16 ms·

My take is different and I don’t think there is one way to live either. I take my dad’s words: spend the money and time well, and enjoy your life. So save eno

My take is different and I don’t think there is one way to live either. I take my dad’s words: spend the money and time well, and enjoy your life. So save enough every month and get a good meal either alone or treat your family to a good brunch/dinner. Plan a trip at least once a year. Go to movies or do something healthy you have never done before. Buy new clothes. Whatever But have a budget. Spebd 100% is IMO a bad advice. When you need the money you have none. I also do not recommend invest in stock market unless you are buying one of those low-price stocks that will go up crazy. Instead I would save up enough money, buy a house. Owning a land or an apartment will do you far better in the long run. Buy some gold when you have spare. Also invest in your life insurance; Usually you pay about 20-30 years then you get money just like social security (and some you can cash all with a big bonus). I have been through tough time. If it weren’t for the medical leave $$ my employer provides through insurance, I would be forced to sell my house at age 26 right now in NYC. Think in the long term: professional developmebt is great but do not let career be the only thing be your long term prospect. Putting 100% without saving is a big risk you really want to avoid. Sometimes I have the urge to tell people why I think they should stop coding after work. But hey, if that makes them happy (I get it might be a hobby) great. But please do not fall into “this is norm”. I went to a lot of conferences and hackathons; great but don’t really satisify me as much as enjoy an outdoor view. Going to a new city for a talk is good for as long as you really have the chance to experience that city. Otherwise I’d wait for video to come out (and I feel bad so nany conferences do not organize publish conference videos). In the end, what is good for saving a million dollar when you are sick and tired all the time?

vog 9y ago
> But have a budget. Spend 100% is IMO a bad advice Fully agree with this and everything above. However, ... > I also do not recommend invest in stock market > Instead I would save up enough money, buy a house. Owning a land or an apartment will do you far better in the long run. Buy some gold when you have spare. Isn't this advice contradictory? The goal is to reduce risk, isn't it? Then buying a house is very risky. If it is old, reparation costs are impossible to predict. If it is new, you have to watch over a building site which can easily blow its initial budget, both in time and money. Same for buying gold. Nowadays the gold price is almost decoupled from its material value. This is mostly circle speculating with how other people will perceive the value of gold in the future. Of course buying individual stocks is much more risky than either houses or gold, but that's what index funds are for, aren't they?
- yeukhon 9y ago
  Risk is unavoidable, but we have weigh the long term risk. Blue chip stocks are great for long-term but very low return and probably don’t worth anything.... The problem with the mortage crisis in 2008 has to do with bad credit. If you save money and have a steady income, go head. Right now is still a good time as interest rate is still low (I went from variable to fixed after building enough credit). The risk is people buy a house when they can barely afford one or can’t even afford one at all. Ask family to help contribute for your first buy, and pay back. I never get the “buy alone, never bother family” thing. Disclaimer: my parents did buy the house and I refinanced the house so I paid back. That being said I have a mortage (3k) monthly for 20 years at 4.25%. If I can’t pay back I still have to sell the house or the bank will take away, so doesn’t matter if my parents did buy the house in full initially. The risk is the same, but the money is well-spebt if you start saving now. As far as gold, you can buy gold and save them. Perhaps this is a Chinese thing. We buy gold from stores and keep them in a safe, we don’t buy virtual golds at all knowing we don’t really own anything. The point is sell them when you can, either at high or when you really need thr cash. Remember physical is better than paper bills. Coin itself is worth more than a piece of paper. This is why I believe owning a car is far better in the long run. My dad bought one for $8000 SUV and it last about 10 years before he decided to get a new one. That old car about 15 years old was sold for $3000. Good deal! There is a Chinese saying: we work to buy a brick. Because a brick can be reused, but a piece of contract can’t. This is so evident in NYC as Chinese immigrants own so many apartments/houses, and they rent them out to make $$. I also rent out my second floor to help pay back my mortage... I know all the above can’t apply to everyone, espeically for those who live in expensive areas like SV (which is why I avoid working there). But look around, there must be a way for you to save money.... just review your monthly spend. Cancel a service you rarely or don’t use anymore... $100 save every month means $1200 a year.
  - jimmies 9y ago
    You are doing many that the course says do not do -- stashing gold, thinking one kind of investment (buying properties) is always better than others, thinking one kind of fiat money is better than another, etc. You are basing many of those decisions based on your personal luck and other people's anecdotal experiences, but not what the data said.
brazzy 9y ago
> Also invest in your life insurance; Usually you pay about 20-30 years then you get money just like social security (and some you can cash all with a big bonus). Some of your other points I agree with, others are debatable, but this here is just objectively incredibly bad advice. A life insurance is one of the worst investments you can possibly make: You'll pay huge fees (hidden, of course) and get very limited returns (far worse than an average stock) just for the peace of mind of not having to see the value of your investment go down (which should not matter over a 20-30 year timeframe).
- yeukhon 9y ago
  Isn't everything subjective? If there is an objective way, then we wouldn't be having this conversation. I based on my own experience and my family's experience. My dad can sell his insurance which worth at least half a million after 20 years of investment.
  - zrail 9y ago
    Take the annual premium that your dad put into life insurance over those 20 years and plug it into http://www.cfiresim.com http://www.cfiresim.com with these params: Start 2017, end 2037 0 portfolio to start, leave the rest of the defaults. 0 spending on the right hand side. Scroll down and plug the annual premium (not the monthly) in as "other income" from 2017 through 2037. Hit the big green "Run Simulation" button at the top. I'm guessing you'll see a much higher number than $500,000. I ran the simulation with a $12,000 premium and got an average $500k payout, but the premiums are probably quite a bit higher than that if he has a $500k cash value.
    - yeukhon 9y ago
      The premium we paid was $5000 a year.
  - sokoloff 9y ago
    In general, if you need life insurance, buy term life insurance, which is a pure play insurance product. Whole life and other investments-mixed-into-insurance frippery are designed to make the insurance companies and salespersons more money. Buying term and investing the difference is almost surely a +EV play.
QML 9y ago
The jump from investing in stocks to buying a house is a tall one — especially in the Bay Area.
- yeukhon 9y ago
  Here is another advice. If you can't afford buying a house in Bay Area, and you need the extra cash, you may consider buying a house in Southern part of the country. It is usually about $50,000 - $100,000. Then you can rent out to college students for $300 - $500 a month. When I go to Lake George I rent a house for a few days. The owner is actually from NJ, and he just hire a contractor to look after the property on a periodic basis (maybe $1000 a month for several properties). Imagine you get $3000 a month for a $60,000 plus $1000 to have someone manage your house on a regular basis. You get back your investment in 3 years. Let's be realistic too. How about in 8 years? Now you have a steady income $2000-$3000 a month. That's a nice bonus to your annual income. Can you afford buying Apple stock and hope to make $500 a month with the stock is already so high? Every month you are paying more and more to cover more share. You will realize you are not making anything. Buy low-price stocks that will take off instead. Finally, when you need $200,000 for whatever emergency, you can refinance from the bank. Can you do this from your stock investment which again has very low return? I know people who make several thousands a month but these are rare. Housing isn't. If buying property can't generate revenue, no one would be buying property and renting out. There is a reason why the property market is so expensive now, because owning a piece of land == sell high. We bought the house here for half a million, and if I actually sell it right now to build a condo I could get back my investment in 10 years or less (or sell it directly to someone).
  - argv_empty 9y ago
    Can you afford buying Apple stock and hope to make $500 a month with the stock is already so high? Why do you bring up the straw man of buying individual stocks? Trying to get clever about picking stocks and when to buy/sell is directly contrary to the course's advice. Nobody but you seems to be recommending a non-diversified approach here, and you seem to hold some strange ideas as to the historic performance of various asset classes.

vog 9y ago

> But have a budget. Spend 100% is IMO a bad advice Fully agree with this and everything above. However, ... > I also do not recommend invest in stock market > Instead I would save up enough money, buy a house. Owning a land or an apartment will do you far better in the long run. Buy some gold when you have spare. Isn't this advice contradictory? The goal is to reduce risk, isn't it? Then buying a house is very risky. If it is old, reparation costs are impossible to predict. If it is new, you have to watch over a building site which can easily blow its initial budget, both in time and money. Same for buying gold. Nowadays the gold price is almost decoupled from its material value. This is mostly circle speculating with how other people will perceive the value of gold in the future. Of course buying individual stocks is much more risky than either houses or gold, but that's what index funds are for, aren't they?

yeukhon 9y ago
Risk is unavoidable, but we have weigh the long term risk. Blue chip stocks are great for long-term but very low return and probably don’t worth anything.... The problem with the mortage crisis in 2008 has to do with bad credit. If you save money and have a steady income, go head. Right now is still a good time as interest rate is still low (I went from variable to fixed after building enough credit). The risk is people buy a house when they can barely afford one or can’t even afford one at all. Ask family to help contribute for your first buy, and pay back. I never get the “buy alone, never bother family” thing. Disclaimer: my parents did buy the house and I refinanced the house so I paid back. That being said I have a mortage (3k) monthly for 20 years at 4.25%. If I can’t pay back I still have to sell the house or the bank will take away, so doesn’t matter if my parents did buy the house in full initially. The risk is the same, but the money is well-spebt if you start saving now. As far as gold, you can buy gold and save them. Perhaps this is a Chinese thing. We buy gold from stores and keep them in a safe, we don’t buy virtual golds at all knowing we don’t really own anything. The point is sell them when you can, either at high or when you really need thr cash. Remember physical is better than paper bills. Coin itself is worth more than a piece of paper. This is why I believe owning a car is far better in the long run. My dad bought one for $8000 SUV and it last about 10 years before he decided to get a new one. That old car about 15 years old was sold for $3000. Good deal! There is a Chinese saying: we work to buy a brick. Because a brick can be reused, but a piece of contract can’t. This is so evident in NYC as Chinese immigrants own so many apartments/houses, and they rent them out to make $$. I also rent out my second floor to help pay back my mortage... I know all the above can’t apply to everyone, espeically for those who live in expensive areas like SV (which is why I avoid working there). But look around, there must be a way for you to save money.... just review your monthly spend. Cancel a service you rarely or don’t use anymore... $100 save every month means $1200 a year.
- jimmies 9y ago
  You are doing many that the course says do not do -- stashing gold, thinking one kind of investment (buying properties) is always better than others, thinking one kind of fiat money is better than another, etc. You are basing many of those decisions based on your personal luck and other people's anecdotal experiences, but not what the data said.

brazzy 9y ago

> Also invest in your life insurance; Usually you pay about 20-30 years then you get money just like social security (and some you can cash all with a big bonus). Some of your other points I agree with, others are debatable, but this here is just objectively incredibly bad advice. A life insurance is one of the worst investments you can possibly make: You'll pay huge fees (hidden, of course) and get very limited returns (far worse than an average stock) just for the peace of mind of not having to see the value of your investment go down (which should not matter over a 20-30 year timeframe).

yeukhon 9y ago
Isn't everything subjective? If there is an objective way, then we wouldn't be having this conversation. I based on my own experience and my family's experience. My dad can sell his insurance which worth at least half a million after 20 years of investment.
- zrail 9y ago
  Take the annual premium that your dad put into life insurance over those 20 years and plug it into http://www.cfiresim.com http://www.cfiresim.com with these params: Start 2017, end 2037 0 portfolio to start, leave the rest of the defaults. 0 spending on the right hand side. Scroll down and plug the annual premium (not the monthly) in as "other income" from 2017 through 2037. Hit the big green "Run Simulation" button at the top. I'm guessing you'll see a much higher number than $500,000. I ran the simulation with a $12,000 premium and got an average $500k payout, but the premiums are probably quite a bit higher than that if he has a $500k cash value.
  - yeukhon 9y ago
    The premium we paid was $5000 a year.
- sokoloff 9y ago
  In general, if you need life insurance, buy term life insurance, which is a pure play insurance product. Whole life and other investments-mixed-into-insurance frippery are designed to make the insurance companies and salespersons more money. Buying term and investing the difference is almost surely a +EV play.

QML 9y ago

The jump from investing in stocks to buying a house is a tall one — especially in the Bay Area.

yeukhon 9y ago
Here is another advice. If you can't afford buying a house in Bay Area, and you need the extra cash, you may consider buying a house in Southern part of the country. It is usually about $50,000 - $100,000. Then you can rent out to college students for $300 - $500 a month. When I go to Lake George I rent a house for a few days. The owner is actually from NJ, and he just hire a contractor to look after the property on a periodic basis (maybe $1000 a month for several properties). Imagine you get $3000 a month for a $60,000 plus $1000 to have someone manage your house on a regular basis. You get back your investment in 3 years. Let's be realistic too. How about in 8 years? Now you have a steady income $2000-$3000 a month. That's a nice bonus to your annual income. Can you afford buying Apple stock and hope to make $500 a month with the stock is already so high? Every month you are paying more and more to cover more share. You will realize you are not making anything. Buy low-price stocks that will take off instead. Finally, when you need $200,000 for whatever emergency, you can refinance from the bank. Can you do this from your stock investment which again has very low return? I know people who make several thousands a month but these are rare. Housing isn't. If buying property can't generate revenue, no one would be buying property and renting out. There is a reason why the property market is so expensive now, because owning a piece of land == sell high. We bought the house here for half a million, and if I actually sell it right now to build a condo I could get back my investment in 10 years or less (or sell it directly to someone).
- argv_empty 9y ago
  Can you afford buying Apple stock and hope to make $500 a month with the stock is already so high? Why do you bring up the straw man of buying individual stocks? Trying to get clever about picking stocks and when to buy/sell is directly contrary to the course's advice. Nobody but you seems to be recommending a non-diversified approach here, and you seem to hold some strange ideas as to the historic performance of various asset classes.