3 ms·

For what it's worth, I believe this phrase, at least within the realm of financial bloggers, originated here: https://jlcollinsnh.com/2011/06/06/why-you-need-f

For what it's worth, I believe this phrase, at least within the realm of financial bloggers, originated here: https://jlcollinsnh.com/2011/06/06/why-you-need-f-you-money/ https://jlcollinsnh.com/2011/06/06/why-you-need-f-you-money/ I've followed a few, Get Rich Slowly, Mr. Money Mustache, and Jim Collins, which has a great series of posts on long-term investing. I'm wrapping up six months of unemployment this week, and I didn't have a care in the world during that time. We didn't lose money, our investments grew more than ever, and we spent lots of time together however we pleased. I'm not able to retire permanently, and I return to paid work on Tuesday, but there is great peace of mind in having "f-you money," especially if you do live a bit frugally and keep your mandatory, recurring expenses low.

hprotagonist 6y ago
As a common trope in tech, it's at least as old as 1999. From Cryptonomicon: The subject heading of Avi's first message is: "Guideline 1." We look for places where the math is right. Meaning what? Meaning that pop. is about to explode we can predict that just by looking at age histogram and per capita income is about to take off the way it did in Nippon, Taiwan, Singapore. Multiply those two things together and you get the kind of exponential growth that should get us all into fuck you money before we turn forty. This is an allusion to a Randy/Avi conversation of two years ago wherein Avi actually calculated a specific numerical value for "fuck you money." It was not a fixed constant, however, but rather a cell in a spreadsheet linked to any number of continually fluctuating economic indicators. Sometimes when Avi is working at his computer he will leave the spreadsheet running in a tiny window in the corner so that he can see the current value of "fuck you money" at a glance.
- mister_tee 6y ago
  this isn't quite the same term but in 1989, legend is that some Microsoft employees wore buttons or shirts with the acronym FYIFV; the IFV is "I'm fully-vested." A more outwardly passive-aggressive version of the term. https://www.seattletimes.com/business/archive-inside-microsoft-a-velvet-sweatshop-or-a-high-tech-heaven/ https://www.seattletimes.com/business/archive-inside-microso...
  - hprotagonist 6y ago
    I believe this comes up in Microserfs, but it's been some time since i've read it.
6gvONxR4sf7o 6y ago
Outside of financial bloggers, you can trace it back to at least the 1920s: > Humphrey Bogart used to keep a $100 bill in his dresser drawer at all times—a decent chunk of change in the 1920s. He referred to it as his ‘fuck-you money’, because it meant he’d never be forced to take a crappy part. According to Bogie, the only good reason for making money was “so you can tell any son-of-a-bitch in the world to go to hell”. Ten points for whoever spots the source of my quoted section.
- neogodless 6y ago
  Nice. I had to catch myself, because I was pretty sure my origin was just... the limits of my knowledge. Thanks for this!
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - 6gvONxR4sf7o 6y ago
    np, I coincidentally happened to have that quote at my fingertips already :)
- hervature 6y ago
  What is, TFA?
  - mister_tee 6y ago
    yes, you get the points but looks like the first words by the author in this article. Is the joke just that no one will read the actual article?
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - 6gvONxR4sf7o 6y ago
      Yep. We aren't supposed to accuse people of not reading the articles on HN, so I decided to try to straddle the line between helpful and snide.
kurthr 6y ago
Perhaps, but it was in common usage in 2000 as demonstrated from this quote in the Economist in 2001. Yes, they use the exact phrase, “Fuck-you money” to mean ~$10M or enough to throw off several hundred $K a year in cash. https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:05CbACaDYn0J:https://www.economist.com/special-report/2001/06/16/the-new-wealth-of-nations+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:05CbAC... To be clear, the fine article does bring up the phrase as quite old, and I like his idea of FU-Frugality since you don't actually need to have that much money (or madskilz) to be able to Say No to dumb stuff.
mister_tee 6y ago
JL Collins was I think my introduction to the financial independence concept though I'd "accidentally" been investing in index funds and for retirment before. That series of posts (the "Stock Series") is great and it's available in edited book form called "The Simple Path to Wealth." Or for a video intro, he gave this 1hr Talk@Google: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T71ibcZAX3I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T71ibcZAX3I

hprotagonist 6y ago

As a common trope in tech, it's at least as old as 1999. From Cryptonomicon: The subject heading of Avi's first message is: "Guideline 1." We look for places where the math is right. Meaning what? Meaning that pop. is about to explode we can predict that just by looking at age histogram and per capita income is about to take off the way it did in Nippon, Taiwan, Singapore. Multiply those two things together and you get the kind of exponential growth that should get us all into fuck you money before we turn forty. This is an allusion to a Randy/Avi conversation of two years ago wherein Avi actually calculated a specific numerical value for "fuck you money." It was not a fixed constant, however, but rather a cell in a spreadsheet linked to any number of continually fluctuating economic indicators. Sometimes when Avi is working at his computer he will leave the spreadsheet running in a tiny window in the corner so that he can see the current value of "fuck you money" at a glance.

mister_tee 6y ago
this isn't quite the same term but in 1989, legend is that some Microsoft employees wore buttons or shirts with the acronym FYIFV; the IFV is "I'm fully-vested." A more outwardly passive-aggressive version of the term. https://www.seattletimes.com/business/archive-inside-microsoft-a-velvet-sweatshop-or-a-high-tech-heaven/ https://www.seattletimes.com/business/archive-inside-microso...
- hprotagonist 6y ago
  I believe this comes up in Microserfs, but it's been some time since i've read it.

6gvONxR4sf7o 6y ago

Outside of financial bloggers, you can trace it back to at least the 1920s: > Humphrey Bogart used to keep a $100 bill in his dresser drawer at all times—a decent chunk of change in the 1920s. He referred to it as his ‘fuck-you money’, because it meant he’d never be forced to take a crappy part. According to Bogie, the only good reason for making money was “so you can tell any son-of-a-bitch in the world to go to hell”. Ten points for whoever spots the source of my quoted section.

neogodless 6y ago
Nice. I had to catch myself, because I was pretty sure my origin was just... the limits of my knowledge. Thanks for this!
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- 6gvONxR4sf7o 6y ago
  np, I coincidentally happened to have that quote at my fingertips already :)
hervature 6y ago
What is, TFA?
- mister_tee 6y ago
  yes, you get the points but looks like the first words by the author in this article. Is the joke just that no one will read the actual article?
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - 6gvONxR4sf7o 6y ago
    Yep. We aren't supposed to accuse people of not reading the articles on HN, so I decided to try to straddle the line between helpful and snide.

kurthr 6y ago

Perhaps, but it was in common usage in 2000 as demonstrated from this quote in the Economist in 2001. Yes, they use the exact phrase, “Fuck-you money” to mean ~$10M or enough to throw off several hundred $K a year in cash. https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:05CbACaDYn0J:https://www.economist.com/special-report/2001/06/16/the-new-wealth-of-nations+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:05CbAC... To be clear, the fine article does bring up the phrase as quite old, and I like his idea of FU-Frugality since you don't actually need to have that much money (or madskilz) to be able to Say No to dumb stuff.

mister_tee 6y ago

JL Collins was I think my introduction to the financial independence concept though I'd "accidentally" been investing in index funds and for retirment before. That series of posts (the "Stock Series") is great and it's available in edited book form called "The Simple Path to Wealth." Or for a video intro, he gave this 1hr Talk@Google: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T71ibcZAX3I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T71ibcZAX3I