My Parents Give Me $28k a Year • Hacker News Board

Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year

#271

Post by likeclockwork » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 2:20 AM UTC

mberning wrote: post #167

First off - I really dislike it when people deal with blocks of people as if they are a monolith. As if all white people have some innate starting advantage, all black people have some disadvantage, etc. It’s a brutally racist mentality that is very common. Secondly, poverty is not a lack of money or material wealth. That is part of it and is definitely a symptom. But actual poverty is a culture and a set of habits t…

"But actual poverty is a culture and a set of habits that easily pass from one generation to the next."

Wow.

Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year

#272

Post by refurb » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 2:34 AM UTC

microtherion wrote: post #253

refurb wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the money has already been taxed? But to your point, a gift tax also stops people from “gifting” their gardener and avoiding taxes on both ends.

> Because the money has already been taxed? I stipulated that it is the SAME money. In both cases, it has "already been taxed" by the person spending the money. Yet in one case, the person receiving the money pays taxes, in the other, they do not.

Yes, but one is a business transaction (exchange of goods or services) and one is not.

So i would argue they aren’t the same.

Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year

#273

Post by HiroshiSan » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 2:51 AM UTC

DoreenMichele wrote: post #63

Plus, the parents apparently paid at least $250k in college tuition for her. So she has world class education, zero debt from it, and then this stipend on top of that . The stipend wouldn't go anywhere near as far if she were saddled with crushing student loans. I come from a more privileged background than I realized and that included better educational opportunities. I was in gifted programs as early as second grad…

Anyway to bridge the gap as an adult or is it too late for those who didn't have a privileged life?

Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year

#274

Post by DoreenMichele » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 2:55 AM UTC

HiroshiSan wrote: post #273

DoreenMichele wrote: post #63

Plus, the parents apparently paid at least $250k in college tuition for her. So she has world class education, zero debt from it, and then this stipend on top of that . The stipend wouldn't go anywhere near as far if she were saddled with crushing student loans. I come from a more privileged background than I realized and that included better educational opportunities. I was in gifted programs as early as second grad…

Anyway to bridge the gap as an adult or is it too late for those who didn't have a privileged life?

Eat right. Exercise. Live like a monk. Never stop learning. Put your physical health first. Untangle yourself from relationship drama.

Some people do see success later in life after sorting their issues in early life.

My life is a very mixed bag, with both big assets and big issues. I'm hoping to have a few nice years yet before I check out. I've spent a lot of years sorting my crap.

Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year

#275

Post by toomuchtodo » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 3:01 AM UTC

DoreenMichele wrote: post #274

HiroshiSan wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyway to bridge the gap as an adult or is it too late for those who didn't have a privileged life?

Eat right. Exercise. Live like a monk. Never stop learning. Put your physical health first. Untangle yourself from relationship drama. Some people do see success later in life after sorting their issues in early life. My life is a very mixed bag, with both big assets and big issues. I'm hoping to have a few nice years yet before I check out. I've spent a lot of years sorting my crap.

I'd add: "Avoid whenever possible life and work situations that cause undue stress: stress kills."

Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year

#276

Post by heedlessly3 » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 3:08 AM UTC

subpixel wrote: post #64

Small sample size, but I happen to know multiple people in their thirties and forties whose parents continue to fund their 'creative' lives. I can assure you they are not as happy as you think free money might make you.

That's because their standards for happiness has increased.

Trust me. If their parents suddenly stopped giving them money, then their state of happiness would be lower than before.

Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year

#277

Post by hedvig » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 3:18 AM UTC

merpnderp wrote: post #103

DoreenMichele wrote: post #63

Plus, the parents apparently paid at least $250k in college tuition for her. So she has world class education, zero debt from it, and then this stipend on top of that . The stipend wouldn't go anywhere near as far if she were saddled with crushing student loans. I come from a more privileged background than I realized and that included better educational opportunities. I was in gifted programs as early as second grad…

And yet if you even dare to open up the argument that government should try to encourage the types of families and behavior that show the best results for this type of childhood, you'll immediately be drowned out in ad hominem attacks. Even Obama took a lot of heat for saying dad's should help raise their kids. Never mind more seriously statically relevant approaches like waiting until after high school and marriage…

So which specific policies are you advocating?

Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year

#278

Post by JPKab » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 3:22 AM UTC

sidlls wrote: post #213

merpnderp wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet if you even dare to open up the argument that government should try to encourage the types of families and behavior that show the best results for this type of childhood, you'll immediately be drowned out in ad hominem attacks. Even Obama took a lot of heat for saying dad's should help raise their kids. Never mind more seriously statically relevant approaches like waiting until after high school and marriage…

Most of the arguments you refer to are actually thinly veiled racism ("black dads don't care about their kids") and that is the source of antagonism against them. There is more than a little classism behind Obama's remarks, though: he wasn't exactly raised impoverished or by family who were constantly running afoul of a racist, classist "justice" system.

Nobody is saying black dads don't care about their kids. The point is that it's a fair assumption that having over 70 percent of black children grow up without fathers robs them of the advantages of the author immediately. Some of the fathers are incarcerated. Most are not, and likely care deeply about their kids, but can't get along with the mother or can't deal with the stress of parenting.... We don't know, and can't know, because political correctness doesnt allow scientists to ask the obvious question: Why do poor black families have a lower percentage of present fathers than equally poor Latino, white, and Asian families? The data tells us this, and knowing the answer could help empower more black children to achieve their dreams.

Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year

#279

Post by endomatrix1 » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 3:27 AM UTC

In all honesty, I would dislike this author much less if they received a single one-time lump sum of $500K rather than a lifetime stipend of $28k.

As it stands, this entire piece feels like fingernails dragging down a chalkboard screeching “I’m So virtuous and privileged but I announce my privilege so that gives me the right to express my opinions and tell you how to run capitalism better!!!”

There is something about the open-ended lifetime of life support that really turns me off. This is a weak person with low personal responsibility, childlike even. I personally would have declined this offer from my parents, I am not a child, I am an adult. It would insult me to be in this arrangement past the age of 20.

I received around $120K from my parents when I was 23. Through investing, I have turned it into $500K and never spent any of it on myself (vacations, food, rent etc). I paid for all my base needs, including my wedding，out of my salary.

From the time I received the money, I taught myself to be a software engineer and worked my way up from $55K to (now) $350K / year. It was very difficult to do that. I even tried to start several startups, which was a brutal amount of work and worked several jobs at once.

I decided I would not spend the money that was left to me, I felt that would represent a weakness in my personal character to do that. I don’t intend to ever spend it, in fact my plan is to triple it in coming years trading stock options into the coming recession.

Seeing this author go off on tangents about universal basic income and providing free money to struggling artists sets me off. This is someone who has no personal accountability to themselves or to society.

I love art, but it isn’t valued in the marketplace. I wanted money so I learned a valuable skill.

Don’t take free money from your parents as a grown adult and turn around and give us all a lecture on how to structure society!

Re: My Parents Give Me $28k a Year

#280

Post by hedvig » Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 3:29 AM UTC

breakpointalpha wrote: post #130

mmcconnell1618 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't believe the economy is zero-sum either but handing $10B in capital to your child gives them a significantly unfair advantage compared to most others. Image that the economy is a field of wheat. It grows bigger every year as workers become more productive and learn how to fertilize and water more efficiently. At the end of the season, everyone gets a chance to head into the field and collect some wheat. Some p…

I'm sorry if someone mislead you into thinking wealth was, or could be, fair. Your analogy is so far off the mark on how wealth is created, it's laughable. $10 billion in family wealth is almost never held in cash, it's invested in companies, land, and other ventures. Wherever an investment is made, people are put to work collecting salaries and benefits, generally speaking. You've made a gross oversimplification, an…

Yeah but a majority of us believe it should be taxed and not just cross our fingers that some jobs are created for a while.