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Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

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Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#61

Post by lottin »

PaulRobinson wrote: post #28
lr4444lr wrote: post #8

I love this part: The poor spendthrift vagabond says to a rich man: "I have discovered there is enough money in the world for all of us, if it was equally divided; this must be done, and we shall all be happy together." "But," was the response, "if everybody was like you, it would be spent in two months, and what would you do then?" "Oh! divide again; keep dividing, of course!"

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

What disappear is the goods the money was spent on, and money is only worth something as long as there are goods that can be bought with it.

Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#62

Post by tigershark »

cname wrote: post #12
wildmusings wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminds me of one of my favorite Maggie Thatcher quotes: "The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money."

I don't know why so many people think Socialism is about welfare. Socialism is about who owns and controls the means of production. Read about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialism

The world is full of people that think that they can do better than everyone else and they are temporarily disgraced because all the other people are just simpletons that cannot understand their mighty genius. Mental institutions are full of people that think in a freakingly similar way.

Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#63

Post by ISL »

cubano wrote: post #47
kristopolous wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ASCII version is even in a zip for the benefit of our 19th century brethren with their slow telegraph dialup connections.

I'm waiting for Morse code API myself.

Somewhere, someone has a ham radio listening for Morse code on a specific frequency. The right Morse code will probably make some equipment do something.

The trick is just figuring out who, what, where, and on which band....

Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#64

Post by alanwatts »

trophycase wrote: post #44
PaulRobinson wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Value and efficiency can disappear though. I could spend 100 dollars on something that falls apart in a month, or spend 1000 for a functionally equivalently something that will last 3 generations. One of these choices is wasteful and hurts economic efficiency, one isn't.

One is based on the broken window fallacy assumption, one isn't.

Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#65

Post by rokhayakebe »

11thEarlOfMar wrote: post #25

Some things never change. Like common sense. This is all true, but it was not all obvious until I'd experienced four or five decades of life lessons. If you think this advice is at all dubious, ask and we'll see if we can explain...

Some things never change. Like common sense.

Epic.

Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#66

Post by Retra »

kjksf wrote: post #40
clishem wrote: post #21

The author of 'So Good They Can't Ignore you' ( http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13525945-so-good-they-can... ) basically argues that the first rule he mentions ("Don't mistake your vocation") is a false myth: "In this eye-opening account, Cal Newport debunks the long-held belief that "follow your passion" is good advice. Not only is the cliché flawed-preexisting passions are rare and have little to do with how mos…

"Don't mistake your vocation" doesn't mean "follow your passion". Paraphrasing, it means "do what you you're naturally good at" "Unless a man enters upon the vocation intended for him by nature, and best suited to his peculiar genius, he cannot succeed".

You'll still end up moving around until you find out what you're great at. Unless by some freak accident you know from the start. For instance, there's _something_ that I'm probably a world-class genius at - I have enough experience being me to suspect that - but I have a very hard time putting it into words what I do, and an even harder time trying to monetize it.

Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#67

Post by Mahn »

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.

Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#68

Post by rokhayakebe »

carlosnunez wrote: post #22
iagooar wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I took a credit once, for buying a car, and will never do it again. Although I never had problems with paying the money back, I was paying a lot more money back to the bank, so when I finished paying the credit off, the car was worth half of the price I bought it, almost having paid double the price because of the credit interests. But the worst part was that it didn't feel right. So now my policy is to never buy any…

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…

Most cars are within the same price range for a lease: honda accord $200, infinity Q50 $300, bmw 3 series $350, mercedes C Class $350, porsche boxter $600, audi A4 $300, hyundai sonata $200, etc...

Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#69

Post by themartorana »

alanwatts wrote: post #64
trophycase wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Value and efficiency can disappear though. I could spend 100 dollars on something that falls apart in a month, or spend 1000 for a functionally equivalently something that will last 3 generations. One of these choices is wasteful and hurts economic efficiency, one isn't.

One is based on the broken window fallacy assumption, one isn't.

Well, if the money was to be spent. Half our problem is the extra cash moving towards the 1% is held, not spent, not circulated.

Re: Golden Rules for Making Money (1880)

#70

Post by refurb »

jjoonathan wrote: post #52
angersock wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even a cursory reading of the story should suggest to a reader a difference between the proposed action (divide equally riches amongst all), and UBI (fund a fixed-amount per citizen per annum). Least of all, if one believes in the ability of capital to be reinvested to create more capital, it is obvious that the second case need hardly injure an economy while still helping the people who are broke. The former case, o…

> it is obvious that the second case need hardly injure an economy I think an even stronger statement holds true: if you don't actively redistribute then you're effectively making an open-loop amplifier which will amplify noise (who happened to be in the right place at the right time) in preference to signal (effort input) -- which is just as harmful to the cultivation of a beneficial incentive landscape (i.e. one th…

Except that many wealthy people are newly wealthy. It's not a feedback loop.
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