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Working for someone vs. doing your own thing

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Re: Working for someone vs. doing your own thing

#51

Post by txsoftwaredev »

Thorentis wrote: post #33
tempsy wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is your definition of prohibitively expensive? I've bought a gold plan off the exchange in California for Kaiser and it's $530/mo with no deductible. That's lower than I expected.

> $530/mo Wow. Just wow. As an Australian, I cannot fathom having to include $530 into my monthly budget just to ensure I don't end up homeless (or heavily in debt) if I get really sick. I'm not a socialist (I'm quite a centrist when it comes to economic policies), but something about the US system absolutely must change.

$530 a month would be amazing. I have a wife and 3 kids and we are looking at closer to $1200-$1500 a month for decent health insurance.

Re: Working for someone vs. doing your own thing

#52

Post by munificent »

complianceowl wrote: post #34
neonate wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe the best way to look at this kind of environment is that it's a different form of wealth. Correlated with money, in the sense that poverty brings stress and often many forms of brutality, but definitely not identical with it.

> Maybe the best way to look at this kind of environment is that it's a different form of wealth. Absolutely love how that was phrased. I couldn't agree more.

I like this a lot too. And, turning it around, a big motivation to gain wealth for many people is exactly because it's a means to provide that environment for their children.

Re: Working for someone vs. doing your own thing

#53

Post by racketracer »

tempsy wrote: post #28
overcast wrote: post #5

Probably the biggest hurdle is dealing with healthcare on your own, it's just prohibitively expensive to deal with alone in the US. Multiple incomes is where it's at, at least until one of the projects takes off to cover cost of living and healthcare nonsense.

What is your definition of prohibitively expensive? I've bought a gold plan off the exchange in California for Kaiser and it's $530/mo with no deductible. That's lower than I expected.

Mine is 275/mo for Kaiser at a high deductible but still gives me the amount of coverage I basically used when I was employed (Physical + maybe one additional visit per year). Single person, 26, no kids.

Re: Working for someone vs. doing your own thing

#54

Post by klyrs »

rapind wrote: post #22
neonate wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe the best way to look at this kind of environment is that it's a different form of wealth. Correlated with money, in the sense that poverty brings stress and often many forms of brutality, but definitely not identical with it.

If it was measured as part of GDP our priorities might be different (better).

Gross Domestic Parenthood?

Re: Working for someone vs. doing your own thing

#55

Post by simpss »

Thorentis wrote: post #33
tempsy wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is your definition of prohibitively expensive? I've bought a gold plan off the exchange in California for Kaiser and it's $530/mo with no deductible. That's lower than I expected.

> $530/mo Wow. Just wow. As an Australian, I cannot fathom having to include $530 into my monthly budget just to ensure I don't end up homeless (or heavily in debt) if I get really sick. I'm not a socialist (I'm quite a centrist when it comes to economic policies), but something about the US system absolutely must change.

Not sure how it works in Australia, but if i break down my salary by taxes in Eastern Europe, I'm paying 33% "social tax" which comes out to around 1900€/month. This breaks down further to 2 groups. One for pension and the other for healthcare.

Pension is 20% from the total. (used to pay the current pensions)

Healthchare is 13% from the total.

This comes out at around 990€/month for "health insurance". There are advantages and disadvantages to both systems, but I'm pretty sure you're paying something as a tax for you health insurance and it's probably similar to what they're paying.

To be fair, i'm well paid and a person with an average salary would pay around 250€ monthly. It's just the way our system is setup with a fixed % which automatically creates tax brackets.

Re: Working for someone vs. doing your own thing

#56

Post by dvt »

iherbig wrote: post #9
dvt wrote: post #3

Not to be dismissive, but this post feels a bit like rambling without a clear thesis or main argument. It's also rife with dubious claims: > I’ve been working remotely for four years now, and I know that working alone can make you lonely.. I also work full-time remotely. I built a community around myself, made new friends and regularly hang out with people I met at coffee shops, at startup meetups, old classmates, ex…

>Not to be dismissive, but this post feels a bit like rambling without a clear thesis or main argument. The post opens with: >This is more of a brain dump or an internal monologue. I don’t intend to prove any point or convince you to start your own thing. Neither do I want to reassure you that working for someone else is the best option for most people. My goal here is simply to get my thoughts out so I can think cle…

Missed this, mea culpa. Speed-read through the first few paragraphs, as they seemed to be an extended introduction.

Re: Working for someone vs. doing your own thing

#57

Post by tempsy »

dkersten wrote: post #50
tempsy wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is your definition of prohibitively expensive? I've bought a gold plan off the exchange in California for Kaiser and it's $530/mo with no deductible. That's lower than I expected.

$530/month sounds insanely expensive to me as someone outside of the US. My private health insurance costs me approx $100/month. 530 is over half my rent (outside of a major city though, in the major cities rent is much higher)

how much do you pay in taxes though?

Re: Working for someone vs. doing your own thing

#58

Post by tempsy »

racketracer wrote: post #53
tempsy wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is your definition of prohibitively expensive? I've bought a gold plan off the exchange in California for Kaiser and it's $530/mo with no deductible. That's lower than I expected.

Mine is 275/mo for Kaiser at a high deductible but still gives me the amount of coverage I basically used when I was employed (Physical + maybe one additional visit per year). Single person, 26, no kids.

yeah...for me one expensive drug a month (truvada, which is ~$1500 out of pocket) means it makes no sense to buy a high deductible plan.

Re: Working for someone vs. doing your own thing

#59

Post by lowercased »

toasterlovin wrote: post #44
Thorentis wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> $530/mo Wow. Just wow. As an Australian, I cannot fathom having to include $530 into my monthly budget just to ensure I don't end up homeless (or heavily in debt) if I get really sick. I'm not a socialist (I'm quite a centrist when it comes to economic policies), but something about the US system absolutely must change.

Medicare and Medicaid provide free healthcare to many Americans. Obamacare subsidizes health insurance for many additional Americans. For the most part, you only pay full cost for insurance if you can afford it.

You don't qualify for medicaid if you have any assets. You'll have to spend down to you last $2k in assets before you qualify for medicaid. So... someone in the middle, who perhaps has some savings, can still be ruined if they have one moderate incident which would force them to spend down all their assets to poverty level before receiving any assistance.

Re: Working for someone vs. doing your own thing

#60

Post by poulsbohemian »

Thorentis wrote: post #33
tempsy wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is your definition of prohibitively expensive? I've bought a gold plan off the exchange in California for Kaiser and it's $530/mo with no deductible. That's lower than I expected.

> $530/mo Wow. Just wow. As an Australian, I cannot fathom having to include $530 into my monthly budget just to ensure I don't end up homeless (or heavily in debt) if I get really sick. I'm not a socialist (I'm quite a centrist when it comes to economic policies), but something about the US system absolutely must change.

Wait until you hear what we pay for child care on top of the cost of insuring a family (I suspect that $530 is just for a single individual, or maybe a couple at most). Let's hope your student debts don't put you in the poor house too. Oh btw, that $530/mo for health insurance really only matters if you have a serious illness. Needed to go to the emergency room for some minor injury, or perhaps want preventative care? Be prepared to spend thousands every year.
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