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>You really don't need a Peloton bike and other conspicuous consumption signs. It would be quite hard for frivolous spending to become a problem on levels.fyi

>You really don't need a Peloton bike and other conspicuous consumption signs. It would be quite hard for frivolous spending to become a problem on levels.fyi money. What you really have to watch out for is things like buying a house or starting a family. Not only are they much larger in absolute terms, but you must sustain them at the same quantity every month for decades. Nothing is easy or pleasant to cut back on, but frivolous stuff is much easier. This dynamic is an important reason for the "perpetual childhood" people complain about in the educated urban classes. Because real estate is so expensive, it is legitimately much easier to access "fun" stuff than to have the kind of security needed to pay a mortgage for 30 years. The two don't even trade off against each other that meaningfully. $9-12k/mo mortgage and property tax payments buy a lot of toys, travel, and fancy dinners!

operatingthetan 4y ago
I have a friend who works at Meta working on the Metaverse as a TPM and they just sold their house and bought one twice as large (and expensive). I've warned them it's a risky situation but they didn't agree. They remain employed but if I were in that situation I'd be pulling my hair out. On the other hand my house is 1/3 the size and I could pay the mortgage working retail if I had to. I'm worried about a bunch of friends who bought big houses that required faang incomes for 30 years if the tech market turns and doesn't return for long periods of time.
- closeparen 4y ago
  Absolutely! Committing to an ongoing expense based on your earning power in the peak of a cycle is crazy. The only way to justify something like that is if you're paying for (almost) all of it upfront. But even then the upside potentially is probably higher in stocks than in Bay Area real estate at this point.
  - rg111 4y ago
    In my early 20s. Bought a lot of expensive stuff in the last few months. Didn’t get laid off, but I am scared as hell about the economy/present situation. Now I wish I saved 70-80% of the money instead of spending them.
- grogenaut 4y ago
  Buying a 2M house is absurdly different than a peloton bike. Esp if you use the bike. Hell buying new cars every few years and a peloton are worlds of difference. you're not buying a new peleton every 5 years, and even if you did it'd be $10k at the outside not $30k every 5 years per car. This is like trying not to have a starbucks every day to save cash but not shopping on your mortgage to save .5%.
  - operatingthetan 4y ago
    My comment did not address that part of the conversation so it's unclear why you directed this attitude to me.
elzbardico 4y ago
I used this just as a symbol. The problem is that expenses have the nasty habit to compound over time and get bigger and bigger. If you don't watch yourself, you'll end up doing things like buying an over-sized home, then a boat, an expensive german car, a very expensive private school for the kids, the family expectation of expensive trips now and then. And when things get tight, all those "small-ticket" itens and their maintainance come back to bit you if you have insanely high mortage payments like lots of my colleagues.

operatingthetan 4y ago

I have a friend who works at Meta working on the Metaverse as a TPM and they just sold their house and bought one twice as large (and expensive). I've warned them it's a risky situation but they didn't agree. They remain employed but if I were in that situation I'd be pulling my hair out. On the other hand my house is 1/3 the size and I could pay the mortgage working retail if I had to. I'm worried about a bunch of friends who bought big houses that required faang incomes for 30 years if the tech market turns and doesn't return for long periods of time.

closeparen 4y ago
Absolutely! Committing to an ongoing expense based on your earning power in the peak of a cycle is crazy. The only way to justify something like that is if you're paying for (almost) all of it upfront. But even then the upside potentially is probably higher in stocks than in Bay Area real estate at this point.
- rg111 4y ago
  In my early 20s. Bought a lot of expensive stuff in the last few months. Didn’t get laid off, but I am scared as hell about the economy/present situation. Now I wish I saved 70-80% of the money instead of spending them.
grogenaut 4y ago
Buying a 2M house is absurdly different than a peloton bike. Esp if you use the bike. Hell buying new cars every few years and a peloton are worlds of difference. you're not buying a new peleton every 5 years, and even if you did it'd be $10k at the outside not $30k every 5 years per car. This is like trying not to have a starbucks every day to save cash but not shopping on your mortgage to save .5%.
- operatingthetan 4y ago
  My comment did not address that part of the conversation so it's unclear why you directed this attitude to me.

elzbardico 4y ago

I used this just as a symbol. The problem is that expenses have the nasty habit to compound over time and get bigger and bigger. If you don't watch yourself, you'll end up doing things like buying an over-sized home, then a boat, an expensive german car, a very expensive private school for the kids, the family expectation of expensive trips now and then. And when things get tight, all those "small-ticket" itens and their maintainance come back to bit you if you have insanely high mortage payments like lots of my colleagues.