TL;DR version:

     I quit my Ph.D. program to become a professional donor until extreme world poverty is eliminated (my aim is to earn as much as I can and donate most of it to the best charities). True story.

Long version:

     I started a Ph.D. program in Educational Psychology because I had high hopes that my eventual position as a tenured professor would be sweet all around. I thought that as a professor I would be able to do research on issues of great consequence for students and contribute towards implementing these and other important research findings into the school system. There are many interventions that are cheap to implement and have been shown to benefit students immensely; I hoped I could charge forward and help students who’d benefit most, soon enough. Unfortunately, it seems that the academic field of education is more geared at best towards just finding facts about what works; there is nearly no path between this knowledge and school practices. Those in power to implement these findings usually ignore the best evidence and act based on ideology or some other selfish interest. Foolish me – to spend so much time in the program without researching if my goals would be achieved.

     One response to my pessimism can be “But Boris, where are you going to find a single place where you could have a large positive impact? All careers are like that!” And it may be precisely because I have found an answer to this question that my motivation to become an academic was undercut. There are millions of people on earth that are living in extreme poverty, millions of children dying, and each of us can do an immense amount of good by helping the ones in most need – them. All this can be accomplished by choosing to donate some fraction of one’s earnings to the charities that are most effective at eliminating some of these problems. By donating even as little as 10% of my income I could reasonably expect to prevent 8 deaths (and give long-lasting life instead) every single year.

     Entering a paying career sooner rather than later I can expect to maximize my life-time earnings and thus donations. Teaching mathematics has brought me great pleasure so far so I think I will end up being a teacher (New Jersey is the 3rd highest paying state for teachers & I am already qualified). A teaching job will also give me summers off, allowing me to find additional income if I so choose (I intend to keep my eyes open to more lucrative opportunities in life as well, e.g. becoming an actuary).

     Based on my past spending experience, I suspect I will be able to live on far less than $20,000 for many more years. If I can manage it, I hope to donate away everything I earn above that figure to the best charities. I am 26 years old and I may still be young and foolish and idealistic, but I hope that I stick to my decision. I have been donating 10% of my pre-tax income to VillageReach (the best charity I can find so far) for over a year and it been very easy. I know I’ll keep giving at least 10%, I’m sure I’ll be able to give more as soon as my income goes up even a bit, I just hope I’ll be able to earn significantly more in my life than an average teacher.

     I am exceptionally lucky that I ended up living in such a rich society that I can provide all of life’s necessities for myself: food, shelter, and clothing while also being able to do so much good for many others. My decision to start giving evolved over the past four years –amongst other things– through attending lectures given by professor Larry Temkin, reading works by Peter Singer, and talking to inspiring people like Nick Beckstead, Mark Lee, and Toby Ord. I thank them from the bottom of my heart.

Sincerely,

Boris Yakubchik


References:

Saving 8 lives/year: [link]
An essay by Peter Singer: [link]
Nick Beckstead & Mark Lee: [link]

I just finished making a 5-minute documentary about people that give 10% or more of their pre-tax income to the most effective charities working on eliminating poverty in the world.

[link]

I welcome comments

Every year for the past 3 years I've been doing a "Birthday for Charity" where I ask everyone who wants to give me a present to donate money to my favorite charity instead. This is because (1) I don't need things and (2) even if I did, there are people who need things far more than I do.

Please consider having your own Birthday for Charity - and or pitch in for mine: [link]

This year I'm raising $1000 for Deworm the World, an organization that provides a remedy for a problem that causes severe illness in over 300 million people world wide and kills about 150,000 annually. It costs about $3.50 per person treated (for life!) and turns out to increase school attendance better than any other intervention. Deworm the World ([link] is probably the most effective charity in the world.

New Year's Resolutions for 2011

I will attempt an experiment this year: I will blog about my specific goals and progress on a weekly basis in a public blog. My intentions are to keep myself honest and accountable. I will be forced to be specific in my goals so I could quantify my success and failures. Having your (at least potential) eyes on me, I think I will be more motivated. Throughout the year, feel free to glance at the blog and ask me how I am doing with it all. I appreciate your time.

Please visit: [link]
I already have 16 specific goals set for the Spring semester: [link]

Best,

Boris

Started a Ph.D. program in Educational Psychology, moved out of parents' house, committed to donating 10% of my pre-tax income to the most effective poverty-ending charity - 2010 was a good year.

Recommendations to all:

Worth reading: [link]
Worth joining: [link]
Worth learning: [link]

I still love life. I also feel like I've gotten a much better direction too

I've been living the best life ever, almost. No matter if it's not 'the best' it's amazing enough. I love it.

I've used up 2007-2008 academic year by sitting in on about 12 classes (30+ credits) each semester, mainly philosophy. It was amazing. I recommend everyone do something similar sometime.

I've spent my summer relaxing, enjoying life, and mainly reading books.

I've spent this semester reading, and writing my writing-sample for graduate schools in philosophy. If I get in, I'll have another 5 amazing years ahead of me. If I don't get in, I'll still have many amazing years immediately ahead of me.

Either way - I love life. Being an optimist rocks.

I graduated from Rutgers with a Bachelor's in Mathematics in 2006 and with Master's in Education in 2007. This summer has been the best ever ... EVER. Broke my arm though - did no art. Oh well - whole life ahead of me - what FUN!

Love life

wow I haven't been here in ages! well I bought a Wacom tablet almost exactly a year ago, played with it for a total of maybe 10 hours and haven't used it since! why? I've been ridiculously unbelivably remarkably busy. After being in Japan almost all summer, I went back to college, took the hardest math course of my entire life (total of 20 credits that semester) and winter break relaxed a bit. Important to note that my parents (and of course I) moved to a new appartment - but this one we own, not rent. Spring semester was the hardest (busiest) ever - 21 credits (7 courses) - but was fun. So now I have finished 3rd year of Rutgers University of New Jersey. Just one more year and I'll have a Bachelor's in Mathematics. After that a year of Graduate School in Rutgers (got accepted) and I finish with a Master's Degree in Education. w00t. I'll start off working in a high school teaching math - with an instant raise
so this summer? I've been very busy - learning C++, learning the violin (all for fun) and NO time for art!!! wtf ... I gotta start ... I guess once real work starts (I have 3 jobs) I'll have more time. I'm not kidding - the more busy I am, the more I can accomplish and seems like I can find more time to do things! I LOVE LIFE

3rd year of Rutgers is almost over. I bought a new computer Athlon 64 3200. Still haven't played with my Wacom 2 tablet - so I will over the winter break. Math classes are pretty difficult, math major isn't fun. Oh well - just 3 more semesters

4th semester of college started (almost 2 years in college now) ... going to be a junior in the fall ... should be great

My computer has been broken for perhaps 1/2 a year now ... maybe it's time to fix it. Without it I can not do art ... but I'm buisy with college.

It's so great how you improve yourself every year and say "wow I sucked before" ... every year

Past 2 years of my life, as I finished High School and went to college, my life has been the most amazing thing ... I screamed at the top of my lungs "I LOVE LIFE" ... and I meant it ... I still mean it .. but somehow I have cooled off, and it's a good thing - it doesn't scare off people. Although I have realized some things that I'm quite unhappy about in my life ... and this summer I'll see how that goes. My opinion and suggestion to all: be an optimist, it pays off