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What Is the Most Valuable Thing You Can Learn in One Hour?

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Re: What Is the Most Valuable Thing You Can Learn in One Hour?

#21

Post by JshWright »

Moodles wrote: post #10

First aid is good. Also general investing in index funds like VTSAX and VTIAX. It is so simple, yet most people I run into on a regular basis just save their money in a checking account earning 0.01% APY. Follow the reddit personal finance flowchart. Learn about Roth and HSAs and ESPP and the benefits of diversification. We’re literally talking about multiples of your net-worth over your life if you invest compared t…

"In the long term" is the important point there. Index funds are not a replacement for FDIC insured accounts. You should be using both.

Re: What Is the Most Valuable Thing You Can Learn in One Hour?

#22

Post by tempsy »

Moodles wrote: post #19
tempsy wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What crowd are you in where most people have all their money in a savings account? That is borderline financial suicide.

My family. Women I’ve dated. I’m back in my hometown for Christmas now and talking to people I knew from school. The average person doesn’t know about this stuff (though most likely has some proportion invested through the default option in their 401(k)). I mean damn, my aunt’s husband died recently and we had to bail her out of 10k credit card debt where she was paying interest. The Hacker News crowd probably knows…

Do they have 401Ks or pensions or other retirement accounts? Then they have stock or bonds.

Re: What Is the Most Valuable Thing You Can Learn in One Hour?

#23

Post by Moodles »

JshWright wrote: post #21
Moodles wrote: post #10

First aid is good. Also general investing in index funds like VTSAX and VTIAX. It is so simple, yet most people I run into on a regular basis just save their money in a checking account earning 0.01% APY. Follow the reddit personal finance flowchart. Learn about Roth and HSAs and ESPP and the benefits of diversification. We’re literally talking about multiples of your net-worth over your life if you invest compared t…

"In the long term" is the important point there. Index funds are not a replacement for FDIC insured accounts. You should be using both.

I did not write that you should only use index funds for everything. In fact I wrote you should follow the Reddit personal finance flowchart.

Re: What Is the Most Valuable Thing You Can Learn in One Hour?

#24

Post by icebraining »

sunstone wrote: post #13

Why is it, exactly, that, as a rule of thumb, almost all people who start life poor and end up rich do it with real estate.

Simple: it's one of the four monopolies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Tucker#Four_monopolie...

Re: What Is the Most Valuable Thing You Can Learn in One Hour?

#25

Post by omarhaneef »

sunstone wrote: post #13

Why is it, exactly, that, as a rule of thumb, almost all people who start life poor and end up rich do it with real estate.

Because it’s really the only place where a non-rich person can get massive 4:1 leverage on their assets, and where there has been a secular growth trend over the last 50 years.

Re: What Is the Most Valuable Thing You Can Learn in One Hour?

#26

Post by Moodles »

tempsy wrote: post #22
Moodles wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My family. Women I’ve dated. I’m back in my hometown for Christmas now and talking to people I knew from school. The average person doesn’t know about this stuff (though most likely has some proportion invested through the default option in their 401(k)). I mean damn, my aunt’s husband died recently and we had to bail her out of 10k credit card debt where she was paying interest. The Hacker News crowd probably knows…

Do they have 401Ks or pensions or other retirement accounts? Then they have stock or bonds.

Yes, I know. They don’t understand what they’re doing very well though. Education will affect their net worth massively.

Re: What Is the Most Valuable Thing You Can Learn in One Hour?

#29

Post by icebraining »

ethanbond wrote: post #14

Taking this also as a bit of an Ask HN: Easily the Tiny Habits habit formation regime created by Stanford researcher BJ Fogg. A lot of the addictive design patterns you see in apps like Snapchat, Instagram, etc. are built off his research. Quite nefarious use of psychology for advertising/“engagement”, but the plus side is you can use the same strategies to build habits you want to build. Step 1: Consider the habit y…

Didn't work for me, I simply started forgetting to do the new "habit" after a few days. I guess if it's just after flossing you can add a note next to the toothbrush, but for others that's not practical.

Re: What Is the Most Valuable Thing You Can Learn in One Hour?

#30

Post by Moodles »

tempsy wrote: post #20
tuesday20 wrote: post #15

Compound interest. Simply starting early in some boring find/investment and not obsessing over daily stock prices will do wonders for one’s health and finances

I always hear this but the theory of compound interest has little to do with stock investing. Not all stocks pay dividends. Most actually do not. And betting on a general YoY rise in stock prices into retirement is not the same thing as compound interest.

Stocks don’t need to pay out dividends for compound growth. Your last sentence is basically: “betting on compound growth is not the same as compound growth”. Yes ok, but a little pedantic imo. Over hundred years of evidence suggests betting on a diversified portfolio of stocks is a good idea in the long term.
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