How does one work 50+ hours a week?

[wojt]

50h a week?
That has to be like 7h of work and 3h of style forum, otherwise unbearable.

 

[FLMountainMan]

I won't articulate this well, but I think one of the key mistakes people make in life is focusing on the revenues side of the equation and not the expenses side. Keeping your expenses down gives you the freedom to work the job you want and not the job you have to in order to keep ahead.

A lot of those expenses, especially the recurring monthly ones, are for luxuries that soon just become background expectations. I was struck once about an article in the Wall Street Journal about the actor Jim Parsons. It was in their Mansion section and the actor was describing the house he bought with his first big windfall - $5 million, big acreage, etc... Talked about how much he loved the place, had the best times there, etc... The article concluded with him having recently bought a $15 million home. Which naturally got me to thinking about how much his overall happiness had increased by spending $11 million more on a house. I suspect he got a few months' of joy and then it just became his baseline.

My wife recently decided not to go back to work after having our child. It was nice to be able to provide that for her without any financial hardship whatsoever. Of course we drive cars that are 5-10 years old and live in a 990 square foot house, but very little debt.

I realize this is absolutely the wrong website to be advocating this viewpoint, but I really wish we would do a better job of teaching thrift as a means of achieving freedom.

 

[FLMountainMan]

And not to get too off-track, but it would be interesting to study and see if there is a difference between the pleasure people derive from repeated, but variable, expenditures, like a new tie or suit every month or two, and the pleasure derived from a regular luxury expenditure like a mortgage payment on a nicer home or a car payment on a fancy new car.

 

[Piobaire]

Agree on the concept of diminishing returns and extravagances. We've long had a rule that we need to keep our monthly nut under the lowest of our two salaries. That salary is Mrs. Piob's and we're pretty close to that. I think it's a good/safe way to live.

OTOH there's the folks like some of the ones I grew up with that I often mention. Live your entire adult life like a pauper so you can retire at 55 and...live your life like a pauper. Where's the fun and enjoyment in that? I suppose not working brings enjoyment but all these people I know that did this seem like sad ***** to me. They constantly complain about money, the car needing a new water pump, how the price of a pitcher of draught went up 90 cents at the Legion, etc. No thanks to that life.

 

[Gibonius]



OTOH there's the folks like some of the ones I grew up with that I often mention. Live your entire adult life like a pauper so you can retire at 55 and...live your life like a pauper. Where's the fun and enjoyment in that? I suppose not working brings enjoyment but all these people I know that did this seem like sad ***** to me. They constantly complain about money, the car needing a new water pump, how the price of a pitcher of draught went up 90 cents at the Legion, etc. No thanks to that life.

The best thing about having a decent income (and decent budgeting) is not having to worry about money. Not that you can buy whatever you want, but being able to spend what you need to spend without worrying about it.

I know some people who freaked out when their paychecks got switched from every two weeks to monthly. They're making solid middle class salaries, but they had the budget so tight that not getting paid for two extra weeks seemed catastrophic. I can't imagine living like that.

 

[lawyerdad]



I won't articulate this well, but I think one of the key mistakes people make in life is focusing on the revenues side of the equation and not the expenses side. Keeping your expenses down gives you the freedom to work the job you want and not the job you have to in order to keep ahead.

A lot of those expenses, especially the recurring monthly ones, are for luxuries that soon just become background expectations. I was struck once about an article in the Wall Street Journal about the actor Jim Parsons. It was in their Mansion section and the actor was describing the house he bought with his first big windfall - $5 million, big acreage, etc... Talked about how much he loved the place, had the best times there, etc... The article concluded with him having recently bought a $15 million home. Which naturally got me to thinking about how much his overall happiness had increased by spending $11 million more on a house. I suspect he got a few months' of joy and then it just became his baseline.

My wife recently decided not to go back to work after having our child. It was nice to be able to provide that for her without any financial hardship whatsoever. Of course we drive cars that are 5-10 years old and live in a 990 square foot house, but very little debt.

I realize this is absolutely the wrong website to be advocating this viewpoint, but I really wish we would do a better job of teaching thrift as a means of achieving freedom.

ITT we realize FLMM posts here a lot less because he's spending his time on FatWallet and sites like that.

 

[Piobaire]



The best thing about having a decent income (and decent budgeting) is not having to worry about money. Not that you can buy whatever you want, but being able to spend what you need to spend without worrying about it.

I know some people who freaked out when their paychecks got switched from every two weeks to monthly. They're making solid middle class salaries, but they had the budget so tight that not getting paid for two extra weeks seemed catastrophic. I can't imagine living like that.

I also think this can impact one's view on life so much it impacts health. I swear these sad sacks age prematurely. The folks I'm talking about, by 60, project an aura of actual frail or sick elderly much of the time. They're just so bored/unhappy with their sad sack lives it seeps over into everything about them. From ****** cars to old ****** clothes to shacky houses to...well...everything. Then I look at those folks I know in their 80s that are still going into the office, even at a reduced schedule, but doing high level and important work and still making good coin (not to mention having large nest eggs in the first place). These folks are still living large and project auras of being engaged and interested in life.

Seriously, if I have to chose between retiring at 55 and living their lives vs working into my 80s and living the lives of these other folks?

 

[Gibonius]

My wife's family is from the Rust Belt, and that really rings a bell. They're all just tired worn out looking people, even in their 40s. They're just not engaged in anything, just grinding through life. I don't know how much they could realistically have done differently, but it's sad regardless. The ones that got out (my in-laws) were the hyper-competent types that had the ability to find ways out, but it's hard to expect an average person to do that.

I've been around driven, high performing people for so long that it's jarring to see how the proverbial other half approaches life. I don't think I could live around people like that, it would drive me nuts.

 

[Piobaire]

I don't think it has to be that way even if you have a blue collar job. I think it's just a certain mindset folks get into and it becomes a huge rut that just impacts every facet of life and sucks the joy out of it. One of my friends back home, her older sister and brother-in-law, both worked for Canada Post in worker type jobs. However, they both like travel, civic life (theatre, art galleries, etc.) and are also legit wine hounds. They told me how they worked way past minimum retirement age, until they were 65, and everyone told them how they were crazy. Like me they just cannot fathom leading dull, unhappy lives to sit around to lead a dull, unhappy life. Last I heard they were planning to go on a cycling tour of parts of Canada in preparation for doing the same in France in a couple of years...around age 70.

 

[brokencycle]

I know some people who freaked out when their paychecks got switched from every two weeks to monthly. They're making solid middle class salaries, but they had the budget so tight that not getting paid for two extra weeks seemed catastrophic. I can't imagine living like that.

HR sent out an email awhile back because of some change with the corporate bank that would cause some people's checks not to hit their account until Friday rather than Thursday night. How can you live where a check getting deposited 24 hours later makes a difference?

 

[ramuman]



HR sent out an email awhile back because of some change with the corporate bank that would cause some people's checks not to hit their account until Friday rather than Thursday night.  How can you live where a check getting deposited 24 hours later makes a difference?

I'm guessing the Prince royalties perturbed the banks up there.

 

[brokencycle]



I'm guessing the Prince royalties perturbed the banks up there.

Ha. My company isn't hqed here.

 

[azwealth]

But I feel 50+ hours per week is smaller than how many hours some other people work.

 

[otc]



ITT we realize FLMM posts here a lot less because he's spending his time on FatWallet and sites like that.

I never really got into FatWallet. The name is too much of an oxymoron (or perhaps it is a backwards looking name, referring to the wallet status of the users before they found the site).

At least Slickdeals users are honest that. while they may be getting a great price, they are definitely buying a whole bunch of **** they wouldn't have otherwise bought.

 

[azwealth]

I worked 70 hours last week.