However, jumping into software purely for money is a questionable decision. There are a pile of developers working in the 40k-90k a year range that will simply stay there. The general time to get to my income level is around 8-12 years. I seem to be an outlier in this case and make quite a bit more than people with 15 years more experience than me. However my age might be the reason I have the energy to be as aggressive as I am about improving my place. I see quite a few 40+y/o people who are simply content with what they have making half as much as I do...
In addition to that, the hours can be long. In 2013 I had worked 2,753 hours, which is an average of about 53 hours a week but in reality I had some 40s and quite a few 70s and 80s (hours/week).
The work can be highly stressful, and project deadlines are constantly 2 weeks too short.
Ah, that makes me feel better. I'm a software engineer making right in the middle of that 40k-90k a year range (with about 2 years of experience), but I'm a W-2 employee working about 40 hours a week in a low-stress environment and in a low-cost-of-living area. I still feel underpaid, but not by
quite the margin that I did before you wrote that last post...
Perhaps you could focus on finding high-perf cars and bikes with collector/appreciation potential. My first high-perf car was a '73 Porsche 911S. I bought it for $12K in '86 and sold it for $62K in 2008. That car went on to be sold at Amelia Island for $214K two years ago.
Since selling it I bought a '90 Porsche Cab for $24K that is now worth just shy of $40K, and last year I got a steal on a '75 Porsche 911 Carrera and snagged it for $60K. Other '75 Carreras have recently fetched from $95K to $122K.
I know many people will argue that a car probably should not be included in your NW calculation for retirement purposes, but I would argue that in the right situation that is not the case.
Of course if you're going to do this you need to pick the right car. I have a very trusted buddy in the business who has been guiding me for the past few decades. Without him, this would not have worked for me.
That's not a bad idea! Though it requires some serious garage space for a number of years! (a resource I don't have!)
Those are some awesome cars! Keep up the good work on that!
I second this kind of idea, sort of. Remember, the
real goal here is to maximize fun per dollar. From that perspective, is a $30K new Mustang
actually three times more fun than a $10K used Mustang? Is it six times more fun than a $5K used Miata? Is it more fun than a $30K used Porsche Cayman S (which would cost the same initially, but depreciate less)?
Trying to speculate in "collector" cars seems a little bit risky and dubious to me, but simply buying
older fun cars that have gone through most of their depreciation and then daily-driving them (rather than letting them sit around) is cost-effective enough. If they happen to coincidentally increase in value later, then it's just a nice bonus.
Personally, I'm currently shopping for a $5K second-generation Miata for autocross and commuting. For me, it'll provide
way more smiles per dollar than a $300/month Mustang-shaped car payment would.
