Those tweets seem more like something a rapper would do than a security guy. What have we become?
He's a "tech celebrity", or whatever the term is
Influencer? Thought leader? Something along those lines.
Personal Finance Lessons for Technology Professionals
31–40 of 79 posts
Re: Personal Finance Lessons for Technology Professionals
#32I expected a better article to be honest. Some of the ideas are correct, but I think the perspective is overall wrong. For one he is probably ten times richer than the average tech worker. But you don't want to be rich as much as you want to be wealthy. And that isn't just about money. My friends in other industries didn't make as much in their twenties, but the are relatively wealthy in their thirties. Their career,…
Out of curiosity, how do your define wealth and in what forms do your 30s non-tech friends have it and your tech friends don't?
Time. You can be a hot shot lawyer making $500k a year and working 12 hours a day, or a software developer making $200k a year with a SaaS product working a few hours a day.
Who is really richer here?
Re: Personal Finance Lessons for Technology Professionals
#33I enjoyed the clip on taxes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBg7DnQjjcY
Yada Yada Taxes are theft... oh my. Just gotta love how this white, Australian born cis-male was educated in a public school, going there every day over public roads, in a town kept safe by public police, in a house that never burned down because of public firefighters, never fearing saying the wrong thing in a free constitutional democracy protected by judges, politicians and a military — lecturing everyone about th…
While I enjoyed (and somewhat agreed with) the rant, I'm not sure what his gender, race or sexuality have to do with anything?
Re: Personal Finance Lessons for Technology Professionals
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yada Yada Taxes are theft... oh my. Just gotta love how this white, Australian born cis-male was educated in a public school, going there every day over public roads, in a town kept safe by public police, in a house that never burned down because of public firefighters, never fearing saying the wrong thing in a free constitutional democracy protected by judges, politicians and a military — lecturing everyone about th…
He never said he did it all by himself. He did say they were not spending the money accordingly, which is likely true of most governments. I love my universal healthcare and pensions and am happy to pay a good tax rate for that, but many people seem to assume that it's just OK for governments to tax, and tax, and then tax some more. Also, a motivated person is going to find loopholes in the tax code. That is essentia…
I agree that smart people will find the loopholes. But I think governments should be held to account for not closing these loopholes. It’s near corruption to leave them open.
You can’t blame a smart business owner for minimising their tax bill. They’re in competition, they have to do what is possible to stay competitive. But you can blame the regulators for creating an unfair system.
Re: Personal Finance Lessons for Technology Professionals
#35Not really for tech professionals exclusively. His reasoning should really be replaced by: 0. Get a well paid job. Theres also this "Bad debt is the likes you have on a credit card. It's almost always accrued on a depreciating asset (for example, a new TV) and it's very often at a high interest rate" Why is depreciation always mentioned as a problem of bad debt? My house will depreciate if I don't maintain it. Surely…
Housing debt is a little special because you have an obligation to provide yourself and your family shelter, so your best alternative is rent instead of going without or delaying the purchase until you can save enough money to buy it free and clear.
In general, debt is good if having it is cheaper than the alternative. The way that often happens is if the asset you buy with the debt is worth more, in income or appreciation, than the cost of the debt service. If the alternative also requires you to spend time or money, though, that alone can make debt worthwhile.
Re: Personal Finance Lessons for Technology Professionals
#36> "As we began planning [a child], we literally went to a quiet spot in a local restaurant with a laptop and drew up a spreadsheet of what having a baby would mean. We did this together and planned everything from loss of income due to maternity leave, government parental benefits, the taxation implications of both and even medical expenses and the maintenance cost of a child."
Money is important. But I hope I never get to the point where my mind is as anxious and clinical as this.
Re: Personal Finance Lessons for Technology Professionals
#37>> just take one simple truth away from a glance at it: investments grow over time This statement is false. The truth is that "investments have grown over time". It's not necessarily true that they will continue to grow over time. The efficiency benefits of corporate growth have been reached long ago and are on the decline. Corporate growth today relies on crooked government policies, stock buybacks and other methods…
I don't understand the ire against share buybacks. They're just a more tax efficient and flexible form of dividends to shareholders than traditional cash dividends.
Dividends (broadly construed) are the original reason an investor placed money into a firm. If you outlaw all forms of dividends, you end arms-length investing, which surely harms people more, IMO.
Re: Personal Finance Lessons for Technology Professionals
#38I expected a better article to be honest. Some of the ideas are correct, but I think the perspective is overall wrong. For one he is probably ten times richer than the average tech worker. But you don't want to be rich as much as you want to be wealthy. And that isn't just about money. My friends in other industries didn't make as much in their twenties, but the are relatively wealthy in their thirties. Their career,…
Yes. Being wealthy is a feeling, the feeling of abundance. That feeling can be achieved at many income levels. It depends on the person's character.
A person with modest material desires can feel very wealthy with only a modest amount of money. It is more than they ever need to be happy. They may be inspired to donate the excess to help others.
Another person can be making silly amounts of money but it is never enough, never feels like an abundance to them. They grasp for more, become ever greedier, needier. Despite having vast amounts of material things they are actually the opposite of weathy.
Re: Personal Finance Lessons for Technology Professionals
#39Not really for tech professionals exclusively. His reasoning should really be replaced by: 0. Get a well paid job. Theres also this "Bad debt is the likes you have on a credit card. It's almost always accrued on a depreciating asset (for example, a new TV) and it's very often at a high interest rate" Why is depreciation always mentioned as a problem of bad debt? My house will depreciate if I don't maintain it. Surely…
Housing debt is a little special because you have an obligation to provide yourself and your family shelter, so your best alternative is rent instead of going without or delaying the purchase until you can save enough money to buy it free and clear. In general, debt is good if having it is cheaper than the alternative. The way that often happens is if the asset you buy with the debt is worth more, in income or apprec…
As I said, bad debt is a combination of whether you actually need, and can afford the thing, and interest rate.
You need a house, so an affordable house would be fine, one that you cant afford isn't.
Yes an appreciating asset shifts the balance somewhat, but doesn't inherently make bad debt good.
I suppose its best to look at where each outlook ends up? The appreciating asset = good view would suggest you buy the absolute most expensive house you can get. I would suggest you look at what you need and actually can afford.
Edit: Spelling
Re: Personal Finance Lessons for Technology Professionals
#40Seems he would have done very well out of property as Australia hasn't been affected by 2008 GFC. There are young people that would have invested in property in Ireland before GFC and would have dug themselves a financial hole. This guy doesn't like calling it luck but I don't know what you call different outcomes for investors between the two countries. We are living in the time of quantitative easing, cheap credit…
> Dow Jones is over 200% up in last 10 years.
DJIA-30 has risen from ~9000 in early Jan of 2009 to ~24000 now, a gain of ~167%.
That is a CAGR of only 10.3%, which is fairly inline with historical price appreciation of the S&P-500 index (10% total return and ~8% price appreciation). To damp out some of the short-term gyrations, taking the same index and average close prices for all of 2018 vs all of 2008, implies a CAGR of 10.9%.
The S&P-500 index is more representative of the overall large cap market than the DJIA-30, IMO. That index is up ~200% in 10 years, for a CAGR of 11.5%.
These returns are not stratospherically higher than historic norms.
In a printing money environment (which I am similarly concerned about), you want to be invested in something other than money. Real estate and equities are hedges against deflating money. (Gold bugs would argue that precious metals are as well.)