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Don't Waste the Good Days

seths.blog

271–280 of 333 posts

Re: Don't Waste the Good Days

#271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://visaagencybali.com/visa/investor-visa/ You need to invest in a company - but IIUC you could just buy ~$70k shares of Indonesia Telecom (i.e.), live there for 3 years, collect dividends, and then cash out when you're done. Under normal conditions, I wouldn't want to invest ~$70k in some Indonesian large cap I know nothing about. But if I wanted to live in Bali for a year, this is a pretty easy way to do it...

Very, very few people pay such an amount yet stay many years legally. There's some "fluidity" in the system.

Pedantic - but you aren't really "paying" that amount.

You're investing in something easy to liquidate which has a history of not losing value.

Re: Don't Waste the Good Days

#273

I feel like there is wisdom in "Make hay while the sun shines." When you're young and unencumbered by responsibility and family, when your cognitive abilities are at their peak, when your energy is endless, when your body is strong and healthy, when your knees work, and your fingers can type without arthritis: that's the optimal time to work and earn. Min-max that salary and stay healthy. Due to compounding interest,…

> I'd have played fewer video games, traveled less, and relaxed on the beach less. This seems totally opposite of what old people say on their death bed. You sound so obsessed with money here. My guess is your probably very wealthy relative to the average peer and your too naive to realize it. You have to keep telling yourself this philosophy to justify not wind surfing in Bali. You think your gonna wind surf when yo…

> This seems totally opposite of what old people say on their death bed.

You should nevze give any weight to whatever strangers say on their deathbed because they actually could have done things the way they wanted but every living day actively chose not to do it. Regrets are bullshit.

Re: Don't Waste the Good Days

#274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lots of people I know in a generation or two above me regret not saving when they were younger. Now they're nervous about being 70 and having to retire soon but not feeling stable, or feeling that they may financially burden their children. Compounding interest on money means, as previously mentioned, money you earn at 20 will be 10x as valuable compared to money earned towards a typical retirement age. With tech hav…

> Do experiences compound? Will I enjoy an experience more at 25 than 45? Maybe, and there's always some balance, of course. No one should work themselves to death. There are experiences you may be incapable of considering later in life. Doing stupid, immature shit is fun and forms a person in many ways. Some errors are also better made earlier.

I completely agree. Bones heal faster when you're young!

Re: Don't Waste the Good Days

#275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'd have played fewer video games, traveled less, and relaxed on the beach less. This seems totally opposite of what old people say on their death bed. You sound so obsessed with money here. My guess is your probably very wealthy relative to the average peer and your too naive to realize it. You have to keep telling yourself this philosophy to justify not wind surfing in Bali. You think your gonna wind surf when yo…

Old people on their death bed are telling us what they want to do now, couched as what they would have wanted to do. But they made the decisions they did for reasons that seemed good at the time, and it might well be that they'd make the same ones. Wishing things were different is not the same as a plan to make them different. Or, as I've said about this before: why worry about what death-bed you wants? That person l…

> Old people on their death bed are telling us what they want to do now…

Are they? I assumed they were telling you what has given the most fulfillment, what were their wisest decisions now that they can Monday-morning quarterback.

When I tell my kids my home has been my greatest financial asset and I wish I had bought a home earlier, I am not wishing to buy another home now.

> But they made the decisions they did for reasons that seemed good at the time…

Agree, but the point is that they have hindsight now and, had they this knowledge 50 years ago, they believe the calculus driving those decisions likely would have been different.

I wish I had asked my older relatives more about their younger days before they died and took those experiences with them to their graves. I am very much into recording our family genealogy for my children and future generations and I have lost a trove of valuable narratives because I turned to genealogy too late in my life.

I use it as another example of legitimately wishing I had made different decisions earlier in my life.

Re: Don't Waste the Good Days

#276

I feel like there is wisdom in "Make hay while the sun shines." When you're young and unencumbered by responsibility and family, when your cognitive abilities are at their peak, when your energy is endless, when your body is strong and healthy, when your knees work, and your fingers can type without arthritis: that's the optimal time to work and earn. Min-max that salary and stay healthy. Due to compounding interest,…

I did the contrary. Completely wasted away my young years and money in endless world travels. Couldn't be happier of my decision. It's very subjective tough, and highly dependent on your risk tolerance.

Re: Don't Waste the Good Days

#277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds terrible. You're waiting to be old to be happy? To enjoy life? Maybe it's just how you sounded - maybe you're telling people not to sacrifice their future for their present. But no one should sacrifice their present _completely_ for their future. Mostly because, well, you don't know if you'll have a future. "Stay healthy" won't stop you from developing cancer, heart disease, etc.

Fwiw I have luckily been able to do what the grandparent suggested. I entered big tech early in my career, worked hard and advanced, by luck or by skill who can say? My ship rose with the tide. Now I'm wealthy enough to provide anything my family could reasonably want for the rest of our lives, barring some kind of black swan event. And I am well pleased with this outcome. This did not require a decade and a half of…

I bet a gap year was not out of the question. Or at least a gap 3-6 months between switching jobs is easily doable.

Perhaps they are not necessary for happiness but I bet if you had took that 3-12 months to do whatever it is you wanted to do it'd be the time you look back at most fondly.

Compound interest is great but salary tends to compound as well. At least in the tech sector. I've gone from 60k to 200k in about 8 years. So even though I'm missing that nest egg saving today is way easier than it was in my 20s.

Re: Don't Waste the Good Days

#278

I feel like there is wisdom in "Make hay while the sun shines." When you're young and unencumbered by responsibility and family, when your cognitive abilities are at their peak, when your energy is endless, when your body is strong and healthy, when your knees work, and your fingers can type without arthritis: that's the optimal time to work and earn. Min-max that salary and stay healthy. Due to compounding interest,…

> body is strong and healthy, when your knees work, and your fingers can type without arthrit

Sadly for many young people that's not the case.

There are physical health issues for some.

Mental ones for other.

Some have social issues, like taking care of their terminal ill parents.

For many their 30th and 40th will be full of stress and sometimes misery.

As a result many won't be able to fully enjoy their life in their 50+, to many health issues, to much baggage from the past.

Re: Don't Waste the Good Days

#279

I feel like there is wisdom in "Make hay while the sun shines." When you're young and unencumbered by responsibility and family, when your cognitive abilities are at their peak, when your energy is endless, when your body is strong and healthy, when your knees work, and your fingers can type without arthritis: that's the optimal time to work and earn. Min-max that salary and stay healthy. Due to compounding interest,…

That’s the worst piece of advice I have ever read. We are humans not machines, chasing money should never be a goal in itself. Manu people have a successful and accomplished life by non financial metrics.

Re: Don't Waste the Good Days

#280

I feel like there is wisdom in "Make hay while the sun shines." When you're young and unencumbered by responsibility and family, when your cognitive abilities are at their peak, when your energy is endless, when your body is strong and healthy, when your knees work, and your fingers can type without arthritis: that's the optimal time to work and earn. Min-max that salary and stay healthy. Due to compounding interest,…

> Go windsurfing for a year in Ibiza after college, and you're adding 5 years to your working life

Mist young people can't afford that anyway.

Maybe if you have a wealthy starting points and high standards doing that is a problem.

But for most people retiring before the official retirement age is unlikely, especially given recent economical development.

Similar theire starting point is at a place where for many carrier path that year doesn't matter that much and if you spend it expanding your world view (e.g. work and travel, in the non luxus at all version) might even help you.

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