I was worried about coming off that way in the first post, but these rationality memes really were a major influence in getting me to my conclusions. Are we a culture that talks big, but doesn’t deliver? By our own rules, if we’re not winning, we’re doing it wrong.
A lot of things that “just make sense” don’t actually work out the way you’d think.
I admitted in the first post that I feel that I’m “barely starting to understand this stuff”. If you can prove a factual inaccuracy in my understanding, I want to update. Finding the gaps in my understanding is one of my main motivations for writing this sequence (“to cultivate my comprehension”).
lists a bunch of ideas rapidly with minimal explanation or analysis.
Inferential gaps, man. I don’t expect that my whole audience understands finance as well as you do (if they did, I’d have jumped straight into data analysis). Rather than call it a flag, I would call it a foundation: I have to develop some minimal background to get to the part I really wanted to talk about, which is practical alpha trading. I.e. how do you go about finding an edge? Then how do you exploit it? Parts 2, 3 and 4 are mostly about how to not get hurt (too much) when doing this (part 5 will tie those together and segue into the practicals for part 6). If that’s insufficient, then I want to know so I don’t get hurt either.
I developed these posts quickly from my own notes and outlines from my study. Listing ideas rapidly with minimal analysis is exactly what I’ve been doing so far. If I went into as much detail as you seem to want, it would take too long to get through it all. This is a sequence, not a textbook. But I’m happy to discuss specifics in the comments.
Thanks for taking my criticism in stride. I do appreciate you writing and often it’s better to get something out there than not at all. And after all, that’s how we learn.
I wouldn’t say I understand finance particularly super well, which I think is part of what makes reading your post frustrating. It’s not aimed at a beginner because it’s not explaining the basics and isn’t focusing one one concrete concept at a time. It’s not building up on one idea. I guess it might be trying to show an overview, like flying over an area. But as it stands, I don’t have much to hang these concepts on, so they just slide right off. I guess I’ll wait until the future parts to see how it caches out.
I’m actually writing a post on finance as well right now. Hope to have it posted tomorrow. I’d be curious to hear your thoughts on it, and in particular on how it does the explaining part.
But as it stands, I don’t have much to hang these concepts on, so they just slide right off.
It’s hard to judge the level of my audience. If I were teaching this one-on-one, I’d be asking for feedback before saying this much. That’s harder to do on a blog. I noticed that it is possible to share drafts before publishing, but I don’t know who to share it with. Would you be interested in reviewing future drafts of posts in this sequence? It could help me get them up to a level that you wouldn’t downvote before I publish them.
I don’t feel it’s very productive to re-explain basic financial concepts that already have good explanations elsewhere. It would make the sequence too long without adding much value. Unfortunately, there’s so much low-quality information in this space from people trying to sell you get-rich-quick schemes that the good information can be hard to find. I could certainly try to add links in this post if you can tell me more specifically which parts need the exposition in your eyes.
I don’t think I can commit to reviewing drafts; I have a 3mo old baby which takes up a lot of my free time. But I hope you’re not feeling too discouraged! Just continue writing and reading, and I’m sure you’ll get better. (And FWIW I don’t think I’m a particularly good at writing or explaining either. I do much better 1:1 as well.)
I think what I’ll try to do, now that we’ve had this chat is to leave better comments on your future posts.
Applause lights! (There, I checked off another one.)
I was worried about coming off that way in the first post, but these rationality memes really were a major influence in getting me to my conclusions. Are we a culture that talks big, but doesn’t deliver? By our own rules, if we’re not winning, we’re doing it wrong.
I admitted in the first post that I feel that I’m “barely starting to understand this stuff”. If you can prove a factual inaccuracy in my understanding, I want to update. Finding the gaps in my understanding is one of my main motivations for writing this sequence (“to cultivate my comprehension”).
Inferential gaps, man. I don’t expect that my whole audience understands finance as well as you do (if they did, I’d have jumped straight into data analysis). Rather than call it a flag, I would call it a foundation: I have to develop some minimal background to get to the part I really wanted to talk about, which is practical alpha trading. I.e. how do you go about finding an edge? Then how do you exploit it? Parts 2, 3 and 4 are mostly about how to not get hurt (too much) when doing this (part 5 will tie those together and segue into the practicals for part 6). If that’s insufficient, then I want to know so I don’t get hurt either.
I developed these posts quickly from my own notes and outlines from my study. Listing ideas rapidly with minimal analysis is exactly what I’ve been doing so far. If I went into as much detail as you seem to want, it would take too long to get through it all. This is a sequence, not a textbook. But I’m happy to discuss specifics in the comments.
Thanks for taking my criticism in stride. I do appreciate you writing and often it’s better to get something out there than not at all. And after all, that’s how we learn.
I wouldn’t say I understand finance particularly super well, which I think is part of what makes reading your post frustrating. It’s not aimed at a beginner because it’s not explaining the basics and isn’t focusing one one concrete concept at a time. It’s not building up on one idea. I guess it might be trying to show an overview, like flying over an area. But as it stands, I don’t have much to hang these concepts on, so they just slide right off. I guess I’ll wait until the future parts to see how it caches out.
I’m actually writing a post on finance as well right now. Hope to have it posted tomorrow. I’d be curious to hear your thoughts on it, and in particular on how it does the explaining part.
It’s hard to judge the level of my audience. If I were teaching this one-on-one, I’d be asking for feedback before saying this much. That’s harder to do on a blog. I noticed that it is possible to share drafts before publishing, but I don’t know who to share it with. Would you be interested in reviewing future drafts of posts in this sequence? It could help me get them up to a level that you wouldn’t downvote before I publish them.
I don’t feel it’s very productive to re-explain basic financial concepts that already have good explanations elsewhere. It would make the sequence too long without adding much value. Unfortunately, there’s so much low-quality information in this space from people trying to sell you get-rich-quick schemes that the good information can be hard to find. I could certainly try to add links in this post if you can tell me more specifically which parts need the exposition in your eyes.
Fwiw your posts are exactly appropriate to my level and are motivating me to go and learn more about some of these strategies.
Yeah, that’s actually a very good point. I just created this question: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/EuEybxcSPEcoN8i6v/what-posts-on-finance-would-your-find-helpful-or-interesting
Btw, here’s my post: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/Wfed7zfm6ZyBXsrrp/the-holy-grail-of-portfolio-management I ended up writing two, since I had to explain the portfolio management before getting to individual strategies. :)
I don’t think I can commit to reviewing drafts; I have a 3mo old baby which takes up a lot of my free time. But I hope you’re not feeling too discouraged! Just continue writing and reading, and I’m sure you’ll get better. (And FWIW I don’t think I’m a particularly good at writing or explaining either. I do much better 1:1 as well.)
I think what I’ll try to do, now that we’ve had this chat is to leave better comments on your future posts.