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Ask HN: Good resources to become financially literate

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Re: Ask HN: Good resources to become financially literate

#81

Post by trabant00 »

amelius wrote: post #9
trabant00 wrote: post #5

If you're living paycheck to paycheck I'd say learn to walk before you run. Keep it simple, open another account and transfer 20% or whatever you feel comfortable from every paycheck. After you save more than a year of living in that you can start to look into more advanced stuff.

You should at least provide some motivation to do that.

I thought the motivation was OP asking about it. But let me give you my personal experience as well. Started doing this about 10 years ago. During this time I switched 3 jobs at my leisure. I once stayed unemployed for 8 months and just traveled until I ran out of money. The savings account went up and down with my life-style, big purchases like cars and such, at the moment I have 2 years of comfortable living set aside. The best thing about it is my mental state re money. I do not live in fear of setbacks, and even though I save more and more I feel I can splurge whenever I feel like it without feeling guilty.

Re: Ask HN: Good resources to become financially literate

#82

Post by latchkey »

reisse wrote: post #62
psanford wrote: post #48

Matt Levine's most important lesson of "financial literacy," that is never taught in any "financial literacy" classes: > If I offer you a 20% annual risk-free return, am I lying? The answer is yes, of course.

It slightly misses the point that actual threshold depends on inflation. 20% annual return on an insured bank deposits is absolutely normal for currencies with 25% annual inflation.

So true. Vietnam offers ~7% on bank accounts and inflation is much higher than that. Although, of course, the government doesn't admit that either and reports it at ~4%.

Re: Ask HN: Good resources to become financially literate

#83

Post by csomar »

psanford wrote: post #48

Matt Levine's most important lesson of "financial literacy," that is never taught in any "financial literacy" classes: > If I offer you a 20% annual risk-free return, am I lying? The answer is yes, of course.

It’s fancy talk but it really has no value.

Let’s say an investment has a 20% return and your calculation gives a 0% default chance for the first four years. You can structure your investment to compound for the first four years and get back your initial capital after the fourth.

You are essentially now (4 years later) on a risk free 20% return. Your initial capital can be reinvested somewhere else.

If there is something I learned trading the financial markets is that structuring is the only thing that matters and what will bring your returns. The other thing I learned is that real 20% returns with little risk are abundant if you are looking hard enough and comfortable executing exotic trades.

Re: Ask HN: Good resources to become financially literate

#87

Post by butler14 »

onion2k wrote: post #75
mejutoco wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and a mix of investments I don't think OP means 300k cash, but (cash + mix of investments) = 300k. For all we know it could be 10k cash and the rest investments.

For all we know it could be 10k cash and the rest investments. Could be, but regardless, it's very unlikely that his investments are beating inflation at the moment so the point still stands. By holding on to the money its value is shrinking.

Kind of presumptuous, could be in buy to let property?

You’re basically saying everyone should spend everything in a downtown, and if they don’t they are boring?

Re: Ask HN: Good resources to become financially literate

#88

Post by [deleted] »

jvanderbot wrote: post #24

The subreddit personal finance has straightforward advice, and a very nice algorithm for determining where to put your money (and an exit criteria after which you can do whatever you want). That basic flowchart has helped me set my goals for years, and to maximize my progress towards those goals. It's very simple, a 10 minute read, and backed by most the books and advice you're likely to receive anyway, including bas…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Good resources to become financially literate

#89

Post by aaronrobinson »

Check out pensioncraft on YouTube. The guy is an ex UBS macro guy and is very good at explaining everything from the most basic financial stuff through to macro economics in a way that you can relate. The YouTube videos are obviously free and he has his own site which is about $200 per year to join. Part of that includes access to a Slack forum where you can ask anything you like.
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