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PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   1518 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for February 2, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Almost done reading The Richest Man in Babylon. It's pretty good. Goes to show that most of the wisdom in this world has been discovered by someone, somewhere, long ago.

What's it about?

Going off memory. Change your worldview from saving's as a denial of your income to instead that of "Paying Yourself First". Your saving's are something to be smiled upon and take pride in. Not a prevention of your ability to consume.

For the average person, get out of the cycle of living on whatever is your current income and instead get into the simplest of all possible budget plans.

Save 10% of your income. Pay off your debts. Then, once stable, invest.

It's a bit folksy. Often it's advise is outdated from an era of "just give him a good handshake and explain your situation". But humans intuit stories better than raw lists, and the advise is great for someone who is otherwise winging it at life.

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Saving, investing, paying off debts, becoming rich and staying rich, teaching simple wisdom to others, improving your city's wealth.

It uses named characters from actual clay tablets from ancient Babylon to tell stories as a vehicle for financial advice.

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A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


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