7 ms·

What are some common Plan Bs?

by yasp 7y ago

icedchai 7y ago
Save and invest 40% of your income. After 15 to 20 years you should be able to declare financial independence, if you want to...
- pmiller2 7y ago
  That only works if you start at 25 when you graduate. Not a viable plan for someone approaching 40 who wants to make sure they can continue to support themselves into their 60's and beyond.
  - kls 7y ago
    A solid Plan-B is to learn an older tech where people are already retiring out of. Examples would be anything IBM used in the 80's early 90's. C/C++, COBOL, JCL, UNIVERSE, VB6, etc. etc. Young people are not competing for this work and you would be surprised at how much it can float you thru lean times if you need to lean on it.
  - icedchai 7y ago
    Obviously you need to plan ahead, perhaps read some personal finance books now and then. "The Millionaire Next Door" is still relevant. I read it when I was 22, followed most of it...
  - AnimalMuppet 7y ago
    Why? Someone who starts at 40 is probably earning more than someone at 25. And someone at 40 has fewer years left to support themselves after their 15-20 years of saving are up.
    - twblalock 7y ago
      Because 15 years of compound interest in the stock market more than covers the difference in income between a 25 year old and a 40 year old. The 25 year old has enough time to take risks with money, while the 40 year old needs to be thinking more about preservation of capital.
      - AnimalMuppet 7y ago
        I don't think so. The 25-year-old needs the money starting in 20 years; so does the 40-year-old. The 25-year-old needs the money to last 45 years after retirement; the 40-year-old needs it to last 30 years. Those aren't significantly different time horizons. The 40-year-old can therefore invest with a very similar risk profile, and get very similar returns.
        pmiller2 7y ago
        Which is true, assuming the 40 year old is still employable.
        icedchai 7y ago
        The difference is the 40 year may not want to work for 15+ years to build up his nest egg. The guy who started in his 20's can basically coast...
    - pmiller2 7y ago
      The idea is that by 40, you have accumulated enough to exit the software field.
k__ 7y ago
Farming ;) Joke aside, I don't know how much of this problem is more related to older devs insisting to have the same dev employment they always had than acutally being old. Go into management. Become self-employed. Start your own shop, service or product based. Teach younger people what you know for money. There are many jobs besides just being a "senior developer". I've also seen many non-tech occupations becoming more technical. Learn something unrelated on the side and try to apply your dev skills to it. Being a dev is cool, but being a dev-lawyer, dev-md, dev-techer etc. Is probably gonna let you have a good job later.
- kls 7y ago
  You joke but you would be surprise that there are some developers that once burn out, become Luddites. I know a few, one literally bought a worm farm, one bought farm land and started farming lavender, and the other bought a tackle-shop / dive bar down in the Caribbean.
mindfulgeek 7y ago
Starting law school next week!
- pmiller2 7y ago
  Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire! Unless you have a guaranteed biglaw job lined up, and you enjoy 80 hours weeks necessary to survive as an associate in biglaw, becoming an attorney has far worse income and prospects than being a developer.
tunesmith 7y ago
Try like hell to save your 1.5 - 3 million and strangle your living expenses down to the bone. Then after your "retirement date" which is code for "slowly drain my principle and hope I don't live past age 80" hope to continue to land contracts on the side for clients that are smart enough to hire you.
daotoad 7y ago
Shouldn't that be "Plans B"? I believe "plan b" is a head first compound noun, and should pluralize like "hangers on", "mothers in law", or "attorneys general". But I could be wrong. The plural form doesn't get much usage.

What are some common Plan Bs?

by yasp 7y ago

What are some common Plan Bs?

Save and invest 40% of your income. After 15 to 20 years you should be able to declare financial independence, if you want to...

pmiller2 7y ago
That only works if you start at 25 when you graduate. Not a viable plan for someone approaching 40 who wants to make sure they can continue to support themselves into their 60's and beyond.
- kls 7y ago
  A solid Plan-B is to learn an older tech where people are already retiring out of. Examples would be anything IBM used in the 80's early 90's. C/C++, COBOL, JCL, UNIVERSE, VB6, etc. etc. Young people are not competing for this work and you would be surprised at how much it can float you thru lean times if you need to lean on it.
- icedchai 7y ago
  Obviously you need to plan ahead, perhaps read some personal finance books now and then. "The Millionaire Next Door" is still relevant. I read it when I was 22, followed most of it...
- AnimalMuppet 7y ago
  Why? Someone who starts at 40 is probably earning more than someone at 25. And someone at 40 has fewer years left to support themselves after their 15-20 years of saving are up.
  - twblalock 7y ago
    Because 15 years of compound interest in the stock market more than covers the difference in income between a 25 year old and a 40 year old. The 25 year old has enough time to take risks with money, while the 40 year old needs to be thinking more about preservation of capital.
    - AnimalMuppet 7y ago
      I don't think so. The 25-year-old needs the money starting in 20 years; so does the 40-year-old. The 25-year-old needs the money to last 45 years after retirement; the 40-year-old needs it to last 30 years. Those aren't significantly different time horizons. The 40-year-old can therefore invest with a very similar risk profile, and get very similar returns.
      - pmiller2 7y ago
        Which is true, assuming the 40 year old is still employable.
      - icedchai 7y ago
        The difference is the 40 year may not want to work for 15+ years to build up his nest egg. The guy who started in his 20's can basically coast...
  - pmiller2 7y ago
    The idea is that by 40, you have accumulated enough to exit the software field.

k__ 7y ago

Farming ;) Joke aside, I don't know how much of this problem is more related to older devs insisting to have the same dev employment they always had than acutally being old. Go into management. Become self-employed. Start your own shop, service or product based. Teach younger people what you know for money. There are many jobs besides just being a "senior developer". I've also seen many non-tech occupations becoming more technical. Learn something unrelated on the side and try to apply your dev skills to it. Being a dev is cool, but being a dev-lawyer, dev-md, dev-techer etc. Is probably gonna let you have a good job later.

kls 7y ago
You joke but you would be surprise that there are some developers that once burn out, become Luddites. I know a few, one literally bought a worm farm, one bought farm land and started farming lavender, and the other bought a tackle-shop / dive bar down in the Caribbean.

mindfulgeek 7y ago

Starting law school next week!

pmiller2 7y ago
Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire! Unless you have a guaranteed biglaw job lined up, and you enjoy 80 hours weeks necessary to survive as an associate in biglaw, becoming an attorney has far worse income and prospects than being a developer.

tunesmith 7y ago

Try like hell to save your 1.5 - 3 million and strangle your living expenses down to the bone. Then after your "retirement date" which is code for "slowly drain my principle and hope I don't live past age 80" hope to continue to land contracts on the side for clients that are smart enough to hire you.

daotoad 7y ago

Shouldn't that be "Plans B"? I believe "plan b" is a head first compound noun, and should pluralize like "hangers on", "mothers in law", or "attorneys general". But I could be wrong. The plural form doesn't get much usage.