@FolkWhoInvests

Engineer. Father of two. Sharing the investing lessons I wish I’d learned 10 years ago, simple portfolios, better behavior, fewer expensive mistakes

Joined January 2023
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One thing I’ve learned about building wealth is that you need balance. I invest consistently, but I also make sure debt stays under control. Today I have no consumer debt. My only debt is a mortgage, equal to roughly 2.8% of my assets. I think growing what you own matters. But controlling what you owe matters just as much.
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The CPI basket is an average. Your budget may not look like it. In one example, the official weights produce 2.9% inflation. A household with about twice the food share gets 3.4% from the same price changes. Same prices. Different basket.
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About 44.5% of the latest annual BLS CPI-U basket is housing. Food and drinks, transportation, and medical care combined make up about 39.3%. That is why the same price increase does not move inflation equally. The category's weight matters.
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A 3% raise during 3% inflation sounds like progress. If your salary and prices rise at the same rate, your buying power barely changes. The number on your paycheck is higher. What it can buy is not.
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A lifestyle costing $40,000 today would cost about: $53,800 in 10 years. $72,200 in 20. $97,100 in 30. That is why a retirement plan has to fund future spending, not today's prices.
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A savings account paying 4% while prices rise 3% does not increase your buying power by exactly 1%. The real gain is about 0.97% before tax. Small difference, important idea: compare growth after inflation, not just the rate on the account.
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Market is so unpredictable in the short term that we might as well post a green day
Patrick Bet-David
@patrickbetdavid
Sep 12
Monday could be a bloodbath for the stock market. Likely temporary until the messaging & vision gets cleared up about super intelligence. Most likely the White House will get involved with messaging to ease the over reaction. But Monday could get very nasty.
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If prices rise 3% a year, $10,000 kept in cash has the buying power of about: $7,441 after 10 years. $5,537 after 20. $4,120 after 30. The account balance did not fall. What it can buy did.
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At 3% inflation, prices double in about 23 years. That also means $100 will buy roughly what $50 buys today. Inflation rarely feels dramatic in one year. The damage comes from repeating it for decades.
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Paying off $1,000 of debt at 24% saves roughly $240 a year. To expect the same $240 from an investment returning 7%, you would need about $3,430 invested, and that return is not guaranteed. Before chasing returns, stop paying expensive interest.
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On the first $1,799 payment of a $300,000 mortgage at 6%, about $1,500 goes to interest. Only $299 reduces the debt. After 10 years of payments, you still owe about $251,000. Mortgages feel slow at first because interest is charged on a large balance.
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Concerning
Jacob Coxon
@hilbertspaess
Sep 9
I resigned from Anthropic today. I spent the last three years doing pretraining research at both OpenAI and Anthropic. Neither company is acting responsibly. They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives. More thoughts below.
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Borrowing $30,000 for a car at 7%: 5-year loan: $594 a month and $5,642 in interest. 7-year loan: $453 a month and $8,034 in interest. The longer loan saves $141 a month, but adds 2 years of payments and about $2,400 in interest.
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On a $300,000 mortgage at 6%, paying an extra $100 a month cuts almost 4 years from the loan and saves about $53,000 in interest. An extra $200 cuts nearly 7 years and saves about $91,000. Small extra payments can become big interest savings.
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Folk Who Invests retweeted
Folk Who Invests
@FolkWhoInvests
Sep 6
Most people have no idea where their money actually goes. Do yourself a favor: download the last 12 months of transactions from your bank accounts and credit cards, and upload them to Claude or whatever AI agent you use. Ask it to find recurring expenses, waste, and easy places to cut. You’ll probably find hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars you barely noticed you were spending
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Most people have no idea where their money actually goes. Do yourself a favor: download the last 12 months of transactions from your bank accounts and credit cards, and upload them to Claude or whatever AI agent you use. Ask it to find recurring expenses, waste, and easy places to cut. You’ll probably find hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars you barely noticed you were spending
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Folk Who Invests retweeted
Folk Who Invests
@FolkWhoInvests
Sep 6
A $400,000 mortgage for 30 years costs about $1,686 a month at 3%. At 7%, it costs $2,661. The home price did not change. The loan did. Over 30 years, the higher rate adds about $351,000 in interest.
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A $400,000 mortgage for 30 years costs about $1,686 a month at 3%. At 7%, it costs $2,661. The home price did not change. The loan did. Over 30 years, the higher rate adds about $351,000 in interest.
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Paying $150 a month toward a $5,000 credit-card balance at 24% takes about 56 months and costs $3,322 in interest. Paying $300 cuts it to 21 months and $1,143. Doubling the payment cuts the interest by almost two-thirds.
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$5,000 invested at 7% might earn about $350 in a year. A $5,000 credit-card balance at 24% costs roughly $1,200 a year if the balance stays near $5,000. Compounding can work for you or against you. High-interest debt moves much faster.
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Folk Who Invests retweeted
Folk Who Invests
@FolkWhoInvests
Aug 17
U.S. stocks lost 9% in the 2000s while gold gained 275%. In the 2010s, stocks gained 253% and gold gained 40%. The easiest asset to buy is often the one that just worked. Unfortunately, that's also when the next decade starts.
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