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Reddit has become a guide to personal finance

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Re: Reddit has become a guide to personal finance

#251

Post by jcims »

snowwrestler wrote: post #247
jcims wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And the quality of that moderation. Any experience with heavy-handed moderation is incredibly frustrating. While I wouldn't call it a predictor because there are many many counter-examples, my favorite subreddits are generally between 10k and 100k subs. Much less and they are a ghost town, much more and you start getting too many drive-by assholes.

/r/askscience is a good example of where pretty heavy moderation has protected the high quality of the comments.

Funny you mention that. Its sister subreddit /r/science is my example of something that has frustrated me greatly in the past. Most of the stories are something I'm trying to learn about, not an expert in, and I've found it very frustrating to try to engage. So if i see anything interesting there, i'll find somewhere else to talk about it.

Re: Reddit has become a guide to personal finance

#252

Post by sf_rob »

toberej wrote: post #108
mlrtime wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you mind sharing the subreddits?

r/fire - financial independence, retire early. r/fatfire - same thing as above but for people looking to have more than "just enough" to retire (multimillion, mostly full of high earners like SWE's, agents or successful entrepreneurs where this goal is somewhat realistic). r/personalfinance & r/ukpersonalfinance - well rounded finance forum. r/frugal - okayish for if you are in a really tough spot. If you are doing o…

r/financialindependence is the bigger FIRE subreddit

Re: Reddit has become a guide to personal finance

#253

Post by matheusmoreira »

rgg_32 wrote: post #74
semicolonandson wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just finished listening to an engaging series of podcasts by Michael Lewis (author of Flash Boys, The Big Short etc.) about the loss of referees in our society. It's called Against the Rules: https://atrpodcast.com/ Much of reddit still has functioning referees in the form of its moderators, but I'm seeing signs of it cracking — e.g. when I researched the backgrounds of certain moderators I found out that they prod…

I’m wondering how long it will take for large companies to realize that people are gradually adapting and starting to look for information on sites other than Google search bar. Today, Google results are a big problem in the sense discussed in the article, there are no more sources of information that can be trusted like in the old days. Some days I reflect with myself trying to figure out how it can be solved…I hope…

> I’m wondering how long it will take for large companies to realize that people are gradually adapting and starting to look for information on sites other than Google search bar.

Hopefully it will take them a very long time. I don't want companies to start poisoning online communities with their hidden advertising. When I visit an online community, I want to read about the real thoughts of real people that are hopefully much smarter than I am, and maybe even post a few of my own. No community wants paid members with ulterior motives and conflicts of interest.

Re: Reddit has become a guide to personal finance

#254

Post by mercutio2 »

erikpukinskis wrote: post #237
fullshark wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 1st and 3rd seem like clearly bad advice, there's no reason a mega backdoor roth should replace a 401k unless your company's matching policy / investment options for 401k are atrociously terrible. The 2nd: I think splurging on a wedding is a frequently valid personal choice and I wouldn't belittle someone for doing it unless they did something insanely irresponsible.

I just have to think this through because now I’ve heard both positions! ...if you put $1,000 in the 401k and it’s matched up to to $2,000 and then it grows to $20,000 and you’re in a 25% tax bracket then you’ll pay $5,000 in taxes on the $20k, leaving you with $15k. ...in the Roth IRA you put $1,000 and it grows to $10,000. You only pay $250 in tax though, so you’re left with $9,750. But that’s far less than $15k. S…

Is it possible you’re confusing the traditional-401k vs. Roth 401k question, with a Mega-backdoor Roth?

Mega-backdoor Roth does not need to be an alternative to a traditional 401k.

AFTER you’ve maxed out your tax advantaged opportunities (mostly, employer 401k), if your employer offers the necessary pre-requisites (of which there are many), a mega-backdoor-Roth is a way to put another $30-40k into a tax advantaged account every year.

It’s an absurdly regressive tax expenditure for the 1%, but if that’s where you’re at, I can’t blame anyone for availing themselves of it.

Re: Reddit has become a guide to personal finance

#255

Post by say_it_as_it_is »

Taking advice from someone on social media is very risky. There's no reason to trust that whomever is giving the advice is an authority on the subject at hand. Not a lawyer, not a doctor, not a financial professional, just a hobby programmer with really strong opinions, not a partner in a VC fund but talking as if I were, etc.

On the other hand, doing something professionally also doesn't imply expertise. My god have I paid for doing business with alleged professionals.

Re: Reddit has become a guide to personal finance

#256

Post by JibJabDab »

basch wrote: post #138
tiew9Vii wrote: post #73

Must admit, reddit got me caring more about my finances. It seems not many people are taught about money properly. I certainly wasn’t and non of my friends where. I’ve always been good in that I never spent what I didn’t have and lived within my means. What savings I did have where in a zero interest current account though! Following the finance Reddit’s at least put me in the right path. 6-12 months cash savings now…

>putting money in to ETF’s until I have enough in the ETF’s I’m willing to by some individual stocks which may not be as stable as the ETFs I have. Are those retirement accounts or taxable brokerage. Because for many people, maxing out their IRA, 401K, and HSA is like 35K a year alone, and putting money into taxable brokerage should take a backseat unless 1) you like the gambling for its entertainment factor 2) you c…

The downside is that putting money into those makes it harder to withdraw for when you do need those funds. Savings accounts makes it much easier to pull available funds. Other than that, you're right.

Re: Reddit has become a guide to personal finance

#257

Post by pjc50 »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #196
virgil_disgr4ce wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The next logical step—as terrifying as it is—is automation. Generate those people with GANs, then you 1) don't have to pay the photo companies (and producing photos with real actors in real locations has MASSIVE overhead compared to just some compute time) and 2) the photos can't be found online. You can similarly generate the history and backstory of each fake person, complete with realistically banal social media p…

And hence we end up with an internet requiring verification via SMS to prove you're a real person or the stupid Google CAPTCHA images or simply having to upload your government issued photo ID.

Of course, you could just have a GAN generate images of photo ID too ..

(Unless Facebook had access to the national ID database, a terrifying prospect)

Re: Reddit has become a guide to personal finance

#258

Post by greenie_beans »

noahbradley wrote: post #114
cool-RR wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Care to share your collection of art subreddits?

/r/art is a mixed bag but pretty good. /r/specart has a lot of good stuff. /r/imaginarylandscapes (and their sibling subreddits) is really high quality. /r/earthporn if you like nature photography.

r/geologyporn is cool too r/mycology has some beautiful mushrooms

Re: Reddit has become a guide to personal finance

#259

Post by mercutio2 »

magduf wrote: post #194
waylandsmithers wrote: post #161

I would personally advise against taking advice from Reddit beyond simply basic answers about various financial products and maths. My problem with larger communities on Reddit is that prevailing opinions seem to emerge, and anything that questions or disagrees with them gets downvoted to hell. On the personal finance subreddits these include ideas like "You should always have 18 months of expenses saved" and "Any mo…

>"Look how smart I am for having a mega-backdoor roth ira instead of a regular 401k like all the idiot sheeple." Maybe you mean "traditional IRA" instead of 401k. The way I understand it, the backdoor Roth IRA depends on you using a company 401k so that you don't have any money in a traditional IRA, and can then contribute cash into an empty traditional IRA, and then "convert" it (move it) to a Roth IRA in the same f…

You are referring to the backdoor Roth IRA, which has a contribution limit of ~$6k/year.

A Mega-backdoor Roth is an even more extreme tax loophole, specifically involving employer 401k plans, which has a similar taxation structure just managed by your employer, and offers $30-40k of additional tax advantaged opportunity.

Re: Reddit has become a guide to personal finance

#260

Post by leetcrew »

Proziam wrote: post #97
christophilus wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

80% of the stuff on /r/securityanalysis is actually top notch. Reddit is a combination of dumpster fires and brilliance.

It's remarkable how true that is of almost all forums that have been around a while. There are dead serious experts on every subject to be found on 4chan for example. Reddit is no different, but each subreddit is basically a tiny little kingdom and not all of them are run well (the LoL subreddit, for example, is a nightmare due to corporate moderation from Riot).

good lord. why would you ever voluntarily become responsible for moderating discussion about your game on a third-party platform?
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