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> Just get a big ball o' FU money and let the good times roll.

I wish someone had told me it was that easy sooner!

If you're in software, it's easy. You just have to learn how to control your spending and save the rest. Get comfortable living at about $30K per year

0xffff2 2419 days ago

I pay $30k per year in rent for a modest 1 bedroom apartment. :(

I do work in software, and I do save my money. However, unless I'm suddenly given a massive raise it's going to take 5 or more years until I have what I consider "FU money" saved up. I wouldn't really consider saving up money over years and years as "just getting it"

PenguinCoder 2419 days ago

Wow. A whole 5 years to get "FU Money" saved up. That's a blessing, and can strongly be considered "just getting it". Short of an inheritance, or winning the lottery, normally salaried or hourly workers will never have "FU money"; let alone in 5 short years.

Where does your money go? Do you regularly audit your finances and account for it all?

I have a bigass spreadsheet I use to track every last dollar, and I ruthlessly optimize everything.

Cell phone plan, down to $30/month. Health insurance, just $300/month. No tv. No subscriptions. No commute. Even if I did, I own my car outright so no car payment. No B.S. pre-packaged food. I cook pretty much everything at home. Have done so for years. Minimal eating out, once a month or so at inexpensive restaurants. No debt. Of any kind. So therefore no interest payments.

A few small "luxury" expenses here like a ski pass because you only live once.

All of this is completely within the realm of someone who makes $70k per year or more, the bottom rung of software development.

You should be able to hit $100K in savings in five years if you are smart with your money. Likely more if you really hustle and audit every dollar. Maybe a little less if you're supporting kids, but you can optimize how you spend your money on them too.

perl4ever 2419 days ago

There are a lot of people who are programmers but aren't "software developers", particularly not "full stack" buzzword enabled types. If you've been programming for a decade or two, and haven't had that title, you're likely not going to get that $70K that fresh grads will. Likely not even hired, for "cultural fit".

Hope you don't fall off the treadmill, because if you do, you'll find out there is no way back and no pity.

PenguinCoder 2417 days ago

Congrats on having no debt of any kind. I have debt. I also strictly budget my income and expenses (also with a big ass spreadsheet). Healthcare costs me more than $300/mo. Daycare (1.8k/mo), housing (1.2k/mo), car ($600/mo all inclusive) and food ($550/mo for a family of 4), are my largest expenses. Don't tell me to get rid of the car; I don't live in a city or area with ANY public transportation. The car is literally, it. No I'm not moving to CA. I don't have luxuries to cut. I don't go out to eat, I don't have Netflix, Spotify, Amazon prime, or the latest phone (my phone is a One Plus 3). I use a service provider that costs me $60/mo for two lines (TOTAL - $60/mo) for cell phone. TV is friends Plex or free Roku apps.

I won't say how much I have in savings, but your 100k in five years (20k saved a year?! SERIOUSLY?! that's more than min wage full time job, PRE TAX!) is not at ALL realistic. No I don't work a Min Wage job, but I'm not SF/Bay/SV area salary wither.

frequentnapper 2418 days ago

100k in savings is not FU money, especially with a mortgage and a family...

I've already been saving for 5. And by "FU" money I was considering an amount that would allow me to say "fuck you" to a boss and survive until I found a new job without worrying too much. Like, $100,000 or less. Probably closer to $70k, after ten years of saving.

mattsfrey 2419 days ago

What industry do you work in? I do software and can quit and find a new job within a month no problem, 10k is more than sufficient...

novok 2419 days ago

You my friend, need to go get a better paying job. Get out of Europe/Canada/Asia and get a software job in the USA.

Semantics. It obviously takes time to build independence, but you can do it. It is in your power. Nobody really has to tolerate micromanagement unless they're just starting out

Yeah, I'm with you on that. My original comment was really tongue in cheek, and I agree with most of what you said in your original post. I'm the same way, I refuse to put work email or slack on my phone and once I clock out for the day I am done. I work from 7-4 M-F and do almost zero thinking about work outside those hours. I've been at my company for five years now and I keep getting promoted so my email habits are obviously irrelevant to my employment status.

If I were to get fired for "not responding fast enough" or something like that, then I wouldn't want to work at that place anyway. I'm a programmer and I get paid to program, so that's what I do. It's worked out pretty well so far :)

Yep. It's all about VALUE. If you are there when it matters and you help your customers achieve the OUTCOME they care about, they will happily forget those few moments when you were late to a meeting or didn't answer an email or Slack message right away.

Life is not grade school. You don't get points for just showing up. You actually have to do meaningful work that produces a valuable result for someone. People will happily tolerate the slightly disheveled dude who shows up with the critical component of their gold mine. They fire the smug well-spoken guy who keeps making excuses.

annoyingnoob 2419 days ago

Ok, sure. You obviously don't have a family.

hanniabu 2419 days ago

> I routinely leave my place in the middle of the day to ride my bike, climb, or whatever and I have suffered minimal repercussions.

Do you make up that time later in the day or do you just call it a wash?

sloopy543 2418 days ago

It depends. Some days I work more, some days less. I honestly don't even count the hours because I think the entire premise of it is complete nonsense.

It's more like what thing can I work on such that if I were to complete it by tomorrow, people would think I was doing something amazing? If that thing takes one hour in the evening, and I have that hour free, I'll do it. If not, maybe I'll just call it a day and start on it first thing in the morning.

But it's really all about creating a perception and managing expectations, which I suspect anyone running a business does naturally