rhollerith_dot_com comments on The 5-Second Level - Less Wrong

111 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 07 May 2011 04:51AM

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Comment author: rhollerith_dot_com 26 May 2011 03:45:03PM 2 points [-]

AFAI recall it boiled down to "only borrow money for assets, not liabilities"

Only borrow money for assets, not expenses.

Comment author: taryneast 26 May 2011 09:39:03PM 0 points [-]

The book defines a liability as "something that takes money from your pocket" - so the two can be considered roughly equivalent.

Comment author: rhollerith_dot_com 26 May 2011 10:51:22PM *  3 points [-]

OK, but that's not the standard definition of a liability used by accountants and such.

Comment author: taryneast 28 May 2011 08:53:26AM *  1 point [-]

Yes, that is discussed in the book. He makes a big deal about the difference. In fact he discuses the seeming inconsistency of accountant putting large items into the "assets" column that do nothing but depreciate in value...

I'd argue that the main point of Rich dad, poor dad can be summarised as:

1) assets put money into your pocket, liabilities take money out of it 2) you gain wealth by adding to your assets instead of your liabilities

It's roughly equivalent to the dietary advice of "you lose weight by making sure there are more calories being spent than eaten"

Comment author: rhollerith_dot_com 28 May 2011 09:58:04AM *  6 points [-]

Well, it makes me sad to see a very standardized and crisp term like "liability" used in such a confusing and nonstandard way. Especially when there is another equally crisp and very standardized term ("expense") that could be used instead. And I do not want to talk about it anymore.