The "Let's complain about our jobs" Thread

[Alesia_BH]

The only thing I have to complain about is that I have nothing to complain about.

Once upon a time I was in academia, but for the past fifteen years I've made my living in the stock market. I picked stocks for two four year periods, around the financial crisis of 2007/2008 and around the Covid market dislocation. Aside from that I've used passive methods, index funds and Berkshire shares. Put another way, I do virtually nothing- definitely nothing useful. All I am is a holder of capital. In this world that's the best job by far.

I work far less than my peers, a couple of hours a month at most. Nonetheless, I make far more and pay a much lower tax rate. We all know the system is rigged. When you're on the advantaged side it's even more obvious. I'm happy to be in the position I'm in. I spend my life traveling, adventuring and playing games: it's kind of awesome- not going to lie. But why is it that I deserve this privilege? Because I'm a holder of capital, and this is a world made by capital for capital. That's not okay. Not okay at all.

 

[JustKneller]

Aside from that I've used passive methods, index funds and Berkshire shares. Put another way, I do virtually nothing- definitely nothing useful. All I am is a holder of capital. In this world that's the best job by far.

How did you learn how to do this? And, how much capital did/does it take to get this off the ground?

 

[Alesia_BH]

How did you learn how to do this? And, how much capital did/does it take to get this off the ground?

I learned by reading. Having a background in mathematical modeling helped.

My original field was evolutionary biology, not economics, but there's a lot of overlap between those disciplines. In both cases you're studying competition under limiting resource, and at the level of abstraction required for modeling the structures end up being the same, just with different labels on the variables.

I started off with about 50K during the financial crisis of 2007/2008. I quadrupled that in a year, thanks to the unusual circumstances of the time. At 200k or so, 7% is enough to live comfortably in South East Asia. I moved there. If I performed below 7%, I'd need to go back to work eventually. If I performed above, I'd be free to move elsewhere. Fortunately for me I performed above. By 2015 or so I could live comfortable basically anywhere I wanted. These days I travel full time, mostly living in AirBnBs and other short term rentals. Sometimes I do thru hikes, like the Pacific Crest Trail, the Appalachian Trail, the Camino De Santiago, etc.

I wish I could give you a blueprint, but I absolutely can't. I was able to do what I did because of the unusual circumstances of 2007/2008. It was luck as much as skill- probably more luck than skill.

The only advice I can give you is to not be poor. If you're poor this world will make you poorer. If you're rich it will make you richer. Unfortunately you can't just choose to not be poor. That's what's so grossly unfair.

 

[OrlonKronsteen]

It's a fascinating topic, and congrats, Alesia_BH, for your success. These are great stories to hear.

I am an example of someone who was not successful at trying to win the stock market. I say this with all humility - I'm smart. I did a ton of research. And I could manage a portfolio just fine (if I had some money ) with the reasonable expectation of long-term success. I will never need a fund manager. But making a quick fortune is nearly impossible. It takes uncanny market insights (including industry and/or commodity knowledge), a strong grasp of psychology, and incredible self control. And likely some luck.

I'm acquaintances/friends with a very successful fund manager/stock picker. He's been on BNN, in newspapers, etc.. He's considered one of the best in the business. He had the goal of retiring at 35-40, and even he couldn't do it. He didn't start with any money, had bad personal luck (divorces, etc.) and there are too many variables.

On the other hand I know a guy who didn't start investing (or, more specifically, picking his own stocks) until his late 60s. He started with a modest 6-figure pot and has turned that into many millions over 20 years. It is a day job to him. He goes to work every morning - his 'office' is a computer in an unfinished basement. He will often buy and sell every day. Sometimes he'll literally hold a stock for 24-48 hours (I'd hate to have to sort out his capital gains taxes, lol). When he's not hitting 'buy' or 'sell,' he's researching. He is a freak of nature and he knows it. He does not encourage others to try to do what he's done, and he refuses to give investment advice to friends, much to their consternation. Even he picks lemons sometimes, and he knows that at some point, he could 'lose it.' He doesn't want to be responsible for giving his friends bad advice.

 

[Alesia_BH]

This is when I knew he was on the level. Anyone can make money, fortune willing, but this is the mark of someone who understands what they're doing:

He does not encourage others to try to do what he's done, and he refuses to give investment advice to friends, much to their consternation

 

[OrlonKronsteen]

He doesn't even give his kids advice. But, they'll be inheriting the fruits of his labour, so...

Interestingly, life hasn't changed that much for them. He still lives in the same family bungalow they bought in the late 60s. The kids are all still working.

 

[shmity72]

I am enjoying the tone of this thread.
I became retired/disabled at the age of 25. Pretty much it was hell for a decade and now it's great I have to admit.
I'm attuned/used to the dopamine inhibiters and I've won a loving family. pharmaceutical for the psyche caught up about 15 years ago so I've been in a good spot and will never work again able to pursue grandkids and video game movies and conversations like this.

My father retired from the fire department at the age of 42 full pension and everything.
Obviously one could not do that now but that's not the point I am making.
The point is what Mr. I have capital is alluding to and a common theme.
There are a multiplicity of ways to find money. to find wealth. Not the same but money can make you comfortably miserable.

So don't follow the advice of yahoo that knows a guy. find your passion. watching is probably the single most industrious thing you can do. and then STRIKE when the opportunity arises.

George Lucas: I demanded the rights to star wars and took 500k less because "by hook or by crook" i was going to make the next two movies.
Sylvester Stalone interviewed just after rocky: "I would have made Rocky and stared in it for a tuna fish sandwich. I just wanted to see if I could do it. I didn't want to live with regret."

^^

 

[JanJansen]

It speaks for this community that you are so comfortable sharing.
I prefer to share as little personal information as possible, it is job related as well. The wife is military, there are so many pitfalls, what is not safe, what is not allowed, what can be tracked.
VPN is easy as breathing nowadays, but social media is tricky, it happens so fast, you like this, you comment on that, and you have a bigger picture than you wanted.

But I don't think I miss much by not using X, Instagram etc. It is a small price to pay.

 

[Skatan]

My big boss is an incredibly smart man, but who lacks vision, strategic sense, fundamental understanding of our line of work and is just generally a spineless coward. This makes basically all management meetings into a war zone of butthurt senior managers feuding over the scraps of money we can afford to spend because they didn't follow my advice from last year to slow down their investments *before* all the reductions and savings would inevitable come.

But we have pretty good coffee in the machine, so there's that.

 

[JustKneller]

But we have pretty good coffee in the machine, so there's that.

That's one thing that my job has going for it. They stock my particular brand of coffee and the cafeteria has all my favorite foods. Then again, I work from home so I can't give the company too much credit for that.

Also, update on the job situation. The client sent me an email today out of the blue (well, partially in response to my last email with the joke) commenting about how much they appreciate my humor, personality, and working with me.

The department with the toxic manager who complained to upper management about my last email was on copy.

I forwarded it to upper management.

 

[mlnevese]

My big boss is an incredibly smart man, but who lacks vision, strategic sense, fundamental understanding of our line of work and is just generally a spineless coward. This makes basically all management meetings into a war zone of butthurt senior managers feuding over the scraps of money we can afford to spend because they didn't follow my advice from last year to slow down their investments *before* all the reductions and savings would inevitable come.

But we have pretty good coffee in the machine, so there's that.

For a moment there I thought you had some real problem

 

[Skatan]

For a moment there I thought you had some real problem

It's a regular Monday in the corporate world. After over 15 years in the business, I've had exactly 1 good manager out of maybe 15-20 or so (if I also count my managers' managers, since I tend to work under CFOs, SVPs etc and always work almost as close to them as I do to my actual line manager).

I've had sociopaths, psychopaths, alcoholics, bullies, obsessive ones, vindictive ones and one or two lethargic ones. Finding a competent one is like finding a four-leaf clover. In a desert.

My sister asked me to give a niece a pep-talk about studying Finance for her potential studies into that area since I did and have a lot of experience. I told her to study IT.

 

[JustKneller]

I told her to study IT.

I don't know about that. There's a rather large projected shrinkage for IT jobs unless you live in a developing nation. I recently read that the field in the U.S. is expected to shrink about 30% in the next 10 years or so. A large part of the reason why I stick with what I do is that it's one of the few jobs in my field that would be near impossible to replace with outsourcing or AI. I mean, I'm sure they'll figure it out eventually, but not before I retire.

 

[Skatan]

The field of IT is in a transitional phase. What was and has been a complete separate area will be fully integrated into everyday work and life. It's a fallacy to think IT will shrink, rather it will dilute and be integral part of everything. The idea of a lone coder sitting and working in their dungeon in the basement of a corporate building is of course doomed. What will replace it are coders, analysists, func guys, tech guys sitting together with their colleagues in the business operations, working hand in hand to do stuff on the fly. They will have new titles like "Business Developer", "Business Analyst", "Technical Specialist" and yada yada. We are already partially there. In my company regular departments have already started to employ "IT" people in every department instead of only having them centralized in a separate function/organization. But since they aren't employed by IT, they are actually "business".

So I don't agree, you just got to be smarter about it and choose a field that has a future. And for the older guys and gals, there will be another decade or maybe even two of old machines running COBOL that will need maintenance.