The Personal Development & Financial Independence Thread

Sorry its again been a while, been super busy.

Should have put something out around New Year what with resolutions etc but glad I remembered in Jan atleast.


Talks about developer in the title but that just the context he applied it to.
Application of the One Thing method that is a fav of mine for goal setting development.
It is one I keep going back to.
Only 7 minutes long.

Hope it helps :)
 
I've been watching a lot of videos from this guy:


He's built a very impressive portfolio on what he calls 'an average teachers salary'.

This tidbit really blew my mind, 12 years to reach 250k, but only 15 to reach 500k:

1738060694011.png
 
prod said:
I've been watching a lot of videos from this guy:


He's built a very impressive portfolio on what he calls 'an average teachers salary'.

This tidbit really blew my mind, 12 years to reach 250k, but only 15 to reach 500k:

View attachment 1791483
Click to expand...

and then the stock market crashes -50% and he's down and out..

remember in a bull market even a blind mouse with one testicle can make money and seem like a guru.

DCA and you'll be fine, no other strategies or financial advisors etc.
 
prod said:
I've been watching a lot of videos from this guy:


He's built a very impressive portfolio on what he calls 'an average teachers salary'.

This tidbit really blew my mind, 12 years to reach 250k, but only 15 to reach 500k:

View attachment 1791483
Click to expand...
Great video to understand the power of compounding.
Also easy to follow.
Fair play to him on saying Index ETFs would have out performed had he been able to start with those.
And lastly crazy to think if he moved here 500k pounds would a decent retirement already. (atleast imo)
 
prod said:
I've been watching a lot of videos from this guy:


He's built a very impressive portfolio on what he calls 'an average teachers salary'.

This tidbit really blew my mind, 12 years to reach 250k, but only 15 to reach 500k:

View attachment 1791483
Click to expand...
This looks like a hell of a lot of work to put into a portfolio that size.
 
ronz91 said:
do you mean his method or the video?
Click to expand...

Maybe that the guy should've just invested into one or two ETFs and called it a day. Which, to be fair, he does say and he even has a video on how much money he 'lost' by not doing that.
 
prod said:
Maybe that the guy should've just invested into one or two ETFs and called it a day. Which, to be fair, he does say and he even has a video on how much money he 'lost' by not doing that.
Click to expand...
Yeah, and don't forget the opportunity cost. If optimizing finances is this important to him, perhaps figuring out how to earn more would be time better spent.
 
cguy said:
Yeah, and don't forget the opportunity cost. If optimizing finances is this important to him, perhaps figuring out how to earn more would be time better spent.
Click to expand...

I think that's a bit unfair :) It's just an interesting video (to me anyway) on how regular saving over a long period of time can get one closer to financial independence.

More in particular: how it starts snowballing at some point.
 
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prod said:
I think that's a bit unfair :) It's just an interesting video (to me anyway) on how regular saving over a long period of time can get one closer to financial independence.

More in particular: how it starts snowballing at some point.
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I think that savings and compounding is generally a given. The thing that always gets me, is how someone will spend 100's of hours to usually get less than index returns, instead of using that time to earn income or improve their skills in order to earn more income. If the delta income (i.e., how much more you can beat an index or some other professionally optimized portfolio by), is significant in comparison to your income, only then should one be spending time on this.

IMO, this is one of the biggest blind spots of the FIRE squad. They're jumping through hoops trying to save every cent they can, while obsessing over financial reports and stock charts, while in the meantime, some dev over at Microsoft who has never really even paid attention decides that a few million $ at age 40 is enough now, and spends the rest of their lives at the beach.
 
cguy said:
I think that savings and compounding is generally a given. The thing that always gets me, is how someone will spend 100's of hours to usually get less than index returns, instead of using that time to earn income or improve their skills in order to earn more income. If the delta income (i.e., how much more you can beat an index or some other professionally optimized portfolio by), is significant in comparison to your income, only then should one be spending time on this.

IMO, this is one of the biggest blind spots of the FIRE squad. They're jumping through hoops trying to save every cent they can, while obsessing over financial reports and stock charts, while in the meantime, some dev over at Microsoft who has never really even paid attention decides that a few million $ at age 40 is enough now, and spends the rest of their lives at the beach.
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If I had the smarts to work as a dev at MS...I would've also retired with a few million dollars at 40 ;)
 
prod said:
If I had the smarts to work as a dev at MS...I would've also retired with a few million dollars at 40 ;)
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Heh. Therein lies part of the problem though - a lot of these people don't think that they have the smarts to work somewhere better, but somehow simultaneously believe that they can beat the market.
 
cguy said:
Heh. Therein lies part of the problem though - a lot of these people don't think that they have the smarts to work somewhere better, but somehow simultaneously believe that they can beat the market.
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fair point, I have never thought of it that way.

I think when investing in individual shares, one should focus on an area of expertise, usually the area your day job or a serious hobby/passion is. Then you may have a chance of better than average returns.
 
ronz91 said:
fair point, I have never thought of it that way.

I think when investing in individual shares, one should focus on an area of expertise, usually the area your day job or a serious hobby/passion is. Then you may have a chance of better than average returns.
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Most of the people making buy/sell decisions are professional traders with a ton of information about the sector, the companies they are trading, the macro economy, as well as detailed mathematical analyses on the history of the companies from both a fundamentals and a systematic perspective, including which other companies are related, and how strongly they are related, and how strongly and given company (or portfolio of companies) reacts to specific kinds of information/events.

You really have to be able to do this better than them to win, or have a long term view of the company/industry that only you can see.

Betting that the rest of the market is uninformed is usually not a good bet.
 
cguy said:
Betting that the rest of the market is uninformed is usually not a good bet.
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Agreed

cguy said:
You really have to be able to do this better than them to win, or have a long term view of the company/industry that only you can see.
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Why do you say "only you can see"? If the value of the company's share increases, all holders prosper, expert or noob.
 
ronz91 said:
Why do you say "only you can see"? If the value of the company's share increases, all holders prosper, expert or noob.
Click to expand...
The baseline is “can you pick a better a better portfolio than the s&p” (or some other index), otherwise you would just buy the index. If a company you pick goes up, you all benefit, but if it goes down you all lose, so the real question is whether or not your pick has better prospects for the given risk profile than the index.

The only way the above happens is if you have an edge vs the rest of the market (ie, something only you can see). Since when you buy at a given price, nobody else is willing to pay any more for it (or the price would be higher).

Some people do have this edge, and you have to pick better than them to beat the index, otherwise on average you are likely to make less returns than buying the index. Remember that if someone else is on average beating the market, it means that the collective other side of their trades is losing.
 
cguy said:
The baseline is “can you pick a better a better portfolio than the s&p” (or some other index), otherwise you would just buy the index. If a company you pick goes up, you all benefit, but if it goes down you all lose, so the real question is whether or not your pick has better prospects for the given risk profile than the index.

The only way the above happens is if you have an edge vs the rest of the market (ie, something only you can see). Since when you buy at a given price, nobody else is willing to pay any more for it (or the price would be higher).

Some people do have this edge, and you have to pick better than them to beat the index, otherwise on average you are likely to make less returns than buying the index. Remember that if someone else is on average beating the market, it means that the collective other side of their trades is losing.
Click to expand...
hmmm I need to chew on this abit more...
 

Alex touched on a lot of The One Thing princuples in the beginning which was great to hear.
 
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