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Comment by Nifty3929 | Hacker News Reader

To me this is so much about where you focus your attention. Even from a purely financial perspective. Mental space dedicated to watching your expenses is space you aren't using to improve your top-line. Some people are very proud of being frugal, spending time optimizing expenses - while earning far less than they could otherwise because they don't spend any mental energy on how to earn more. Meanwhile others are spendthrifts, but allocate a lot more energy to earning more - and do earn more.

Stay focused on earning more money and don't spend any more time than you need to watching expenses - just so long as you save/ivnest plenty. You'll enjoy life a lot more.

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> Some people are very proud of being frugal, spending time optimizing expenses - while earning far less than they could otherwise because they don't spend any mental energy on how to earn more.

This claim really requieres some kind of proof. Because I have never seen this in real life - a person who realistically could earn more if they spent less time trying to save money.

It sounds like a made up dichotomy or an extremely rare situation.

I met people who earn a lot and save absurdly lot. Or earn a lot and waste it all. Or dont ear and either save or not. But, there being realistic path to bigger earnings that is ignored because of spending too much saving is a corner case.

Not everyone wants to live a life "focused on earning more money."

I have a low salary considering my experience in the tech sector. However I have a job that is low stress, has good benefits, and a very low risk of layoff or downsizing.

I don't spend money on a lot of things that other people do. I drive an old car. I have an old phone. My home computer is probably 10 years old. I don't buy expensive clothes. I cook at home, and rarely go to a restaurant or bar. I do not pay for entertainment such as movies, sports, theatre, travel. None of that is interesting to me.

I don't spend time "watching expenses" I just naturally spend very little. When I have extra money, I just save it. The idea that it is there "in case I need it" or ultimately for my kids to inherit is more rewarding to me than anything I might spend it on.

I'm in a similar place. The greatest luxury the money bought me was that last year, when my job was made redundant, I knew I had over a year before I had to start worrying financially (I found a new position shortly after my garden leave finished)

> Mental space dedicated to watching your expenses is space you aren't using to improve your top-line.

Not inaccurate, but you have "24 hours in a day". Even if you spend 1 hour on frugality, it's not like you spend 23 on "increasing your income." Why not both?

> Stay focused on earning more money > You'll enjoy life a lot more

Needs sources. We know that earning more is helpful up to a point, but it reaches a point of diminishing returns.

Similarly spending money can help you enjoy life, but we tend to be bad at predicting how happy any particular spending will make us. Learning this lesson and evolving our spending so that we do "enjoy life a lot more" can be well worth the time invested, even if it doesn't help us earn more.

There's a substantial difference between "reducing what you would otherwise spend" and "not spending / defaulting to the minimum". The latter mindset is less about active money management and more about completely avoiding unnecessary consumption.

This

I went broke ordering pizza 4 nights a week to fuel my 6-hour-a-night stretches of job searching and upskilling.

But after 3 months, I doubled my income, at the cost of a few pounds of stomach fat.

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