Don't Waste the Good Days • Hacker News Board

Re: Don't Waste the Good Days

#281

Post by windexh8er » Sat, Jan 01, 2022, 3:53 PM UTC

asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #263

HeavyStorm wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds terrible. You're waiting to be old to be happy? To enjoy life? Maybe it's just how you sounded - maybe you're telling people not to sacrifice their future for their present. But no one should sacrifice their present _completely_ for their future. Mostly because, well, you don't know if you'll have a future. "Stay healthy" won't stop you from developing cancer, heart disease, etc.

Fwiw I have luckily been able to do what the grandparent suggested. I entered big tech early in my career, worked hard and advanced, by luck or by skill who can say? My ship rose with the tide. Now I'm wealthy enough to provide anything my family could reasonably want for the rest of our lives, barring some kind of black swan event. And I am well pleased with this outcome. This did not require a decade and a half of…

> I entered big tech early in my career, worked hard and advanced, by luck or by skill who can say?

You can. If you earned a significant amount of your savings because of stock or an exit event then it was, likely, biased in some way. It is truly great for you to have had everything come together as described.

> Now I'm wealthy enough to provide anything my family could reasonably want for the rest of our lives, barring some kind of black swan event.

This is not the usual outcome. Plenty of people have burned out going for it. Sometimes multiple times. And some have struck it big with little to no effort, right place right time as it's said. There is no right answer to this topic that anyone else can prescribe. It's up to you and if you don't own the path and the outcome you will feel a level of "waste" if and when your life doesn't yield the expectations you've set.

Re: Don't Waste the Good Days

#282

Post by dathinab » Sat, Jan 01, 2022, 3:56 PM UTC

ryandrake wrote: post #41

I feel like there is wisdom in "Make hay while the sun shines." When you're young and unencumbered by responsibility and family, when your cognitive abilities are at their peak, when your energy is endless, when your body is strong and healthy, when your knees work, and your fingers can type without arthritis: that's the optimal time to work and earn. Min-max that salary and stay healthy. Due to compounding interest,…

Life isn't long.

Get depression and puff 10 years are gone and you life expectancy likely decreases too due to unhealthy living for 10 years.

Get a child and for the next few years there is only a child in your life, and after it is still a majority factor (if you are/have the chance to be a responsible parent).

Also don't count on you life post 70, it might be grate. But it's not unlikely to be but so grate even if you have money.

Lastly if you are working to hard and are too much used to working hard all the time you might not be able to enjoy it, either because you have to learn again how to enjoy life it because of health issues due to so the stress you put on your body.

Re: Don't Waste the Good Days

#283

Post by goodpoint » Sat, Jan 01, 2022, 3:58 PM UTC

blub wrote: post #261

goodpoint wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if you're going to have kids, have them young. There is absolutely nothing on this earth which is as valuable as the time you'll have with your children This is entirely self-centered. The kids, instead, benefit immensely from having parents with experience, emotional maturity, financial stability, better work-life balance. You might not get to meet your grand[grand]kids but this is a sacrifice parents should be wi…

Grandparents are a massive help with raising kids, especially so when one doesn't have brothers or sisters.

...and?

Re: Don't Waste the Good Days

#284

Post by MrGilbert » Sat, Jan 01, 2022, 4:05 PM UTC

angrais wrote: post #199

MrGilbert wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, but sometimes… Life hits hard and you‘ll miss out on these days. When I turned 22 in 2008, my mom surprised me with her having sarcoidosis, a disease which will turn functional cells into non-functional ones. Quite an issue when it starts in your lungs. A year later, my father surprised me with him having cancer. Long story short, they passed away in 2013 and 2017. I should also mention that I have four younger…

Why did you raise your younger sister until she was 18? Did she go off to university? You can also party and fuck around in your 30s. It's different than 20s of course, but still great! Also, I'd try to refrain from comparing yourself go the "normal" life. You've clearly had a unique journey (beyond "normal" might be in TV shows), and I am certain you've learnt a lot through it. You're clearly a legend for looking af…

Well, in Germany you are no longer a minor after passing 18. Before that, you need to have someone to look after you. Usually, that's your parent's job, but if they are gone, it can be grandparents, aunts & uncles, your older siblings or a complete stranger. So I applied for that role, as that was the last promise I gave to my mum - that I would look after my little sister. Well, my sister had a boyfriend at that time she turned 18, so they wanted to move together. And legally speaking, my guardianship ended on that day she turned 18.

And thank you for your kind words. <3

Re: Don't Waste the Good Days

#285

Post by MrGilbert » Sat, Jan 01, 2022, 4:07 PM UTC

colecut wrote: post #201

MrGilbert wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, but sometimes… Life hits hard and you‘ll miss out on these days. When I turned 22 in 2008, my mom surprised me with her having sarcoidosis, a disease which will turn functional cells into non-functional ones. Quite an issue when it starts in your lungs. A year later, my father surprised me with him having cancer. Long story short, they passed away in 2013 and 2017. I should also mention that I have four younger…

I'm 36, my 11 year old son's mom passed away from cancer last year, and 2 days later cancer was found in my fiancee. She passed away 3 months ago. I now share custody of my son with his stepdad... There's not much "normal" about it, but it's the best thing I/we can do for him given the circumstances. Family is what you make it. I would focus on enjoying life and doing what you feel is best with no regard for what see…

I will - and hopefully, you will too. <3

Re: Don't Waste the Good Days

#286

Post by neop1x » Sat, Jan 01, 2022, 4:30 PM UTC

Invictus0 wrote: post #221

ryandrake wrote: post #41

I feel like there is wisdom in "Make hay while the sun shines." When you're young and unencumbered by responsibility and family, when your cognitive abilities are at their peak, when your energy is endless, when your body is strong and healthy, when your knees work, and your fingers can type without arthritis: that's the optimal time to work and earn. Min-max that salary and stay healthy. Due to compounding interest,…

I wish I could downvote this twice. Don't postpone your life indefinitely in the name of efficiency: plenty of people trying for FIRE die or become injured or diseased before retirement. Live your life. Tomorrow is not guaranteed.

The exact opposite is as bad. Spend all the money for cars, entertainment and fun and your elderly days will be miserable. In addition to health and maybe movement problems you will have trouble to afford medicine, rent or an elderly care and you will be eating cheap junk food. Don't forget that average life expectancy is rising...

Re: Don't Waste the Good Days

#287

Post by 11thEarlOfMar » Sat, Jan 01, 2022, 4:34 PM UTC

mbfg wrote: post #245

A rich person ascribing to perceived effort, what should be ascribed mostly to luck of circumstance.

Effort and luck of circumstance are both on a spectrum. It's rare to become wealthy simply with extremes of either diligence or luck.

Regardless, the unlucky can generally do better by being diligent versus not being diligent. It's the part you can control.

Re: Don't Waste the Good Days

#288

Post by quesera » Sat, Jan 01, 2022, 4:46 PM UTC

bluedevil2k wrote: post #78

gchamonlive wrote: post #50

Friendly reminder that being able to pack up and take a sabbatical year off is still privilege. If you can't just get up and leave to enjoy your good days, don't blame yourself. Most people can't.

> is still privilege The guy worked hard and earned his year off, don’t dismiss it by calling it privilege. He has the skills and intelligence and hard working habits to earn the year off, this is not privilege. Successful people aren’t successful because of privilege, that’s just a label for an excuse by those who aren’t successful. You get what you earn in life.

> Successful people aren’t successful because of privilege, that’s just a label for an excuse by those who aren’t successful. You get what you earn in life.

I wish there were words to convince you of how profoundly incorrect you are about this.

Unfortunately, it will probably require years and pain instead. Maybe your own pain, or if you're more fortunate you will develop empathy for others.

In the meantime, some people say that reading Ayn Rand helps -- after the initial rush of affirmation, you grow to realize that she's just another writer of superhero comics. As that slowly percolates into your awareness, you start to understand humans and society are really quite complicated things, which can help you become a more tolerant person.

Re: Don't Waste the Good Days

#289

Post by gruez » Sat, Jan 01, 2022, 4:47 PM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #193

gruez wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds about right? I get from the structure of your comment you're trying to imply that "capture the value of those ephemeral capacities directly yourself" is better than "rather than yield them to the capitalist capturing the surplus value of your labor", presumably because 100% for the former is bigger (and therefore better) than some fraction less than 100% for the latter. The flaw in that analysis is that i…

> I get from the structure of your comment you’re trying to imply that “capture the value of those ephemeral capacities directly yourself” is better than “rather than yield them to the capitalist capturing the surplus value of your labor”, presumably because 100% for the former is bigger (and therefore better) than some fraction less than 100% for the latter. The flaw in that analysis is that in entirely ignores the…

>but “capture for yourself, recreationally or otherwise” includes capture for deferred gratification that doesn’t yield the lion’s share of the value to a remote capitalist via wage labor.

Okay, so it's the same "100% good, some fraction less than 100% bad" argument from before, but instead of being applied to your time, it's being applied to your potential earnings? That line of thinking is also flawed, because even though you theoretically capture 100% of the value when you work for yourself, the value you generate might be less than the value you generate when working for someone else. For instance, working on your own SaaS startup might allow you to capture 100% of the profits of the company, but you also have to take on a bunch of unrelated responsibilities (marketing, sales, accounting, legal, etc.) that you're not good at. For someone who's core competency is just programming, it's plausible that they make more working for themselves than trying to strike out on their own. Not to mention, the risk profiles of "working at MANGA" is entirely different than "working on your own SaaS".

Re: Don't Waste the Good Days

#290

Post by balls187 » Sat, Jan 01, 2022, 5:19 PM UTC

haihaibye wrote: post #169

balls187 wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why Penang?

Penang has some of the best street food in the world.

I'm aware, and I can eat my body weight in malaysian style satay, nasi lemak, roti chani, and muthrabak.

But, eating that food for an entire year would get old quickly, especially for young kids who are (presumably) groomed on American food.