<story><title>The pros and cons of &apos;fuck you&apos; money.</title><url>http://jacquesmattheij.com/The+pros+and+cons+of+%27fuck+you%27+money.</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>mikumetz</author><text>Looking at the crisis of social security and &quot;performance&quot; of my modest 401k funds I sometimes feel that my own successful startup (with a modest exit) may be my only way to escape extreme poverty at older age. I doubt that anyone will hire a 65 year old programmer and I just don&apos;t see how SS+401k will be enough to deal with living/medical expenses. In that sense I&apos;m desperate: starting a successful project is matter of survival.&lt;p&gt;Is it just me who is having similar thoughts?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>MrFoof</author><text>I&apos;ve a similar mindset, though where I&apos;ll deviate is I&apos;m 28.&lt;p&gt;For me I think the reality is that I expect computer literacy to continue to increase, while some slick abstractions will be developed in the next 25 years.  Granted, software developers will still be in demand, yet there&apos;ll be more labor available in the market, and much of it will be more accessible which will drive down salaries a bit as the labor supply starts to catch up with demand.  I also lack a formal degree, though real-world experience and self-teaching myself most of a CS and Mathematics undergrad curriculum has prevented that from becoming a problem.&lt;p&gt;Also, I&apos;m watching my 60+ year-old parents go through it.  They sold their house to free up cash.  I had to bail them out (for 18 months) when I was 22-23 for a non-trivial amounts of money, since no one else could&apos;ve helped them out.  My uncle and aunt are in the same boat.  My sister is ridden with debt.  Parents of neighborhood kids are going through similar motions (selling the house to free up cash).&lt;p&gt;My plan?&lt;p&gt;* Save at least 35% of my net pay every year.  Already done, shooting for 40% now.  Goal is 50% (at current income level/standard of living).  Credit is a tool that I do use to my advantage at times, but it&apos;s rare.  Most everything is cash, including major purchases (i.e. car).&lt;p&gt;* Develop something to provide a 2nd income stream of at least $850/mo that only can go into savings.  That&apos;s real money over the long haul.&lt;p&gt;* Minimize purchases of durable goods.  I expect 15 years out of the car (only buy a car that makes you smile every time you get in it).  My furniture will outlive me.  I get 5-ish years out of clothing (and don&apos;t own much).  Electronics either need to last 10+ years or have high resale value.&lt;p&gt;* Plan to change careers in 17-20 years, especially if there&apos;s tangible demand in a new field.  Mostly since I expect to be bored.  Barring that, time to get a &quot;real&quot; engineering degree.</text></comment>
<story><title>The pros and cons of &apos;fuck you&apos; money.</title><url>http://jacquesmattheij.com/The+pros+and+cons+of+%27fuck+you%27+money.</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>mikumetz</author><text>Looking at the crisis of social security and &quot;performance&quot; of my modest 401k funds I sometimes feel that my own successful startup (with a modest exit) may be my only way to escape extreme poverty at older age. I doubt that anyone will hire a 65 year old programmer and I just don&apos;t see how SS+401k will be enough to deal with living/medical expenses. In that sense I&apos;m desperate: starting a successful project is matter of survival.&lt;p&gt;Is it just me who is having similar thoughts?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>SMrF</author><text>If your startup projects have failed you, you don&apos;t think your 401k plus social security are enough, you are within two decades or so of retirement and you are still &quot;just a coder&quot; I know exactly what you should do:&lt;p&gt;1. Pick a company you don&apos;t hate
2. Get hired
3. learn their codebase inside and out
4. DON&apos;T QUIT&lt;p&gt;Pretty soon you will be the only person around who knows about system &quot;X&quot; and they will be glad to keep you around past 65. My office is filled with COBOL programmers that took this path. Hell, we even recently hired a guy in his 60&apos;s, because that&apos;s just how old COBOL programmers are.&lt;p&gt;Alternatively you could get your MBA and go the CTO/VP of engineering route. This seems better to me, (as a backup plan to startup failure).</text></comment>