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Ask HN: Do you have a backup career?

13 points by atxhx ↗ HN
Recently started thinking about learning a trade skill or something similar as a backup career plan. Having a family and bigger financial obligations can really change a person's mindset towards life! If you have one or any thoughts please share

16 comments

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a3n
Maybe your "backup career" should be the side project of learning how to invest the money you make now to become independently wealthy, or close to it, as soon as practical.
smt88
Seasoned professional investors, such as those who managed hedgefunds or buy real estate, are rarely able to beat inflation by much. I doubt that someone investing a small amount (under $500k) part-time is going to become "independently wealthy".

Adjusting one's lifestyle to decrease expenses is a much better way to "create" wealth.

readme
Where'd you get that information?

I thought the average return just from the stock market was 7%.

fendale
From the research I have been doing over the past year or two, the UK stock market has shown about 5% real return (after inflation) over the long term. I think the USA stock market is slightly better.

I am a total novice, and have fairly little invested, but those are the sort of numbers that pension projects are based on.

If you can keep you personal burn rate low, and over time invest a significant amount of money at 5% return for 10 years, the interest really starts to snowball.

smt88
"by much" was a key in my comment.

If the average return from an index fund is 7% and inflation is, say, 3%, then you're making an extra 4%.

If you're investing $100k, you'll double the value of your money in 20 years. That's not great for someone who doesn't have much other cash and could use that $100k over those 20 years for significant lifestyle improvements.

ryanworl
I think you mean they rarely beat the market index their fund is compared against, which is true. But that is usually (long-run) mid to high single digit percentage growth nominally depending on where you look. Inflation eats some of that, obviously, but not anywhere close to all of it.
smt88
I actually meant inflation.

In the investing world, index funds are very useful, and they often beat inflation by a few percentage points. But that return is only significant when you have tons of money.

As I pointed out in another comment, turning $100k into $200k (adjusted for inflation) would take 20 years, assuming index funds grow 7% every year and inflation is a constant 3%.

a3n
Yes, and then what do you do with the wealth that you've created by living below your means?
smt88
"Storing" money in low-risk investments is a given.

But if you have, say, $100k in income and $100k in the bank, you're going to "make" far more money by decreasing your costs by $20k than you could by investing that $100k (on average).

Obviously there are people who get lucky buying houses and whatnot, but no one can reliably double $100k in 5 years.

ljk
This is something I'm worried about too, but it'd be hard to maintain the progress on "backup career", and if I were to make the switch I'd be starting from bottom again..
readme
It's a controversial one but it's only a backup anyway. If shit really hits the fan and you're in decent physical shape you can join the military. They pay you enough to support a family, through allowances, and provide a house.

I'm in now or I wouldn't recommend it otherwise. Pick 35P or 35Q in the Army. For 35P, you are basically a student for 2 years and if you're good they'll send you on an all expense paid vacation to Africa, the Middle East or China (for a language immersion). You can learn an entire foreign language from native speakers while you collect a paycheck and support a family. As 35Q you would get to do network security stuff.

Do not join if you can't get a good MOS. Joining as say, a truck driver, will not be a good time for someone who frequents HN, I can promise you that. Not because of the job, but because of the people you'd be around all the time.

Now, just try to keep your current job and you'll be golden.

akg_67
I have changed career fields (industry and skills required) every 10 years, most of them grew out of my side hobbies. From my experience, always have a side hobby that can grow up to become a new career if you want. Also, having a side hobby, that is not connected to your current career, will make you think and act differently even in your current career job.

The demand for trade skills (plumbing, carpentry, electrician, construction, mechanical assembly etc.) is growing as more and more people gravitating toward white collar jobs. These are also a nice skill to have in your daily life. You don't need to think of these skills as "backup" career plan but more of something that takes you away from the work you do for 8-10 hours a day.

Though HN is not fond of him, you might want to check out Mr. Money Mustache http://www.mrmoneymustache.com. He was a software engineer and "retired" at early age and enjoys his carpentry and construction work. The forum on his site also offers wealth of information on alternative methods of keeping busy that also pays.

auxym
Out of curiosity, why is the HN Folklore not fond of MMM? I mean, you don't have to take it religiously, but pouring over his blog made me think a lot my career plans.
J-dawg
+1 for this, I'm a huge fan of MMM and this is the first time I've heard he's not popular here. I'm also curious to know why.
akg_67
It might be just my perception based on past discussions on HN.
MalcolmDiggs
I've started studying for LSAT myself (for Law School). I figure that I probably won't want to be coding my whole life, so I might as well get something else lined up.