It said I'll see my folks 0.8 times before they die. Does that mean they'll die while I visit?
See Your Folks
191–196 of 196 posts
Re: See Your Folks
#192Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Take for example a Brit or a German. The people you grow up with and your families might move to another city, but they are always just a reasonable train ride or drive away." Not that reasonable. I'm a Brit, living in Scotland. Many, many of my friends live either 5-and-a-bit hours' train ride away (London) or 7-8 hours by train or car away (Bristol).
Contrast that with the distance between Southern California and Maine... a day-trip by land for you would be a multi-day monstrosity for an American. :(
I was contrasting with the parent comment, which was lamenting 2-5 hour flights - almost exactly the same travel time that I'll need to see my more distant friends.
I do agree that I wouldn't want to do a US-style road trip to visit people!
Re: See Your Folks
#193Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's strange to me how some people seem to obsess so much over retirement. Is your intertemporal discount rate negative (i.e. do you value a dollar 50 years more than you value a dollar today)? That's awfully counterintuitive if you do. There is a risk that the utility will drop to zero if you die before then, and even if it doesn't there is every reason to believe that you will be able to wring more enjoyment out of…
I had to upvote this as this is something I've been saying for years. The amount of things a college grad can do with a million dollars is vastly bigger than the choice an octogenarian has. A dollar simply doesn't have the same value to a young person and an old person. The potential of what you can do with your money greatly diminishes as you age and at some point money even becomes a non-factor. When you're pissing…
You are assuming that as your age increases you eventually become more and more debilitated. Although this has been true for all of human history, it's not unreasonable to think that this might change during our lifetime. See SENS:
People associate frailty with age, but it doesn't have to be that way. If we can fix or clean up the underlying processes that cause aging, being 90 years old will be a very different experience.
Re: See Your Folks
#194Effective site, but I hope the people who found it depressing reconsider their response. The site didn't tell you anything you didn't already know, it only clarified it. Instead of denying information to keep yourself happy, why not use the information? My 69-year-old mother remarked earlier this year that if she didn't get around to some of her life goals soon she wouldn't be able to. Did she say that out of depress…
"Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart." - Steve Jobs I built this to remind myself - http://liveconsciously.me/
Great site, small issue:
After signing up for the mailing list, there is a typo in the link to "continue to our website".
Re: See Your Folks
#195I am happy that this sort of condition is relatively rare in India, from where I hail. Most of us stay with parents and share homes and love. In fact, staying away from parents never even occurred to me before I came in touch with the Western culture that derides staying with parents. At first it seemed rather selfish to me that kids abandon their parents, almost like what happens in the animal kingdom. But later I realized that it's a cultural thing. And there's no judgement passing on either.
The only sad thing is that in India, if you abandon your abusive parents, it's looked down upon. In the West, if you stay with your angel like parents it's still derided. Hope this changes both ways.
Re: See Your Folks
#196Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's every reason not to follow your heart, if your heart doesn't know how to make money. You've gotta have something for retirement...
It's strange to me how some people seem to obsess so much over retirement. Is your intertemporal discount rate negative (i.e. do you value a dollar 50 years more than you value a dollar today)? That's awfully counterintuitive if you do. There is a risk that the utility will drop to zero if you die before then, and even if it doesn't there is every reason to believe that you will be able to wring more enjoyment out of…
If you save a dollar, you can always spend it (plus interest) later. If you spend that dollar now, you lose the option to spend it on something you would have ended up valuing more later.