A session I’m planning on organising for one of the London meetups in August: filling procedural knowledge gaps.
A motivating example is setting up investment in an index fund. At our last meetup, there was some division in the group between people who’d already done this and found it very straightforward, vs. others who’d started looking into it but found it prohibitively difficult. The blame was squarely placed on procedural knowledge gaps, and the proposed solution was someone assembling a 15-minute talk on index funds, along with a step-by-step guide to explain all the actions required to get from not having an index-fund product to having one.
A few other examples and suggestions were proposed, but I’d like to invite suggestions from the LW-readership. Is there anything Less Wrong has convinced you it’s a good idea to do, but for which you don’t know the next actionable step in doing?
the proposed solution was someone assembling a 15-minute talk on index funds, along with a step-by-step guide to explain all the actions required to get from not having an index-fund product to having one.
Oh, please make it also a text. With pictures (activating near mode thinking).
Alternatively, a LW wiki page. (Then it’s okay without pictures.)
I’ve actually volunteered to give the index fund talk. There are quite a few UK-specific points that don’t apply in other jurisdictions, so I would be hesitant to offer generic instructions for an international audience. For example, I understand how ISAs (a tax-efficient investment process) work in the UK, but I don’t know what the equivalent would be in other countries, or even if they exist.
This also holds for various other subjects with legal / geographic implications. I understand signing up for cryonics is a very different process if you’re outside of the US.
A session I’m planning on organising for one of the London meetups in August: filling procedural knowledge gaps.
A motivating example is setting up investment in an index fund. At our last meetup, there was some division in the group between people who’d already done this and found it very straightforward, vs. others who’d started looking into it but found it prohibitively difficult. The blame was squarely placed on procedural knowledge gaps, and the proposed solution was someone assembling a 15-minute talk on index funds, along with a step-by-step guide to explain all the actions required to get from not having an index-fund product to having one.
A few other examples and suggestions were proposed, but I’d like to invite suggestions from the LW-readership. Is there anything Less Wrong has convinced you it’s a good idea to do, but for which you don’t know the next actionable step in doing?
Some areas that I have gaps in that I would like to fill with actionable steps:
Networking
Finding a reputable lawyer (for just in case)
Signing up for cryonics
Index funds is a great one
Oh, please make it also a text. With pictures (activating near mode thinking).
Alternatively, a LW wiki page. (Then it’s okay without pictures.)
I’ve actually volunteered to give the index fund talk. There are quite a few UK-specific points that don’t apply in other jurisdictions, so I would be hesitant to offer generic instructions for an international audience. For example, I understand how ISAs (a tax-efficient investment process) work in the UK, but I don’t know what the equivalent would be in other countries, or even if they exist.
This also holds for various other subjects with legal / geographic implications. I understand signing up for cryonics is a very different process if you’re outside of the US.
On wiki, the instructions for people from other countries could be added later.