A few thoughts from a long-time EtG’er working in finance:
* US tax code caps tax-deductibility of donations at 50% or 60% (depending on if giving cash or appreciated assets). I give 50%, because that’s the most that I’m able to deduct. (credit to Tyner for stating this first)
* For the first years of my career, I gave 10-20% of my income thinking that once I saved up $X I’d give much more (where $X is a fairly large number). Once I hit $X, I started giving 35% and then 50%. Would I say I was EtG during the 10-20% years? At the time, I did say I was EtG, but in retrospect I really think of it as I was doing the prereqs to EtG—firstly being in a financial spot where I was comfortable to give 50%, and secondly climbing the career ladder and increasing my earnings to make my future giving as much as possible.
* Personally I’d define EtG as someone giving >30-35% and trying to maximize income (or someone early-career working towards that eventual goal, maybe call that “aspiring EtG”)
* I strongly reject the idea of EtG as a “sacrifice” in any significant way. I enjoy my job in finance and there’s a good chance that if I never heard of EA I’d still work in finance (with some mildly negative feelings about spending my career on something zero sum). I’m not sacrificing some desire to do direct work nor enduring an unpleasant grind of a job towards altruistic ends. I also don’t think of donating as sacrificing potential wealth, but as an opportunity to be a part of some tremendously good projects. I’d argue the only thing I sacrifice is retiring at an unusually young age, but I don’t have a huge desire to do that
+1 to preparing to be in a position to do E2G. I think this is true for many career paths, but it’s easier to justify it when you’re doing a PhD in ML to work in TAIS research, or working in an entry level position in Congress to try to gain career capital and influence policy.
One general hesitation I had with parts of the post’s framing was that it may not look at this as a long term career path (which means e.g. ramping up giving %’s , doing things to psychologically / emotionally feel good + confident about giving away more money).
A few thoughts from a long-time EtG’er working in finance:
* US tax code caps tax-deductibility of donations at 50% or 60% (depending on if giving cash or appreciated assets). I give 50%, because that’s the most that I’m able to deduct. (credit to Tyner for stating this first)
* For the first years of my career, I gave 10-20% of my income thinking that once I saved up $X I’d give much more (where $X is a fairly large number). Once I hit $X, I started giving 35% and then 50%. Would I say I was EtG during the 10-20% years? At the time, I did say I was EtG, but in retrospect I really think of it as I was doing the prereqs to EtG—firstly being in a financial spot where I was comfortable to give 50%, and secondly climbing the career ladder and increasing my earnings to make my future giving as much as possible.
* Personally I’d define EtG as someone giving >30-35% and trying to maximize income (or someone early-career working towards that eventual goal, maybe call that “aspiring EtG”)
* I strongly reject the idea of EtG as a “sacrifice” in any significant way. I enjoy my job in finance and there’s a good chance that if I never heard of EA I’d still work in finance (with some mildly negative feelings about spending my career on something zero sum). I’m not sacrificing some desire to do direct work nor enduring an unpleasant grind of a job towards altruistic ends. I also don’t think of donating as sacrificing potential wealth, but as an opportunity to be a part of some tremendously good projects. I’d argue the only thing I sacrifice is retiring at an unusually young age, but I don’t have a huge desire to do that
+1 to preparing to be in a position to do E2G. I think this is true for many career paths, but it’s easier to justify it when you’re doing a PhD in ML to work in TAIS research, or working in an entry level position in Congress to try to gain career capital and influence policy.
One general hesitation I had with parts of the post’s framing was that it may not look at this as a long term career path (which means e.g. ramping up giving %’s , doing things to psychologically / emotionally feel good + confident about giving away more money).