4 ms·

Well you can play millions of poker hands online. Life isn't like that. You have only ~30 years, and you have 30 * 365 = 10950 hands if we count each day as a h

Well you can play millions of poker hands online. Life isn't like that. You have only ~30 years, and you have 30 * 365 = 10950 hands if we count each day as a hand. So what you need to work on is how you define "success" in life. Money is a high variance objective, whereas self-improvement is a low variance objective. I think finding a good balance of variance and tolerance to risk is a key to happiness.

gammabetadelta 4y ago
yep and in the long-run we are all dead
angarg12 4y ago
Slight offtopic, but this is why the "if you try hard enough you will succeed" advice sounds like BS to me. Even if the most dedicated entrepreneur can only try so many startups in their lives. If the odds are vanishingly small then success is far from guaranteed. Rejecting the role of luck in our outcomes is delusional, and people who support it have something to peddle (if only their own personal brand as thought leaders).
- layer8 4y ago
  Yeah, it’s more like “if you don’t try hard you’re unlikely to be successful” combined with “you shouldn’t underestimate your chances of having some kind of success if you put in some grit”.
- ryandrake 4y ago
  If you're good, your profit depends on the number of hands you get to play. And that number of hands you get to play is based on your bankroll. In the non-poker real world, most people maybe get to play one hand in life, and that’s it. One at-bat in a baseball game, to use a different analogy. You dump 20 years of savings into buying that laundromat, and that’s your only shot of making it. If we are really lucky we might get one or two more hands to play but that’s it for the vast majority of us. The rich get as many hands/at-bats in life that they want to play, so they will eventually win one. They can just serially start business after business until one of them lucks out and succeeds, then do talks for the rest of their lives on how to be good at business. Money buys you chances to make money.
  - WJW 4y ago
    Alternately, if you find yourself in the situation where you were not born rich then that should influence your strategy. Apply the Kelly criterion and carefully make a number of appropriately sized bets based on your currently available capital. Don't dump 20 years of savings into anything, but carefully build up investments over time. Measuring your net worth against those born rich is a fools errand, but you can definitely make your children have a better shot against their children. True wealth is almost never built up in a single generation, despite the fairy tales about the "American Dream" that we tell our children.
criddell 4y ago
30 years? Maybe your tolerance to risk is a bit on the high side...
- UmbertoNoEco 4y ago
  High side? If I am understanding OP correctly he says one only has 30 years to "make it in live" or you're fucked and if I am understanding you correctly you think that is too high. If that is the case both of you are wrong.

gammabetadelta 4y ago

yep and in the long-run we are all dead

angarg12 4y ago

Slight offtopic, but this is why the "if you try hard enough you will succeed" advice sounds like BS to me. Even if the most dedicated entrepreneur can only try so many startups in their lives. If the odds are vanishingly small then success is far from guaranteed. Rejecting the role of luck in our outcomes is delusional, and people who support it have something to peddle (if only their own personal brand as thought leaders).

layer8 4y ago
Yeah, it’s more like “if you don’t try hard you’re unlikely to be successful” combined with “you shouldn’t underestimate your chances of having some kind of success if you put in some grit”.
ryandrake 4y ago
If you're good, your profit depends on the number of hands you get to play. And that number of hands you get to play is based on your bankroll. In the non-poker real world, most people maybe get to play one hand in life, and that’s it. One at-bat in a baseball game, to use a different analogy. You dump 20 years of savings into buying that laundromat, and that’s your only shot of making it. If we are really lucky we might get one or two more hands to play but that’s it for the vast majority of us. The rich get as many hands/at-bats in life that they want to play, so they will eventually win one. They can just serially start business after business until one of them lucks out and succeeds, then do talks for the rest of their lives on how to be good at business. Money buys you chances to make money.
- WJW 4y ago
  Alternately, if you find yourself in the situation where you were not born rich then that should influence your strategy. Apply the Kelly criterion and carefully make a number of appropriately sized bets based on your currently available capital. Don't dump 20 years of savings into anything, but carefully build up investments over time. Measuring your net worth against those born rich is a fools errand, but you can definitely make your children have a better shot against their children. True wealth is almost never built up in a single generation, despite the fairy tales about the "American Dream" that we tell our children.

criddell 4y ago

30 years? Maybe your tolerance to risk is a bit on the high side...

UmbertoNoEco 4y ago
High side? If I am understanding OP correctly he says one only has 30 years to "make it in live" or you're fucked and if I am understanding you correctly you think that is too high. If that is the case both of you are wrong.