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Am I missing something about where this guy is getting money? He posted his bank account, which is essentially empty, and it seems his only current income is $6
by hn_throwaway_99 2y ago
Am I missing something about where this guy is getting money? He posted his bank account, which is essentially empty, and it seems his only current income is $600/mo, which is less than half of his rent. So how is this guy surviving currently?
I don't mean to be one of those people that shout "privilege" at every turn on the Internet, but most people with no savings and barely any income would be freaking out unless they had some family or support network to lean on, which I noticed any discussion of is suspiciously absent.
- MarcelOlsz 2y agoI'm in a similar boat. -$800 in my checking and about ~$1000 left on my CC. Also from Canada. Morgage payment coming up in 5 days will put me in the negative, and another one in January as well. Should not have bought a house. I'm basically screwed, but I figure the wheels of the system or whatever will move slower than me finding work.
- stocknoob 2y agoRent out/airbnb a room in your house?
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- Zambyte 2y agoWhat do you mean by "~$1000 left on my CC"? Do you mean like $1k until you max out your CC? $1k left to pay off?
- MarcelOlsz 2y agoYeah $1k until max out, it's blocked from online payments but I can still use it irl.
- justsomehnguy 2y agoSo it's really -$200. And CAD to boot.
- reshlo 2y agoThey have negative $800 in their checking account.
- justsomehnguy 2y agoYikes, totally missed that. That makes it -$1800CAD. Thanks for noticing.
- svnt 2y agoHow are you doing your math? If they have $1k left in available credit, and they were making tech wages, that means on just that one credit card they are probably $9k to $24k at least in the negative already. The $1k of remaining available credit is not yet debt, but the negative bank balance is. It is also likely they have more than one credit card, and maybe also some student loans.
- lionkor 2y agoThey are simply not counting the CC since it's not available money
- reshlo 2y agoThe $1,000 available on the CC is not debt either, so the person does not currently have -$1,800. If the information we have is that the person has an $800 overdraft and a $1,000 line of credit that they’re not using, they’re $800 in debt, not $1,800.
- BehindBlueEyes 2y ago> How are you doing your math? As a european, I also didn't realize what CC stood for and was tripped up by the math same as the person you're replying to. Not everyone lives in a world/country where living on credit is the norm (at least not yet).
- SvenL 2y agoWould it be possible to sell the house? Kind of get rid of the mortgage?
- MarcelOlsz 2y agoHave had it listed for months now, I expect it will sell when rates cool, in which case I'm gravy.
- tomcam 2y agoDamn, brother. But if anyone can pull a rabbit out this hat, it’s you. Your main problem will be getting your giant brain through the door for a job interview.
- MarcelOlsz 2y agoThanks man!
- m00x 2y agoOverspent on the house? Not uncommon in Canada tbh. The country is in a really bad state real-estate wise.
- MarcelOlsz 2y agoA little bit. It was a great idea at the time when I had work. It's been listed for sale for 2 months now which is to be expected with the rate frenzy.
- rendang 2y agoWhy did you buy a house while having such small savings?
- TeMPOraL 2y agoThey probably spent all their savings on the down payment, as approximately everyone on the planet who wants a place to live but can't pay for it all out-of-pocket does? Investment shenanigans excluded, if you have enough savings to pay off your mortgage in case you lose your job, there's no point in getting a mortgage in the first place.
- Ferret7446 2y agoNo emergency fund, I suppose. Sometimes I wonder how people manage to browse the Web without encountering "common" pieces of wisdom. Maybe we should bundle up a bunch of useful YouTube/TikToks as a supplemental education package for students.
- Turskarama 2y agoYou're kind of damned if you do, damned if you don't. If you save up an emergency fund instead of paying a downpayment then you're spending money on rent that you could have in retirement, and it's not like rent is consistently cheaper than mortgage payments anyway so if you can save up when renting you can save up when owning. So the gamble is, do you spend 2 years saving up for 6 months of income as a buffer and send tens of thousands of dollars down the drain in the meantime, or do you roll the dice and hope nothing bad happens in the next 5 or so years? The people who end up in the best position will be those who take the second option, and most of the time it will work out.
- ghaff 2y agoThe short answer is probably everything in moderation if you're reasonably young. Maybe don't put every penny you can get your hands on into a down payment on a house, especially if you're also a bit uncertain about future income streams and life situation. But maybe you also don't really need a year or two comfortable emergency fund. At some point, it probably makes sense to buy a place if you can if only for the stability as you get older.
- venk12 2y agosimilar boat 7 years ago. Luckily, I found a data science job that barely covered by rent and family expenses for 12hrs a day. In addition I had to freelance for a 2 to 3 hours everyday to make ends meet - basically sleep, work, repeat - rough patch - you will get through it. Hold tight, wishing you good luck!
- Tade0 2y agoWhat is going on with the IT sector in Canada? I'm a contractor and last year my agency said there would be layoffs, which caused quite a scare, but in the end only contractors residing in Canada were affected.
- MarcelOlsz 2y agoNobody I know who is good that I know works for Canadian companies if they can be avoided. I'm not sure what happened with your agency, probably costs involved hiring foreigners via services like remote.com or other? Your tagline on your profile made me laugh.
- carlosjobim 2y ago> Should not have bought a house. I'm basically screwed Sell your house. You can't afford it.
- MarcelOlsz 2y agoYeah it's been listed for ages and I've dropped the price significantly. We're all collectively waiting on the coming rate announcements.
- YZF 2y agoWhat experience do you have and what job are you looking for? You might want to reach out to your mortgage provider and see if they can help. Often they will. Where in Canada are you?
- MarcelOlsz 2y agoI'm looking for frontend/fullstack. I have over 10y of experience. I did reach out, and the mortgage payment has been withdrawn, and they haven't gotten back to me in two weeks. I'm in Toronto. My info is on my profile.
- throwup238 2y agoIt’s the privilege of renter’s protections. Even with nonpayment the landlord has to go through a Tribunal administratif du logement hearing to evict them and that usually takes at least a few months unless the tenant is trashing the property on their way out. The process can get extended every time the tenant pays rent so if someone is genuinely trying to pay as soon as they can, eviction takes a while.
- Ferret7446 2y agoRenter's protections is one of those ideas that sound good on paper. Having to keep a non-paying rentee is disastrous for a landlord who is also trying to pay their mortgage. Sure, some landlords are large real estate companies, but all you're doing is forcing out small landlords and ensuring that large companies own all of the rental properties. (Like all regulation, it is at a fundamental level pro-monopolistic, favoring large companies that can handle the overhead of complying with the regulation and punishing small players who cannot.)
- svnt 2y agoIf you lose the mortgage on your investment property, you lose your investment property. Risk/reward and all that. If a renter is evicted, the consequences for their life are much more severe. Not all regulation is pro-monopolistic. The accumulation of general regulation and restriction is often supported by incumbents but that doesn’t support the sweeping conclusion you’ve reached.
- lukas099 2y agoThe consequences for renters is also severe if not enough housing is supplied because it doesn't make financial sense to do so.
- patrick451 2y agoIf I own rental property, I should not be personally responsible for subsidizing your bad financial decisions.
- 2y ago
- vunderba 2y agoI called it out in an different thread. There's a safety net here that's simply not being mentioned. Nothing wrong with that of course, but let's not pretend that somebody with a monthly rent of ~1200 and a whopping ~60 CAD in savings would somehow magically be stress free. You'd be homeless inside a few months in the US.
- ornornor 2y ago> stress free But he’s not. He’s specifically spelling it out by saying his gut and stomach issues are very likely tied to the stress of his no stable income.
- hn_throwaway_99 2y agoHard disagree. In his post he's talking about continuing on in his own projects, and about 2025 being essentially more of the same, except this time with no money and no significant stable income. There is other support somewhere he is simply not talking about, because he certainly doesn't mention being worried about paying his rent going forward.
- zeroCalories 2y agoMy theory is that he's getting alimony from his big tech ex-wife that supported him through his previous startups(pulling this out of my ass).
- seb1204 2y agoThe entrepreneur is maybe not too strict on the rent payments? Maybe he adds other housekeeping services that balance the money side? Maybe he sells his body. The longer I think about the wilder it gets. I agree with others that while it is intriguing to read about his last year, the way he finances himself on this low level is missing. Depending on where you live even an income of 200k$ can have you living from paycheck to paycheck. So it is very impressive if he pulls this through but how, teach me.
- ornornor 2y ago
- bawolff 2y agoDidn't he say he started with $80,000, spent it, and is now out of money? Presumably he now needs to either get a job asap or make some hard choices. But it sounds like the post is supposed to be a retrospective so its not surprising he isn't really talking about the future. > I don't mean to be one of those people that shout "privilege He literally had enough money to blow $80,000 on 2 years of unemployment. Of course he is privleged. Most people in the computer industry are. Most posters to hn are. The average person lives paycheque to paycheque and certainly doesn't have 80k just lying around in their bank account.
- osrec 2y agoI read somewhere that most people in the US are definitely not paycheck to paycheck. The article I read claimed it's around 15-20% of the working population.
- bawolff 2y agohttps://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/09/most-of-americans-are-living-paycheck-to-paycheck-heres-why.html https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/09/most-of-americans-are-living... had 65% but the methodoly seems kind of terrible, your number might be better. Either way, its a significant portion, and even those with more generally don't have the ability to quit their job for 2 years.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- fwipsy 2y agoMaybe you got it from Noahpinion: https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/paycheck-to-paycheck-and-five-other https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/paycheck-to-paycheck-and-five-...
- wigster 2y agoover a third in the uk
- camdenreslink 2y ago
- ornornor 2y ago> I don't mean to be one of those people that shout "privilege" at every turn on the Internet, but most people with no savings and barely any income would be freaking out unless they had some family or support network to lean on, which I noticed any discussion of is suspiciously absent. I understand the sentiment but I don’t understand why point it out. It’s not like the blog post in question is putting anyone down, complaining about anything, or being obnoxious. There will always be someone more privileged than you are. Why constantly remind yourself (and others) about it if the more privileged person isn’t harming anyone?
- vasco 2y agoYeah this just sounds like my mom saying "finish your food because there's starving kids in africa".
- hn_throwaway_99 2y agoI point it out because he's leaving out a very important part of his story. He's come to the end of 2024 with no money left and no stable income, yet he talks about continuing on more of the same in 2025, so he's got to have some other significant support from somewhere, and that's critical to his story. In my mind the better analogy is fitness influencers that go into detail about their diet and exercise regimen, and then conveniently leave out their weekly testosterone shots. I don't judge him at all for being privileged or what he's done. I judge him for leaving out what I think is the most important part of the story: how he could go on this journey and come to a point where he's got no money left but he isn't freaking out about being homeless or getting food.
- MPSFounder 2y agoI agree with your sentiment. I am at loss how he plans to pay his rent and food given 60$ to his account. The income he mentioned does not cover one month's rent. This is a stark difference between privilege and lack-thereof. The blog post is nonsense given he does not address any of his fixes, while leads me to believe he has family or spousal support (for otherwise, they would not be picking up new hobbies. I was once broke, and I recall being panicked and working gigs to pay my rent. The fact he is doing none of these leads me to agree with your observations).
- kjrfghslkdjfl 2y ago[dead]
- Havoc 2y agoDefinitely feels like there is some sort of unmentioned safety net at play. Or guy is just fearless.
- EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK 2y agoThere is no problem surviving for a young healthy man in Montreal. One can always uber, deliveroo, tend bars etc, and it pays pretty well. Nothing to freak out about.
- hn_throwaway_99 2y agoFair enough, but then talking about this going forward would be a critical part of his story, because he talks about continuing on in 2025 developing his projects and essentially more of the same, which becomes considerably more difficult if he's going to spend 30-40 hours a week driving for Uber.
- hbosch 2y agoYou can easily find the guy's LinkedIn. It appears that he is fully devoted to "entrepreneurship" rather than finding a traditional job, and currently lists himself as the founder of 2 current start-ups. So the unemployed part is basically by choice... and you'll notice, in the article, nothing stated about applying for jobs and not getting them. I believe what this guy is referring to is that his startups currently aren't making money. And, to that end, this blog post is a marketing piece.
- mangolychee 2y agoHe didn’t link to his only revenue-generating project anywhere, so it doesn’t feel like much of a marketing piece to me. It’s just a blog post about what he worked on in 2024 (including hobbies)