I like the idea, but I think it has been done before on other blogs. Mr. Money Mustache and Early Retirement Extreme come to mind, which were written by a (now) retired software engineer and a physicist, respectively. Their advice may bear repeating, but I do not think I would purchase a book on the subject. There are so many free resources online; it seems financially unwise to spend more on a book.
But may I ask, who are you, and what are your qualifications to speak on this subject?
As for who I am, google my username, and I’ll pop right up. I’ve got a plausible record of writing non-fiction books enough people want to read to make a decent enough living. I don’t claim to be a financial wizard, but I don’t think you need to be one either. (I’m about 50% convinced there are no such wizards. Some people do beat the market, but it’s not apparent that they do so through enhanced skill or knowledge.)
The basics of personal finance are well established and have been for about 40 years since John Bogle invented the index fund. The main skill you need to succeed is enough epistemic rationality to distinguish the truthsayers from the hustlers and enough instrumental rationality to maintain the necessary financial discipline and plans.
Perhaps the existing content in books, blogs, and elsewhere is sufficient, and this sequence is not needed. Certainly it’s not needed by everyone. But I am somewhat shocked at what I’ve heard lately from some LessWrongers about their own financial plans—seriously, I did not think saving for retirement was very controversial—and that got me thinking that the good information that’s out there is not reaching everyone it needs to reach, or that it’s being drowned in a sea of snake oil and hucksterism. We may have been spending too much time thinking about improbable events with high expected payoffs. Perhaps it’s worthwhile to spend some time thinking about probable events with medium expected payoffs.
My goal is more aimed at normal retirement planning. This book is for people who don’t get a kick out of seeing just how little money they can live on, and who don’t live in Detroit or other areas with exceptionally low costs of living. The Mr. Money Mustache and Early Retirement Extreme type blogs are pretty solid as far as investment advice goes; but in terms of earning and spending, they’re advocating a lifestyle the vast majority of U.S. citizens would never want to consider.
It seems to me that, especially for an LW audience, an important part of Part II should be an examination not only of whether to save for retirement, but of how much. And that’s got to consider how much real benefit you get from any given amount of spending now. And the MMM and ERE guys aren’t just advocating the lifestyles they do because they get a kick from spending less money (though I think that’s part of it) but because they reckon the tradeoff of a less spendy lifestyle in exchange for an earlier and/or more comfortable retirement is a good one. You or your readers may well disagree, but it’s a question as worth asking as “can I just use the Singularity as my retirement plan?” which I see you have in there.
MMM-level unspendiness is well within the range of lifestyles LW readers would (I think) be willing to consider. (It’s easier if you have a fairly high income, and many LW readers either have or expect to have in the future; it’s easier if you have a lower discount factor, which I think LW readers tend to; and there are LW participants who give away the majority of their income, which is surely harder for most people than saving it.)
I like the idea, but I think it has been done before on other blogs. Mr. Money Mustache and Early Retirement Extreme come to mind, which were written by a (now) retired software engineer and a physicist, respectively. Their advice may bear repeating, but I do not think I would purchase a book on the subject. There are so many free resources online; it seems financially unwise to spend more on a book.
But may I ask, who are you, and what are your qualifications to speak on this subject?
As for who I am, google my username, and I’ll pop right up. I’ve got a plausible record of writing non-fiction books enough people want to read to make a decent enough living. I don’t claim to be a financial wizard, but I don’t think you need to be one either. (I’m about 50% convinced there are no such wizards. Some people do beat the market, but it’s not apparent that they do so through enhanced skill or knowledge.)
The basics of personal finance are well established and have been for about 40 years since John Bogle invented the index fund. The main skill you need to succeed is enough epistemic rationality to distinguish the truthsayers from the hustlers and enough instrumental rationality to maintain the necessary financial discipline and plans.
Perhaps the existing content in books, blogs, and elsewhere is sufficient, and this sequence is not needed. Certainly it’s not needed by everyone. But I am somewhat shocked at what I’ve heard lately from some LessWrongers about their own financial plans—seriously, I did not think saving for retirement was very controversial—and that got me thinking that the good information that’s out there is not reaching everyone it needs to reach, or that it’s being drowned in a sea of snake oil and hucksterism. We may have been spending too much time thinking about improbable events with high expected payoffs. Perhaps it’s worthwhile to spend some time thinking about probable events with medium expected payoffs.
My goal is more aimed at normal retirement planning. This book is for people who don’t get a kick out of seeing just how little money they can live on, and who don’t live in Detroit or other areas with exceptionally low costs of living. The Mr. Money Mustache and Early Retirement Extreme type blogs are pretty solid as far as investment advice goes; but in terms of earning and spending, they’re advocating a lifestyle the vast majority of U.S. citizens would never want to consider.
It seems to me that, especially for an LW audience, an important part of Part II should be an examination not only of whether to save for retirement, but of how much. And that’s got to consider how much real benefit you get from any given amount of spending now. And the MMM and ERE guys aren’t just advocating the lifestyles they do because they get a kick from spending less money (though I think that’s part of it) but because they reckon the tradeoff of a less spendy lifestyle in exchange for an earlier and/or more comfortable retirement is a good one. You or your readers may well disagree, but it’s a question as worth asking as “can I just use the Singularity as my retirement plan?” which I see you have in there.
MMM-level unspendiness is well within the range of lifestyles LW readers would (I think) be willing to consider. (It’s easier if you have a fairly high income, and many LW readers either have or expect to have in the future; it’s easier if you have a lower discount factor, which I think LW readers tend to; and there are LW participants who give away the majority of their income, which is surely harder for most people than saving it.)