How I got wealthy without working too hard • Hacker News Board

Re: How I got wealthy without working too hard

#301

Post by Fire-Dragon-DoL » Thu, Nov 18, 2021, 9:54 PM UTC

nostrademons wrote: post #176

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #14

> Take a $ 500-1000 / day, full-remote job > Take 2 months for holidays in-between contracts > Do this for 7 years while investing most of your salary in a diversified portfolio. Working $1000/day contracts for 5 days per week, 10 months per year is equivalent to $217K of contractor income per year. But contractor income is not comparable to normal career income because you have to handle additional taxes and health…

Note that the author lives in Europe (Italy), where there is a robust social safety net and typical programmer salaries are about $45-60K/year. It doesn't take nearly as much to be "wealthy" relative to those conditions. Author is basically engaging in a form of geographic arbitrage by working remote from Europe. They get to enjoy wages comparable to U.S. programmers, but get the European social safety net, and since…

45-60 is even high for Italy, it's substantially below Europe on average

Re: How I got wealthy without working too hard

#302

Post by rootusrootus » Thu, Nov 18, 2021, 9:59 PM UTC

EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK wrote: post #231

rootusrootus wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but is fundamentally true that humans don't really have any other reason for existence than to make more humans. So it makes sense that it's the easy button for manufacturing purpose.

You can work as an obstetrician to the same end.

I don't know if I'd rate that as easy, however. LOL

Re: How I got wealthy without working too hard

#303

Post by fooker » Thu, Nov 18, 2021, 10:10 PM UTC

bambax wrote: post #187

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why do you think that? All the numbers work out. Even in your hypothetical scenario, investing 100k for 7 years, especially in the last 7 years, would easily bring you 1M total investments. My point was that to show that the only way to get this to work out was to make everything work out perfectly, from getting the authors highest quoted day rate of $1000/day on every single day of every single contract from the s…

What are those expensive hobbies and luxuries? My hobbies cost about zero (making music, doing the occasional woodworking, reading, walking). Travel can be expensive but it can also be quite cheap and is very dispensable. Luxuries outside of travel (expensive hotels), I don't even know what they are. I'm sure it's not hard to spend as much money as you want on many different things; but you make it sound as if it was…

Photography can be somewhat expensive.

Re: How I got wealthy without working too hard

#304

Post by FpUser » Thu, Nov 18, 2021, 10:14 PM UTC

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #159

FpUser wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He had it for about 4 years I think. Also he does not manage the money. Somebody else does it for him.

If your friend gave someone a million dollars and they promised to deliver $100K per year indefinitely, your friend is the victim of financial fraud.

Who said they've promised anything? He said that he was able go get about 10% in a last 3-4 years and that is all.

Re: How I got wealthy without working too hard

#305

Post by FpUser » Thu, Nov 18, 2021, 10:17 PM UTC

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #144

FpUser wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could get up to 10% on 1M investment annually (that is what my friend has). Sure he does not have private yacht but one can live quite comfy on 100K without lifting a finger and that is what he does.

> You could get up to 10% on 1M investment annually (that is what my friend has) We have a hundred years of investment data in the United States that says this isn’t true. A 10% withdrawal rate will lead to portfolio failure 50% of the time after about 14 years. You can calculate using historical data here: https://engaging-data.com/will-money-last-retire-early/ There are mountains of research showing the safe withdr…

>"We have a hundred years of investment data in the United States that says this isn’t true."

An average over extended period of time. Maybe my fried is lucky and it's only been 3-4 years of such return for him

Re: How I got wealthy without working too hard

#306

Post by azemetre » Thu, Nov 18, 2021, 10:20 PM UTC

guntars wrote: post #155

azemetre wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just adding to your point: Not only do millions of people raise families on $40k, they also do so while still living in NYC, SF, Seattle, and other expensive cities.

Raising a family in NYC on $40k is what poverty looks like, not wealth.

Thousands of families in these cities still do this.

Re: How I got wealthy without working too hard

#307

Post by jokethrowaway » Thu, Nov 18, 2021, 10:43 PM UTC

go_elmo wrote: post #30

jjulius wrote: post #8

>Preamble: I'm extremely lucky. ... So what you're going to read is 99% luck and 1% planets alignment. I mean, that's pretty much it and he states it up front. If that's the crux, then why write about this other than to brag?

Thats just being humble. Most successful people think its that way because they are special and worked hard. Wrong. Most people work hard, its the LUCK many underestimate. Being aware of this is healthy in so many ways, especially socially.

His luck was that his set of dna and experiences made him land a rich tech job and made him smart enough to live in a Low Cost of Living location.

Sure, if his parents divorced and had he joined a street gang, it would have been harder for him to get where he is.

Everything is luck.

Re: How I got wealthy without working too hard

#308

Post by Sammi » Thu, Nov 18, 2021, 10:45 PM UTC

fhd2 wrote: post #169

jasode wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Know that phenomenon where users that paid for software are typically more satisfied with it and give better ratings than users who didn't? >Whish I knew what the proper name for it is, Possibly these: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mere_ownership_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endowment_effect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choice-supportive_bias https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IKEA_effect

I think it's pretty much choice-supportive bias, thanks! The more costly it is to make the wrong choice, the more is invested into rationalising the decision, the stronger the bias.

The best part of it is that just like the placebo effect it actually works. Speaking from experience. I mean, how can you look at your little child and not feel like you are looking at the face of god? It truly is a profound experience.

Re: How I got wealthy without working too hard

#309

Post by yupper32 » Thu, Nov 18, 2021, 11:04 PM UTC

tunesmith wrote: post #267

antisthenes wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$40k a year during retirement . That was the original argument. With mortgage paid off and grown kids and social security supplement, $40k is plenty of money.

Adding in social security is really moving the goalposts. The discussed scenario is about working for less than ten years, which means much younger than 65-72.

They're also including a mortgage that's paid off lmao.

Yeah totally, $40k is plenty. You just need to not have kids, have a paid off house, no loans, live in LCOL area, get grandma's inheritance, have it come from a retirement account with minimal taxes, hope inflation doesn't kill your $40k over time, hope healthcare costs don't continue to rise, etc....

Re: How I got wealthy without working too hard

#310

Post by gamechangr » Thu, Nov 18, 2021, 11:06 PM UTC

shiftpgdn wrote: post #29

jcroll wrote: post #2

> Work and self-actualisation can be rewarding and meaningful, but looking at the sea from an hammock and drinking too much beer with friends three times a week is also a completely respectable way of waiting for the gravitational swallowing of the planet. Part of wants to accept this from the author and the other part of me is wary. I didn't have a child because I wanted to be happy, I did it because I wanted a more…

The biggest reality check in my life was working at an engineering firm with a bunch of near retirement baby boomers with no children. They all came across ass listless, unhappy, and living a life with no greater purpose. It was unquestionably one of the ugliest things I have ever seen. As you get older and friends drift and pass away family is one of the most important things in life. I know anti-natalism is hip rig…

It is super popular to be against the idea that kids will add value in your life. I am not sure Hacker News is the right demographic to understand the value of parenthood.

Most parents would agree that having kids is life changing for the better.