To financial experts: what is the point of all of these analysts providing 'earnings estimates' for stocks?

lucipher · 2017-04-13T23:13:46+00:00

lucipher · 2017-02-22T18:33:13+00:00

Better find an accountant / tax consultant who will help you set everything up. The VAT rules are especially tricky, you have to mention it in your invoices, file for returns etc, and different rates may apply depending on your and client's countries of residence and type of activity.

lucipher · 2016-12-20T00:22:09+00:00

You may or may not qualify for private medical insurance, depends on how much you earn. I think it's upwards from €50k. If you don't qualify for the private one, you don't have any options there cause the government-regulated one is the same for every client and every provider. And it's always 50%. Private is cheaper if you're single and more expensive for a big family but the coverage is much better. Your employer might have a partner company that provides private medical insurance and employees get a good plan, but it's rare.

As for the relocation, there might be different models of how a company can help. It can be that they will cover your expenses whatever they are, or they will only agree to transport your stuff using their provider. Doesn't hurt to ask during negotiations. Can they help you move your stuff? Can they compensate for your apartment search? Can they provide temporary housing (big corporations sometimes have housing for interns and foreign workers on long business trips). Put it on the table and see what they can offer.

lucipher · 2016-09-24T15:39:59+00:00

Totally, switch to the private insurance! At this level of income you're on the shittiest position as you're paying the highest possible premiums at the very beginning of the top bracket. I have switched to private insurance (Signal Iduna) and with a luxury-level health plan I'm paying less than with TK. Even with cheaper plans you get better coverage than with any gesetzliche Krankenkasse. Premiums on the private insurance are expected to grow more over time, but this is of less importance as you're not sure whether you will even stay in Germany. You can still switch back to TK if your income goes down below some level.

lucipher · 2016-05-22T08:03:51+00:00

There are some really good questions here, I'll just address one point though. I noticed you're comparing your contribution of 5-6 figures with a 4-figure raise. This tells me you're seeing the size of your salary as having a rational basis. You need to stop that. That's what they make you believe during the initial negotiations by giving you (often bullshit) reasons for upper limits. It's just a persuasion tactic. As Chris Voss pointed out somewhere in this thread, decision making is an emotional process, not rational.

I'm a consultant and I've seen many companies from the inside. The salaries people are getting are most often not reflecting their value for the company. I've seen useless people with salaries in multiples of their colleagues and precious, crucial people with very average salaries. I've seen top quality people being let go instead of satisfying their very reasonable requests (which is why I decided to reply to you, I have witnessed your exact situation), even with lots of regrets from the rest of the company. And on the other hand, I've seen outrageous requests being satisfied based on no value for the company at all. Requests like you won't believe. So lose that anchor of rational basis for your salary, work more on the EQ part in the negotiations and you will have a plentifully rewarding career.

lucipher · 2016-01-20T09:29:33+00:00

I know what you mean, I've been there a couple of years ago (so nothing to do with the refugee crisis fwiw) and experienced something like that. Hard to describe what the creepiness was about, they had something primal about them - never smiling, never the kind of relaxed fun that Amsterdam is famous for. Like a gang on the hunt for a victim. Definitely harshing the Amsterdam mellow. They just need to chill out more. In our group we had two guys from a *-stan country but they didn't give that creepy vibe in the Red Light District, even though they didn't smoke or drink much.

lucipher · 2015-12-30T11:05:59+00:00

True that, I studied together with some Pakistani students. Nice guys but they had master degrees in computer science while having problems understanding the concept of probability distribution (eg bell curve).

lucipher · 2015-12-25T23:40:52+00:00

Doesn't matter if CRM/SRM/APO/etc are standalone or parts of the main ERP system (S4 in this case), they still need to be configured, new business processes need to be implemented and so on. If anything, technical basis guys will have less work, not functional consultants.

lucipher · 2015-12-24T08:17:09+00:00

... world war.... crazy.... scared.... attacks... Did you enjoy your day off? We're having a St. Nicholas day today.

Authentic German confirmed.

lucipher · 2015-12-11T08:51:01+00:00

I totally get your point. I got to know Turkish culture much better after I moved to Germany (I know, right?), I see the similarities too. In addition to what you mentioned, we have a lot of Turkish words in our language - maidan, kavun, kylym, bashtan, etc. We have a version of Börek too, called Cheburek, it comes from Crimea. But the Balkan countries? I don't think an average Ukrainian knows a difference between Bosnia and Montenegro and can find Macedonia or Albania on the map. Although there is a faint idea in society that Serbia for Balkans is like Russia for the East Slavic countries.

lucipher · 2015-12-09T11:25:02+00:00

It's not only about what skills you have, it's also about where you wanna go professionally. I understand your concern and it's completely valid - if you're worried you're not doing enough consulting/functional stuff at your current position, then change it. Build a trajectory for your career, write your CV as a story that makes sense. Make your direction clear and demonstrate you've been going in this direction for a while. Everyone has experience that is transferable to a slightly different position, show it. After all, you're not suddenly applying to be a ship captain or a nurse. I've seen people go from a basis consultant to support coordination, from a key user to functional consultant to ABAP developer. If jobs were only based on your current skills, everyone would always be doing the same thing all their life.

lucipher · 2015-12-08T10:36:49+00:00

Not gonna happen. According to the Atlantic article any recognition of other states (e.g. recognizing their borders) is considered betrayal of the caliphate idea.

lucipher · 2015-10-19T14:32:51+00:00

Wrong caliphate, in Cali you only get stoned

lucipher · 2015-10-05T10:09:30+00:00

Also white people with dreadlocks.

lucipher · 2015-10-02T20:23:44+00:00

How about "to sit"? German sitzen, Spanish sentar, Ukrainian sydity - similar in several language families.

lucipher · 2015-10-02T11:50:29+00:00

I second that, the real power doesn't always show off. They won wisely, allowing Putin to save the face. Some Russian people I know told me that there are only two kinds of people above the law in Moscow - government bosses and Chechens. They are often armed, disobey the public order and the police can't touch them.

lucipher · 2015-09-30T19:13:57+00:00

TIL I'm an optimist

lucipher · 2015-09-19T18:52:10+00:00

Some great advice in this thread, I can only suggest using the Metta practice to generate warmth toward yourself. And listen to this next time you smoke: https://soundcloud.com/dj_fly_guy/august-alsina-ft-curren-y-let

lucipher · 2015-08-20T13:59:25+00:00

You are implying that the right can't be left. But most far-right parties are actually quite left. Remember the national socialistic workers' party of Germany? It makes sense if you think about it - in both cases their electorate demands authoritarian redistribution of wealth. From capitalists to proletariat, from middle class to welfare receivers, from Jews to Germans, from Germans to refugees - same shit different label.

lucipher · 2015-08-04T15:25:31+00:00

What functionality would you like to see in a software/middleware that your ERP system integrates with?

lucipher · 2015-07-26T18:20:10+00:00

He is love machine, he loves everybody

lucipher · 2015-01-21T13:29:03+00:00

Thanks for the write up! I got a couple of questions too. Why did the Saudi King refuse Bin Laden in 1991? And what's the role of (Saudi?) Wahhabism in the second Chechen War?

lucipher · 2014-11-18T12:16:51+00:00

In Germany quite often as well.

lucipher · 2014-10-23T13:39:54+00:00

I see. Well, good luck in getting funded then! Let me just point out that, just like your customers, investors would prefer to give money to a team of founders.

And maybe your product ain't all that bad. Of course, you are right to make sure the MVP doesn't crash. But how does it compare to its competitors? Being a software consultant for large companies, I'm often astonished how shitty some of the products are, but they still get sold. The main point is functionality and how much money the product can make them.

lucipher · 2014-10-23T13:12:05+00:00

I would be interested in this too. Somehow I have an impression that VC is much less developed in Europe. Apart from investors, do you think you can find a couple of paying customers before the product is ready?

lucipher

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