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I have always been told that I should save my money and build a nest egg. That I should not stop until I have 6 months to a year of runway, and that once I get

I have always been told that I should save my money and build a nest egg. That I should not stop until I have 6 months to a year of runway, and that once I get there, treat that money as if I don’t even have it. I have lived by this advice and I am grateful for receiving it early.

jedmeyers 7y ago
I am also wondering why I have to subsidize everyone else's kids while not being able to afford my own, since I have relatively high standards for what a stable financial situation should be before I have them. Charity is voluntary while taxation is not.
- dmitriid 7y ago
  Why aren't you also wondering why you have to subsidize everyone else's police, firefighting, army, food and drug safety, environmental protections, transport safety, public education, libraries, ... Edit: Also, the reason you can't afford kids is precisely due to the US having the same mentality as yours. Because you have to worry about healthcare, or college, or not having enough vacations and sick days. Instead of, you know, not worrying about that.
  - jedmeyers 7y ago
    Because most of those things scale very well for the amount of people that use them. Medical care on the other hand does not scale at all.
    - Swizec 7y ago
      And yet in most of the world it does scale and US has one of the worst health systems in the world. Easily the worst in “The West” What is that headline that The Onion likes to use? “Nothing we can do about this, says only country in the world where this regularly happens”. Applies to healthcare too. Everyone else has solved this. Americans don’t want to. That’s an okay and fine choice just don’t pretend it’s unsolvable. I live here in the US with a 6 figure salary and my greatest fear is ever needing a doctor for anything. Back home it wasn’t even a consideration. Need doctor? Just go without a second thought. And my income was a fraction of what it is now.
    - dmitriid 7y ago
      How do public education or libraries scale well and medical care for all doesn't? Also, of course medical care for all scales extremely well. You remove financial burden from people. You encourage them to start their own jobs, or switch to different/better jobs. You remove the burden of long untreated diseases. You get a happier more productive population.
    - arcticbull 7y ago
      Incorrect lol America is worst among the OECD along almost every major health axis. Somehow it scales for everyone else but it just won’t work here.
    - danmaz74 7y ago
      Actually, medical care does scale a lot: many conditions are much easier and less expensive to treat if found early. An expensive system brings lots of people to postpone care and screening.
- saagarjha 7y ago
  It's quite possible that other people are subsidizing your children more than you are theirs.
  - jedmeyers 7y ago
    I have yet to see the numbers that support this position.
    - saagarjha 7y ago
      As you can't seem to afford your own children, presumably you are making less money than those who can. Thus, you pay less in taxes than they do, which means they're paying for your children rather than the other way around.
      - jedmeyers 7y ago
        > presumably you are making less money than those who can. That’s a bit of a stretch, especially considering that I have specifically mentioned the fact that a lot of people don’t seem to care about their financial situation when having children. And then apparently it is “humane” to take other peoples resources by force through government to pay for their expenses. Who need these barbaric consensual charities anyway.
- sgt101 7y ago
  Consider, you have a job, an apartment, dignity. Without taxation you would have none of these. You would be a surf or servant, or simply dead. Statistically it would be astonishingly unlikely you would be in the ruling class, and given that you are posting on HN you probably aren't a candidate. You have standards, I respect that, but your community disagrees with you. Children are our future, they are ours - all of them - and we need to look after them. They should have food, shelter, healthcare and education. We should all give them that. If we do we can look each other in the eye and demand respect, dignity and community. If you are robbed or shamed they you have a right to be offended and outraged. If we don't then you and I are wolves in the forest, with everyone else.
  - jedmeyers 7y ago
    > Consider, you have a job, an apartment, dignity. > Without taxation you would have none of these. You would be a surf or servant, or simply dead. I do not agree with this premise, especially since you have provided no proof that it is based in reality. If you were to guess, what was the income tax in the US in 1900 and were everyone there a surf [sic], servant or dead?
- dusted 7y ago
  simplistic
sgt101 7y ago
I believe (from reading this article) that the people in it would not have been helped by having a 6 month or one year, or more of saving, because without the provision of sick leave they would have lost their health insurance and with it the ability to pay for the care of their baby. So the state would cast them into destitution and kill their baby. Also, imagine a situation where you suffer a misfortune and lose your nest egg. Perhaps an official, relative or adviser steals it from you, they are prosecuted and condemned but have spent the money on drugs - it's gone. Then you suffer another misfortune - you lose your job, or you suffer a non life threatening injury that prevents you from working. Now you are screwed. This clearly isn't your fault. You saved, you worked, you are a victim. Now you are on the street. Is this right?
dredmorbius 7y ago
What happens when you find you need 2 years of runway? Or 5, or 10, or 20? And, mind, you may not know the duration going in.
nilskidoo 7y ago
And how does one accumulate a nest egg when every employer I have ever dealt with cannot afford (or outright refuses) to do better than paying late and/or less than agreed, if at all? Believe it or not, not everyone can live off their parents as adults.

jedmeyers 7y ago

I am also wondering why I have to subsidize everyone else's kids while not being able to afford my own, since I have relatively high standards for what a stable financial situation should be before I have them. Charity is voluntary while taxation is not.

dmitriid 7y ago
Why aren't you also wondering why you have to subsidize everyone else's police, firefighting, army, food and drug safety, environmental protections, transport safety, public education, libraries, ... Edit: Also, the reason you can't afford kids is precisely due to the US having the same mentality as yours. Because you have to worry about healthcare, or college, or not having enough vacations and sick days. Instead of, you know, not worrying about that.
- jedmeyers 7y ago
  Because most of those things scale very well for the amount of people that use them. Medical care on the other hand does not scale at all.
  - Swizec 7y ago
    And yet in most of the world it does scale and US has one of the worst health systems in the world. Easily the worst in “The West” What is that headline that The Onion likes to use? “Nothing we can do about this, says only country in the world where this regularly happens”. Applies to healthcare too. Everyone else has solved this. Americans don’t want to. That’s an okay and fine choice just don’t pretend it’s unsolvable. I live here in the US with a 6 figure salary and my greatest fear is ever needing a doctor for anything. Back home it wasn’t even a consideration. Need doctor? Just go without a second thought. And my income was a fraction of what it is now.
  - dmitriid 7y ago
    How do public education or libraries scale well and medical care for all doesn't? Also, of course medical care for all scales extremely well. You remove financial burden from people. You encourage them to start their own jobs, or switch to different/better jobs. You remove the burden of long untreated diseases. You get a happier more productive population.
  - arcticbull 7y ago
    Incorrect lol America is worst among the OECD along almost every major health axis. Somehow it scales for everyone else but it just won’t work here.
  - danmaz74 7y ago
    Actually, medical care does scale a lot: many conditions are much easier and less expensive to treat if found early. An expensive system brings lots of people to postpone care and screening.
saagarjha 7y ago
It's quite possible that other people are subsidizing your children more than you are theirs.
- jedmeyers 7y ago
  I have yet to see the numbers that support this position.
  - saagarjha 7y ago
    As you can't seem to afford your own children, presumably you are making less money than those who can. Thus, you pay less in taxes than they do, which means they're paying for your children rather than the other way around.
    - jedmeyers 7y ago
      > presumably you are making less money than those who can. That’s a bit of a stretch, especially considering that I have specifically mentioned the fact that a lot of people don’t seem to care about their financial situation when having children. And then apparently it is “humane” to take other peoples resources by force through government to pay for their expenses. Who need these barbaric consensual charities anyway.
sgt101 7y ago
Consider, you have a job, an apartment, dignity. Without taxation you would have none of these. You would be a surf or servant, or simply dead. Statistically it would be astonishingly unlikely you would be in the ruling class, and given that you are posting on HN you probably aren't a candidate. You have standards, I respect that, but your community disagrees with you. Children are our future, they are ours - all of them - and we need to look after them. They should have food, shelter, healthcare and education. We should all give them that. If we do we can look each other in the eye and demand respect, dignity and community. If you are robbed or shamed they you have a right to be offended and outraged. If we don't then you and I are wolves in the forest, with everyone else.
- jedmeyers 7y ago
  > Consider, you have a job, an apartment, dignity. > Without taxation you would have none of these. You would be a surf or servant, or simply dead. I do not agree with this premise, especially since you have provided no proof that it is based in reality. If you were to guess, what was the income tax in the US in 1900 and were everyone there a surf [sic], servant or dead?
dusted 7y ago
simplistic

sgt101 7y ago

I believe (from reading this article) that the people in it would not have been helped by having a 6 month or one year, or more of saving, because without the provision of sick leave they would have lost their health insurance and with it the ability to pay for the care of their baby. So the state would cast them into destitution and kill their baby. Also, imagine a situation where you suffer a misfortune and lose your nest egg. Perhaps an official, relative or adviser steals it from you, they are prosecuted and condemned but have spent the money on drugs - it's gone. Then you suffer another misfortune - you lose your job, or you suffer a non life threatening injury that prevents you from working. Now you are screwed. This clearly isn't your fault. You saved, you worked, you are a victim. Now you are on the street. Is this right?

dredmorbius 7y ago

What happens when you find you need 2 years of runway? Or 5, or 10, or 20? And, mind, you may not know the duration going in.

nilskidoo 7y ago

And how does one accumulate a nest egg when every employer I have ever dealt with cannot afford (or outright refuses) to do better than paying late and/or less than agreed, if at all? Believe it or not, not everyone can live off their parents as adults.