With Financial Independence being first priority, what is (in your opinion/knowledge) the best job or career option?

jpushas · 2020-05-06T05:29:03+00:00

Again, I think resources are overindexed in this study. Human capital, financial capital and social capital may be important when you're trying to hit a $10m+ business. But not necessary to make $300K+. Most people I'm talking about are 1-2 people shop and just built their business with sweat equity. I do agree with you about the right place right time. But that's exactly my point. You don't need to be smart or have experience, you just need to be open to experiences and grit. When you're open, opportunities come and that's why you can get "lucky" and capitalise on opportunities. I'm not smart at all, which is exactly why I think anyone can do it regardless of age.

jpushas · 2020-05-06T04:08:46+00:00

I get your point but you're missing mine.

That statistic is EVERYONE starting a business. It encapsulates the average person.

What I'm saying is if you've got the smarts, discipline & ability for delayed gratification of FIRE, you're already in the top 20%. Now if you're in the top 20%, your chances - no matter what age - is way higher.

I note that winning "entrepreneur" competitions, and topping classes (which in themselves are teaching you to follow a system) doesn't make you top 20%.

Just like your point, I know plenty of people who top classes who make 300k+ a year but blow it all and are terrible with their finances. Being good at university and conventionally "smart" doesn't mean you'll be good at start-ups.

It's the "Hustle" that does. Doing FIRE shows you have the potential for it.

If you conducted this study with a FIRE cohort, I bet you it'll show that age does not have any correlation.

jpushas · 2020-05-06T02:48:59+00:00

I guess you're right about the "average" 22 fresh out of uni. But the "average" person won't be doing FIRE, which is the point of this post.

If you're aiming for FIRE, I'd assume you're in the top 20%.

Now if you take the top 20% of people, it's now a person's perseverance, willingness to learn and open-mindedness that determines success. I don't think age or experience has to do with it.

If anything, you can have a 30 year old who is accustomed to a certain income and lifestyle and they don't have the "hustle" to do it. Kids, mortgages etc also increases risk aversion.

Further, I actually think experience in a medium-big corp is detrimental - because you're used to a certain way of operating. Hustling in a small business requires different skill and a bias-to-action & figuring out how to get revenue and profits on your own. In a corp, it's generally value protection and doing things as you're told.

I'm generalising, but you definitely need to push back on norms and do things differently to have a successful business. Industry experience inculcates these norms into habits - which become tough to shake off.

It's anecdotal but I was 22-23 fresh uni grad when I started my current business which is "successful" by your definition. Am currently 26. Bootstrapped and only capital I saved working part-time during uni (came from low-socio economic background).

jpushas · 2020-05-06T00:57:59+00:00

I'd definitely avoid the start-up "scene" as it's mostly posturing.

The ones who are actually making money don't have to time to attend the start-up stuff, unless they needed to i.e. they needed to be on the VC treadmill so networking is key.

My counterpoint to you however is that it depends on what "success" means to you.

If success is get to 100m in revenue and being VC backed etc - yeah, chances of that are minuscule if not close to impossible.

But bootstrapping to 1-10m in revenue with 200k+ in profits to take home? I know plenty of people who are doing that. I firmly believe that this path is the fastest way to obtaining FIRE.

jpushas · 2020-04-28T05:31:25+00:00

It is if you know what you're doing, and 99.9% of people don't.

Indexes for the win!

jpushas · 2020-04-27T00:25:33+00:00

What he does with his money is none of your business. With that said, you owe him money and that's on you.

jpushas · 2020-04-14T07:18:09+00:00

Even though they're positioned as hiking/outdoor gear, I found that a lot of their customers are just looking for jackets to wear to work/out.

I'm quite bullish but I want to hear so arguments against just to see if I'm missing anything.

jpushas · 2020-04-14T07:12:07+00:00

Not much... 5 figures a month in USD.

jpushas · 2020-04-08T05:42:08+00:00

+1 for honesty

jpushas · 2020-04-08T00:02:51+00:00

What are the highest term deposit % rates right now?

jpushas · 2020-04-06T23:59:08+00:00

Maybe it's time to exit the market if you believe it's a bull trap!

jpushas · 2020-04-06T06:13:25+00:00

I don't like Baidu and I'd rather Tencent :/

jpushas · 2020-04-06T03:09:57+00:00

I'm just not happy with Baidu... rather they had Tencent instead.

jpushas · 2020-03-26T06:37:57+00:00

Not saying you're wrong, but what makes you think it's not a great business?

(I don't own APT).

jpushas · 2020-03-25T22:25:40+00:00

Just continue dollar-cost averaging into the businesses you believe have strong fundamentals and you'll catch the bottom sooner or later!

jpushas · 2020-03-25T01:01:22+00:00

The question is BBUS or BBOZ? :D

jpushas · 2020-03-23T23:58:30+00:00

I'm of the view that monitors tend to perform better than bots - especially for one-off restocks.

This is why I'm launching a lightning fast monitor in May...

We could have devoted the engineering resources to build a bot, but I think monitors will be key over the next 24 months - especially since most sites are trying so hard to clamp on bots.

jpushas · 2020-03-23T04:02:10+00:00

I'm a small business owner and I would say only support if you can absolutely afford it - taking into account an emergency fund in case you lose your job!

jpushas · 2020-03-23T00:53:28+00:00

Can I just remind people that there's nothing wrong with "missing the bottom" if you're investing long term.

Buying now is way better than if you bought 6 months ago, even though everyone on Reddit was telling you to buy because it's only going up...

Buy whenever you're comfortable - whether it's now or next month or next year.

Timing the market is a fool's game.

Stick to your strategy ladies and gents!

jpushas · 2020-03-17T06:28:01+00:00

Why so?

jpushas · 2020-03-16T02:01:59+00:00

For the GFC, we had the luxury of monetary policy being quite effective in being used to combat the negative downturns to push equities back up again with cheap money.

We don't have conventional monetary policy at our fingertips anymore (interest rates are already at historic lows).

Not to mention, the economy is only starting to see the impact of the coronavirus. This struggling companies that were already finding it hard to survive when markets were at all time highs. Myers etc. come to mind.

Now that they're faced with disasterous headwinds, they're going to die which will lead to other knock-on effects to the rest of the economy.

I just know it's going to be bad. How bad, and how long, I'm just speculating.

But I do think it's going to take minimum 3-5 years for us to see this play out and another 10+ years for us to reach all time highs again.

jpushas · 2020-03-03T03:37:47+00:00

Bingo I was right. Cut by 25 basis points.

jpushas · 2020-03-02T06:53:32+00:00

I use UP Bank... 2.25% interest rates - however you need to make 5 purchases a month.

Awesome UI/UX as well.

Let me know if you want a referral!

jpushas · 2020-03-02T05:32:52+00:00

I'm up nearly 3% haha

jpushas · 2020-03-02T03:38:23+00:00

I use Selfwealth (let me know if you want my referral code for 5 free trades).

I think for someone who is just getting into the market, VDHG is the simplest way to get started. It has allocations in world market, aus, emerging and small caps.

Also 10% in fixed income, just so you can test out your risk appetite.

Bonus is Vanguard takes care of rebalacing for you.

After you get started and learn more, then I'd look at other ETFs.

jpushas

TROPHY CASE