Daniel_Burfoot comments on Boring Advice Repository - Less Wrong

56 Post author: Qiaochu_Yuan 07 March 2013 04:33AM

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Comment author: Daniel_Burfoot 08 March 2013 04:01:42AM *  15 points [-]

Whenever you make an investment, try to begin capturing value from it as soon as possible after spending the money/time for it. Converse: if for some reason you cannot begin exploiting an investment until a certain date, delay purchasing it until that date.

(I learned this from playing the board game Agricola, where a common error mode is to use the "Expand House" action early on, but then delay the "Family Growth" action. The former action is an expensive prerequisite of the latter, which is the one that actually benefits your position. The smart move is to do Family Growth ASAP after Expand House.)

Comment author: kpreid 09 March 2013 02:43:22AM 4 points [-]

if for some reason you cannot begin exploiting an investment until a certain date, delay purchasing it until that date.

Note that this applies to entertainment and hobby purchases. Put the stuff on a wish list and let it sit, until you know you (will) have the spare time to enjoy it.

Comment author: Error 11 March 2013 07:59:12PM 1 point [-]

Catch: Some entertainment items aren't available at a later date. For example, certain video games. (I'm looking at you, Atlus.)

Still good advice, just take into account future availability -- especially if you care about having it new and not used.

Comment author: kpreid 12 March 2013 02:55:03AM *  3 points [-]

Some entertainment items aren't available at a later date.

Oh, good point. One natural (not artificially limited) case of this is: other players, and public servers, for online multiplayer games.

Comment author: Error 12 March 2013 11:30:03AM 3 points [-]

That's actually a much better example than mine. Journey, for example, is fantastic, but a large part of what makes it so will be lost when the playerbase shrinks and/or the servers shut down.