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

Maladaptive Frugality

herbertlui.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

241–250 of 322 posts

Re: Maladaptive Frugality

#241

Post by jimbokun »

anticorporate wrote: post #126
adithyassekhar wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know there’s an upcoming generation of developers who are so jealous of you? Not your fault or anything. We managed to make the latter irrelevant or by no means a high earner. Everything is expensive, tech took over all the jobs, now tech itself has found ways to end those jobs. You either have to be a medical professional/media person now to live without worry.

> You know there’s an upcoming generation of developers who are so jealous of you? Not your fault or anything. I do, and and I think that's part of the reason I feel guilty about not working. Why should I get an easy ride when other people did not? I suppose there's some small element of worrying that I'm wrong about my future needs . I know I have some skills that are still useful and I can put them to work now, but…

Working a paid job does nothing to help those less fortunate than you. Maybe by retiring early you can free up time to help others in more creative ways?

Re: Maladaptive Frugality

#242

Post by jimbokun »

anticorporate wrote: post #154
bluefirebrand wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I do, and and I think that's part of the reason I feel guilty about not working. Why should I get an easy ride when other people did not? Devils Advocate: Why don't you feel guilty for continuing to work, continuing to absorb a salary that doesn't really matter for you but could be life changing for someone else who is looking for their chance? Just a slightly different perspective

That's certainly a consideration. The story I tell myself is that brought a skill set to the job that the organization I work for otherwise couldn't afford and took a salary well below the market rate for the position. It's a worker-owned cooperative retailer with a relatively flat pay scale that doesn't differentiate between types of roles, only levels, so I'm on the same pay ladder as our cashiers and dishwashers.…

Sounds like you’re living the FIRE dream.

Re: Maladaptive Frugality

#243

Post by jimbokun »

alphawhisky wrote: post #131
adithyassekhar wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know there’s an upcoming generation of developers who are so jealous of you? Not your fault or anything. We managed to make the latter irrelevant or by no means a high earner. Everything is expensive, tech took over all the jobs, now tech itself has found ways to end those jobs. You either have to be a medical professional/media person now to live without worry.

> You either have to be a medical professional/media person now to live without worry. Civil Engineer here. Used to get clowned on by other STEM students for going into one of the "lowest paying" engineering majors. Post grad, I can't imagine a more stable job, and my generational cohort is having a hard time. Boy do I feel smart. And the bonuses after construction season? Forget about it.

Well played.

Atoms >> Bytes.

Re: Maladaptive Frugality

#245

Post by bmm6o »

bdangubic wrote: post #210
jandrewrogers wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> being debt assumes appreciation on the asset No it doesn't. The math works out the same regardless of changes in asset value. Paying cash has significant opportunity and liquidity costs. These can often exceed the cost of debt.

I had mortage on a condo for $460k. total money paid to pay it off via debt, little over $1m. I sell 30 years later for $460k I just lost $550k :) (I didn’t, paid it off in 5 years saving myself 100’s of thousands …) ask yourself why “we” think that some debt (e.g. real estate) is great) while others (e.g. vehicle) is bad? it just might ge that one is looked at as appreciating asset while the other not so much. comme…

Let's say that each month I have an extra $1000. Should I use that money to pay down a 4% mortgage, or should I invest it in an index fund that is all but guaranteed to earn more than that?

Re: Maladaptive Frugality

#246

Post by jimbokun »

freetime2 wrote: post #39
chromacity wrote: post #4

Most people in the US are pulled into living on credit straight out of school. You get a student loan, then a car loan, then a credit card, then a mortgage. You finance vacations, appliances, kitchen remodels, smartphones - mostly to keep up with friends and coworkers who finance their lifestyles too. A lot of people are in non-stop debt from the age of 18 to 55, if not longer. By most estimates, only about 10-20% of…

For sure it's more common for people not to save enough. But for people who are frugal and save diligently for most of their lives, there often comes a point where they cross a threshold where they have met all of their financial goals, and the "problem" is no longer how save money but to enjoy spending it. And this can be a real challenge for people who have built up deeply ingrained saving habits. My mother, for ex…

Sounds like his money was better spent on the trips than spending more on a car that wouldn’t make the trips any better.

Re: Maladaptive Frugality

#247

Post by jimbokun »

rurp wrote: post #220
skirmish wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> my reaction to systemd wasn't "oh wow, this is progress" but "ugh, I need to learn how to start, stop, or modify services again" I must be young at heart while >60 years old; my reaction was "why is everybody whining about it, it's pretty nice, I like it". Same with jj vs git, jj is amazing!

It's definitely varies by person. I'm much more like the GP where relearning how to do basic things I already know how to do is one of the absolute last things I want to spend my time on, but I know plenty of people who are the opposite. Newness and novelty are genuine features for some, and that's totally fine. The annoying thing is that the latter group is over-represented in tech and a lot of core products like ph…

It’s net positive when there’s useful new functionality, but phone software has been mostly a wash for a while now.

Re: Maladaptive Frugality

#248

Post by skirmish »

rurp wrote: post #220
skirmish wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> my reaction to systemd wasn't "oh wow, this is progress" but "ugh, I need to learn how to start, stop, or modify services again" I must be young at heart while >60 years old; my reaction was "why is everybody whining about it, it's pretty nice, I like it". Same with jj vs git, jj is amazing!

It's definitely varies by person. I'm much more like the GP where relearning how to do basic things I already know how to do is one of the absolute last things I want to spend my time on, but I know plenty of people who are the opposite. Newness and novelty are genuine features for some, and that's totally fine. The annoying thing is that the latter group is over-represented in tech and a lot of core products like ph…

I am with you on UI updates, just moving things around and re-skinning the UI without useful functionality additions make me mad often. But then I grind my teeth and bear it.

Re: Maladaptive Frugality

#249

Post by jimbokun »

bigfudge wrote: post #161
ubermonkey wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They cannot, because they are wrong. And I say this as a person who has owned no small number of fancy cars (but I got better). A new base-model Prius is absurdly luxurious compared to a base model car of 1975 or 1985 or even 1995. If you have lived long enough to see this change, then dropping 2x or 3x or 10x the cost of the Prius self-evidently puts you wildly beyond the point of diminishing returns. The Prius is g…

Even in motorsports, presumably it’s still mostly showing off? Unless you are a pro, you’d still lose any seriously comepetitivr race and have plenty to learn and enjoy driving a not-quite-top of the line sports car? I don’t know motorsports, but in all the sports I do know it’s that way. Tennis, cycling… there are serious diminishing returns in all of those and most kit spending isn’t justified by performance as muc…

In tennis I’m sure the real way to turn money into competitive gains is personalized coaching.

Not sure about cycling. But a general physical trainer wouldn’t hurt.

Re: Maladaptive Frugality

#250

Post by jimbokun »

ubermonkey wrote: post #237
bigfudge wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even in motorsports, presumably it’s still mostly showing off? Unless you are a pro, you’d still lose any seriously comepetitivr race and have plenty to learn and enjoy driving a not-quite-top of the line sports car? I don’t know motorsports, but in all the sports I do know it’s that way. Tennis, cycling… there are serious diminishing returns in all of those and most kit spending isn’t justified by performance as muc…

That's definitely true, and I have a whole other rant how my cycling pals and I love to poke fun at dudes who show up to the group ride on a brand new $10,000 bike and get dropped before the midpoint. BUT! It's easier than you think to get a point in participatory motorsports where the difference between, say, a Cayman and a Miata is something you can actively use.

Curious what would you say is the sweet spot to pay for a bicycle before rapid diminishing returns?

I still feel like if you go out for a long ride on a Huffy from Walmart you might hurt yourself.

Post reply on HN