Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Costs of running a macOS app studio business

notes.alinpanaitiu.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

211–220 of 220 posts

Re: Costs of running a macOS app studio business

#211

Post by saagarjha »

alin23 wrote: post #64
Almondsetat wrote: post #25

Isn't $5800/month a shit ton of money in Romania? Who even gets paid similar amounts there? He mentions a consulting job, but you don't consult as many hours a month as a salaried person

Yes, it’s a lot of money in Romania. I could live very comfortably if that would continue being the case. If I had my own place. My “not bad” remark is because I still can’t afford housing with all the money I make. I’ve been living in rent since college >10 years ago and I’m sick of it. You get no legal benefits when renting in Romania, everything is done by hiding from the state and local authorities. So you can’t…

How much does a house cost? Earning that much would get you a down payment on a house within a couple years in many places in the US, for example.

Re: Costs of running a macOS app studio business

#212

Post by cfn »

zerr wrote: post #184
cfn wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have been in this situation but selling to the States. Nothing happens if you sell to end users who pay with credit card but as soon as you have a large sale to a company or institution they will ask for all kinds of documents that force you to register properly and pay taxes.

Strange, US companies force you to register in US and pay US taxes? Otherwise, registering in your country is a normal thing.

Your client will ask you for a document (can't remember the details) and to get it you have to register with the IRS. If you pay taxes or not, I'm not sure, the sale was too small and I just dropped the client.

Re: Costs of running a macOS app studio business

#213

Post by mathverse »

croemer wrote: post #209
mathverse wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am puzzled how little people know outside of CEE region. Of course it can. CEE is not high trust society it's been decimated by years of communism and the oligarchy got reinforced with the coming of western european investments. CEE politicians are crooks that believe cattle (the voters) are to be exploited and they cant compete with the developed world anyway. 3m out of 20m of romanians have left the country and t…

I'm sure there is corruption but I don't think it's so black. Where did all the smart Romanian emigrants I know go to school? How come there's 10x more fibre internet than in Germany? Things definitely could be better, but I don't think it's all bad in Romania and all great in say Germany.

Dont picture schools in Romania or anywhere else in CEE as backwards places where gopniks teach about loving mother Russia. That's far from it. CEE education system is not bad especially when it comes to hard sciences. Investment in education in CEE basically means renovating buildings, buying more modern equipment, paying teachers well and establishing more international cooperation.

When it comes to internet it's kinda the result of deregulation compared to Germany and it's relatively simple business that brings monthly recurring revenue.

It's not all that bad in Romania and all great in Germany but then again you can't really compare them. As I said a lot of wealth in Germany is built on the foundations in the old industries where German companies (and the people) hold the added value. It's impossible for Romanian companies to capture this value in construction, banking, pharmacy, insurance, consumer goods.

Re: Costs of running a macOS app studio business

#214

Post by pSYoniK »

alin23 wrote: post #206
pSYoniK wrote: post #201

One aspect that shocks me is someone complaining about having a 15.3% tax rate at an income of 84k/year. If your state is incompetent, corrupt and whatever else, its your duty as a citizen to do something about. Barring that, I guess paying less tax than the aprox 1.9 million Romanians getting paid minimum wage (aprox tax paid by a minimum wage employee is about 37%) while making about 3 times the average salary is s…

All I can say is: you’d complain the same if you’d live in this country and be yelled at by every state employee just because you had the audacity to ask them a question, and by every doctor because you got suddenly ill and so on. Only bribe money buys their reluctant cooperation. Don’t focus on the money, I could be making a million a year and it would still not fix the problem of life insecurity and overall sentime…

My argument is that most peopl, the very mast majority does not have the same option to pay less tax as a percentage of their salary. Complaining about having a huge advantage over the majority, while suffering from the same problem does smell a bit of privilege.

I also do not necessarily like the implications you responded with, as I was discussing something you posted publicly about yourself and a detailed description you gave. I have made my choices and continue to make the choices I can. I understand I also benefit from huge amounts of priviledge and I try to use it to change what I can, not complain about it. I understand its frustrating and most importantly, the things you described show how dignity is being taken away from you, but imagine, for a second, how those millions making less than you feel. How they can't make any choice and if you do not lead by example from your position,if you, who sits so highly on Maslow's hierarchy, feel such injustice, what do those millions below you feel?

Anyway, thank you for sharing the details, it was an interesting read.

Re: Costs of running a macOS app studio business

#215

Post by neop1x »

TacticalCoder wrote: post #196
croemer wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like black hat tax accounting. If it's still worth something after 3 years it would be an in-kind payment which will need to be taxed.

> Sounds like black hat tax accounting. If it's still worth something after 3 years it would be an in-kind payment which will need to be taxed. Not really black hat though: it's extremely common. In many countries there are specific rules as to how much you can deduce: say 33.33% yearly and after three years it's considered to have a residual value of zero or 20% yearly and after five years it's considered 0. But the…

Same in Czechia. The accounting value is 0 but you can't just sell it for free. You have to sell it for the current market value and pay taxes from this income.

Re: Costs of running a macOS app studio business

#216

Post by jazzdev »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #136
j0hnyl wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How old are you?

I am now 61. I was 55, when I left my last company.

I'm not recommending this as a strategy, but someone I trust told me this story.

They were a hiring manager. Candidate looked good on paper. Invited for on-site interview. At the on-site, the candidate didn't want to answer questions. They just stated that their race and gender were discriminated against in this field and if they weren't offered the job, then they would sue. My friend consulted with their boss and the lawyers and they decided to offer the person the job. They were qualified and they turned out to be good at the job.

Re: Costs of running a macOS app studio business

#217

Post by jazzdev »

matheusmoreira wrote: post #207
asim wrote: post #22

This is a beautifully poignant post about life and selling one's time. At 39 I've reached this point where I can verbalise that sentiment whereas before I could only really feel it. Having to sell one's time to others sucks. Doing things on someone else's schedule sucks. And ultimately as the post ended, having the freedom to spend life the way it should be spent means sacrificing that extra bit of money we might wan…

My goal in life is to amass enough assets and investments that the monthly return adjusted for inflation equals a good salary that I can live comfortably off of. The ultimate in fuck you money is fuck you monthly cash flow. No doubt it's rent seeking but it's the only rational thing to do in this economic system we all live under.

Rent seeking implies using laws or market power to profit without providing any value. Depending upon your assets and investments, you may well be providing value to companies and society.

Re: Costs of running a macOS app studio business

#218

Post by jahewson »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #100
groby_b wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FWIW: For your non-profit work, I'd recommend charging full price as donation if your tax jurisdiction allows this.

Sadly, it does not. We're not allowed to declare "sweat equity." If I was able to declare it, I'd never pay a dime in taxes. I have heard that Steve Kamen, who wrote the "I Love New York" jingle, gave full rights to the state, and never has to pay state taxes. I haven't found anything that corroborates this, but it could very well be true. The work I do, is for a demographic that tends to be ignored. I doubt there's…

You might be able to donate the copyright. That’s worth basically as much as the labor.

Re: Costs of running a macOS app studio business

#219

Post by felini »

IshKebab wrote: post #70
gumballindie wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah but people’s budgets are not made fully of restaurants and groceries. The bulk is made of housing, cars, phones, goods, clothes, which cost the same as western europe for the most part. In some cases I find food in the UK cheaper. Petrol is also comparable. While far from London the real estate market in a large city is comparable to say Manchester or similar. I doubt people writing apps live in areas where a ho…

That seems implausible. I looked it up and the first result was: > A one-room apartment in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Brasov, Sibiu or other big cities will cost from €350 to €500 per month Good luck finding that in Manchester!

Did you try other cities in Romania? For example Braila - a very beautiful city on the Danube, with old exquisite arhitecture, where old grand villas are for a steal?

Re: Costs of running a macOS app studio business

#220

Post by felini »

gumballindie wrote: post #203
sebastianz wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Also found an entire building on Bucharest's second busiest street Magheru Blvd for €1.4M. Out of my price range unfortunately but it does include 12 separate 3 bedroom apartments, a floor of offices, and a restaurant, cafe and art gallery at street level. This sounds extremely dubious and I would not take that into account in any relevant real estate price for central Bucharest :)

Yeah there’s the occasional news piece in the uk showing some random person buying “homes” in Romania or Bulgaria for 5k£. People fail to distinguish fact from fantasy, and imagine outliers are the norm. No mentioning of the properties being better of demolished and rebuilt or in the middle of nowhere. There’s a lot of anti east european propaganda in western europe, likely a remnant of the cold war era. Keeps the co…

I would agree to propaganda, but I also agree that the quoted price for a studio is correct. It can also be less on the outskirts and not in a central area. A very central 2 bedrooms, living room, two baths can be rented at 600 EUR in Bucharest. If you still don’t believe it I can show you the rental contract.
Post reply on HN