28, $4k in savings, feeling stuck – need some life advice | Hacker News Reader

28, $4k in savings, feeling stuck – need some life advice

4 pointsfreeourdays17 comments

Been working for 4 years, making about $45k. After expenses, I save maybe $500/month. Looking at my pathetic savings account, feels like I'm going nowhere fast.

Been thinking about quitting to start something, but honestly terrified of the risk. Also considering side hustles but no clue where to start.

Saw this story yesterday on TinyIdea about someone who went from side hustle to full-time entrepreneur, which got me thinking. But I'm pretty risk-averse by nature.

Questions for you all:

Any safe ways to increase income while keeping my day job? When is the "right time" to take the entrepreneurial leap? Any low-risk business ideas worth considering?

Feeling pretty lost right now. Any advice would be appreciated

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If you're terrified of the risk , you're not really fit for entrepreneurship for now. Your best bet is try to increase the 45k number (changing jobs or taking on additional freelancing jobs) and invest the savings into stocks. Let time be your friends. You're still 28. It is never too late to start a business when you're 35 when you have more savings. When you have a burning desire and willing to risk everything, it's time you can quit your job.

What do you do for work? $45k seems low. The low-hanging fruit would be job hop, but tbh I guess the market is pretty bad right now.

Yes, it's mainly about spending money too quickly and having a weak financial awareness

Maybe he is from India?

Making $45k as I assume something in the technical field, working harder and starting a side hustle is not the answer. Just get another job.

You would be much better off doing interview prep, networking, expanding your job search, moving if necessary.

> Saw this story yesterday on TinyIdea...

Which, based on your submission history, is your site, which you have been self-promoting here for a couple weeks now.

I don't know why this type of self-promotion bugs me so much. You do a show HN, it doesn't get traction, so you keep posting more and more stuff from your site. Then post a question, and drop the name in there, which reads to me as: "Maybe this will get me some traffic."

All you need to do is put in a small disclaimer: "I saw on the site I run, TinyIdea...", and now it is honest disclosure, not guerilla marketing.

Well, and be honest in general. You clearly have been running that site for almost a year according to your other posts and comments, and making somewhat of a living with it, again according to you: "Now pulling in around $1.4k consistently, which covers rent and groceries at least." I have a hard time balancing that info with the question and story from this post.

OK, maybe that is exactly what bugs me about it - it feels like dishonest marketing.

Reformat Windows computers for $100 a pop, advertise with fliers at the supermarket or somewhere public where non-computer people usually go. Say something like - fix any computer problem guaranteed.

You should be focusing on working your ass off at your job and increasing your earning potential there.

You don't say what you do or where you are, but you're earning $20 an hour. In virtually any industry you should be able to work your way into something much closer to $75k-100k within 24 months if you exhibit any significant agree of professionalism, attitude, and work ethic.

I would stop messing around with these side hustle ideas and just work like a motherfucker.

Thank you for your encouragement, I can try

> In virtually any industry you should be able to work your way into something much closer to $75k-100k within 24 months if you exhibit any significant agree of professionalism, attitude, and work ethic

Okay boomer. In which fields or industries have you accomplished this? I agree those attributes will generally be rewarded but not at that rate, not in most fields.

Has OP even tried dressing for the job they want to have and faking it till they make it? What about giving their boss a firm handshake and asking for a raise?

I was making $35/hr (~$70k) a year as a department manager in a grocery store while I still in college. And that was 20 years ago.

I just helped a friend's wife (late 20s) apply and interview for a general administration position in a tier 3 city. She didn't study anything important and sort of just floundered for a few years after college doing various temp jobs. She ended up getting the job makes about $90k now. They thought I did some sort of a magic trick or something.

That seems great until you realize that fast food and grocery stores are paying new hires $22-27/hr (so 45-54k). Again, if you have any degree of professionalism and work ethic you can move into some low ranking managerial position that is closer to $30-45/hr.

In short, $75k-100 is not a lot of money anymore and is pretty easy to get. It requires ignoring this learned helplessness and working hard.

Talking numbers doesn't sense without specifying the geography. Here in a Midwestern suburb, grocery stores are generally paying 13-16. Managers get low 20s. 100k is a great job here, most people can't get that even with a degree.

It's all relative. Those areas have significantly lower costs of living.

Having lived on the west coast, east coast, and all over the in between, you’re not right. But you’re not wrong either. The truth is far more complex. Consider the fact that most food in the Midwest is shipped from the coasts - everything the Midwest grows goes into either cars or cows. A west coast housing budget goes further in the Midwest, but a west coast grocery budget will come up short.

The median wage in the US is $38K. That’s what an Amazon driver can make.

Are you really telling me that in 2025 someone with skills and grit can’t make more than that? Hell I was making a little over $50K as regular old enterprise dev in Atlanta working for a company that mailed out utility bills in 2000.

I hire client-facing digital marketing account managers and pay in that range.

Anybody with a good work ethic and the ability to interact with other people reliably is hirable. It's rarer than you think!

Sales is another field where being in the top 20% is shockingly easy and just depends on willingness to work and learn.

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