Comment by mettamage | Hacker News Reader

Comment by mettamage | Hacker News Reader

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Please teach me how to rent an apartment that is less than 15% of your income.

In Amsterdam: cheapest rooms I've found (not apartments, rooms) are 650 euro's. If you can get these you're really lucky.

Salary for entry level is 1600 net. This goes up to about 2300 to 2500 after 3+ years of experience (that's truly the fastest trajectory forecast FYI, it's more like 5 years).

Alright, so let's live somewhere cheaper in The Netherlands. The cheapest I could find that's in reasonable distance of Amsterdam (that's where the jobs are) is about 500 euro's.

So how do you do it? I want what you have as well. Heck, I'd live in a simple garage with very basic amenities if I'd have to.

Edit: I've tried to apply to startups in the US, there are no takers because of the visa restrictions. I've also applied to FAANG, also no takers. I have 3 CS or CS-related degrees (1 bachelor, 2 masters) and 1.5 years of work experience.

This kid makes "roughly the same compensation" as someone making $360K/yr.

I mean, that's feekin rad for them.

But as for what that has to do with people I know, or my life?

I think I was sorely misunderstood ...the point is to not spend on what you don't need - whether that's 15% of your income, or 80%, it was there to illustrate just that. When I started working at 18, my living expenses could've been 100% of my income if I even tried to live "like average". I lived like I was on welfare and saved my money and because of that, avoided the typical mid-20s credit card sinkhole, the fancy cars, and all the other crap nobody really needs. Career trajectory aside, the savings from the years when it was the hardest to save were the only way to get to this point.

IMO that's the easy part. Getting in $100K+ that isn't going to be taxed at 50% is going to be the hard part (The Netherlands, fun place).

The trick to affording things is mostly about earning. Saving definitely has its place, but if you don't earn enough, you can't save it either.

And I know that there are quite some hedge fund managers out there wasting money left and right, but in all honesty, it's tougher to get to that point than just to save.

At least, when you're me. I suppose for some people it's easier to make bank and spend it as much as possible as well. They wouldn't know how to save up.

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