Working too many hours/days can be detrimental.

[traveller]

At the same time working 6 and 7 days a week takes away from all the fun, working too many days and hours I read can also be detrimental to your mental and physical health. The normal full time workweek is 5 days a week and 8 hours a day, not 6 and 7 days a week, and certainly not 12 and 15 hours a day. Yet it appears, Americans, especially young Americans, always continue working no less than 60 hours a week, even as much as 80 to 100 hours a week. Everyone needs a break now and then. Even God hinted, in the Old Testament, that it is not good for man to work all 7 days a week.

[MrMan]

Who are the Americans who work these hours?

[MattHanson1990]

It's mostly millennials and Gen X-ers who work these hours. And it's gotten to the point where working two or more jobs has become the norm. This is because there are only a few good jobs left in America due to outsourcing, third-worldization, and automation.

[MattHanson1990]

That being said, death from overwork is already a problem in East Asia, and America is not far behind.

[chanta76]

I dont know. I think asia is pretty bad. I have cousins in south korea who has mba but was over worked and got liver cancer. There is ageism and very strict corporate culture in asia.
If you look at china there is low paying jobs but they and work to get by. So i dont know.

I think the new norm is you live to work .

[droid]

Yeah honestly overwork is not unique to America. It especially seems that Saturdays are not respected anywhere anymore.
I spoke in southamerica to girls that would put 12 hour days, 7 days a week for a pittance. Similarly in Vietnam some of them work 6 days a week in 10-12 hour turns.

The thing in third world countries though is you see some people put those straining hours, while the other half kind of does nothing. Sometimes it's relatives that lean on the hard workers, or sometimes they have elders with money that spoil them, or a combination. In the first world the economic 'cruising' is not so much at the family level but at the state and group level.

[MattHanson1990]

Yeah honestly overwork is not unique to America. It especially seems that Saturdays are not respected anywhere anymore.
I spoke in southamerica to girls that would put 12 hour days, 7 days a week for a pittance. Similarly in Vietnam some of them work 6 days a week in 10-12 hour turns.

The thing in third world countries though is you see some people put those straining hours, while the other half kind of does nothing. Sometimes it's relatives that lean on the hard workers, or sometimes they have elders with money that spoil them, or a combination. In the first world the economic 'cruising' is not so much at the family level but at the state and group level.

Down here in Mexico, there are more men than women who are workaholics, eespecially in the working class. And it's primarily in blue collar jobs that people are forced to work long hours

[Jeremy]

Even 40 hours a week is insane to me, unless it's something you kind of enjoy. But let's face it: 99% of jobs are just drudgery. And they're actually seen as something desirable in America (rather than something to dread).

I wish there were more threads on escaping it. Right now I'm just focused on saving a boat load of my income so that i can at least semiretire and enjoy SOME kind of life in a few years. According to the Extreme Early Retirement, a withdrawal rate of 3% should last 50+ years. So if you can get your expenses down to $10K/year, you'd only need $333K in investments. I'm afraid I won't be able to hold out much longer though. Maybe I need a lobotomy.

[droid]

Even 40 hours a week is insane to me, unless it's something you kind of enjoy. But let's face it: 99% of jobs are just drudgery. And they're actually seen as something desirable in America (rather than something to dread).

I wish there were more threads on escaping it. Right now I'm just focused on saving a boat load of my income so that i can at least semiretire and enjoy SOME kind of life in a few years. According to the Extreme Early Retirement, a withdrawal rate of 3% should last 50+ years. So if you can get your expenses down to $10K/year, you'd only need $333K in investments. I'm afraid I won't be able to hold out much longer though.

In many places 300k will last you ages even if you just consume them without investing.
At some point you have to call a stop-loss and leave. Way before 300k.

Maybe I need a lobotomy.

haha

[Kradmelder]

I reduced my work week to 25 hrs a while ago. Trick to find specialist work with good rates, and not fall for overconsumption for image, and avoid debt at all costs. The only debit should be a house, as it appreciates. It should be paid quick, then cut your work hours. Never buy depreciating assets like cars on credit. Jew loans will eat you alive and you work half your time for the jew's interest.

[MrMan]

I agree that we need to be careful about borrowing. In some of the big cities in Asia, you can get by without a car. But if you buy one, if at all possible, save up money, shop around for a good deal, and buy a used one that suits your needs. It's cheaper to have an emergency fund-- which is your money-- to pay for repairs if something goes wrong than to buy a new one and throw all that money away. In the US, I hear they depreciate by about 30% the day you drive a new car off the lot. Monthly payments bleed you dry.

Credit cards are especially dangerous. You can end up with a stream of money flowing out just to pay interest on the loan.

A house loan may make sense. If you believe in strong markets, you come out just about as well renting and investing your money as you would buying a house. If you are single and can live in a studio, usually, you come out better saving the payment on a house in a decent investment. A monthly payment on a house might be cheaper than rent, but the landlord is responsible for insurance and repairs. An advantage to owning is that you can poke holes in walls, knock out walls, redecorate, etc. as you desire. You can also have a permanent address. An advantage to renting is that you can get out of the place and move somewhere else easily.