Meet Jane and John Doe, who is richer?

14 replies
Hey Warriors!

I'm curious to know what your take on the following example is

a) Jane Doe makes $100,000 per year, $2,000 for each of 50 weeks per year, and works 80 hours per week. Jane Doe thus makes $25 per hour.

b) John Doe makes $50,000 per year, $1,000 for each of 50 weeks per year, but works 10 hours per week and hence makes $100 per hour.

Questions - In your opinion, which person is richer? Which person would you rather be? And which person could live a better lifestyle?

The above example was taken from the book The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris (page 36).

Look forward to hearing from you!

Joe,
#doe #jane #john #meet #richer
  • Profile picture of the author Gary Ning Lo
    Questions - In your opinion, which person is richer?
    Jane is richer

    Which person would you rather be?
    John

    And which person could live a better lifestyle?
    Both

    Cheers,

    Gary
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  • Imo it depends on many factors:

    What 'work' means to John & Jane

    What they do in their spare time

    What they do with their income



    Questions - In your opinion, which person is richer? - Either of them depending on answers to the above. 'Riches' come in many forms


    Which person would you rather be? - If 'work' is 'play' then i'd rather be Jane. If not i'd rather be John

    And which person could live a better lifestyle? - Either of them. It depends what they do with their spare time & their income
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  • Profile picture of the author Rbtmarshall
    Do they both work for themselves? if not what are their positions
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  • Profile picture of the author Arun Chandran
    Are they related?

    I'll have to go with John... working 11 hours a day like, GI Jane, is madness. Even if you love your job.

    Joe, your signature link is not working.
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    • Profile picture of the author Joe Crosbie
      Thanks for the replies everyone!

      In The Four Hour Work Week, Tim uses this as a way to demonstrate how although Jane makes more money, she also works a lot harder and is more than likely not as happy as John is.

      It's a lead up into the concept that most people do not want millions of dollars, they want to live the type of lifestyle they assume millions of dollars could pay for..


      Originally Posted by Arun Chandran View Post

      Are they related?

      I'll have to go with John... working 11 hours a day like, GI Jane, is madness. Even if you love your job.

      Joe, your signature link is not working.
      They're husband and wife Arun

      Thanks for the heads up, I'll get that fixed now

      Joe
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      I chose entrepreneurship over further education despite being laughed at by my friends and family..

      I recently hit the "RESTART" button on my life, read my personal blog to find out how I did it :)
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  • Personally I would rather be John and just work a few more hours

    But I think Jane is definitely richer.

    John definitely has the healthier lifestyle
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  • Profile picture of the author Rbtmarshall
    What if jane works for herself running a start-up flower shop. Doing what she loves to do 16 hours a day. Taking the profit she makes and reinvesting it towards her business.

    And John works as one of those high tension power line repair people who dangle by a rope under a helicopter fixing things that could kill him in an instant. Jane is obviously forcing john to hold on to this job for the benefits.
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  • Profile picture of the author YHmuWong
    Theoretically John Doe has the better advantage.I can't argue with that.But I rather be like Jane Doe.At least there is some personal space in work.
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    Number 11 is lucky in snake & ladders.

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  • Profile picture of the author datingworld
    Nice Puzzle,
    I would rather be John but I would replace his 10 hours a week with 50 hours a week
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  • Hi Joe, normally one would choose the individual who works fewer hours but makes more money.

    Truth is the first person in your scenarios may be the happier of the two. I all depends on the particular person's point of view. What is misery and labor to one may be sheer joy to another.

    LLS
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  • Profile picture of the author socialentry
    What if John was in the Mafia, shaking down local business
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  • Profile picture of the author jeremygrey245
    Ferriss' explanation of this has been a guiding force in my life since the first time I read it...

    The real key is lifestyle design...that determines if you'd rather be Jane or John...in other words, if John had a goal and needed to make $150/hour to achieve that goal, how would he go about making that happen?

    If you're working 10 hours per week at $100/hour, and you can figure out the 20% of your actions that are bringing in that $100/hour, how to do you replicate those high leverage actions to work 10 hours/week and make $150/hour? And if you had to work an extra 5 hours to make that $150/hour, would it be worth it?

    That formula of specific lifestyle design is a huge asset to entrepreneurs.
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  • Profile picture of the author TheMaleRN
    This is like the the questions in math exam i wish i answered.
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  • Profile picture of the author Cray
    Jane Doe is a Hoe isn't she? lewl. . I guess John Doe is richer.
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    Dropshipping for a living.

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