
Show HN: HeyFromTheFuture – Advice people wish they had at your age - ryry
https://heyfromthefuture.com/age/
======
patatino
I like the idea, some thoughts..

Every year seems a little much? Maybe at young age, but 21/22/23 doesn't
really make that much of a difference, or even 40/45

The advice should be written for the perspective of the reader not the writer:

"Hey 13 year old, don't stop learning how to play piano"

How would that help a 13 year old? Something like "Hey 13 year old, I stopped
playing the piano at your age and now I'm regretting it very much. I often
dream how well I could play if I didn't stop and I also could teach my kids"

Obviously you do not control the text. A short description with tips would
maybe help.

~~~
ryry
Hey thanks for the feedback - really appreciate it.

I struggled with the idea of creating a page for every age. I eventually
settled on the idea that people could take the platform anywhere they wanted
to, whether it was passing generic advice along, or sending themselves a very
specific message at a specific time in their life. That being said, it's kind
of cool to see the ages that mean the most to people.

I like your idea with the short description - do you mind if I quote your
example?

~~~
aerotwelve
I really like having a different page for each individual age. This separation
distinguishes your site from the countless blog posts that pass on advice "to
those in their 20s and 30s" or "to those who are still young". In my eyes,
these pieces are often far too general. By this, I mean the following:

Thinking back on my life so far, the years 19, 20, and 22 were quite unique
with respect to my then-current circumstances/knowledge/abilities (even though
I was in the same undergrad program and had roughly the same job during these
years).

If I had the opportunity, I would give 19-year-old me very different advice
than 20-year-old me! 19-year-old me really needed it! And don't even get me
started on the advice 22-year-old me needed.

Adding some pages that aggregate the advice submitted to similar ages (20s,
teens, 18-35, choose your favorite grouping) wouldn't be bad for those who are
interested, but I think taking the focus away from individual ages would
minimize something quite neat that you've done here.

~~~
icebraining
But what if someone develops a little faster? By the time they're 19, it might
be too late!

------
darepublic
Nice idea, but who is to say the future advice is any good? The TNG episode
[http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Tapestry_(episode)](http://memory-
alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Tapestry_\(episode\)) is a poignant counterpoint to the
idea that your hindsight perspective is always best.

------
makerofspoons
It is shocking how much of this advice assumes that the world will be a
similar place even a few years from now.

There is a constant set of themes, for each of the years I scanned but
especially my age which is 23, to travel, invest for the future, and start
businesses and I am increasingly skeptical of each.

I am just starting out, and I am here because I used to think that my future
involved travel and startups, but recent news has made it clear to me that
travel is one of the human obsessions that is destroying this world and that
the future will not happen: [http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2017/07/climate-
change-earth-...](http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2017/07/climate-change-earth-
too-hot-for-humans.html?gtm=bottom)

My advice, for all age groups, is to enjoy what you have now and don't have
kids- the world even 10-20 years from now isn't one worth living in.

~~~
oarabbus_
I realize this post may come off as abrasive, but here it goes.

> but recent news has made it clear to me that travel is one of the human
> obsessions that is destroying this world and that the future will not
> happen:

If you think that impending climate change (/climate catastrophe) is
significantly impacted by the "human obsession" of travel, you are drinking
someone else's kool-aid and pulling wool over your eyes as to the real causes
(industry greenhouse gas emissions, industry and non-industry energy
generation, and agriculture).

>My advice, for all age groups, is to enjoy what you have now and don't have
kids-

My advice for all age groups is to take with a massive grain of salt what a
23-year old suggests to you, perhaps going as far as to completely discount
any "life advice" given by this demographic. And I'd also suggest to make a
decision about having or not having children based on your life circumstances
rather than some absurd claim (coming below) that the world sucks.

> the world even 10-20 years from now isn't one worth living in.

We get it; you're a pessimist. People have espoused this same sentiment for
decades (actually, centuries or longer).

~~~
makerofspoons
Fair enough, but tourism is estimated to account for a tenth of global carbon
emissions which is not insignificant:
[https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/tourism-climate-
ch...](https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/tourism-climate-change-
carbon-emissions-global-warming-flying-cars-transport-a8338946.html)

People have been espousing that we are doomed for decades, but many of them
were actually right: we have not meaningfully deviated from the predictions
made by the 1972 report The Limits of Growth
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Limits_to_Growth](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Limits_to_Growth))
for example. Reality has continued tracking along with our climate models,
which were used to predict doom decades ago. Some doomsday scenarios have a
preponderance of evidence that they are happening, and I feel that
understanding that is not pessimism but realism.

~~~
extrememacaroni
The thing about pessimism is that it's a very attractive mindset for people
who don't like to think all that much, but want to have answers.

It's also the mindset for people who stagnate and adopt a defeatist attitude.

It's also an extremist mindset, that closes itself away from other options and
is fueled constantly by more pessimistic thoughts.

It's also a mindset that can quickly lead to depression, due to the constantly
negative and skewed perspective of life.

It's also an easy mindset to disguise as "realism". There is no realism in
what you've advised, in fact the advice for people to stop reproducing due to
a doomsday scenario is perhaps the least realistic thought when it comes to
reactions to global warming. The absurdity of such an advice is only explained
by the naivety of someone who only now started life (which is accurate).

~~~
thisiszilff
On the other hand the human life & culture we've developed might not give us a
"realistic" means for dealing with the environment and climate change. Reread
what you've written and look at it from the perspective of someone concerned
about climate change, whose read the reports that we're likely to see effects
of it within our lifetimes, and who lives in a world where the response to a
progressively worsening disaster is ranges from "not my problem", "don't be so
negative", to "what can we do?".

Young people today are born into a world with a considerable amount of inertia
leading it to a not so happy place. The evidence points to this not being just
pessimism, but a reality they will have to face and deal with in their
lifetimes. Rising sea levels, political instability as once habitable and
arable land become inhabitable and barren, increasingly sever weather, etc.
Pessimism and optimism in this case refers to how severe these problems will
be and whether we can either put them off or mitigate the consequences, not
whether or not they are happening.

------
ie21
Interesting concept in this regard - Croatian artist Dalibor Martinis
interviewed his future self, asking questions in 1978 and answering in 2010 on
national TV.

Has english subtitles.

[https://youtu.be/3SCQiKDxmhk](https://youtu.be/3SCQiKDxmhk)

~~~
0xdeadbeefbabe
It's interesting the older one doesn't speak in English.

~~~
ie21
:) The video from 30+ years ago was recorded in Vancouver, in front of a class
of English speaking students. His answers on Croatian national TV were
broadcasted to a Croatian audience.

------
gregmac
This reminds me very much of the video How To Age Gracefully [1].

One thing I think is missing is a "From: a x year old" for each bit of advice.
I think the advice to someone in their 20's would be quite different coming
from someone in their 30's vs 70's, and that in itself could be very
interesting.

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sycgL3Qg_Ak](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sycgL3Qg_Ak)
4m40s

~~~
amsilprotag
Interesting video. Some advice seems person-specific over age-specific, as in,
I wouldn't be surprised to hear them give the same advice five years prior or
hence.

One area where I think future advice can be most helpful is in preventing
hard-to-reverse mistakes. 18F's data release for college completion rates,
employment rates, etc in 2012 may have helped people avoid bad decisions[0].
Another example could be increased wariness of using a drug after hearing
personal stories of people trying to quit. Using the recently shared
visualization of related subreddits[1] and looking at the "/r/askdrugs" graph,
one can see Kratom and quittingkratom, phenibut and quitting phenibut,
benzodiazapines and quittingbenzos, opiates and quittingopiates.

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_Scorecard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_Scorecard)

[1]
[https://anvaka.github.io/sayit/?query=askdrugs](https://anvaka.github.io/sayit/?query=askdrugs)

------
hnburnsy
How about upvoting by age group. For example take advice from a 40 yo to a 20
yo, the 20 yos may not upvote but many other 40 yos may upvote the advice.

Would love to see the distribution of up votes. Do 60 yos agree with the
advice the 40 yo is giving the 20 yo?

~~~
littleweep
Great idea, this should be organized by decade. Nice idea OP.

------
ichik
> Hey 32 year old, Even if it’s not in your budget, buy yourself a nice (>$20)
> bottle of wine and toast to your good health :)

Uhmmm, rrrright.

------
kareemm
Amazing. I started this 10+ years ago, called WishIKnew. It was a project to
learn Rails. I learned Rails, but never launched it.

Glad to see it's real - with curation, I think it could be hugely valuable.
I'm 42 and wonder what people who were 50 or 60 would tell me they wished they
knew at 42 as I don't have a lot of folks those ages in my life.

~~~
ryry
Thanks! I wanted to name it something similar but all the good domains were
taken, so instead I settled for a veiled The Office reference.

Trying to get contributions from older generations is tough, but would likely
provide the best advice. I need to find a few media sources to submit to that
target this age group.

~~~
kareemm
Where do old people hangout online? If my mom is any indication, Facebook and
email.

I think getting advice is the hook to get people to the site. Once you get
some valuable advice, the theory is that some of those people will be inclined
to participate.

I'd think about this approach:

1\. Seeding this with advice from people you trust. Don't even get them to
register - just get the advice and input it yourself

2\. Aggregate advice into posts e.g. "Top 10 lessons for peopel in their 40s
from the future"

3\. Share / pay to promote those posts on Facebook

4\. Profit (?)

------
usermac
Things are newer than you perceive. What I mean is, look around at technology.
You'll find it looks "already done" but it's not—it should require a second
and third look by you to see what you can add. Be strong.

Secondly and related, I'd do a quick study of every single bit of general tech
around you as for how long it's been in use. This will open your eyes to what
has been and ready for what is coming. Mentally track how long this and that
has been in play—you'll be surprised and more importantly, you'll see
opportunities. Go!

-Edit- Misread that title and added mine here. ^_^

------
oakio
I clicked on a few ages and saw advice from someone that was the exact age. To
me, those are pointless in this context. Maybe restrict posting to posters
that are >= 10 years older than the age?

~~~
hart_russell
10 years is too much. I'm 26 and am busting my ass to get a good GRE score,
because I didn't care about GPA in college because I thought I'd never want to
go to grad school. Left a comment for 18 years old to take college seriously.

~~~
elliekelly
Hey 26 year old, save yourself the $50,000+ and skip grad school. The work
experience you can get instead is far more valuable.

------
andy_adams
I think age groups would be better than individual years. Is there any advice
that applies at 13 but not 14?

I do love the idea of collecting wisdom. The hard part is getting the 14 year
olds to believe it!

~~~
SyneRyder
_> Is there any advice that applies at 13 but not 14?_

I can think of some advice that is specific to an age. If you're going to
apply for an overseas working holiday visa, you want that last chance reminder
at age 28 or 29... because once you hit 30 you're no longer eligible.

But I agree in general about age ranges. I like the idea of the user choosing
their exact age, but it'd be better if the person giving the advice could
choose the range of ages their advice applies to.

I think it might also need some filtering / curation. The current advice at
age 64 to "start saving for retirement" is, uhm, probably a bit too late at
that point. I think they made a typo in the age fields somewhere.

~~~
gowld
Wow, that's rather regressive.

[http://global-goose.com/travel-tips/working-holiday-visas-
fo...](http://global-goose.com/travel-tips/working-holiday-visas-for-
canadians/)

~~~
SyneRyder
Huh, I learned something new today:

 _" Canada and Australia have signed a mutual agreement that allows young
Canadians between the ages of 18 and 35 to travel and work in Australia for up
to 12 months. (The age limit used to be 30, but it was increased to 35 in
2018)."_

Canadians appear to be a special exception though. If you're Australian, most
countries still limit you to age 30 (and Cyprus & South Korea limit you to 25
or younger, apparently):

[https://global-goose.com/working-holiday-visas-for-
australia...](https://global-goose.com/working-holiday-visas-for-australians/)

------
brightball
IMO the most valuable sections are always going to be < 19 years old.

Unfortunately, the hard thing is that when you're < 19 years old you don't
want to listen to anyone because either you know everything already or they
wouldn't understand.

It's a paradox.

~~~
kart23
I'm 18 lol, super confused and trying to gain something from older people.
However, they always seem to say the same thing, and it's mostly just common
sense, along the lines of stay in school and work harder. I guess I could say
the same about my high school years, but I feel like I've heard the advice on
this site a thousand times over.

~~~
bradlys
I could give a lot of concrete advice to my 18 year old self. But, I don't
think a lot of the advice I'd give my 18 year old self would apply to much of
anyone else. (Get a side part haircut, you'll look better. Your mom wasn't
right about a lot but that haircut you got as a five year old worked. Stop
wearing baggy hoodies - you look stupid. Wear better fitting jeans and shirts,
it'll take some effort to find ones that fit. Fix your acne, go to a
dermatologist 3 years ago. etc... It's not all looks related but I needed a
lot of help.)

I think that's why you hear so much of "work hard and stay in school." People
are trying to be as broad as humanly possible to appeal to as wide of a net as
they can.

------
rconti
"Hey 37 year old, Remember it’s never easier on the other side of the fence no
matter how green it is."

Welp, thanks for the inspiration :D

~~~
isostatic
Hey 37 year old, did you remember your age, or did you have to do the maths to
work it out?

------
dsfyu404ed
"sleep around in high-school, the opportunity cost will never be lower so you
better get it out of your system while you're young."

Well that certainly flies in the face of everything everyone is told as a kid.

------
kareemm
Some feedback:

1\. Registration form is too long. Lower the barrier to entry. Maybe only ask
for email and username? Or just email with a default username?

2\. Try lazy registration so the flow is:

\- click advice

\- enter advice

\- hit submit

\- get asked to login/register

~~~
ryry
Hey thanks for the feedback. The registration form is a pain, I implemented
SSO/oAuth with Google a few days ago in the hopes that more people would
register.

Email and username is a good call, thanks. I had never thought about that kind
of flow before, but that's interesting, encourage people to submit advice,
then ask for registration. Think I might do that. Thanks!

~~~
gowld
Be careful. Soliciting user input and then holding it hostage is a use-hostile
dark pattern that angers people.

Better to warn users that they must log in to contribute (why?), and to
provide the sign-up and contribution in the same page.

------
todd3834
Great site! Was fun reading through. Out of curiosity I skipped to age 81 and
saw

> Hey 81 year old, You've got one good year left... maybe

Ouch! That one sucks

~~~
gowld
It's a poignant reminder that time runs out for all of us.

------
jmts
Hoping there's a "Hey 15 year old, everything you've learned and are likely to
learn in the next several years through TV and popular culture about life and
relationships will turn out to be wrong or misleading, but it sure made lots
of money!".

------
0xdeadbeefbabe
"Sorry, It looks like nobody has submitted advice for age 80 yet. Try being
the first"

"Try" sounds funny in the context of me being an 80 year old (just testing for
the octogenarians who are desperate for advice :) I'm not quite 80)

~~~
ryry
Haha good point. I'll rewrite this. Thanks!

------
Arubis
Conceptually, this is really appealing, though I agree with sibling comments
that offering some grouping would ease browsing.

What I’m finding interesting is the metacommentary on what your userbase
(which I’m presuming is mostly HN at the moment) looks like. The advice for
teens and twenty somethings is wide-ranging and pretty good. Almost everything
for folks in their thirties is pithy and reads like it was written by someone
younger. (My own bias: haven’t checked past age 40). So, presumably, there’s
not as many people commenting retrospectively on their 30’s.

Would be neat to track the delta between a subitter’s actual age and how old
they’re willing to advise.

~~~
ryry
Hey this is a great idea. When I get a free chance I'll see if I can publish a
report on it. Thanks!

------
fallingfrog
This is some of the worst advice I’ve ever seen..

------
mettamage
For Singularity University I conceived of a similar idea. I called it
TimeTraveller.

I am not on my computer but a couple of ideas I had:

1\. Match people with similar personalities (measured by the big 5). This idea
hypothesizes that similar personalities can help each other.

2\. Match people per topic. This idea hypothesizes that experts can help non-
experts.

Matching older people with younger people and allowing them to chat regarding
their lives can give a time traveller type of effect. Here is someone who's
done what you want to do and walked a similar path beforehand already.

------
dblotsky
Meta-lesson from this site:

Hey X year-old: 90% of advice, like everything else, is bad.

------
fallingfrog
This is all such a bunch of gormless vapid chicken-soup-for-the-soul bullshit.
One gets the sense that none of the people giving advice have ever faced real
hardship. when the moment comes that you have to make a real choice, the best
advice I can think of is to not listen to all these self satisfied blowhards
who have never walked in your shoes and think for yourself.

~~~
reading-at-work
I don't know, I thought "Hey 24 year old, you need systems not goals!" was
actually an interesting take.

Of course, none of this is actionable until you apply it to your own life, but
I don't think this is meant to be taken as gospel. It's a neat idea, no more
no less.

------
ablation
Badly needs quality control.

------
ElijahLynn
This has great potential! Every now and then I learn something new that I wish
somebody would have taught me when I was younger. Simple tricks that make life
easier.

Not going to go into things that I think could be improved right now but just
leave this as encouragement to develop this further as it can really be useful
to the world! Well done on getting the idea shipped!

------
teekert
For many popular advises I know quite sure that my response would have been
"meh". Yeah it would have been nice to be able to play the guitar now, but 13
y/o me will tell 36 y/o me: "Screw you, I have more fun things to do, learn it
yourself you lazy old man. By the way, what is stopping you from doing that
anyway??"

------
IshKebab
Nice idea. But I feel like most things people wish they knew at a younger age
aren't the sort of thing you can learn by reading a line of text. Most are
behavioural things that you really have to experience.

Like you can't just say "be more confident" to someone. Or "do more exercise".
Or "don't go into debt". No shit.

------
frobozz
The only pieces of advice available for 60 and 64 are unhelpful - they both
talk about starting to save for retirement.

I'm sure that the idea is that these things will fall off the bottom if the
site gets more popular, but pretty much by definition, there will be less
advice at the older end, so there will be less to push off the rubbish.

------
palidanx
Isn't one of the problems though that people in the younger age brackets don't
tend to listen to older people? I remember in University I was a mentor, and
my mentees would usually be blaise about most things. Only when they were
seniors would they panic about job prospects.

------
screaminghawk
The voting system is interesting.

How can anyone judge whether the information is good for an age group higher
than their own, or even for their own age? I would have expected that you can
only vote on advice for ages younger than yourself, much the same as giving
the advice

------
SketchySeaBeast
> Hey 35 year old, be aware of spent your half life

Don't need my coffee, found my morning anxiety!

~~~
reverend_gonzo
I beg to differ with that statement.

I'd say life doesn't really begin until you're on your own, so around 18 for
me, but I'd really say that life picked up around the late 20s, early 30s. So,
at 37, if I look at everything that I've done in the last 10 years, and now
knowing what I want to do, I've still got three lives to live.

~~~
sitkack
Life begins as soon as you can make conscious choices in what to think about.
Things that look like adulthood to us used to start at about 10-12.

Maturity, focus, concentration, self confidence all ebb and flow with time and
aren't guaranteed to be monotonic. Civilization allows us to do great things,
but it also enables the individual to be a weaker total person while being
particularly skilled in one area.

~~~
SketchySeaBeast
> Civilization allows us to do great things, but it also enables the
> individual to be a weaker total person while being particularly skilled in
> one area.

Is that actually the case? I feel like a hunter/gatherer society isn't
particularly well rounded - it's just a couple of skills that one lives or
dies on. I wouldn't say that a caveman was well rounded, instead they were
just ignorant of everything outside of "find something to eat and kill, then
mate with something else".

------
jbob2000
Oh man, too accurate. Why were these words exactly what I needed to hear?

Good site, thanks for the help.

------
jackconnor
“Do not become bald” is the only English-language advice at 34 years old.
Helpful.

------
moonlet
The spelling and grammar of some of the “hey x year old!” copy is not that
great.

------
hellofunk
“Hey 34 year old, do not become bald. Let's face it, bald people aren't
happy.”

Well that was sure worth my time spent on the website. I’m not sure how I will
best incorporate this advice into my life.

~~~
SketchySeaBeast
> I’m not sure how I will best incorporate this advice into my life.

Don't go bald.

~~~
jmts
Realise that the advice is nonsense and baldness has no meaningful impact on
your life. Go bald and be happy.

~~~
imtringued
So the advice is don't listen people who post on HeyFromTheFuture? It doesn't
surprise me but it's self defeating.

~~~
jmts
Genuine advice is often coloured by a person's own bias and experience, and if
another takes it without taking that into consideration, they will be misled
by the same faults.

In this case, the advice about baldness is a joke based on a negative
stereotype for baldness, and not genuine advice at all. The default response
in this post appears to be along the lines of preventing or reversing hair
loss, showing support for the stereotype, and that people are taking the
content at least a little bit seriously. I'm just here to say this particular
piece of 'advice' is misleading at best and harmful at worst. Baldness will
only affect your happiness if you let it.

------
marknadal
People who wish they lived their life differently when they were younger, are
the same people who when they are older will realize their younger now self
should have given different advice.

------
teacpde
It would be interesting if the upvotes have age statistics, e.g. of the
upvotes for this advice to 30 year old, 15 are from 35 year old, 20 from 43
years old, etc

------
psalminen
Cool idea!

Looking through it, I'm not sure I like the ability to post to your current
age though. It doesn't read like worthy advice to me.

------
BasicObject
Honestly one of the coolest site ideas I've seen in a long time. I'll be
checking back.

------
dreambg
It's a fun and interesting idea. Would definitely like to see how it'll evolve
further.

------
Syzygies
Wow, the HN filter ignored my advice completely, refusing to post my comment.
It was a shorter version of engaging more in the recreational form of
reproductive activity, while your body is in its prime.

~~~
Syzygies
And don't waste decades thinking you're not that smart.

Some people have prodigious technical skills. They'll use absolutely all of
their abilities to try to lift the truck off the baby, and the wall of
equations they produce while failing will make you feel like you don't belong.

Don't confuse this with intelligence. It's not. The best answers are simple.

------
nkg
I love the idea, I guess the form will change when there will be more content.

------
arjun_tina
The idea here is very cool, but was disappointed by the execution. A lot of
the advice given is really simplistic. I'd like to see (1) more deep,
meaningful advice (2) from smart, successful people (ex: Warren Buffet).

~~~
dbg31415
* Warren Buffett’s List of 14 Must-Read Books || [https://www.warrenbuffett.com/warren-buffetts-list-of-14-mus...](https://www.warrenbuffett.com/warren-buffetts-list-of-14-must-read-books/)

------
rocketpastsix
I like it, but I would add moderation on the comments.

------
PedroBatista
34 is a rough year.

~~~
SketchySeaBeast
Hahah, I looked at it and went "uhhh, I'll try not to, I guess?"

------
yyrrll
Hey Nineteen That's 'Retha Franklin

------
soared
This one is unkowningly funny:

Hey 26 year old, these are your prime earning years, make sure you're saving
as much as you can

~~~
stabbles
Why do you think so?

~~~
soared
Its the opposite lens of most the other advice. The others look at the mid 20s
as a time to have fun, quit jobs you don't like, etc. This advice is purely
fiscal - you earn in a prime position to earn money, so maximize that value
while you can. All the advice agrees the mid 20s is a prime, but 80% is prime
for fun/living while this one is prime for money.

Still good advice, just a funny juxtaposition.

~~~
pjc50
Also that's only true for a narrow subset of people working in "rockstar"
industries where the career decline is sharp after 30. Footballers, pop stars,
models, _some_ programmers. Everyone else expects to make more as they get
older. Some industries (e.g. acturaries, medical) have really long
qualification processes so you will only reach full pay after 30.

It might be "peak savings opportunity because you don't have a family", but
that's not at all the same thing.

------
captainbland
Hoo boy that's a lot of over-privileged suggestions right there. "hi,
millennial who is working full time to make rent, now is the time to start
your business!", "Why not take your family around the world?"

It's a nice idea and the site works pretty well on mobile, but it sort of
grinds my gears.

~~~
ff317
Actually all of these things are more achievable than you think. I have a
relative who has a family of 5 (as in two adults and three young kids) and
they've managed to travel the world the past several years on a high school
teacher's salary.

It's all about your priorities/tradeoffs and how much work you're willing to
put into it. They lead a very no-frills budget-restricted life, keep very
minimal possessions, put effort into finding overseas teaching jobs in low
cost-of-living areas, finding dirt-cheap travel deals, and honestly I think
the kids getting all this early travel and cultural exposure is probably a big
net win (vs e.g. prioritizing things like buying them the latest video game
consoles and fashionable clothing, etc).

You could say the same for starting most small businesses. There are loans
available to get up and running if you have a solid business plan and don't
have awful/ruined credit, and many viable businesses can be "pay my bills"
profitable fairly quickly. You won't make as much excess cash as getting on
the corporate treadmill and doing well, at least not earlier on, but you do
reap the rewards of being your own boss and learning a suite of skills that's
much rarer, and over time even the small business world can eventually become
quite lucrative if you want it to be.

~~~
SketchySeaBeast
>It's all about your priorities/tradeoffs and how much work you're willing to
put into it. They lead a very no-frills budget-restricted life, keep very
minimal possessions, put effort into finding overseas teaching jobs in low
cost-of-living areas, finding dirt-cheap travel deals...

So how is their retirement plans coming along?

>...and honestly I think the kids getting all this early travel and cultural
exposure is probably a big net win (vs e.g. prioritizing things like buying
them the latest video game consoles and fashionable clothing, etc).

That seems to be a loaded assumption. I've known people who spent their entire
childhood traveling, and rather than culturally rich they just couldn't fit
into any culture - they were inappropriate and had difficulty functioning in a
North American lifestyle due to having a mish mash of wordly exposure which
has proven to be pretty career limiting. They can tell neat stories about
their time in South America, but can't figure out why people don't want to
hear outright that their ideas are dumb. There's this assumption that the more
you travel the more well rounded you'll be, but you've just been you in more
places, doesn't mean you'll be a better person.

~~~
commenter1
One does not have to retire to a first world country. Seriously, why would you
even want to retire to USA? Health care, which old people tend to use, is
stupid expensive.

~~~
SketchySeaBeast
I'm Canadian, so I have no desire to retire to a place with awful health care.
How does health care in second/third world countries work? Are you instantly
granted all rights to health care if you retire to another nation?

~~~
fhbdukfrh
>> are you instantly granted all rights to health care if you retire to
another nation?

Yes, those rights being the sole right to purchase health care. Which can be
very good if you have money and doesn't exist if you do not.

~~~
SketchySeaBeast
> Yes, those rights being the sole right to purchase health care.

But do all nations actually have that?

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skookumchuck
Invest much more aggressively in stocks.

------
Syzygies
Have more sex?

