81–90 of 112 posts
If it is any consolation, we will probably experience massive inflation in the next 20-30 years. Those with primarily financial (and not physical) assets will be hardest hit. At some point the economic wizardry will hit the fan. But on a less depressing note, I suggest paying less attention to the areas where people are “getting rich.” Money isn’t the measure of true value and you will rarely find a correlation betwe…
How do you not become discouraged? You don't have your identity in doing better than everyone else. And you don't have your happiness in how much money you have or in what you can buy. And how do you do that ? Aye, there's the rub. I think you do it by having your identity and your happiness somewhere else. You need more than just "not there". You need a specific somewhere else. For me, it's in Jesus Christ and his l…
That HN submission about hard work rubbed me the wrong way. Because people said that being the best is the only thing that matters you literally shouldn't even try if your IQ is too low. The idea that everyone is trying to become the best is wrong. Everyone is trying to find their place in this world and that may sometimes involve trying to become the best. I don't know why but everyone seems to forget that the avera…
Being the best version of yourself. If your IQ is too low, the first step is to improve it. Hard work.
It is not true, you see it because people like to brag. But they prefer to hide their problems, sometimes very deep. The society discourages talking about these things unless you are close friends. Whereas positive aspects are amplified. I give you an example. I have a couple of friends with two kids. They have an amazing FB/Instagram feed. You immediately see a wonderful model family living in a beautiful house, tra…
It is not true, you see it because people like to brag. But they prefer to hide their problems, sometimes very deep. The society discourages talking about these things unless you are close friends. Whereas positive aspects are amplified. I give you an example. I have a couple of friends with two kids. They have an amazing FB/Instagram feed. You immediately see a wonderful model family living in a beautiful house, tra…
Someone in my family lost over 20K in bitcoin when he sold for lower than what he bought them for during recent ups and downs. So yea, this is nothing but selection bias. Not to mention that outside of HN echo chamber, there are plenty of people who have no idea how to do crypto, index funds, startups and what not. They go to work, get a paycheck, do may be a 401K and live paycheck to paycheck.
I basically used it as a benchmark and never even saved a single wallet file, it was worthless junk data at the time since no one was even sure it was going to be worth something.
It’s taken years since the first booms past $10k but I’m pretty zen now about the fact I threw away what was basically a hybrid between Schrödinger’s cat and a lottery ticket that one day turned into stuff worth a couple hundred of million dollars.
Edit: hope no one thinks I mean this in a “at least you only lost $20k” or “you think that’s bad” sort of way. I definitely have a sympathy for that feeling of loss, and share this story to highlight just how impossible it can be to predicted future value. There are lots of similar stories about startups like Dropbox trying to sell to Apple, or Blockbuster passing on Netflix and the list goes on. The lesson is to be accept the outcome of your past choices as the right one at the time (as long as there’s no real direct negative repercussions, but there’s not normally when it comes to investments) and be happy you got what you did from your choice at the time… be it a lawn ornament, paperweight, some deeper knowledge of Linux clusters, or a few thousand dollars.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Someone in my family lost over 20K in bitcoin when he sold for lower than what he bought them for during recent ups and downs. So yea, this is nothing but selection bias. Not to mention that outside of HN echo chamber, there are plenty of people who have no idea how to do crypto, index funds, startups and what not. They go to work, get a paycheck, do may be a 401K and live paycheck to paycheck.
I mined more than a few thousand Bitcoin back in the pre-“Bitcoin pizza” days when it was a complete curiosity. Difficulty so low you could chuck a couple dozen desktops at it for a weekend and come back with dozens and dozens of Bitcoin on Monday morning. I basically used it as a benchmark and never even saved a single wallet file, it was worthless junk data at the time since no one was even sure it was going to be…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I mined more than a few thousand Bitcoin back in the pre-“Bitcoin pizza” days when it was a complete curiosity. Difficulty so low you could chuck a couple dozen desktops at it for a weekend and come back with dozens and dozens of Bitcoin on Monday morning. I basically used it as a benchmark and never even saved a single wallet file, it was worthless junk data at the time since no one was even sure it was going to be…
That is a great philosophy to have, and a great description of these hindsight opportunities.
I had my fun and learned some cool stuff. It’s been the anchor I hold whenever I notice the price of Bitcoin and do the trivial multiplication between the current cost of Bitcoin and what I remember roughly mining all those years ago. But like I said, regular exposure to the ideal does help. It’s much easier to come to terms with “loosing”/not acquiring a thousand dollars or ten thousand or a hundred thousand before it turns into millions of dollars than it is to come to terms with suddenly discovering that something you discarded and never thought about is worth a hundred million.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Predicting high inflation while interest rates are low seems crazy to me. The Fed can and will raise interest rates, causing inflation to moderate. High interest rates will devastate parts of the economy, but that's a different and more well known problem.
Can the Fed raise interest rates significantly without bankrupting the Federal government? The Federal debt needs to be rolled over every now and then. At certain interest rates, the costs of servicing the debt become unacceptably high. Where is that 'breaking point'? If you see some serious analysis of this, please let me know. But there is a higher bound to which the Fed can feasibly raise interest rates. So it is…
The Fed sets a different rate, one that banks use to lend money to each other. It forms kind of a floor for lending. They raise it to reduce lending, and thus slowing down the economy in general (and thus reducing inflation).
They've kept the latter at nearly zero -- arguably for the not-great reason of propping up assets. If anything, raising that would make bonds more attractive relative to stocks, dropping the interest rate further. Instead, we've gotten inflation, but only in the asset markets, not consumer inflation.
They actually wanted consumer inflation to be higher, so that consumers would be forced to put their money in asset markets rather than holding it in cash. They've finally gotten their wish, though it's likely that it is due more to pandemic-related shutdowns than to monetary-based demand.
Aquire something Money can’t buy, like a skill. Then take solace in the thought that money can (did) lose all its value over night, while the skill you acquired remains. Also think about that it’s easier to find true friendship when you have little more to offer than yourself. Basically stop glorifying material wealth. I know, easier said than done :)
The vast majority of people's wealth consists of their own body and mind. People always say how inflation hits the poor but if they spend all their money and switch jobs frequently to get raises with inflation it is basically neutral to them because all their wealth is stored in their body and mind. The real problem is that during inflation and negative interest rates monopolies like land become stronger and can take…
It is not true, you see it because people like to brag. But they prefer to hide their problems, sometimes very deep. The society discourages talking about these things unless you are close friends. Whereas positive aspects are amplified. I give you an example. I have a couple of friends with two kids. They have an amazing FB/Instagram feed. You immediately see a wonderful model family living in a beautiful house, tra…
Because the perception is not the reality. There is no great gravy train that you're missing out on. Yes, there are real opportunities for certain -- but there are always real opportunities. There's nothing special about today on that count.
Also, I'd point out the old adage: Comparing yourself to others will make you both vain and bitter, because there will always be someone doing worse than you, and always someone doing better.
But, to actually answer your question: I don't become discouraged or distracted because it's not my goal to "get rich". I have other goals, instead.