Very important point. I think the older you are, and particularly if you have dependents, you need a longer period of savings. Couple TV programs (e.g. Suze Orman show) advise to have at least 8 months salary worth of savings.
I think if we have that bare minimum of comfort (i.e. 3/8/more salary months), then after that we should try to focus on being healthy. Working more and compromising health is a very bad deal. Even getting over-anxious about things leads to stress (which can lead to bad health).
Most of us programmers like our jobs anyway, provided work/managerial environment is not too bad. If we can just do it in a healthy way (YMMV, of course. 100+ is healthy for Elon Musk, and 40/50 for me).
I think even working towards an early retirement, may also not be a good thing, as some people try to. I have seen people age very fast after they retire. So if we enjoy our work, and are paid a healthy amount, and have decent savings. Should look to live a good life, right in the present. And not worry too much about long term.
Long term: I think for most programmer-entrepreneurs long term is more like a big exit after a few (3-5) hard years of work. The problem happens when realistically only a few of us can have such good luck. So being realistic, we should look at returns for the long haul (10 year periods). So staying healthy and alive, is very much needed, if and when we have the big exit.
I personally, started long(ish) distance running, to attune myself for a long haul work wise. At present work only around 40 hours (M-F). Sat/Sun only when needed (which is rarely). Don't compromise exercise for work. Get it done in the morning itself, before I have a chance to log in.
I also try to minimize the stress. What's a business without setbacks? So there are setbacks, e.g. partners breaking/not-renewing contracts . But I try to think of these things as just -ve events in a series of various +ve/-ve events. There are technical worries as well, e.g. EC2 volumes running out of disk space, within the next archival cycle, and increasing them fsck/resize2fs them, burning them in the image.
But also life goes on...in the present.
PS: Sorry, for not being specific, and randomly articulating even tangential things to the topic at hand. Hope its not too bad. :-)
No, you're spot on. I picked up running a few years ago, although i've slipped back to not doing it as much (really, I need to take time to go get some new shoes!) But I aim for at least a 5k per week, more if possible. While that'a a pretty low bar compared to a lot of runners, it's far more than I did years ago (nothing), and is something. I have to keep reminding myself that yes, 'something' is better than nothing.
I hadn't seen Orman recommend the 8 months, but it's definitely understandable. Whenever that runway goes down for any reason, I get a bit nervous. Thinking this way has pushed me to reduce the monthly outgoings where possible; reduce cell phone plan, cut satellite at home, etc. None of these are necessarily life altering, but saving say, $200/month means that an extra few $k savings adds more months to the runway.
Yep, fortunately I had about 3 months, but in retrospect it was too close for comfort and I should have had more saved (was at about the worst time for me--just added six figures of debt due to grad school). Whether it's 3 months or 6 months or 12 months, the point remains: If you can't afford to lose your job, you will do crazy things and work insane hours just to keep it.
The other thing to consider, which only applies to crazy countries like the USA, is that losing your job also means losing your health insurance, which can be a significant risk to your life. Sure, there's COBRA, but it's super-expensive, and should be factored in when calculating how much you need in savings.
The weird thing is COBRA isn't "super-expensive" - it's what the cost is. Just, in most cases, an employer is picking up some, most or all of the cost, so employees don't see it.
This is what's truly hosed up about US-based health insurance/services. People are so divorced from the reality when things are 'good' that the horribleness of it is exposed only when you can least deal with it.
Everyone should be required to buy their own insurance, with no employer interference at all. We'd see massive shift in peoples' attitudes, and probably a bigger shift to single-payer, quickly.
I'm self-employed and have had to deal with the expense of health insurance head-on for years. I was happy when we got 'high-deductible' HSA options, as it reduced monthly expense. ACA/Obamacare has more than doubled our monthly premiums in just 3 years, and I still can't afford to get sick at all without incurring hundreds or thousands of dollars in medical bills. :(
I think if we have that bare minimum of comfort (i.e. 3/8/more salary months), then after that we should try to focus on being healthy. Working more and compromising health is a very bad deal. Even getting over-anxious about things leads to stress (which can lead to bad health).
Most of us programmers like our jobs anyway, provided work/managerial environment is not too bad. If we can just do it in a healthy way (YMMV, of course. 100+ is healthy for Elon Musk, and 40/50 for me).
I think even working towards an early retirement, may also not be a good thing, as some people try to. I have seen people age very fast after they retire. So if we enjoy our work, and are paid a healthy amount, and have decent savings. Should look to live a good life, right in the present. And not worry too much about long term.
Long term: I think for most programmer-entrepreneurs long term is more like a big exit after a few (3-5) hard years of work. The problem happens when realistically only a few of us can have such good luck. So being realistic, we should look at returns for the long haul (10 year periods). So staying healthy and alive, is very much needed, if and when we have the big exit.
I personally, started long(ish) distance running, to attune myself for a long haul work wise. At present work only around 40 hours (M-F). Sat/Sun only when needed (which is rarely). Don't compromise exercise for work. Get it done in the morning itself, before I have a chance to log in.
I also try to minimize the stress. What's a business without setbacks? So there are setbacks, e.g. partners breaking/not-renewing contracts . But I try to think of these things as just -ve events in a series of various +ve/-ve events. There are technical worries as well, e.g. EC2 volumes running out of disk space, within the next archival cycle, and increasing them fsck/resize2fs them, burning them in the image.
But also life goes on...in the present.
PS: Sorry, for not being specific, and randomly articulating even tangential things to the topic at hand. Hope its not too bad. :-)