How to get rich without getting lucky (2018) • Hacker News Board

Re: How to get rich without getting lucky (2018)

#41

Post by the_gastropod » Fri, Jun 07, 2019, 1:45 AM UTC

curo wrote: post #38

darth_skywalker wrote: post #20

>> But then of course Uncle Sam show up, and basically say, “Hey, you know what, you just made a lot money this year. Therefore, you’re rich. Therefore, you’re evil and you’ve got to hand it all over to us.” The government doesn't tax rich people because they're evil - they tax rich people to provide food, education, and security for society. Progressive taxes are useful because they help fight poverty and allow the…

> inter-generational wealth mobility in the US is quite low, much lower than in most of Europe I was surprised by this so I looked up a few sources. Not saying it's not true but we must be looking at different sources, here's a chart on "intergenerational earnings elasticity and with only a couple European countries (Italy and UK) slightly above the US: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_mobility#/media/File:Th...

I think you're misreading the graph. The Y axis is immobility. In other words, Italy and the UK have lower mobility than the US. Every other European country on the list has greater mobility.

Re: How to get rich without getting lucky (2018)

#42

Post by svaha1728 » Fri, Jun 07, 2019, 1:47 AM UTC

klipklop wrote: post #35

TAForObvReasons wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> K-12 education is payed for by taxes Many wealthy families send their children to private schools. Even though some states have "school choice" programs that let the budgeted amount from taxes go to the schools, the families still pay the bulk of the price. We don't know the poster's history, but it's entirely possible he attended private schools his entire life and was blissfully unaware of how the rest of us were…

From the sound of it, he didn't grow up rich at all: "I was a latchkey kid. My mom was working multiple jobs and then she was going to school at night. We were raised by a single mother, my brother and I were, in New York City. We were in a part of New York City that isn’t very safe."

Parts of New York City that aren’t safe are filled with multimillion dollar brownstones, private schools and opportunity not available in other parts of the world.

Re: How to get rich without getting lucky (2018)

#43

Post by sitdownyoungman » Fri, Jun 07, 2019, 1:48 AM UTC

komali2 wrote: post #25

>We are the only animals in the animal kingdom that cooperate across genetic boundaries. Most animals don’t even cooperate. But when they do, they cooperate only in packs where they co-evolve together, and they share blood, so they have some shared interests. >Humans don’t have that. I can cooperate with you guys. One of you is a Serbian. The other one is a Persian by origin. And I’m Indian by origin. We have very li…

> I mean, humans are also the only animals on the planet with language.

orcas/other dolphins/whales want a word.

> Or like, the only ones that can associate abstract concepts with value (so trading shells for food, etc).

i don't know about this...

https://www.zmescience.com/science/prostitution-animals/

Re: How to get rich without getting lucky (2018)

#44

Post by fallingfrog » Fri, Jun 07, 2019, 1:56 AM UTC

In other words, own productive capital and live off the rent it generates. Personally I think such capital should be owned by the workers at a business so that they don’t have parasitic individuals like the author to support. It’s nice for you if you have a lot of wealth and don’t have to work, but the rest of us pay the price of that, and only a tiny slice of society can ever live that way, for obvious reasons.

Re: How to get rich without getting lucky (2018)

#45

Post by closetCS » Fri, Jun 07, 2019, 2:00 AM UTC

While I see the point of being financially independent and generating positive-sum wealth, some parts of this argument are bullshit. Most people I have talked to attacking those with lots of money do so because the money gained was made by depriving others of an opportunity to achieve their own wealth. I also disagree with his idea of a journalist reporting for the people being a "status game" and a "nessesscary evil" when he is attacking those who made money illicitly.

Re: How to get rich without getting lucky (2018)

#46

Post by rmdashrfstar » Fri, Jun 07, 2019, 2:10 AM UTC

closetCS wrote: post #45

While I see the point of being financially independent and generating positive-sum wealth, some parts of this argument are bullshit. Most people I have talked to attacking those with lots of money do so because the money gained was made by depriving others of an opportunity to achieve their own wealth. I also disagree with his idea of a journalist reporting for the people being a "status game" and a "nessesscary evil…

> because the money gained was made by depriving others of an opportunity to achieve their own wealth

For example?

Re: How to get rich without getting lucky (2018)

#47

Post by PopeDotNinja » Fri, Jun 07, 2019, 2:12 AM UTC

mrnobody_67 wrote: post #5

Wealth = freedom to do what you want. For some people with minimal lifestyles in low cost areas of the US (or living internationally) that can be $30K. I think the series does a good job covering principles such as leverage (software, capital, labour) which are rarely taught in school. Most financial planners only talk about cutting costs, not making more money, because they don't know how... this is the opposite.

> Wealth = freedom to do what you want.

I have a friend who is pretty wealthy. I've noticed he spends a fair amount of time worrying that his money is secure. Seems like the ultimate first world problem to me, but it's real.

Re: How to get rich without getting lucky (2018)

#48

Post by StillBored » Fri, Jun 07, 2019, 2:18 AM UTC

ken wrote: post #37

jraines wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

David Foster Wallace said something about how when elite athletes try to say how they got there, it ends up sounding mostly like clichés, but that it's probably because most clichés became such because they hold some truth[1]. And yeah, they definitely look worse when listed off in bulk. You're probably best off picking a small handful that play to your strengths as a person and figuring out how to ruthlessly make ha…

(Disclaimer: I'm feeling cynical today.) I assume that elite athletes aren't complete idiots, though. When an interviewer asks them how they got where they are, it's not great PR to say "luck" or "genetics" or "my parents forced me", even if that were the most accurate explanation. "I worked really hard for it" is the story that people want to hear. Which is more likely: that cliché statements get repeated because of…

Well because its true. Hard work for an athlete is even more important than hard work for getting rich. Luck and being in the right place, knowing the right people, right things, etc are all far more important these days for wealth than how many hours you put in at the office.

With athletics there are bunch of pre-reqs, and a lot of luck but for most physical sports your going to have to work as hard as you possibly can for years. The genetics and working hard makes you a competitor, then you have to find an edge to actually win.

Re: How to get rich without getting lucky (2018)

#49

Post by berberous » Fri, Jun 07, 2019, 2:22 AM UTC

warp_factor wrote: post #10

I used to follow that guy religiously then I realized that he knew how to hack the "attention" system on social media. He is famous for what really is little fluffy sentences that would get retweeted and make him look like a wise man with the ultimate truth about everything. Now I see him as a huge hack. Almost a complete parody of Silicon Valley.

I think he comes off better on this podcast than on twitter: https://medium.com/@gaurav1886/learnings-from-farnam-street-...

Re: How to get rich without getting lucky (2018)

#50

Post by whatamidoingyo » Fri, Jun 07, 2019, 2:32 AM UTC

busymom0 wrote: post #8

> Study microeconomics, game theory, psychology, persuasion, ethics, mathematics, and computers. Anyone have any book recommendations for these? Any favorites?

>Psychology >Persuasion

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion is a must read. Also, Robert Greene books, such as the 48 Laws of Power, Mastery, etc. are really good as well, but the 48 Laws of Power gave me a weird feeling. You should also read Edward Bernays, as he's one of the fathers of modern marketing/media. (Disclaimer: I'm not a psychologist).

>Mathematics

I like to go through text books, but my absolute favorite book that I've read is The Motion Paradox by Joseph Mazur(brother of the great Barry Mazur) - it's what really sparked my interest in mathematics. There's also Fermat's Enigma(reads like a novel, really nice). I also have another book called Problem Solving Through Recreational Mathematics, published by dover thrift editions. It's a fun book, with a bunch of puzzles based on various subjects. Also A History of Mathematics is a nice read too, mostly for reference, but you could probably make reading a chapter a day a thing.