and be "covered".

That’s because health ministry isn’t ACA conforming health insurance. It’s ridiculous the law had to allow those stupid plans to exist to be passed.

Re: Working for someone vs. doing your own thing

#147

Post by q-base »

kentrado wrote: post #23
tannerc wrote: post #2

I like Austin Kleon's insights here [1]: "A day job gives you money, a connection to the world, and a routine. Freedom from financial stress also means freedom in your art. As photographer Bill Cunningham says, 'If you don’t take money, they cant tell you what to do.' Because the real truth is, once you start making money doing what you love, it BECOMES A JOB. And with it comes all the hassle of a job." It's why I've…

I would like to try that approach but I just don't have the energy after working all day to come home and start investing time chasing wildly creative projects.

I would say that this also depends a lot on how draining and intense your day job is. Some jobs require too much of you to be able to do anything once you are done - or do so in periods.

You will probably have to decide what is most important to you. You cannot chase and strive for promotions, extra responsibility etc. on your day job while still wanting to do your own thing in your spare time. Perhaps you need to look for a job that has less pressure and perhaps less pay, but which does not drain you.

I have just had to go through the same realization myself that I cannot chase on both fronts. And my priority is my own projects, so I will have to course correct.

Re: Working for someone vs. doing your own thing

#148

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #140
fastball wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1500/4 = 375, which is significantly cheaper than 530.

The person that said $530 said no deductible, and they’re probably a young person. $1,500 family of 4 insurance will have at least a $5k deductible and $13k oop max I would estimate.

my wife and i are in our mid-50's. Here in NM, we have $1095/month with a $6600 deductible each. I'm happy paying 10 of our income for health insurance, but only if we actually get health coverage without that kind of deductible.

Re: Working for someone vs. doing your own thing

#149

Post by SamReidHughes »

daxfohl wrote: post #4

There's a pretty high correlation between parental wealth and success as a startup founder. I assume it's because of the safety net. My friends who have been successful (and who had blue-collar upbringings like me, and all in mid-40's now) all worked full time jobs until their side projects were self-sustaining. None of them hit unicorn status, but I think all of them have lived healthy, fruitful lives. Also note by…

I would assume not; most people have this safety net. Having one or two parents with a couch you could sleep on is standard.

Re: Working for someone vs. doing your own thing

#150

Post by modo_mario »

tannerc wrote: post #105
kentrado wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would like to try that approach but I just don't have the energy after working all day to come home and start investing time chasing wildly creative projects.

I’m writing a book on how I do this! I’ll be sharing here on HN once it’s complete. But the TL;DR for the chapter on motivation and energy comes down to: work on things that improve your own life, set clear objectives, and work in small chunks. The book itself is being written in 30 minute chunks throughout my week because that’s all the time I can spare.

In 30 minutes I can pick up where I left off and write most of a blog post so i can definitely see it working for writing or the like but I'm gonna get much less programming done than if I worked continuously for a while.
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