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Ask HN: How have you achieved financial independence?

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Re: Ask HN: How have you achieved financial independence?

#41

Post by Cthulhu_ »

scheff wrote: post #31
zen_boy wrote: post #10

Just turned 30. Invested most of my savings (20k€) into Bitcoin several years ago, and then converted everything to Ethereum in the pre-sale. Those 20k€ are worth roughly 1M€ pre-tax at the current rates. Started a fintech startup three years ago and we are close to a liquidation event that would net ~1.5M€ pre-tax. Right now, though, I have less than 10k€ in my bank account. Would be also really curious to hear how…

Hi there, can you explain to us why you chose to invest so heavily in Bitcoin and Ethereum? What gave you the certainty that they would go so well?

With bitcoin, I'm kinda sure there was never any certainty, only faith; for a few, that worked out very well. But bitcoin has always been a gamble, a very unstable and easily influenced investment product, with unsafe and corrupt trading platforms.

Re: Ask HN: How have you achieved financial independence?

#42

Post by mailshanx »

i336_ wrote: post #36
mailshanx wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

10K is indeed unreasonably low. Could you describe where in Japan you live, what kind of work you do now, and the transformation you possibly experienced when you decided to work for curiosity / interest rather than money? I have had a reverse path - I spent my early career working for a research lab, where the the work was immensely intellectually satisfying and fun for the most part. However, the pay was so ridicul…

Note: I think this comment was intended for this comment chain: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12274389 (Maybe a mod could move it over - if that works, this reply can be deleted)

Not really - I read that comment and realised he lives in Japan, but the comment you are referring to was in response to its parent.

Re: Ask HN: How have you achieved financial independence?

#44

Post by tonyedgecombe »

EliRivers wrote: post #28
n72 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're talking about two different things: Stock picking and whether dividends are priced in. Because stock picking works for you (let's ignore the sample size issue), doesn't mean dividends aren't priced in.

I believe that dividends are not priced in. The reason I believe this is not related to stock picking working for me. I believe it because the market is not efficient, and dividends being priced in relies on an efficient market. Any success I have in stock picking relies on this inefficiency; it's just a symptom.

If dividends weren't priced in then prices wouldn't dip when stocks go ex-dividend.

Re: Ask HN: How have you achieved financial independence?

#45

Post by maaaats »

I haven't achieved it, but I'm taking the safe route: Avoid lifestyle creep. Invest as much as I can for long-term gains (index funds, bonds etc.). Then live off slowly selling it off. So no passive income from a business. (I feel most people claiming "passive income" from those are actually working on them anyway, though)

By living off 50% of my paycheck, I can invest 50%. This roughly means for each year I work, I have one year saved up. However, after saving up many years, interest of interests have accumulated, so the first year I saved gives me more free years when I choose to "spend it". That's how I think about it, for the math, safe withdrawal rate etc. reddits r/financialindependence has a lot of resources. Most can achieve FI on modest income, so as a developer it should be double-doable.

Re: Ask HN: How have you achieved financial independence?

#46

Post by erikb »

guaka wrote: post #38
lucb1e wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would like to hear more about living on less than $10k a year. I'm still a student and my parents pay a lot, so I don't actually know how much I'd spend if I paid for everything myself currently. I just always assumed that $40k is about the minimum for a normal living. Doing the math though, counting food, rent and "service costs" (water, electricity, internet), I end up with a lower bound of about 6000 a year. Thi…

You don't need any stuff if you detach yourself from any location. I spent I think I spent around 500€ per month like this on average. But I have some friends with a more radical approach, which inspired me translate a Dutch website about living with money into English: moneyless.org. As a side effect, I'm making some money with this specific site (but not with Hitchwiki or other community oriented projects). Togethe…

The thing I don't like about all these spend-no-money approaches are exactly these things like not having an apartment. That's not how most people can live. Even if I spend 2 years travelling around I wouldn't feel well without having an actual home I can go back to. So these kinds of methods can only apply to small parts of the general population. Trying to achieve that state for normal joe me is just as hard as getting rich.

Re: Ask HN: How have you achieved financial independence?

#47

Post by i336_ »

mailshanx wrote: post #42
i336_ wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Note: I think this comment was intended for this comment chain: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12274389 (Maybe a mod could move it over - if that works, this reply can be deleted)

Not really - I read that comment and realised he lives in Japan, but the comment you are referring to was in response to its parent.

Ah, woops. Thanks for the clarification.

Re: Ask HN: How have you achieved financial independence?

#48

Post by Chrisjay »

doc_holliday wrote: post #34

Related, I am wondering if any of you have any tips on securing financial independence / passive income that will hopefully be Tech recession proof. I.e, best way to see yourself through a Tech downturn without taking a severe hit to your wealth. I say this because I've had recent experience with people losing huge amounts of their wealth, and almost going bankrupt during the Oil price crash. For instance I know Oil…

I think farmland still has a ways up to go - that could mean a spot in the country, a share of a working farm, or a financial vehicle like AGRO.

I'm not financially independent though, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

Re: Ask HN: How have you achieved financial independence?

#49

Post by erikb »

siscia wrote: post #20
mikekchar wrote: post #3

I'm only responding because nobody else has replied to your thread. Feel free to ignore me if you think it is irrelevant. My favourite Dr. Who quote: "Work for? I don't work for anyone. I'm just having fun." Describes me, even though I receive money every month. My expenditures are considerably less than the money I receive every month by having fun. If I didn't receive money, then I would be in trouble, so I don't r…

The married part is the one I am more interested in. I too live extremely cheaply, but my girlfriend has way more expense than me (still reasonable, but too high in my book). We are not married, but we spend a lot of time together and I am a little afraid that this difference in how we spend money will be a problem. How did you manage it? My very first step was to have her create a save account where she deposit each…

If you buy a house in a reasonable fashion the money is not gone though. Sure the prices go up and down and you may lose some of the money, but over a period of 30 years it may be less harmful than keeping the cash and letting inflation do its thing.

Re: Ask HN: How have you achieved financial independence?

#50

Post by erikb »

zen_boy wrote: post #10

Just turned 30. Invested most of my savings (20k€) into Bitcoin several years ago, and then converted everything to Ethereum in the pre-sale. Those 20k€ are worth roughly 1M€ pre-tax at the current rates. Started a fintech startup three years ago and we are close to a liquidation event that would net ~1.5M€ pre-tax. Right now, though, I have less than 10k€ in my bank account. Would be also really curious to hear how…

If you only have 10k€ in the bank and not a second "survival" account with around 10k€ then this should be your backup fund. Make the money as easily assessible as possible. It should be at least 3 months of expenses, and I personally spend less than 10k in 3 months but still have that goal.
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