I like it a lot! I’m very much in favor of expanding Lesswrong into practical horizons.
However...Quick Suggestion: Change the title. Call it something more descriptive, such as the “Frugal Finance”.
1) “Rational” should be reserved as a technical term and should not be used to mean “Whatever I, the writer, think is best.” As other users have pointed out, “rationality” is not very descriptive, overused, and functions as applause light on this forum. “Frugal Finance” or similar tells the reader exactly what s/he is getting.
2) There are many other things that the LW flavor of “rationalist” would do financially other than retire early—such as donate to charity (low, low price of $2300/child-life-saved or less!), support loved ones, or to start up a business. They would still find your advice useful (since your advice presumably conserves lots of spare capital) but not necessarily for the goal that you propose in the title.
1) Very good point, and I will be changing the name of this post. I named it Rational Financial Planning Overview as a counter to another discussion post Preparing for a Rational Financial Planning Sequence, the ideas which I disagree with. I did not expect for my post to be taken as well as it has (a very pleasant surprise) so I will be changing the name to more accurately reflect its contents.
2) I did not think of this, though I should have. Cutting your expenses and saving/investing the greater majority of your income is applicable in any financial endeavor. I will be adding an edit to this effect.
I like it a lot! I’m very much in favor of expanding Lesswrong into practical horizons.
However...Quick Suggestion: Change the title. Call it something more descriptive, such as the “Frugal Finance”.
1) “Rational” should be reserved as a technical term and should not be used to mean “Whatever I, the writer, think is best.” As other users have pointed out, “rationality” is not very descriptive, overused, and functions as applause light on this forum. “Frugal Finance” or similar tells the reader exactly what s/he is getting.
2) There are many other things that the LW flavor of “rationalist” would do financially other than retire early—such as donate to charity (low, low price of $2300/child-life-saved or less!), support loved ones, or to start up a business. They would still find your advice useful (since your advice presumably conserves lots of spare capital) but not necessarily for the goal that you propose in the title.
Two excellent suggestions.
1) Very good point, and I will be changing the name of this post. I named it Rational Financial Planning Overview as a counter to another discussion post Preparing for a Rational Financial Planning Sequence, the ideas which I disagree with. I did not expect for my post to be taken as well as it has (a very pleasant surprise) so I will be changing the name to more accurately reflect its contents.
2) I did not think of this, though I should have. Cutting your expenses and saving/investing the greater majority of your income is applicable in any financial endeavor. I will be adding an edit to this effect.
Thank you very much.