6 ms·

If they did that, I doubt their would be retirements. Assuming all eco-tech companies on WS are trustworthy enough (not Enron-esque), and investing in eco-tech

If they did that, I doubt their would be retirements. Assuming all eco-tech companies on WS are trustworthy enough (not Enron-esque), and investing in eco-tech will "create a world worth retiring in", most people would have seen a significant part of their retirement go to zero. Or if they decided to invest in a publicly traded life-sciences company in hopes of finding more breakthroughs, they would see their investment go towards funding some pricey acquisition instead. "Create a world worth retiring in" is as vague as it gets.

__MatrixMan__ 6y ago
What "a world worth retiring in" means in each retiree's case is gonna vary based on their situation. Wanna die on Mars? Maybe put it all in Space X, I don't know. All I'm saying is that it's a shame that we're taught that the point of investing is to make money, rather than make a difference with a side effect of having more money. Because left to its own devices, money tends to motivate some pretty awful things. I don't want retire rich, I wanna retire post-scarcity. I hate letting my money sit in an account while smart kids can't afford college. Those kids are gonna develop the tech that saves my ass one day--or not--depending on how we play our cards now. Blindly picking a fund based on performance just feels like shooting my future self in the foot.
- troupe 6y ago
  > I hate letting my money sit in an account while smart kids can't afford college If you know of a smart kid that can't afford to go to college, you could make them a reasonable interest loan and it would be a win for both of you.
  - fakedang 6y ago
    There's a YC idea there somewhere. Especially when a lot of family offices are looking at wealth preservation over volatility.
    - jmalicki 6y ago
      What is YC about it? It's called a predatory private student loan.
      - __MatrixMan__ 6y ago
        Agreed. It doesn't matter that I'm the one collecting interest instead of the bank--I've still set that student up to go forth and play zero sum games until they're out of debt, which is the kind of thing I'm wishing for a way to avoid.
        troupe 6y ago
        > I've still set that student up to go forth and play zero sum games until they're out of debt, which is the kind of thing I'm wishing for a way to avoid. You feel that society investing in education is a zero sum game?
      - fakedang 6y ago
        Well most of YC is predatory pricing covered in a veneer of good intentions and tech.
    - chillacy 6y ago
      There are things called Income Sharing Agreements that in theory better align the incentives of lenders and students.

__MatrixMan__ 6y ago

What "a world worth retiring in" means in each retiree's case is gonna vary based on their situation. Wanna die on Mars? Maybe put it all in Space X, I don't know. All I'm saying is that it's a shame that we're taught that the point of investing is to make money, rather than make a difference with a side effect of having more money. Because left to its own devices, money tends to motivate some pretty awful things. I don't want retire rich, I wanna retire post-scarcity. I hate letting my money sit in an account while smart kids can't afford college. Those kids are gonna develop the tech that saves my ass one day--or not--depending on how we play our cards now. Blindly picking a fund based on performance just feels like shooting my future self in the foot.

troupe 6y ago
> I hate letting my money sit in an account while smart kids can't afford college If you know of a smart kid that can't afford to go to college, you could make them a reasonable interest loan and it would be a win for both of you.
- fakedang 6y ago
  There's a YC idea there somewhere. Especially when a lot of family offices are looking at wealth preservation over volatility.
  - jmalicki 6y ago
    What is YC about it? It's called a predatory private student loan.
    - __MatrixMan__ 6y ago
      Agreed. It doesn't matter that I'm the one collecting interest instead of the bank--I've still set that student up to go forth and play zero sum games until they're out of debt, which is the kind of thing I'm wishing for a way to avoid.
      - troupe 6y ago
        > I've still set that student up to go forth and play zero sum games until they're out of debt, which is the kind of thing I'm wishing for a way to avoid. You feel that society investing in education is a zero sum game?
    - fakedang 6y ago
      Well most of YC is predatory pricing covered in a veneer of good intentions and tech.
  - chillacy 6y ago
    There are things called Income Sharing Agreements that in theory better align the incentives of lenders and students.