INTPs and Money

[Invoke Ninja's True Power]

I have almost always been very low income. 26 and still stuck living with my parents. I suppose I am lucky in that sense but I would be completely screwed if I had to be completely on my own. There was a total of 5 months where I lived on my own not including the 3 semesters I went to college/lived at a dorm. Now I know the economy sucks but how have any of you other INTPs been when it comes to having a decent job, not quitting work/getting fired every few months from depression? I have almost never been driven by money but it sucks being poor all the time too. I feel like depression/anxiety has robbed me of almost everything. I just don't understand how anyone can make it on their own in this fucked up world.

 

[Cryss Winters]

I'm with you buddy.

 

[Trebuchet]

Sorry to hear of your troubles, but don't give up. Most of the INTPs I know, including myself, have rather low incomes early on, and sometime around age 35, they suddenly find their way, become happier, and start making more money. I don't know any rich INTPs but I know many who are happy, with nice homes and families, satisfying jobs, and interesting friends. 35 is a good age for INTPs.

So I do understand the feeling you have. At your age, I lived with my mom, and was cynical and burned out and poor. I got dumb jobs I didn't like because the economy sucked. I am not sure exactly how I got here from there, but at 40 I have to say life is good, and has been for a while. Just don't give up or burn too many bridges. It will get fun.

 

[Zorf]

Yup. Money comes, money goes, it more goes than comes, but somehow I get by. I'm 30 now, just moved back home from living on my own for the last decade. but that's largly a product of my profession.

on the other hand i know other intp's that are very comfortable financially. supporting their parents and only a few years older than me.

 

[Artifice Orisit]

Most of the INTPs I know, including myself, have rather low incomes early on, and sometime around age 35, they suddenly find their way, become happier, and start making more money.

35!
I'm 19 and part-time employed, the idea that it'll take me until I'm 35 to find my way in life, that's terrifying, I have long-term objectives that may take 40-50 years to complete.

Oh yeah, and the whole "happiness" thing, I suppose that's important too...

 

[Veritas]

Money is overrated. It may make the world go round but it has no real value...It's nice to have but you can learn and experience much of life without it, which to me, is a part of existence that most people never come to see and understand. You're still fairly young. Be patient...either everything will play out and settle or they won't...hopefully the first

 

[Yellow]

I got married when I was 22, my husband had just gotten a divorce from someone we call 'the troll' (and for good reason), and we didn't even have furniture. We would sit on the floor of our apartment, eating ramen, listening to the neighbors scream at each other because we couldn't afford tv and we had watched our 5 movies dozens of times. That lasted an entire year. We made our great exodus for teaching jobs and after two years of both of us teaching, my husband and I barely make enough to pay the bills and buy the cat litter, and thats about it. Thats why I'm going to school. Hopefully, when I have my Master's, things will be better and I'll be able to make more money. If not, I'm jumping straight back in for PhD. This being poor stuff is rather irritating, but you have to stay positive.

 

[Ouroboros]

Agreed with it taking time for an intp to find their place in the world. I thought I had, but am not so sure now (laid off and looking with a bit of disdain at the engineering profession I was in). A key is to be able to live cheaply.

-don't buy anything on credit - interest payments suck
-hardly ever eat out (or buy prepared foods) - it's almost always overpriced and quite often just sucks
- don't buy new if you don't have to. 95% of my clothes come from thrift stores and I've never bought a new car, motorcycle, etc.. You can get reliable transportation for <2K (used Civic - easy to work on)
- get some other ideas from books like:
Art and Science of Dumpster Diving, by John Hoffman, Ace Backwords
The Urban Homestead: Your Guide to Self-sufficient Living in the Heart of the City, by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen
etc.

During my 20's, the most I ever made was 12K/yr and was always independent. I'm even more thrifty @ 40 w/ a house & family. Living like this is very freeing and not hard to do. It's just a mindset.

 

[didyouknow]

It's a good thing I don't care about money, otherwise I'd be screwed.

 

[Trebuchet]

35!
I'm 19 and part-time employed, the idea that it'll take me until I'm 35 to find my way in life, that's terrifying, I have long-term objectives that may take 40-50 years to complete.

Oh yeah, and the whole "happiness" thing, I suppose that's important too...

Sorry, I didn't mean to scare people who are 19! I don't mean it will take until you are 35 for things to get better. I mean that by the time you reach 35, you will probably be in a better emotional and financial state than you can even imagine now. It is more gradual than a light switch, of course. But when many types of people are stuck in a rut in their careers, in their mid-thirties, INTPs are just hitting their stride.

As for your long-term objectives, those sound good to me (unless you are planning to work for SPECTRE - this isn't a space-based death beam, is it?). When you are 60-70 and your plans are coming to fruition, it will be great, I am sure.

 

[Cogwulf]

I'm 19 as well, but I don't thing I've done too badly so far, I've just done spent most of the year working in a full time job as work experience, which didn't pay particularly well, but I didn't spend much during my time there except for living costs so I managed to save a decent amount. And now I've just started a part time job that should get me through uni.
What happens when I graduate is a different matter entirely though, the experience I've had should make it much easier to get a job, but for my chosen field I can see it being around five to ten years until I have the experience to get the sort of job I'm hoping for

 

[Vrecknidj]

I'll be 42 in a couple weeks. I work two jobs, year round, and put in a lot of 60 to 70 hour weeks. I work hard because my wife stays home and homeschools our kids (well, one of them, the other is 20 and in college now). It's hard, but it's a choice. Money is certainly not the most important thing in life, but I like air conditioning on a humid summer day, and indoor plumbing, and food, and a car, and a number of other things that I can't reliable acquire any other way.

I had all kinds of trouble making money until 1994 when I started my own tutoring business. In order to do that, I had to rely on a lot of SJ traits I learned from my Dad and I had to figure out how to be comfortable dealing with introverts all day. It's amazing what you'll do when you have the lives of three other people depending upon your actions.

I'm sure there are plenty of wealthy INTPs, just as there are many poor ones. Heck, there are a number of INTPs in politics, in law, in science, etc. I don't think the issue is so much the typology of the person, except insofar as INTPs are probably more naturally inclined to things like depression simply because the world is so anathema to our preferences.

Dave

 

[Trebuchet]

I'm sure there are plenty of wealthy INTPs, just as there are many poor ones. Heck, there are a number of INTPs in politics, in law, in science, etc. I don't think the issue is so much the typology of the person, except insofar as INTPs are probably more naturally inclined to things like depression simply because the world is so anathema to our preferences.

Dave

Okay, you caught me in a sampling bias. I don't know that many people who are, in fact, rich. So saying I don't know any rich INTPs is not actually indicative of anything.

Perhaps your point about being prone to depression is the reason for my observations that INTPs do better when they hit their mid-thirties. We are very good at learning, even if it takes a while for subjects we don't like, such as getting along with the rest of the world. Eventually, we get it, I think.

I hope none of my earlier comments were taken as an attempt at universal truth. They were an attempt to be encouraging. Of course, I know that not all young INTPs are poor and cynical and depressed, and not all INTPs end up happy. But I think in general, a young, depressed INTP has much to look forward to, and our love of learning means that we never run out of things to look forward to.

 

[Mondorius]

Somehow, I've never really had problems with money.

Pretty much all the jobs I've had so far were around minimum wage, too.

The thing is, I don't have the need for many things. I have a computer and internet which serves me good for many intellectual needs, school and hobbies. I have clothes and food. And I have a rent to pay. But, I don't go out often, I don't care about fashion, I could see myself buying tons of books, but since I hardly ever bring myself to the library, it's not a problem.

Anyways, I may or may not have financial troubles in the future, mostly because I just started college and can no longer work full-time, but I doubt it will really become a problem at any point in my life.

-hardly ever eat out (or buy prepared foods) - it's almost always overpriced and quite often just sucks

Oh my, this is not something I could do. While I agree that it sucks, and I kinda find pathetic that I can't cook anything but the most basic meal, I doubt I'll ever be able to avoid eating out and buying prepared or simple meals.

Reason is simple. I don't mind hunger until I'm so hungry I could eat the fridge itself if there wasn't any food left in it. That means I usually am quite impatient when I'm hungry, hence I eat out or get prepared meals.

 

[Invoke Ninja's True Power]

not eating out is no problem for me except for me being lazy and I hate doing the clean up after cooking. Cooking is great and I could easily excel in culinary arts but that is not something I would enjoy day in and day out. I love my own cooking If I ever have a partner she will either have to be a really good cook or not be able to at all. The one thing I do like eating out for though is sushi, its the same price as going to any fast food joint and its just awesome

 

[Ouroboros]

so....dumpster dive behind restaurants. I'd say JK, 'cause I don't do it, but others certainly do. (I'm no stranger to certain grocery store bins, however (don't knock it 'till you've tried it)).

Seriously though - there are so many ways to live well on the cheap that even if you don't do them all, anything will help.

 

[Invoke Ninja's True Power]

I'm not so bad at getting the most bang for my buck....or my buck not spent I have all kinds of free tactics, and I don't even have to resort to thievery

 

[Ouroboros]

what I'm talking about is not theft

 

[Invoke Ninja's True Power]

I know, I was just sayin

 

[walfin]

I believe INTPs could do a lot of useful things with more money. We're not the free spending buy-car-buy-plane-buy-everything-for-nothing type.

That said, I guess I wouldn't know since I've never had a lot of money.

 

[Invoke Ninja's True Power]

I'd buy all kinds of useless shit if I had lots and lots of money Of course the useful things I'd do/buy would far outweigh the useless stuff. I would definitely have the mad scientist's dream mansion

 

[Waterstiller]

Step 1: find rich iNtuitive people.
Step 2: impress them by pulling out INTPness.
Step 3: make them hire/refer us.

All my friends work at gas stations or Walmart if they're working at all, though..