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Post by Ganbare! on Mar 12, 2010 19:50:30 GMT -5
How do you get yours (job, investment etc)? How important is money for you? Would you consider changing your lifestyle or location for higher earnings? How many hours a week do you work? Is it too much considering your salary? www.citymayors.com/economics/usb-purchasing-power.htmlRanking about where to make the most of it. Sydney 2nd, Singapore 50th. Anyone from these cities give us some insight ? Montreal higher than Toronto, London, Tokyo, that's unexpected ! |
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Post by betahat on Mar 15, 2010 1:33:36 GMT -5
I'm a bit skeptical about these kinds of rankings - as someone who thinks a lot about "purchasing power parity" and what that (or any cost-of-living concept) means, it can make a huge difference. Take New York for example - New York gets a big downgrade in terms of "richness" when you take account of the cost of living in terms of apartment rents, the price of a restaurant or groceries, etc. But living in Manhattan is not the same thing as living in Toronto, or Sydney, or Nicosia (wherever the heck that is). There are a lot of amenities that make living in New York desirable - so much so that even some people who don't work for a living (and so have no need to be in the New York area for job purposes or even to avoid a commute) choose to reside there and pay much higher prices for many things.
So when we take account of all those things, is New York still more expensive, or are all the things that make New York great priced in to the higher rent? Whether living in any particular place is worth the extra cost is a subjective decision and there is a lot of sorting and self-selection (people who value nice weather more will downgrade Chicago or Toronto or Montreal significantly).
That cost-of-living adjustment is the reason Tokyo and London are lower on the list than Montreal. But you have to ask yourself whether you are really comparing apples to apples when you price an apartment in Montreal versus one in Tokyo or London. It's not as simple as comparing the price ofa Big Mac.
But I don't need to tell you this because you're in New York now. The question is, is it worth it to you?
As for your questions, I get some money from working as a teaching assistant and research assistant and some from scholarships, money is important to me not so much for consumption (except travel) but mainly so I don't have to work and have security, I would consider changing my lifestyle and location for more money but it's always case-dependent (yes, I equate marginal benefits and costs), I work about 40 hours a week between teaching and research, and I think I'm paid fairly for what I do and I expect to work a lot harder (not by choice) when I get a real job around this time next year and make about 3-5 times what I make now.
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Post by Ganbare! on Mar 15, 2010 2:47:22 GMT -5
I agree with you, the ranking is questionable, the same thing could be said about quality of life, happiness indexes in general however I believe they still provide a realistic overall idea of what's going on, it's not like Nairobi or Bangkok were in the top 10.
My appartment is in Manhattan, a stone's throw away from everything and I'm loving it but not everyone is ready to live in a shoebox just for the perks of living in an Alpha city. One could argue that a roof is a roof no matter if it's located in vibrant metropolises such as London, Paris, Tokyo or if it's in New Jersey. Room and cheaper housing cost is for many a far more important criteria than appeal, for obvious reasons. Bottom line it all comes down to lifestyle choice.
While they do sometimes meet, I tend to favor enjoying the place over objective quantitative calculation nevertheless I'm still interested to hear different opinions
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Post by betahat on Mar 15, 2010 14:32:44 GMT -5
Supposing your salary were the same, would you trade-off the space you would get in New Jersey for the convenience and amenities of living in Manhattan?
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Post by Ganbare! on Mar 15, 2010 15:35:04 GMT -5
As of today, I wouldn't do it but in a decade, who knows? My priorities could change, I hope not though, given I barely survived suburbia the last time. What about you? Having travelled to and experienced metropolises quite a bit for the past year, I now find it difficult to settle for less than a global city although what I consider "lifestyle cities" (SF, MTL, Barcelona, Sydney) are a decent alternative. That said, 15$ glasses of beer still freak me out.  I'm surprised this topic attracts so little attention considering the board relatively young, educated and mobile demographic. I can't believe none of you ever compare cities, jobs or wages. |
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palavore
Full Member
I put my pants on just like the rest of you -- one leg at a time. Except, once my pants are on, I make gold posts.
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
Posts: 298
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Post by palavore on Mar 16, 2010 9:13:49 GMT -5
Work, money, consumption sex. Relationships, love, marriage, or whatever. It wouldn't hurt to look at demographics. You might find yourself in a bad market for love. It's amazing how much my anecdotal experiences agree with this singles map of the U.S.  I'm in a bad market right now, but I won't be here for long. I'll probably be in some rural Central American village within the next year. |
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Post by Ganbare! on Mar 16, 2010 16:15:05 GMT -5
Despite finding your contribution interesting, why post irrelevant studies or maps to threads so often? It'd be less confusing if you'd create a new topic specifically dealing with the geographic distribution of singles.
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Post by admin on Mar 16, 2010 16:36:12 GMT -5
How do you get yours (job, investment etc)?
Job + investments
How important is money for you?
Very. Monthly nut for essentials keeps me on the treadmill. I like food, cars, golf, and travel, and that adds even more.
Would you consider changing your lifestyle or location for higher earnings?
No, my balance is pretty good now. I've been on either extreme and have landed comfortably in the middle.
How many hours a week do you work? Is it too much considering your salary?
26. Hardly.
I provided some text/code below to cut and paste to make answering easier.
How do you get yours (job, investment etc)?
How important is money for you?
Would you consider changing your lifestyle or location for higher earnings?
How many hours a week do you work? Is it too much considering your salary?
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Post by admin on Mar 16, 2010 16:38:58 GMT -5
Work, money, consumption sex. Relationships, love, marriage, or whatever. It wouldn't hurt to look at demographics. You might find yourself in a bad market for love. It's amazing how much my anecdotal experiences agree with this singles map of the U.S. I'm in a bad market right now, but I won't be here for long. I'll probably be in some rural Central American village within the next year. That map is interesting, and I think staring at it longer would lead to some better questions, but for now I have three: 1. What happens if you factor out gay men meccas, such as you find in Southern California, and end up with single Heterosexual men? What if you factor out old lades (ladies older than the average lifespan for men)? 2. How much of the differences can be accounted for by regional variations in gender 'glass ceiling' height? 3. Rural Central American village? Oh you must elaborate! |
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palavore
Full Member
I put my pants on just like the rest of you -- one leg at a time. Except, once my pants are on, I make gold posts.
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
Posts: 298
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Post by palavore on Mar 17, 2010 6:07:22 GMT -5
That map is interesting, and I think staring at it longer would lead to some better questions, but for now I have three: 1. What happens if you factor out gay men meccas, such as you find in Southern California, and end up with single Heterosexual men? What if you factor out old lades (ladies older than the average lifespan for men)? 2. How much of the differences can be accounted for by regional variations in gender 'glass ceiling' height? 3. Rural Central American village? Oh you must elaborate! 1. What % of single men in California are gay? Surely it's not enough to close the gap. Then you also have to account for lesbians--though they're hardly ever single. 2. I don't know what kind of effect glass ceilings might have on the sex ratio. 3. There are humanitarian projects in Central America (and Haiti). It's the kind of work I'd like to do and it's also for my graduate studies. |
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Post by admin on Mar 17, 2010 11:15:20 GMT -5
That map is interesting, and I think staring at it longer would lead to some better questions, but for now I have three: 1. What happens if you factor out gay men meccas, such as you find in Southern California, and end up with single Heterosexual men? What if you factor out old lades (ladies older than the average lifespan for men)? 2. How much of the differences can be accounted for by regional variations in gender 'glass ceiling' height? 3. Rural Central American village? Oh you must elaborate! 1. What % of single men in California are gay? Surely it's not enough to close the gap. Then you also have to account for lesbians--though they're hardly ever single. I am talking about the concentrations in regions, maybe even cities, where there seem to be an overload of 'available' men. In some cases, like West Hollywood, Santa Monica, etc., those men aren't *really* available and might skew the data for that one city. As for percentages...I couldn't say, but a walk down the street might lead you to believe that they are elevated in certain areas. Some women might leave an area where women don't have opportunities for an area where they are less discriminatory. Perhaps leaving Dallas for New York? Sounds awesome. How's your Spanish (or French)? |
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Post by Ganbare! on Mar 17, 2010 15:35:22 GMT -5
Work, money, consumption sex. I'm in a bad market right now, but I won't be here for long. I'll probably be in some rural Central American village within the next year. Said like that, it sounds like you're either on a trip for a mail-order bride or sexual tourism!  ^ 26 hours, that's amazing. Do you have another professional activity? What's your job position if it's not too indiscrete? |
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Post by admin on Mar 17, 2010 17:05:44 GMT -5
^ 26 hours, that's amazing. Do you have another professional activity? What's your job position if it's not too indiscrete? Not so amazing, really...I'm much much older than everyone here and started this company (my 4th) with the idea to design a job for myself that involved as little work as possible. That was tough! It's funny what makes it work...LOTS of automation, and LOTS of personal touch -- all the crap in the middle was useless. If you think about it, it makes sense. People want to talk to someone, make sure they are comfortable that their needs are understood and appreciated, and then they want error-free execution. I do have another professional activity, but I do it infrequently and it has no significant impact on finances - I consult outside of my industry for companies that want to experiment with some of our methods. I am working with a company right now (bad timing - I'm swamped with work, remodeling, family) that is successful yet very receptive to change - my favorite kind - so we'll see how that goes. When I was in my 20s I regularly worked 70+ hour weeks - those were my lost years in many ways. I don't recommend it. |
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Post by Ganbare! on Mar 17, 2010 18:20:13 GMT -5
I understand that being self-employed has the potential to be a superior alternative to wage labour when it comes to work-life balance but in concrete terms, what is it, you do? I'm wondering because I generally hear from freelance consultants or entrepreneurs that they work more hours than when they were employees, for a bigger salary though. There seems to be a critical threshold of work to remain competitive.
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Post by admin on Mar 17, 2010 18:55:39 GMT -5
I understand that being self-employed has the potential to be a superior alternative to wage labour when it comes to work-life balance but in concrete terms, what is it, you do? I'm wondering because I generally hear from freelance consultants or entrepreneurs that they work more hours than when they were employees, for a bigger salary though. There seems to be a critical threshold of work to remain competitive. Forget about the consulting - I do that for fun for companies I like. In concrete terms, what I do isn't as important as what I DID in order to make what I *do* a super-efficient means of generating and handling business. I front-loaded my efforts to build a mostly-automated infrastructure to service certain semi-consumable industrial needs. That's about as specific as I am going to get. The scale is much smaller, of course, and the (inconsequential) delivered product is not pizza, but the concept is the same as Dominos. They built an efficient delivery system and happened to sell pizzas. I built an efficient delivery system and happen to sell industrial parts. The Internet promised disintermediation and efficiency but in reality what it has brought *for the most part* is just another layer to go atop the already obese infrastructure of the US supply chain. If you start from scratch and build around the Internet you can take advantage of its efficiencies. Sometimes that means bringing along partners kicking and screaming, and even writing software for them and giving hardware to them, but in the end you can reduce mistakes, eliminate duplication of efforts, speed communication, improve the clarity of information, and cut out most of the fat junk that stifles commerce. Now I just gladhand the customer and kick the machine now and then and it keeps me in tacos and green fees, just how I like it. |
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