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Ask HN: What things have richly rewarded the time invested in mastering them?

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Re: Ask HN: What things have richly rewarded the time invested in mastering them?

#271

Post by monster_group »

enitihas wrote: post #129
monster_group wrote: post #55

Learning Sanskrit. I have spent the last few years learning it and it's been tremendously rewarding. Sanskrit is a beautiful language. Learning it is a great mental challenge and gives great satisfaction (to me). Before learning Sanskrit I had never really pursued a hobby this seriously. Since I have been doing this I no longer feel like a machine who just goes to work, eats and sleeps. Before this, I used to feel gr…

I too have been interested in learning Sanskrit for some time. Can you tell me what resources you used?

Introduction to Sanskrit by Thomas Egenes is a very good book for beginners.

Re: Ask HN: What things have richly rewarded the time invested in mastering them?

#273

Post by refurb »

samat wrote: post #202
refurb wrote: post #199

Investing. Read a few solid, no BS books by people like Bernstein. Realize that there is a ton of BS out there. Develop your own investing strategy and execute it yourself. In the end you save money, get some financial security and stop asking yourself “do I know what i’m doing?”

Suggestions would be appreciated.

This is where I started: https://www.amazon.com/Intelligent-Asset-Allocator-Portfolio...

It should resonate with the HN crowd as it starts from the basics and builds up a strategy. Very understandable. It then uses that to help you build an overall investment strategy.

Bernstein is in line with the Boglehead investing theory. Own the market, don't try and beat it.

It has served me very well.

Re: Ask HN: What things have richly rewarded the time invested in mastering them?

#274

Post by Hasz »

wallflower wrote: post #71

Going to a gym two to three times a week for small group training sessions. In terms of investment, it is not as expensive as private training and it keeps you on track. The real investment is in you. Your most important asset is your ability to produce income. Having a healthier body helps maintain that ability. The damage that I do through typing is only barely counteracted by these training sessions. I don’t take…

I am a big believer in regular strength training, to the point were I am generally in a worse mode for the day if I can't get a scheduled workout in.

If you want to get started, find a group or a program and jump in. I like nSuns + regular cardio, but the choice is going to depend on age and overall goals. I see my improving PRs and workout sets I've completed as both motivating and addicting.

StrongerbyScience has fantastic guides to most movements, and excellent, peer-reviewed training methodology.

Re: Ask HN: What things have richly rewarded the time invested in mastering them?

#275

Post by fredsir »

> Your most important asset is your ability to produce income.

I think that's an incredibly sad way to view yourself and your life, albeit I bet that for many people producing income is the single most important thing.

I see that as a consequence and a failure of society.

Re: Ask HN: What things have richly rewarded the time invested in mastering them?

#276

Post by refurb »

petra wrote: post #204
refurb wrote: post #199

Investing. Read a few solid, no BS books by people like Bernstein. Realize that there is a ton of BS out there. Develop your own investing strategy and execute it yourself. In the end you save money, get some financial security and stop asking yourself “do I know what i’m doing?”

How long did it take you to learn ? And can you really beat the index funds, as a layman investor, and how big is the difference ?

Probably a couple months by reading a few key books and following up to understand the specifics.

And no, I went with an index investment strategy, not trying to beat the market. But it really helps to understand why index investing is a good choice.

Re: Ask HN: What things have richly rewarded the time invested in mastering them?

#277

Post by refurb »

pinky1417 wrote: post #205
refurb wrote: post #199

Investing. Read a few solid, no BS books by people like Bernstein. Realize that there is a ton of BS out there. Develop your own investing strategy and execute it yourself. In the end you save money, get some financial security and stop asking yourself “do I know what i’m doing?”

Especially if you're young! Just regularly saving a small amount of your earnings and regularly putting it into a broad-based, low-cost index fund can make a huge difference in your wealth over time. Compound interest for the win.

This is really true. I can remember being in my 20's and thinking "I've saved $10K. Big deal".

But what I've noticed is with slow, steady investing is that it really snowballs. It's not long before you look at your returns and notice that you made more from your investments that year than you did your salary.

Re: Ask HN: What things have richly rewarded the time invested in mastering them?

#278

Post by Salgat »

kodablah wrote: post #175
mattlondon wrote: post #142

Computer Science degree. Sure, lots of us "learnt" programming in our bedrooms or whatever by doing our own thing and messing about in whatever language. I went into my compsci degree arrogantly thinking that I pretty much knew how to code already so please just give me the bit of paper saying I have the degree and I'll be on my way thanks very much. I was very wrong. Although I was pretty good at the coding (or at l…

While I have no doubt this paid dividends for you, I'm not convinced that the cost/benefit is greater on the whole than alternatively spending those 4 years doing real-world development. Subjective, sure, but from my perspective there are too many amazing self-taught developers and too many subpar ones with degrees to automatically justify the 4 year time and money cost for the average person (concerning skill, caree…

It ultimately boils down to whether you have the discipline on your own to learn all the "right" ways to do something and understand how it works. Unfortunately we also have an issue where schools are pumping out CS degrees that aren't exactly high quality.

Re: Ask HN: What things have richly rewarded the time invested in mastering them?

#279

Post by matthewmcg »

pjmorris wrote: post #13

Cooking. I am not a chef, but I have spent the time and effort to be able and willing to tackle nearly any recipe in the cuisines I'm familiar with. More importantly, I've made my wife, family, friends, strangers, and myself, happy at my table and via gifts of food. In terms of books, the biggest difference-makers have been 'The Way to Cook', Julia Child, 'The French Laundry Cookbook', Thomas Keller, et al, and 'The…

Second this. I spent a lot of time focusing on trying recipes with new techniques or new ingredients when I was in graduate school and cooked dinner for my wife and myself every weeknight. When I started, I viewed recipies almost as magic spells that had to be followed just so (or maybe for this crowd, code to be copied verbatim from a Stack Overflow answer). But once I learned some basic techniques and the properties of ingredients, I gained the confidence to experiment and create new dishes. Recipies and cookbooks are now sources of inspiration and not rigid rules.

except for baking—-precision and reproducibility are key there.

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