What busy professionals and the working poor have in common
chrisyeh.blogspot.com
chrisyeh.blogspot.com
1. Create a separate, limited funds checking account explicitly for bill paying and the like. Replenish it periodically, as needed, but use it to keep larger balances out of reach.
2. Set up automatic payments against the limited funds account.
A significant one-time effort, but lower-bandwidth afterwards.
Alternatively, simply hire a part-time bookkeeper and/or accountant. Of course, this is also bandwidth-intensive, up front, and also demands attention to combat potential fraud.
I've had my license suspended in more years than I've had it valid, and it's entirely because of stupid shit like not getting my sticker renewed (I have very few actual moving violations).
There are substantial existing business models around helping people stay out of a nursing home with just a little extra kick. Its basically the same problem, although the root cause of the mental bandwidth restriction is somewhat different.
I have several elderly relatives who went thru / are going thru this kind of assistance.
The middleman business model is pretty much like the daycare racket, charge the end users (sometimes, insurance co.) $50/hr, pay the grunt who provides the service minimum wage, and pocket the rest as long as you can. Use lots of govt regulation / red tape to keep out competition. One significant fraud case and you're outta business so sheltering assets / LLC structuring is a VERY big deal.
Customer service is an issue... say the minimum wage helper forgets or otherwise fails to get the car registered, who eats the ticket cost, excessive towing/impound fee which often is designed to exceed the cost of a normal person's car, pain and suffering lawsuit, etc.
Er, is this a Silicon Valley thing?
Also, assuming the author does live there it seems a little hypocritical that he's criticising other's life choices.
I believe it would only be hypocritical if he were also making those choices and not owning up to it. Saying "I make good choices, you make bad" (not what I think the author is actually saying) is not, in itself, hypocritcal.
Which is the government.
"holier-than-thou Whole Foods shoppers" is just hyperbolic language designed to drive blog readership.
It's actually caused a lot of tension in the city of San Francisco.
I think rich people also marvel at the failure of the middle-class to not go to the right schools, make the right connections, marry into the right families, not take "full advantage of the tax code" (e.g., for Americans - bank offshore).
Although you're probably not wealthy enough to go to the right schools, you may be able to get in via scholarships.
Although a middle class pool of good connections is limited, there are ways for a creative person to seek out better ones, often by something as simple as changing their environment.
Tax code knowledge is useful and valuable, and can be learned if you're willing to put the time and effort into it.
My point is, if you wish to elevate yourself, you must first study those whose ranks you wish to join. Learn how they acquire, and, more importantly, keep their wealth and power, and find ways to do so yourself, even if you have to be scrappy to do it. The whole startup thing does just that in the business world.
There will always be things you are simply blocked from doing. Instead of focusing on how unfair that is, focus on the things you CAN do, even if it requires greater effort or a more creative approach than someone more privileged would need.
This is aside from obvious cultural differences WRT the type of status symbols and such.
Are you saying rich people are better able to estimate the risks and trade-offs for their decisions?
I should point out I'm talking more about "people who become rich on their own" rather than lucky lotto winners or lucky selection of parent or trophy spouse or whatever.
Unfortunately this sort of behavior is often encouraged by higher ups, because it looks like you are doing a lot. However, I think it's obvious that spending a lot of time in the office doesn't equate to getting a lot done.
This happened to me ~8 years ago. Solution was to spend 5k on a solo trip, all economy/hostel accommodations with a single backpack, walking around Europe (Poland, Budapest, Portugal) with a quick trip to Japan. Inner peace levels and happiness went up 10x what a 20k bonus ever provided me. It also helps to realize how small we are, how truly big an impact we can make by via technology, and that every single person you love, respect, run into will eventually die in some misery, with regret that brings tears to their eyes no matter how well they lived. So enjoy yourself, but don't take it too easy.
I'm a solutions engineer for tech startups which is generally very fun, challenging work, but tech really is like heroin (wasn't there a HN link about it?) and needs to be kept in-line.
If you anyone wants suggestions re. Europe travel, I'd be happy to share.
I've got an interesting solution (described a bit in my hn profile). I work a few months in the states with clients each year, do a bit more work remote, but slightly over the majority of each year I'm not working, and instead I live in my house in Pacific-coast south america. When I do work remote, it's mostly via screen and emacs over a 10k/s connection with occasional 20-minute commutes for videoconferencing/screen-sharing (although that's changing now that a neighbor and I have gone halves on a microwave setup).
I've been doing this for the past 7 years, and I love it. Each year, I'm excited twice: about flying back down to South America/seeing my friends again/glassy, heavy, warm-water surf ... and about going back to 'civilization'/seeing family/coffee/morning scrums/open-plan offices/Aeron chairs/slaying giants.
This year I split my workload between being remote 2 months and in the states about the same, and it's been a blast.
The busy professional works on activities that has social prestige (even if it is a lot of useless meetings and e-mail) and ultimately, these activities build career capital which can be leveraged. Not to mention, they pay a lot more.
The working poor may also work 60 hour weeks, but their work does not carry social prestige, build career capital, or pay particularly well. Ultimately, their work can not really be leveraged into opportunities to focus on the big picture.
Again, I agree from a cognitive processing view that yes, both the working poor and the busy professional partake in activities that distract from higher value work, but the latter has much more opportunity to give himself breathing room to focus.
Good post!
The reason they have reduced cognitive bandwidth is because their mind is occupied worrying about money instead of relaxing during down time.
And for many poor people, those 31 hour jobs are jobs that should be mentally relaxing. To a rich person, sweeping the floor is a job that lets you zone out and rest your brain. But if you're stressed about something, it just gives your mind more time to dwell on it.
At first this just seemed like a kind of self-congratulatory post: 'Yes, sure, cognitive bandwidth is a finite limit that affects kings and beggars alike, but at least I'm accomplishing something with my life.' But then you pulled out this whopper.
Do you honestly think that someone who is concerned about feeding their children or paying their rent has more free time and bandwidth? Working professionals have their own, imagined stresses associated with pumping up their own importance, but these are much higher up Maslow's heirarchy than basic physical needs.
1. Not "... but at least I'm accomplishing something in my life" but "... but the busy professionals have an important advantage: the stuff they're frantically doing is valued by other people, so that it gets them more money and more social status".
2. It's the busy professional, not the overworked underpaid poor person, that the comment says has "more opportunity to give himself breathing room to focus".
We should not forget that professionals have a lot more advantages than the working poor.
Comparing them in this way is useful, but may hide the serious problems and lack of opportunity that the working poor suffer: professionals inflict this problem on themselves where the working poor have limited choices.
Now if I could just curb my hackernews addiction...
That's a real problem. Interestingly, I've experienced the opposite while working on several things in parallel - not having "enough time" forces you to make decisions instantly.
Also, a lot of people delay important decision-making when they lack time - or simply never make a much-needed decision at all, thus staying trapped, financially, professionally, personally. . .