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Comment by bradlys | Hacker News Reader

Genuinely curious, are you living in the US? (You seem to be located in SF Bay area) Living paycheck to paycheck isn't something I hear about much. (in regards to people working in tech within the US)

It might not help now but I would highly advise you learn how to budget better and grow a sizable emergency fund.

I genuinely have a hard time believing someone is living paycheck to paycheck (even in the bay area with two kids - where housing is extremely expensive) on a senior software engineer salary at a startup. ($180k/yr) I know people who manage it. It's not a comfortable life but it's stable and they can still save. I mean, they have to. They're not gonna be able to buy their options when they quit if they didn't save.

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> I would highly advise you learn how to budget better and grow a sizable emergency fund.

Genuinely wondering, do you think that this insight simply hasn't occurred to him? The obstacles to someone spending less money are generally more complicated — even when they're within the person's control at all — than simply "start budgeting better." You're being condescending and providing no value.

Also, I bet that you know more people living paycheck-to-paycheck than you realize.

Perhaps that person really never heard that.

Nonetheless shouldn't the society tell you something like this?

Yes, but this is probably not the best time to do it. We don't know anything about their life - maybe their situation is caused by poor financial management, but maybe there are other factors at play, such as a lawsuit, high medical or student debt, helping family back home etc.

OP, I'm sorry to hear about your situation. I hope you can find a new position soon. Try to stay positive - this too shall pass.

If they're living paycheck to paycheck and in tech, I do wonder if basic financial literacy has escaped them. It's not uncommon for people in this field to maximize for one skill only at the cost of all other knowledge.

I've met enough people in this field who are completely inept when it comes to anything that doesn't involve typing code.

HN commenters see someone having a life crisis and start debugging...

> do you think that this insight simply hasn't occurred to him?

There's this duality where we appreciate there are many out there who truly cannot downsize their lifestyle to accommodate, and we should sympathize. But of the people I know personally in these scenarios, all of them could easily budget better. And again, in my personal experience, its always a pretty simple evaluation and decision. Its deeply frustrating to see someone I know complaining about how tight things are, but then buying a better car than me, better computer than me, better phone than me. Going out to eat all the time. Etc ad infinitum. So while certainly there are factors outside our controls, I'd wager a lot that the average high salary earners (e.g., HN crowd) do have simple budgeting choices they aren't making. I won't presume much about OP, this is mostly in response to your comment about it being condescending. It is. But, in reality, for many and perhaps most high earners, it really is simple, and sometimes people do need to be called out to realize it.

IME if you're assuming anonymous internet poor person is like your strawman friend who bought a nicer car than you, you're already assuming they have a lot more money than they actually do.

Not using strawmen, using actual people, none of whom earn as much as an entry level programmer in the US. It was a counter point to a common generalization. I believe completely there are many in the US who must budget well and barely get by. I've seen it. But I'm skeptical the average HNer falls into this category.

This is maybe a time for you to listen and learn about the experiences of others. Not, as you've done, call a stranger financially incompetent or insinuate they're lying.

The GP hasn't mentioned US, but even then, if they have recently immigrated they might have spent most of their savings.

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