TLDR: I am glad that I am not the only one who thinks “I’d like to help, but I want to make sure I have enough financial runway first.”
(The rest of this comment is just my musings and explorations.)
I’m glad you wrote this. I’ve had vaguely similar thoughts bouncing around in my head during the past few days of seeing so much talk about giving.
I’ve donated a small amount of money over the years (≈8% of my income one year, and ≈1% another year), but I’ve never taken a pledge, and for most of my adult life I’ve not felt as financially secure as I would like. I feel a vague sense of pressure that effective giving is something I should do, and that it is something other people will think more highly of me for. But I’ve crunched numbers, and I have a spreadsheet, and I know a decent amount about personal finance. My rough narrative is something like this: there are bad things that have a reasonable chance of occurring in my life. If I have enough money available, then most of these things will be an annoyance, or a minor setback, or a negligible cost to me. If I do not have enough money available, these most of things will be a major setback, or will irrevocably alter my life path for the worse, or make other things much harder for me.
I would also like to retire someday. I assume that I will eventually reach an age where I lack the energy or motivation to do stuff, and I don’t want to be in a situation in which I am forced to choose between doing a miserable job and not being able to afford decent food, clothing, and shelter.
If I had an in demand skill that could easily get me a well-paying job, or if I had family wealth to rely on, or if I had an excellent professional network from a well-reputed university… well, the more of these things one has, the less risk-averse one has to be.[1] But in general I feel a great sense of financial precarity, and currently I am not confident that I will have enough money in the future to provide a modestly comfortable life for myself.
In brief, I want to make sure that I am taken care of. Any money above and beyond that I am happy to get rid off (such as donating it at the end of my life, or doing donations after a few years of earning good money).
For legal citizens, it’s less risky to drive above the speed limit. For married people with two incomes that share expenses, it’s less risky to quit one job to start another. For people with a highly in-demand skillset, it is less risky to take time off work to travel. For students not relying on scholarships, it’s less risky to skip class. For people with non-abusive parents, it’s less risky to live with family. And so on.
TLDR: I am glad that I am not the only one who thinks “I’d like to help, but I want to make sure I have enough financial runway first.”
(The rest of this comment is just my musings and explorations.)
I’m glad you wrote this. I’ve had vaguely similar thoughts bouncing around in my head during the past few days of seeing so much talk about giving.
I’ve donated a small amount of money over the years (≈8% of my income one year, and ≈1% another year), but I’ve never taken a pledge, and for most of my adult life I’ve not felt as financially secure as I would like. I feel a vague sense of pressure that effective giving is something I should do, and that it is something other people will think more highly of me for. But I’ve crunched numbers, and I have a spreadsheet, and I know a decent amount about personal finance. My rough narrative is something like this: there are bad things that have a reasonable chance of occurring in my life. If I have enough money available, then most of these things will be an annoyance, or a minor setback, or a negligible cost to me. If I do not have enough money available, these most of things will be a major setback, or will irrevocably alter my life path for the worse, or make other things much harder for me.
I would also like to retire someday. I assume that I will eventually reach an age where I lack the energy or motivation to do stuff, and I don’t want to be in a situation in which I am forced to choose between doing a miserable job and not being able to afford decent food, clothing, and shelter.
If I had an in demand skill that could easily get me a well-paying job, or if I had family wealth to rely on, or if I had an excellent professional network from a well-reputed university… well, the more of these things one has, the less risk-averse one has to be.[1] But in general I feel a great sense of financial precarity, and currently I am not confident that I will have enough money in the future to provide a modestly comfortable life for myself.
In brief, I want to make sure that I am taken care of. Any money above and beyond that I am happy to get rid off (such as donating it at the end of my life, or doing donations after a few years of earning good money).
For legal citizens, it’s less risky to drive above the speed limit. For married people with two incomes that share expenses, it’s less risky to quit one job to start another. For people with a highly in-demand skillset, it is less risky to take time off work to travel. For students not relying on scholarships, it’s less risky to skip class. For people with non-abusive parents, it’s less risky to live with family. And so on.