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Ask HN: I feel trapped in my job and city

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Re: Ask HN: I feel trapped in my job and city

#151

Post by _y5hn »

mech422 wrote: post #130
blunte wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you don't understand is that if you hate life, and perhaps if you have money and comforts that you know should help... but you still are miserable, it feels hopeless. The money traps you. It's so hard to imagine taking a huge pay cut. But that pay cut, and living life the way you want, is more important. Hating most of your hours each day until you're 45 or 50 and then retiring will leave you such a different an…

We do understand... But if you want the money and want to retire early...that's the price you pay unless you're very lucky. Given the salaries O.P. and partner seem to be making, they could prolly power thru and retire in 5 years? 10 years tops ? Also, if retiring at 45 or 50 leaves you 'sad', I'd question your assumptions about retirement? Working for 25 years, and having another 50+ years of retirement ahead of you…

You truly don't, if you think money has any intrinsic worth rather than how you choose to live your life.

Let's say you sacrifice 10-15 years with a life miserable, but very fulfilling regards to money. How does that shape you as a person, and how will that shape your life after retiring early, rather than living another life, not ruled by currency?

Some of us have already chosen differently, and have no problems regarding life's choices now, with or without Covid. That self-integrity and intuition just can't be bought with money.

For others, there may be no choice. But then the question would never arise..

Re: Ask HN: I feel trapped in my job and city

#152

Post by BlissWaves »

finikytou wrote: post #99

I had middle six digits in the USA with a green card. I abandoned everything to go back to my home country. Ill never make as much money as I was making in the USA in the same field here in Europe. But I am much more happy. every day I walk in my city, everyday I eat some home food I rejoice that I did not chose the money. u won't make the same money back home but ur life will be cheaper, and youll be happy. Thinking…

Most likely because internal value is associated with salary and worth. It's very difficult to change that when society determines your worth and skills by the salary that you get.

His partner is apparantly also highly ambitious and I don't think relationships work with one partner being all about watching the stars and another super driven. Add a Phd to that which is long years invested as well and it's pretty much that you have a choice but you really don't have a choice.

Re: Ask HN: I feel trapped in my job and city

#153

Post by atmosx »

vsareto wrote: post #76

There's a couple of constraints here that seem to be dominating your decisions. One: early retirement Two: the idea that the recruiter was right about not being able to find the money elsewhere You have a PhD in Computer Science , one of the highest academic accomplishments in one of the hottest fields for the last 30-40 years. I want you to know how far ahead you are of people like me who just taught themselves to c…

My take too. I believe the op can find same or better salary, while working remotely.

Re: Ask HN: I feel trapped in my job and city

#154

Post by tinktank »

trhway wrote: post #122

>My parents, like most boomers, had a much better standard of living when they were my age. that is BS. 198x and even 199x were much worse economically than today. Your parents grinded through it to give what you have, in particular education. Of course, because it was given to you and you didn't have to work for it really, you don't value it. There have been no better time in human history than what is in store toda…

Are you seriously implying OP earned a PhD in ML/CS without working for it and that it was "given" to them? There is no way in hell OP was "given" a PhD in CS -- it takes hard graft, tenacity and rigour to get a PhD in any field.

Re: Ask HN: I feel trapped in my job and city

#155

Post by rebelos »

A lot of people have a weird emotional fixation with "owning" a home when it really shouldn't matter at all.

You're in finance, so you should understand opportunity cost and you should very easily be able to model out the full financial burden and projected ROI of home ownership. Once you get honest about the work, hidden costs, loss of flexibility, and opportunity cost involved in being a homeowner, it'll start to seem like a not great and potentially even stupid idea, particularly in this environment with rapidly inflating housing prices.

Re: Ask HN: I feel trapped in my job and city

#156

Post by rebelos »

ryandrake wrote: post #121
jstx1 wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's definitely an argument for making hay while the sun shines. But retiring early exposes you more to future bear markets since the value/returns of your investment portfolio will go down. Being employed seems a lot more resilient in that case.

> There's definitely an argument for making hay while the sun shines. Forgot that phrase, but that's exactly what I'm getting at. Also, make that hay in the morning. Because of compounding interest/returns, dollars (or pounds) that you save in your 20s are far, FAR more valuable than dollars you save in your 30s which are more valuable than dollars you save in your 40s. The advice you sometimes hear to go traveling a…

It's a real shame that spending your youth fixated on money and a nebulous future retirement doesn't have a price tag attached to it.

You can calculate the opportunity cost of a dollar spent vs a dollar invested, but you cannot so easily calculate the cost of squandering a chance to have a memorable experience while you're still young and unencumbered.

Balance.

Re: Ask HN: I feel trapped in my job and city

#157

Post by __app_dev__ »

Use your knowledge of ML/statistics and your quant finance skills to play the market with high risk options. If you do well enough you can make enough to quit your job. Of course once you have enough money don't bet it all on options.

Obviously this is like gambling but with your background and many financial advisors may recommend against it but with your background it might be worth a shot.

Re: Ask HN: I feel trapped in my job and city

#159

Post by soylentgraham »

nickthemagicman wrote: post #150
spywaregorilla wrote: post #147

I feel this post is really hard to understand. You are: * A phd in quant finance in London * You joined due to high comp * You say getting a home would cost 10 times your salary * You have a partner earning multiples of your salary (?!) * You want to retire early I guess I just feel like this story doesn't seem like the numbers make any sense? A quant finance phd should be able to afford a home. A quant finance phd w…

Google people make 200k starting as Jr devs so I'm assuming 400k. Esp with PhD. Agreed not super clear what's going on.

Google juniors are more like £40k in london. Jobs over £100k are not the norm, even in finance in london. The awful london housing market (small market, people do NOT sell) starts around £320k for a terrible studio. Banks nowaways tend to loan around 4-4.5x gross salary. (And you need a good chunk already saved, which is also hard as tax and rent is high)

£100k salary doesn't buy an average 1 bed in london (and you're competing against at least 4 cash buyers)

As someone who recently left london, the story checks out.

Re: Ask HN: I feel trapped in my job and city

#160

Post by granshaw »

blunte wrote: post #142
BlissWaves wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why music degree instead of CS?

Music, both listening and performing, has been one of the few things in life that really fills me with joy and gives me the strongest (positive) emotions. If I had gotten a music degree, I could have probably been a decent composer and a better instrumentalist; so I might have been able to make a living. Or at least I probably wouldn't have gotten enough early higher paying jobs that I trapped myself in that money cy…

I don’t know what your partner/family situation is - I feel like I could easily wind down my spending and comfort level, but I don’t want to put my partner through that. I think in most cases this is the constraining factor
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