Good article about why to quit your day job.

I'm getting closer every day...

https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140407131300-5858595-10-reasons-you-have-to-quit-your-job-in-2014?_mSplash=1

Read it. NOW!!

I did this 8 years ago. It is the smartest thing I have ever done in my professional life.

DO IT!

That's probably the worst article I've read in a long-time. What fringe apocalyptic web site is it credited?

Like most advice, some of it is good, some not so good. But I loved this paragraph:

"First, the science: studies show that an increase in salary only offers marginal to zero increase in “happiness” above a certain level. Why is this? Because the basic fact: people spend what they make. If your salary increases $5,000 you spend an extra $2000 on features for your car, you have an affair, you buy a new computer, a better couch, a bigger TV, and then you ask, “where did all the money go?” Even though you needed none of the above now you need one more thing: another increase in your salary, so back to the corporate casino for one more try at the salary roulette wheel. I have never once seen anyone save the increase in their salary."

100% true. Well, with rounding it's 100% true. Everyone I know that gets a better job buys a fancier car, more expensive house, etc. That's the definition of the treadmill. I'm prone to it myself, it's human nature and it can take years to begin to control. Anyone making a professional level salary in America can live well and save 50% of their take-home and retire in less than 10 years like that. But people seem to value tchotchkes and the trappings of wealth more than wealth itself. Freedom is a valueless phrase to them.

I say, having the ability to at any moment say "f-- all of you, I'm out" and not be bankrupt tomorrow is worth more than any piece of crap that rolled off an assembly line. Stop spending, keep earning, and set yourself free.

I disagree with the guy that retirement planning is worthless; I just think most people don't have extreme enough retirement planning. Spend only on what you really need, enough to make life wonderful but not enough to be conspicuous. Then "spend" all of the rest only on assets - things that will earn money. Savings, put into conservative investments, earning real returns.

He seems to know what's going on, yet advocates what amounts to rearranging deck chairs on the titanic using only your mouth

The general idea is sound i suppose.

The article itself is pretty awful and seems to have no direct point of its own.

Do people pay for that sort of writing quality? Maybe i've missed my calling.

I like the message "You don't need to be a cog in the big wheel".

I've done it. Twice. The article is a little pipe-dreamy about how much hard work is involved in this freedom/responsibility thing though and completely wrong on one point:

When I think about how many people it takes to ruin my life (and my families E36 M3...) it's just one. Me. Every good engineer knows a single point of failure when he sees one.

GameboyRMH wrote: He seems to know what's going on, yet advocates what amounts to rearranging deck chairs on the titanic using only your mouth

+1 "Everything is screwed so go into business for yourself doing the same thing you do now. But more."

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: When I think about how many people it takes to ruin my life (and my families E36 M3...) it's just one. Me. Every good engineer knows a single point of failure when he sees one.

Hey, I like that a lot. Great point.

I'm working on it! Just haven't had any of my master plans work yet.

Number 5 upsets me, I see upper level management and the government make decisions on items they have no experience in. My wife has been laid off twice because they do not know how to read or count. Right now, I hate the people that I work with but I like my job, I do not make much, so I am open to any job. With a Master degree that I have or will have at the end of month (In Organizational Leadership), not sure what my next step is, but I want to stay where I am, tired of moving done it most of my life.

On the other hand, if things do not change I may have to change to a different location. It just is not worth being completely miserable for as little as I make.

A brilliant piece of writing and wonderful advice for anyone with a bright intellect and a healthy dose of motivation.

Read here for more info on the author: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Altucher

If you learn at an early enough age to differentiate between the "wants" OR "needs" and take care of the needs before the wants, most of this article need not apply to you.

1988RedT2 wrote: A brilliant piece of writing and wonderful advice for anyone with a bright intellect and a healthy dose of motivation. Read here for more info on the author: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Altucher

So basically... "don't keep a job, because you probably suck at it?"

The guy is correct in that the middle class in the USA is dead. The folks that think they are part of it, are just thinking that way, and will be able to believe it for another few years.

The economy keeps getting worse and worse despite the silly reports put out by the government drones and their compliant PR wing the media. Retail stores are all in decline and closing stores, mortgage applications are down, labor participation rate is cratered, inflation is much higher than the officially reported CPI says it is, and the 0.01% continue to rake in their millions by front running the stock market with their HFT algorithms and purchased access to the rigged markets. Here is an interesting if not gloomy read that doesn't say to quit your job and live on the rainbows that you manage to fart out by sheer brilliance.

"First, the science: studies show that an increase in salary only offers marginal to zero increase in “happiness” above a certain level."

I don't agree. My car and bike collections make me happy and with more money the quality and quantity both go up.

edit: okay I tried, but I couldn't get through the entire article.....wow what a mess.

My finances aren't an expense problem, they are a revenue problem. My spending wouldn't change unless I doubled my current salary. I have no desire to keep up with anyone, but there are things I want to do with my life (mainly race).

The plural of "anecdote" is not "data." I often hear the middle class is disappearing, and that's usually followed by some story about some guy, who knows some guy, who heard his rabbi's niece bumped into Warren Buffet's favorite sommelier at a Chili's.

This feels like talk radio-style panic-mongering to hook the folks that Rush Limbaugh, RT, Air America and Fox News aren't terrorizing.

Frankly, if I want to be scared of my fellow Americans, I'll just read Slashdot.

I'll just read Youtube comments.

Or either of the Probe Forums.

Interesting that some read that and see nothing but negative. Some read it and see plenty of positive. Pretty sure that's a fundamental difference in philosophy that goes way beyond the half full/half empty version.

There is no good way to say anything else so...

I see it as negative because I don't think that there are rich people out to get me.

I think that my boss wants to keep me because I do a job that he wants/needs to get done.

There was zero advice in that artical that was worth the time it took to read it.

dculberson wrote: Like most advice, some of it is good, some not so good. But I loved this paragraph: "First, the science: studies show that an increase in salary only offers marginal to zero increase in “happiness” above a certain level. Why is this? Because the basic fact: people spend what they make. If your salary increases $5,000 you spend an extra $2000 on features for your car, you have an affair, you buy a new computer, a better couch, a bigger TV, and then you ask, “where did all the money go?” Even though you needed none of the above now you need one more thing: another increase in your salary, so back to the corporate casino for one more try at the salary roulette wheel. I have never once seen anyone save the increase in their salary." 100% true.

Except it's wrong - look at the line of best fit: a linear increase in happiness :)

Well... he makes some points I agree with. In a sense, my goal within a few years is to develop some sort of "retirement business" at home that will be able to sustain me while being something I enjoy. That said, I don't hate my job that much (it's the commute that kills me). My boss is quite good to deal with and we'll have a beer at lunch together once in awhile. The leaders of my company managed to grow and expand while other firms in our industry imploded. Do they occasionally do something that makes me scratch my head? Sure. But for the most part, they've done well. I'm better off now than I was in 2007.

We are slowly working toward that very thing. One day soon, I'm going to quit my job to become an Alfalfa farmer/bee keeper/journalist/high-end engine rebuilder.

I can't wait.

I am working towards that bigger boat and the ways to allow me to raise anchor and not come back...