Live data from Hacker News

Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

fourmilab.ch

151–160 of 186 posts

Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's the biggest reason why I don't mind taking out a loan on a car, one of the most aggressive and most expensive depreciating assets out there: Comfort. Immense comfort. I spend a lot of time in my car. I enjoy the car that I have now (a 2012 Honda Accord EX-L), but the only reason why I didn't take out a lease on something more expensive (like a 535i or an E-class) is because we're planning to move very soon and…

BMW fan here! (To an extent). BMWs have their flaws (buy a 15+ year old E46, I dare you), but damn, it feels much more like they thought things through. Nothing in the interior of my E46 annoyed me. I've driven the F30 as hire cars many times and love it. However, I drove a 2015 Mercedes E-class for 3 days last week...: - The parking brake is a PEDAL and the release is a totally separate lever. - The button to disabl…

Hallo, also kind of BMW fan here; driving 12 year old E39.

It's one of the main selling points of BMW that everything is designed and engineered towards the driver - from the controls to the essence of the driving experience. It's something which is inherited in every successive model.

I can afford buying any of the new models, but rationally can't see what I'll get additionally, besides the ego boost and the quickly fading dopamine kick.

Maybe more efficiency and reliability?

Part of what pleases me is that you get the same level of comfort and experience for so little.

Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#152
post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here in Sweden, people have a debit card or use a debit app. Most people here easily get through life without a credit card. While I don't think it's true that "most westerners can't imagine not having a credit card", I don't have a sense of how much other Western countries use credit cards as compared to debit-based systems. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5380718.stm from 2006 says that UK has the most credit c…

Funny thing is, as a European I never saw the point in credit cards. So when I lived in the US I didn't get one for a few years. Finally my girlfriend pushed me to get one for the free cash back, but the application was denied since I had no credit history (yet a high-paying job and $100k in the bank...). Just weird. You have to be in debt to show that you're responsible enough to handle debt.

I can't help but wonder if it's due to the US using the bank system vs. Europe using the post giro system.

Rather, that's one of the biggest differences I can think of between those two regions, with respect to personal finance.

But I can't figure out what the mechanism might be, so it's more an idle conjecture than something substantial.

Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#153

Can someone recommend other books like this please?

"How To Get Rich" by Felix Dennis

I can second this - straight to the point book written by someone who had already amassed his wealth.

Also worth mentioning is "The Millionaire Fastlane" - the title is sleazy, but it had big impact on my mindset when I've read it.

Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The moral is that redistribution won't bring prosperity Except that it does - up to a certain point. That's one of the few repeatable, tested, and validated economical principle from the XX century. Counter intuitive as it is, there's just no point denying it.

Source?

Well, the first theory is by Keynes, it's on his book.

It's been revised and remodeled several hundreds of times, if you want to search Google Schoolar or something like that, look for "demand side" theories, or crisis of "aggregated demand". Also, if you search for NGDP, the biggest share of the papers will be about this.

There are many other terms that will lead to less results. It's a really widespread concept.

Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The moral is that redistribution won't bring prosperity Except that it does - up to a certain point. That's one of the few repeatable, tested, and validated economical principle from the XX century. Counter intuitive as it is, there's just no point denying it.

If prosperity is "having wealth", then redistributing wealth does bring prosperity. But then you could also say that stealing brings prosperity. Could you not?

So, let me clarify.

Redistribution increases the total wealth, and it is not a small effect at all.

But only up to a certain point. Complete communism still completely sucks.

Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is the correct answer. When you spend money, it doesn't disappear. It's just moved.

Yes, but the goods it can buy on the next round of division still don't come from the spendthrift vagabond, and if his way of life is incentivized while the producers' is disincentivized by this redistribution, then that circulation won't continue so innocuously.

> and if his way of life is incentivized while the producers' is disincentivized by this redistribution

The idea that producers are only incentivized monetarily is false.

Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#158
post #108
post #67

It's interesting how flat human nature stays over time, how advice given 136 years ago is still perfectly applicable today. Over the course of centuries life has changed dramatically, but we still think, worry, feel and act like our ancestors did from a millennium ago. I'd bet you could easily find advice given in the roman empire times that would still be relevant today.

Like the other poster said, a lot of it is survivorship bias. There are tons of stuff that people did 1000 years ago that have just been discarded through time by being clearly ridiculous/wrong. We mostly never even hear about them anymore. Think of all the stuff people did and acted upon in the past based on superstition or baseless beliefs that was just passed on, but today has about a zero chance of being taken se…

And continue that thought and think for a minute about all of the hopeless stupid stuff our generation believes in that the next generations toss.

Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the other half?

Speculative (and unregulated) financial dealings by banks with your cash, leading to ruinous effects on the global economy, ruining much of the middle class in the process?

So it would seem. But I see a root cause for both of these: the centralized pyramid user hierarchy which is inherent in any paper based information system.

"It is part of the age-old habit of using new means for old purposes instead of discovering what are the new goals contained in the new means."

Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#160
post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are acclimatised to debt - most westerners can't imagine not having a credit card - when I tell folks I cut up my first and last card at 17 they assume I'm a delinquent, broke, punishing myself - for in this society we have managed to redefine debt as wealth .

If you pay all your credit card debt on time, there is really no reason to not have a credit card. Sure, you have the capacity to spend a lot of money, but I view that as a benefit and not a curse. Also, I feel a lot safer, since if there are any unauthorized purchases made with the card, the company takes care of it.

Also, credit card points. Get 1-3% back, which adds up.
Post reply on HN