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I'm a firm believer that everyone should have a skill they can use to support themselves. It doesn't really matter what that is as long as you can't be replaced

by cletus 5y ago

I'm a firm believer that everyone should have a skill they can use to support themselves. It doesn't really matter what that is as long as you can't be replaced easily by unskilled labour. So take the author. She wants to be a ski bum while she's young. I respect that, actually. So the question such people should be asking is: what skill could I gain that is compatible with that? Example: being a qualified paramedic/EMT. Why? Ski patrols need them. People get hurt skiing. They always will. I respect the ability to live frugally (as the author did), especially in order to gain experiences. After all, you won't be young forever. You won't be here forever. How much happier will it make you to live in a small house in a sea of suburbia as a billing code administrator for a health insurance company? But hey, at least you have a 401k and dental. The author has several false dichotomies in here (IMHO). For example, comparing the "dirtbag" lifestyle to the "rich". There's a whole lot in between there. Also, living paycheck to paycheck is stressful. So is not having options (eg decision fatigue [1]). Being a journalist is perhaps not the best choice. The people people live one paycheck away from being destitute varies but usually it's not because they want to be a ski bum. It's generally because they've taken on long term expenses they can barely afford. It's because they've convinced themselves they need to provide certain things for their children and families, often because they didn't have it themselves growing up. Things like paying for their college, living in a massive house and so on. In providing these material things I so often see people who don't see their children and bring negativity home because they hate their lives. What good does that do anyone? So many of the decisions people make I find is to have what other people think they should have. Family, neighbours, friends. I can't help but feel that the author still misses the point. [1]: https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/21/magazine/do-you-suffer-from-decision-fatigue.html https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/21/magazine/do-you-suffer-fr...

0xB31B1B 5y ago
>> So the question such people should be asking is: what skill could I gain that is compatible with that? Having seen people go through this thought process, SOO many get it wrong. If you want to ski all the time, you shouldn't be an EMT because money season for those gigs in ski town is the winter. You should find a seasonal job where money season is opposite of ski season. Carpentry/home building is a natural fit, money season is summer not winter, and can pay well enough to work half the year and ski half the year. Another popular gig for ski bums is professional fishing. You can make enough money in a few months fishing in the spring/summer to spend the rest of the time skiing.
- cletus 5y ago
  > Carpentry/home building is a natural fit, money season is summer not winter I understand your point (and it's a good one) but it lends itself to a different lifestyle, one that such a ski bum might not be interested in. That is, if you're going to live year-round in Boulder, for example, and are looking to establish roots then it makes sense. When you're young, that's not necessarily what you're looking for. There's a freedom of sorts of being able to fit everything you own into your car so you can go rock-climbing in the summer, skiing in the winter and so on. If you have a trade, you typically have tools, and a work vehicle and benefit from having a reputation, a network, contacts and repeat customers. It's not better or worse, just more rooted. But there are jobs you can get working in the off-season to support yourself of course. Yachting springs to mind. While the Caribbean season overlaps with the North American winter, the Mediterranean season and Asian seasons don't.
LeifCarrotson 5y ago
> The people people live one paycheck away from being destitute varies ... generally because they've taken on long term expenses they can barely afford. Bare-minimun necessary expenses like a place to live, a way to get to work, sensible insurance, and the miscellaneous expenses of life like groceries and clothing approach or exceed minimum wage in many areas. I'd argue that the power dynamics of the employment market cause prevailing wages to tend asymptotically toward this level. There's certainly an element of materialist culture that results in some number of people parking leased BMWs in McMansions to keep up with the Joneses, or of YOLO irresponsibility with adrenaline junkies spending their whole paycheck on adventure gear. But there's also on the order of a million ordinary Walmart cashiers making $11 an hour while working 30 hour weeks so the company doesn't have to pay benefits. Those people don't have to be either irresponsible or greedy to live paycheck to paycheck, even with good finances that's the default.
- cletus 5y ago
  While I grant you minimum wage isn't livable almost anywhere in the US (in case that was your point), that's not really what I was talking about. So many people living paycheck-to-paycheck are living well beyond the minimum. Multiple cars, huge house, private schools, college savings plans, vacation homes, expensive hobbies and so on. Part of this trap is people convincing themselves they need all these things. In my experience, this often springs from their own childhoods, remembering what they didn't have and over-correcting for that by making sure their kids do not "go without". In doing so, they often rob themselves and their kids of quality time together, which (IMHO) trumps a lot of material things.

by cletus 5y ago

0xB31B1B 5y ago

>> So the question such people should be asking is: what skill could I gain that is compatible with that? Having seen people go through this thought process, SOO many get it wrong. If you want to ski all the time, you shouldn't be an EMT because money season for those gigs in ski town is the winter. You should find a seasonal job where money season is opposite of ski season. Carpentry/home building is a natural fit, money season is summer not winter, and can pay well enough to work half the year and ski half the year. Another popular gig for ski bums is professional fishing. You can make enough money in a few months fishing in the spring/summer to spend the rest of the time skiing.

cletus 5y ago
> Carpentry/home building is a natural fit, money season is summer not winter I understand your point (and it's a good one) but it lends itself to a different lifestyle, one that such a ski bum might not be interested in. That is, if you're going to live year-round in Boulder, for example, and are looking to establish roots then it makes sense. When you're young, that's not necessarily what you're looking for. There's a freedom of sorts of being able to fit everything you own into your car so you can go rock-climbing in the summer, skiing in the winter and so on. If you have a trade, you typically have tools, and a work vehicle and benefit from having a reputation, a network, contacts and repeat customers. It's not better or worse, just more rooted. But there are jobs you can get working in the off-season to support yourself of course. Yachting springs to mind. While the Caribbean season overlaps with the North American winter, the Mediterranean season and Asian seasons don't.

LeifCarrotson 5y ago

> The people people live one paycheck away from being destitute varies ... generally because they've taken on long term expenses they can barely afford. Bare-minimun necessary expenses like a place to live, a way to get to work, sensible insurance, and the miscellaneous expenses of life like groceries and clothing approach or exceed minimum wage in many areas. I'd argue that the power dynamics of the employment market cause prevailing wages to tend asymptotically toward this level. There's certainly an element of materialist culture that results in some number of people parking leased BMWs in McMansions to keep up with the Joneses, or of YOLO irresponsibility with adrenaline junkies spending their whole paycheck on adventure gear. But there's also on the order of a million ordinary Walmart cashiers making $11 an hour while working 30 hour weeks so the company doesn't have to pay benefits. Those people don't have to be either irresponsible or greedy to live paycheck to paycheck, even with good finances that's the default.

cletus 5y ago
While I grant you minimum wage isn't livable almost anywhere in the US (in case that was your point), that's not really what I was talking about. So many people living paycheck-to-paycheck are living well beyond the minimum. Multiple cars, huge house, private schools, college savings plans, vacation homes, expensive hobbies and so on. Part of this trap is people convincing themselves they need all these things. In my experience, this often springs from their own childhoods, remembering what they didn't have and over-correcting for that by making sure their kids do not "go without". In doing so, they often rob themselves and their kids of quality time together, which (IMHO) trumps a lot of material things.