[HN Gopher] Best and worst decisions I've made
___________________________________________________________________
Best and worst decisions I've made
Author : Tomte
Score : 88 points
Date : 2023-01-27 06:13 UTC (16 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (stonemaiergames.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (stonemaiergames.com)
| holistio wrote:
| I'd like to see a compilation of "The 10 Best and Worst HN title
| crops"
| dang wrote:
| This one chould really be cropped to just "Decisions I've made"
| but I wasn't sure I should dare.
| jefftk wrote:
| For context, the original title of "The 10 Best and Worst
| Decisions I've Ever Made" was initially automatically cropped
| to "And Worst Decisions I've Ever Made".
| zokier wrote:
| Are fixed-rated mortgages really that common in US? Around here
| afaik pretty much all mortgages are variable-rate, generally
| EURIBOR or something close to it. Or am I confusing things here?
| irrational wrote:
| Thankfully fixed is the norm. My home interest rate is 2.2%.
| With the way interests rates have gone the past year, I'm
| thankful it is fixed.
| Marazan wrote:
| Variable rate plus prepayment penalty is basically criminal and
| you wouldn't find that in the UK.
|
| You would have a variable rate with no repayment fee or a short
| fixed rate (max of 10 years) with a repayment fee.
| letmeinhere wrote:
| Not just fixed but highly leveraged, repayable at any time, and
| with tax deductible interest payments. All courtesy of the
| federal government, but sufficiently submerged as to form an
| upper and middle class that believes they are rugged
| individualists.
|
| Serves as the vast majority of our government's intervention in
| housing, with very small sums for (a few) very low income
| people and basically nothing for anyone in between.
| hansvm wrote:
| As a purchaser, you would often want fixed-rate. A variable
| rate is subject to the ups and the downs, but a fixed rate you
| can always refinance (at a cost, but one that's beaten out in
| the long-term by better average interest on a typical loan) to
| a lower fixed rate when available and ignore when rates climb.
| Since 30-yr loans are common, plans that play out on 5-10yr
| timescales are relevant. Given that banks are willing to offer
| them, you'd need an out-of-the-ordinary situation (selling
| soon, believing rates will continually decrease slowly, not
| being well educated, unique credit situation making rates
| favorable for one loan type and not another, ...) to choose a
| different option.
| inglor_cz wrote:
| I don't think I _could_ get a fixed-rate mortgage in Czechia at
| all.
|
| The max fixation period I regularly see on offer is 7 years.
| foobarian wrote:
| It's because the US government nationalized a couple of banks
| that guarantee the 30-year fixed loans. It's not a random
| accident.
| Gibbon1 wrote:
| Fixed rate mortgages were part of the New Deal. That part was a
| response the the abusive banking practices before the great
| depression. For instance a most loans were interest only.
| Collateral was subject to 100% seizure on default. The loan
| could be called in at any time. And the bank could demand
| payment in either cash or a fixed amount of gold.
| ct0 wrote:
| I know of only 1 person who has an ARM, everyone else is fixed
| rate.
| piyh wrote:
| They're the default choice. ARM is about 10% of originations
| dghlsakjg wrote:
| Fixed rate 30 yr. Mortgages are the default in the US
| afandian wrote:
| Does that mean fixed rate for 30 years? That would be
| unthinkable in the UK. From what I've seen, even 10 years
| would be unconventional.
| AndrewDucker wrote:
| Yeah, even ten years is unusual in the UK. If for no other
| reason than it being quite a bit risk for the bank giving
| the loan that interest rates won't go up for a decade.
| snarf21 wrote:
| That is correct. This is why home ownership is the main
| wealth building tool here.
| irrational wrote:
| My home mortgage interest rate is fixed at 2.2% for the
| entire 30 years of the loan.
| chrismcb wrote:
| Yes. It means a fixed rate for 30 years. Unless you
| refinance the only thing that changes is your property tax.
| 15 years is really the way to go, as it typically isn't
| that much more per month. But 30 is the standard.
| sidewndr46 wrote:
| No clue where you are at, but my homeowner's insurance
| definitely goes up more often than once every 30 years.
| ghaff wrote:
| Well, there are a bunch of things. Insurance and all the
| other maintenance and upkeep costs associated with owning
| a home. But, still, in general locking in a mortgage
| means locking in costs for the most part even if it
| doesn't eliminate spending generally.
| gnopgnip wrote:
| It is a result of a government to encourage/subsidize home
| ownership. A few other countries do fixed rates for 20-40
| years, France for instance.
| john_fushi wrote:
| (In Canada) The max my bank offers is 10 years, and it
| comes at a premium. The standard I see around me are 5
| years.
| binarytox1n wrote:
| Fixed rate is the standard in the US. If someone here gets an
| adjustable rate, I usually assume they are financially
| illiterate.
| ct0 wrote:
| And extremely optimistic.
| coolestguy wrote:
| Banks set the fixed rate & they more than anyone else knows
| what will most likely happen to rates in the future because
| the banks are the ones in closed door meetings with reserve
| banks/government.
|
| Do you think they'd set a fixed rate where they lose?
| bluGill wrote:
| I wouldn't say illiterate.
|
| If rates are going down they are a great choice as you will
| refinance in a couple years anyway. However you have to
| really know what rates (read the economy) will do so that
| just as they reach the bottom (you don't need to hit the
| exact bottom, just get close) to refinance to fixed rate.
|
| They are also good if you have reason to believe you won't
| live there for more than a couple years. (in general renting
| is better than buying if your time frame is less than 7-10
| years, but local factors may force you to buy anyway).
|
| Since ARMs are lower rates they save you money in the short
| run. However they tend to adjust up after the terms and so
| can really hurt you.
| DontchaKnowit wrote:
| Ignorant here because I dont know how ARMs are actually
| structured as far as what the lender can and cant do, but
| the idea of signing a loan contract and having no garauntee
| of the upper bound of the interest rate is absolutely wild
| to me. Banks will fuck you at any opportunity they have, so
| habding then a loaded gun and thinking theyre not gonna
| raise rates without a reason is crazy to me.
| savanaly wrote:
| The beauty of competition. The person lending you money
| always could fuck you over, but the greed of other banks
| would save you in that scenario. Which they know, so they
| don't fuck you over. Same reason grocery stores don't
| wait until you fill your cart up and then jack up the
| prices as soon as you reach the register.
| Our_Benefactors wrote:
| Oh, but they can do that now. I've been in grocery stores
| where they had ip-addressable e-ink screens for the price
| tags which updated regularly.
| svachalek wrote:
| Even if there were no limitations in the contract,
| there's still a market. If your bank diverged too far you
| can just refinance. And if the whole market is high,
| inflation is probably crazy and you're watching the
| principal dwindle to insignificance anyway.
| eric-hu wrote:
| One more specific example of someone taking a calculated
| short term risk: home flippers. They have had both good
| times and bad in the last 15 years. Those who financed with
| lower costs during hotter markets had better margins.
| KerrAvon wrote:
| House flipping should probably be banned, though. It's
| bad for the homeowners who buy the house because it's
| invariably low-quality contractors who do the work and
| they invariably don't do it to code. It's bad for the
| neighborhood because the residents aren't stable.
| KerrAvon wrote:
| I would say close to illiterate. I don't know what
| mortgages are like in other countries, but in the US you
| want a fixed rate or you want to rent. An ARM can really
| fuck you up.
|
| > They are also good if you have reason to believe you
| won't live there for more than a couple years
|
| Generally speaking, it's better to rent in that case.
| You'll have more flexibility and substantially less risk.
| senthil_rajasek wrote:
| Between 2009 and 2021 ( low and decreasing interest rate
| regimes) ARM 3,5 or 7 year were a better choice to fixed rate
| mortgages.
|
| ARMs are not a bad choice if you know what you are doing.
|
| It is also a great choice if you are not planning to stay at
| a place for all your life.
| InTheArena wrote:
| But 2007/2008 drove a number of people w/ these mortgages
| into bankruptcy.
|
| It's a risk thing.
| abrookewood wrote:
| Funny, cause I think the exact opposite. I've read numerous
| papers and in Australia at least, you are statistically
| better off on a variable rate something like 2/3 of the time.
| You pay a premium for the security of a stable interest rate.
| irrational wrote:
| My interest rate is fixed at 2.2%. It seems highly unlikely
| that interests rates are going to drop below 2% for a
| significant amount of time.
| thfuran wrote:
| You can also (probably) save money by never buying any kind
| of insurance, but insurance is a useful risk mitigation.
| Someone who got an ARM a few years ago and is hitting the
| variable rates around now probably sees their interest rate
| roughly double. They likely aren't much reassured by the
| fact that historically, most people's mortgages had better
| timing.
| rfrey wrote:
| Why? When I looked into it (about a decade ago), variable
| rates had paid less overall than fixed for every 10 year
| window over the previous 50 years. I always assumed people
| getting fixed rate were overleveraged and couldn't assume the
| rational risk of the variable.
| Deadron wrote:
| It depends. The come and go based on legislation and the
| current fixed interest rates. They were very popular for a bit
| but as the fixed rates kept dipping they seemed to mostly
| vanish. They seem to only really be popular when financial
| institutions can easily resell them as they tend to target the
| lower income brackets.
| jakespencer wrote:
| I like Jamey Stegmaier, love his games, love the way he runs his
| business.
|
| It's hilarious to me that his post generated so much discussion
| about flossing and variable-rate mortgages.
| neogodless wrote:
| Hacker News submission logic likely excised the first few words,
| as the real title is:
|
| "The 10 Best and Worst Decisions I've Ever Made"
|
| (Also note, it's 7 good decisions and 3 bad ones, for a total of
| 10.)
| JackFr wrote:
| > Not a few weeks, not a few months, but the full academic year.
| I had studied Japanese since middle school, and I had an amazing
| time fully immersing myself in the wonderful world of Kyoto for
| those 9 months.
|
| I couldn't agree more, but would like to recommend the year long
| high school exchange home stay. It seems to be far less common
| than it was in the 70's and 80's but it is truly life changing.
| Experiencing a culture for a year, not as a tourist is an
| incredibly broadening experience. In my mind what makes it
| surpass the university study abroad, is that for many people the
| college experience, can at times be very isolating, while the
| experience of a home stay with a host family avoids that.
| bluGill wrote:
| That depends on the host family. I've know a few that got a
| miserable experience. You have to accept the lifestyle of your
| host family - do they stay home, or go out any party. If stay
| home is it watching TV, reading books, playing board games,
| caring for the farm (which they expand to fit all possible
| labor), knitting sweaters, or something else. If it is going to
| parties, what kind - is it just getting drunk, dancing, a music
| jam, bowling, or something else. Depending on your personality
| you may enjoy some of the above and hate others.
| darkwater wrote:
| Some persons might discover that their personality was just
| molded but how their family lives. And that they might
| actually like this other style more. Or both, and create a
| mix when they go to live by themselves.
| soperj wrote:
| you can do the homestay thing in university as well fyi.
| zetazzed wrote:
| I loved being a computer science major at a school with a great
| department. But my only regret is that it felt impossible to do a
| year abroad. So many prereqs built upon each other that being out
| of the loop for one year would make it really hard to catch up.
| At the same time, our study abroad programs were very oriented
| around arts or social sciences. So I could go to the University
| of Milan or a multi-university program that hopped through
| Southern Africa. Both of these would've been amazing experiences
| but probably not great for CS progress.
|
| Oh well, I eventually got to travel to California, which has been
| beautiful and exotic for this former east-coaster... ;)
| lostmsu wrote:
| A list you could find in every other feel good article. Half not
| applicable to most, the other might be survivor bias. IMHO,
| nothing really to see.
| Waterluvian wrote:
| I didn't really know that not flossing every day was even an
| option. To me that's equivalent to seeing a blog post saying,
| "changing my underwear every day was one of the best habits I
| formed."
|
| Now, I'm not trying to rag on the author. I just think it's a
| great reminder that my personal life context is not the same as
| everyone else's.
| BeetleB wrote:
| One of the top uses of Beeminder? Flossing daily.
|
| https://www.beeminder.com/
| jefftk wrote:
| _The first nationally representative analysis designed to
| determine how many people floss their teeth found that those
| who floss daily amount to 30 percent of the population. Just
| over 37 percent report less than daily flossing; slightly over
| 32 percent say they never floss._ --
| https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-05-02/how-many-ame...
| Waterluvian wrote:
| And if you asked me to estimate the % as a kid, based on how
| my parents treated not flossing (as much an offense as
| swearing), I would say... maybe 5% don't floss.
|
| I'm fascinated by the delta between what's typical, and what
| I grew up thinking typical is.
| inglor_cz wrote:
| I don't floss, but I started using interdental brushes at about
| 30 years of age and my gums are _very_ happy. I had significant
| teeth problems before, and the old mistakes obviously have
| consequences until today, but development of any new problems
| has slowed down to an almost negligible crawl.
| lm28469 wrote:
| Never flossed, never heard of anyone flossing in my circles.
|
| It seems like a very country specific thing, and afaik studies
| find very little to no benefits to flossing.
|
| People look at me weird when I tell them I brush my teeth three
| times a day, here it seems like people are told to do it twice
| per day.
| popotamonga wrote:
| I brush every single time i eat. Even if it's a snack. WFH
| forever helps make that possible.
| the__alchemist wrote:
| If your foods contain acid, you may be causing rapid damage
| to your teeth by doing this.
| jemmyw wrote:
| Not immediately after eating I hope, that would do more
| damage than not.
| efnx wrote:
| Why is that?
| mfgs wrote:
| Acidic foods and drinks will temporarily soften the
| enamel in your teeth. Brushing right afterwards can
| remove the softened enamel.
|
| Brushing right after drinking acidic soft drinks or soda
| is meant to be much worse for your teeth than not
| brushing.
| robocat wrote:
| I thought one weird trick to having good teeth was
| outright avoiding sugary drinks (soft drinks) and snacks.
| I always assumed avoiding causes was more important than
| remediation (teeth cleaning). Anecdotally, it seems
| reasonable.
|
| That said, flossing gets rid of obvious stuck gunk, so I
| do that (with care to avoid damaging gums).
| pcthrowaway wrote:
| It's not just sugar. Soda water would do it too.
|
| And it's not just carbonated beverages. Tea also is
| acidic
| julianeon wrote:
| Thanks for this comment. Going to change my eating habits
| as a result.
| snazz wrote:
| If you ate something acidic, brushing might just rub the
| acid into your teeth. I'm not quite sure how big of a
| deal it is but that's my guess as to why you want to wait
| a bit.
| lawkwok wrote:
| One culture shock while in South Korea is that people who
| brush their teeth after every meal in the office. Teachers
| would even walk around the hallway with a tooth brush in
| their mouth.
| jrib wrote:
| I remember being taught in school (United States in the early
| 90s) to brush teeth three times a day. This seemed odd to me
| since no one brought a toothbrush to school to brush after
| lunch.
| jimkleiber wrote:
| I'm curious, as some cultures also have toothpicks on every
| restaurant table and toothpicks seem as if they might provide
| similar benefits to flossing...do people in your country use
| toothpicks a lot?
| alanbernstein wrote:
| The main purpose of flossing is to scrape the narrow sides
| of the teeth, not to remove material from between the gaps.
| abrookewood wrote:
| Not sure about the evidence/research, but proving that
| flossing does more than brushing seems simple enough: just
| brush until you are satisfied, then pull out the floss and
| see what it pulls out from in between your teeth. Flossing
| never fails to extract some amount of food when I do it.
| michaelcampbell wrote:
| > Flossing never fails to extract some amount of food when
| I do it.
|
| Now, prove that that amount of food actually does damage,
| and you have something.
| nick__m wrote:
| Does halitosis count ? ;P
| gweinberg wrote:
| Yes. If all flossing does is cut down on the bad breath,
| that's still a benefit.
| ericmcer wrote:
| My dentist said something similar, that flossing will pull
| a bunch of stuff out of my teeth. I never floss and on the
| rare occasion I do nothing comes out, maybe a little blood.
| I don't know if anyone else has experienced this, I don't
| really floss anymore though as it just feels like jamming
| string between my teeth for no reason. Never had a cavity
| or dental problem of any kind, in my mid 30s. Floss once a
| month maybe.
| cainxinth wrote:
| > _afaik studies find very little to no benefits to
| flossing._
|
| My gut reaction to that statement was incredulity, but the
| intro to the wiki article for flossing confirms it:
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dental_floss
|
| > _...empirical scientific evidence demonstrating the
| clinical benefit of flossing as an adjunct to routine tooth
| brushing alone remains limited._
|
| Who knew?! I'm not going to stop flossing though. I didn't
| always and I believe it had a very positive impact on my gum
| health in particular. I always get high marks from the dental
| hygienist.
| marcosdumay wrote:
| That looks a similar situation to that famous "we found no
| evidence that parachutes increase the chances of survival
| when jumping out of a plane" joke study.
|
| It looks like a very difficult study to conduct, and will
| certainly give you a very predictable result.
| gpt5 wrote:
| The main problem is that there are zero long term studies
| on flossing.
|
| Gum recession and Gengivitis take decades to develop, until
| you are old and don't have enough of gums left to hold your
| teeth.
| softsound wrote:
| Decades? Nah just a few years is all you need, a lot of
| it is more apparent from eating disorders. Even with
| flossing + brushing daily it can be hard to overcome for
| some people once you have it.
|
| _Sadly can confirm as I had no cavities in high school,
| did terrible in my 20 's especially around 20-27 went
| through a lot of depression, lack of money/medical care/
| in and out of work a lot and I'm trying to fix what I can
| just starting my 30's after losing 2 teeth_ It can be
| hard to overcome shame when already depressed so it's
| hard to visit a dentist moreso if you have no money to do
| anything.
|
| It's easy to screw up even more so if you have bad genes
| on top of it, a lot of my family has issues with teeth.
|
| At least stem cells can be found within your teeth and
| there is a process now to regrow some of your teeth with
| your own stem cells, doesn't replace implants though but
| helps. This process isn't popular yet but at least it's
| possible in a few areas in the states.
| treis wrote:
| There's little evidence that check ups/cleanings do
| anything either. Same goes for annual physicals.
| LeonenTheDK wrote:
| Well there's a surprise, my hygienist and dentist always
| encourage flossing, and anecdotally my gums are way happier
| (no bleeding or puffing) when I'm flossing daily compared
| to when I'm not. I guess it could be that however my mouth
| is configured, and with the types of food I generally eat,
| I benefit from flossing but many others with different
| mouths and diet wouldn't.
| BeetleB wrote:
| Same here. I've had ups and downs with flossing (going
| months at a time with and without it). Without fail, when
| I see the dentist/hygienist, for the times I've not been
| flossing they can easily see my gums are in bad shape.
|
| Anecdotal, but still.
| lfowles wrote:
| I think the tell is mostly that gums bleed after flossing
| if they haven't been flossed in a while.
| BeetleB wrote:
| Yeah that's normal if you haven't flossed for a while.
| Goes away within a week or two.
| 411111111111111 wrote:
| Do you not have a Sonicare toothbrush? I felt flossing
| became pointless when I switched as there was never
| anything left after regular cleaning
| Marazan wrote:
| The main problem with a lot of studies of oral hygiene is
| that peoples oral hygiene technique is often really
| bad/variable.
|
| Like, people who floss often floss with poor technique so
| it is hard to study the benefits of flossing vs not
| flossing.
|
| Peoplevs toothbrushing technique is all over the place so
| hard to study the benefits of electric tooth brush vs
| manual.
|
| Etc, etc.
| jamiegreen wrote:
| Same. Brush 3 times daily, never really floss. Not sure about
| the benefits, but my dentist doesn't complain. Then again,
| this is Britain.
| netruk44 wrote:
| My dentist in the US said to me that they would actually
| prefer people to brush less and floss more. They made a
| point of saying that if you brush twice a day and don't
| floss at all, they would instead prefer you to brush once a
| day and completely replace the other brushing session with
| flossing. (The ideal is brush AND floss every session, but
| they've learned that just telling people to do that results
| in them not actually changing anything)
|
| I honestly don't know how good of advice that is, but I
| brush and floss daily, so it wasn't really directed at me
| in the first place, hah.
| jemmyw wrote:
| I gave up flossing. It has made no difference as far as I
| can tell, and my dentist hasn't noticed. As far as I
| know, research has been ambiguous on the benefits and
| it's been dropped as a recommendation by some
| organisations because of the lack of evidence.
|
| The change that did make a difference to me, and is
| supported by evidence: switch to an electric toothbrush.
| jrib wrote:
| Might depend on what you eat but when I first started
| flossing, the gunk that I saw being removed was enough to
| convince me that flossing was a good idea.
|
| It may depend a lot on the tightness between your teeth,
| for example, how beneficial it is?
| shinycode wrote:
| It surely depends on how your teeth are aligned. Without
| flossing if I eat red meat for example every single time
| some get stuck and brushing never gets it out. My wife
| with the same meal never ever had this problem (or did
| any flossing btw)
| arwhatever wrote:
| When I was in elementary school we were shown training
| materials which recommended that we brush there times a day.
|
| When we would ask the teacher how we should arrange to do so
| as young school students, the response was always something
| like, "Suppose we change the subject ..."
| brookside wrote:
| If I don't floss my breath stinks. So I floss.
|
| The thing I wonder about is the "wax" on waxed floss. Am I
| shredding PFAS (forever-chemicals) all over my mouth?
|
| Waxed dental floss seems like the exact use case for PFAS -
| making something non-stick/slippery.
|
| And...after searching instead of wondering - yes some flosses
| contain PFAS.
| https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/nidhisubbaraman/oral-b-...
| AnotherGoodName wrote:
| One thing that's clearly missing from this article is any context
| on who the author is. Not even a name.
| jakespencer wrote:
| This is a blog post from Jamey Stegmaier, who runs Stonemaier
| Games. He is one of the most successful designers and
| publishers of board games from about the last ten years, having
| designed Scythe and Viticulture (among others), and published
| Wingspan - which is probably THE most popular "designer" board
| game in that time frame. This is a post on his company's blog,
| and that context is known to the target audience.
| [deleted]
| andrewclunn wrote:
| This is mainly a list of best decisions with a few worsts thrown
| in at the end. That said, my own worst decisions list would
| likely mostly amount to several women's names. A few of those
| same names might also make the best list though too.
| worik wrote:
| Exactly.
|
| Relationships with other people are the best and worst things
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(page generated 2023-01-27 23:00 UTC)