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Naval Ravikant on retirement and other topics

Posted: Sat Jun 08, 2019 8:12 am
by Ego
I've been following Naval Ravikant since I read his famous tweetstorm on how blockchains will replace networks with markets. A few days ago he appeared on the Joe Rogan Podcast. While I am not a huge fan of Joe Rogan, I liked the fact that Rogan didn't interrupt Naval's many nutrient dense streams-of-consciousness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qHkcs3kG44

He touches on many of the subjects we like to talk about here but uses somewhat different language to describe his ideas.

One of his quotes I liked, "Retirement is when you stop sacrificing today for some imaginary tomorrow."

Like many of his quotes, that can mean different things to different people.

Re: Naval Ravikant on retirement and other topics

Posted: Sat Jun 08, 2019 10:49 am
by TopHatFox
I watched the whole thing, but I wonder if we can actually apply principles from the ultra-wealthy or ultra-famous. In other words, the strategies that work for them, work for someone in their context, but maybe not so much for someone just starting out.

The main thing I got from the 2 hours was that having your basic needs met to then be creative is the best way to be wealthy (essentially ERE+ entrepreneurship after). And then once you’re wealthy, you have a lot more time to dedicate to reading, becoming good at whatever, focusing on enlightenment, health, etc.

Retirement is then the point when you stop focusing on your immediate salary needs and instead focus on more important things like meaning, health, family, friends, adventure, and more.

Re: Naval Ravikant on retirement and other topics

Posted: Sun Jun 09, 2019 3:02 pm
by AnalyticalEngine
Very interesting. The part where they start discussing social media as warfare reminded me of this blog post:
Jacob wrote:We will have some form of global war between 2020 and 2040. I’m calling it! This war will be between the current superpower and the next superpower for the next resource (not oil). In particular, it will be in a form that reflects the form of the next Kondratiev cycle. As you recall, the current one was industrial mass production and global transporation. Hence WWII was a Total War with the goal of large scale destruction. World War III will not be like this.
...
Moving forward, the generation that hasn't come into play yet (Z, your average ten year old) will determine the form of the next cycle. X will be the cranky real-politik politicians, and Y/Millenials will be the managers. This will likely not be a cycle in which massproduced technology will be an answer to everything. You can stop hoarding money and supplies right now because they won't be the answer going forward. One possible solution with be the global relationships formed by the internet. Tribes, clans, or what have you. World War III might very well be a propaganda war concerning which cultural understanding should be the dominant one. I'm not kidding you.

Re: Naval Ravikant on retirement and other topics

Posted: Sun Jun 09, 2019 10:17 pm
by intellectualpersuit
Covering basic needs to be able to transform yourself is very reminiscent of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

Re: Naval Ravikant on retirement and other topics

Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2019 10:23 pm
by pukingRainbows
Initially, I was a little wary of his approach.
Reading his tweet storm, I thought it was geared more towards tech startups but hearing him explain things I see it as more generally applicable albeit still towards the more entrepreneurially minded.

Also, his knowledge of ERE made me think he's lurking here somewhere.

Re: Naval Ravikant on retirement and other topics

Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2019 4:56 am
by fiby41
By devoting one fourth of life to learning, the second fourth to raising a family , third fourths to working and the remaining to leisure-- living in this way one can expect to live a life of up to a hundred years.
- The Upanishads (they're like the footnotes to the Vedas)


+1 how he said becoming a monk fits the definition of retirement as in when you stop sacrificing today for some imaginary tomorrow. "Drive your burn rate down to zero- become a monk."

Being from the work background that he is, he thinks all problems can be solved with more technology, even societal problems.

Doing our hourly rate calculations:
fiby41 wrote:
Mon Sep 18, 2017 9:35 am

Total cost of BE degree is little under 8 lakhs and FI compliant job requirement is about 200 per hour. College costs 104/hour before classes and 154 to 194 /hour after classes, depending on subject.

I like to think of it this way: Would I/someone pay someone/myself between 192 to 200 an hour, to have had that hour?

Although I sometimes keep track of travel time and cost as possible, I'm against factoring it in the above as done in life energy calculations. If Human Actions are ranks of preferences according to Ludwig von Misses, what is the next alternative to travel time? Sit at home and do nothing, which is not fickonomical (action/karma which is economical for attaining FI)

2 years back, as mentioned is a previous post, I interviewed for and got a job that paid 51/hour. For the time after exams and before being admited to engineering, it was tempting to take it for the pocket money, for 1 to 2 month(s) . At that time firequirement was 104/hour for fiin24years. As it wasn't fickonomical, so I did not take it and didn't join. Besides it was for night shift.

College raises this 51/hour to 104/hour.
Classes raise this 104/hour to 154/hour.
Swadhyay self-study must raise it to atleast 192/hour

Which is the lower end of the firequirement,
for this whole 8 lakh engineering wager to be worth it,
and for me to break even.
His lists of aphorisms are of the Yoga-Sūtra type. Naval means novel (as in novelty) and Ravikant means associate of the Sun in Sanskrit.

Re: Naval Ravikant on retirement and other topics

Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2019 6:47 am
by Ego
@fiby41, are those figures in Indian Rupees?

Re: Naval Ravikant on retirement and other topics

Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2019 10:57 am
by fiby41
Ego wrote:
Fri Jun 28, 2019 6:47 am
@fiby41, are those figures in Indian Rupees?
Yes in INR ₹
My bad as I just put "all figures unless otherwise mentioned are in Indian Rupees" in only the very first journal entry. Wherever USD or rubles are used I've tried to mention.

Re: Naval Ravikant on retirement and other topics

Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2019 12:06 pm
by Ego
@fiby41, Wow! I just read your journal. Incredible!
fiby41 wrote:
Fri Jun 28, 2019 4:56 am
College raises this 51/hour to 104/hour.
Classes raise this 104/hour to 154/hour.
Swadhyay self-study must raise it to atleast 192/hour
For those like me who had not done the currency calculation, the 51INR/hour job is .74 US cents per hour.

You have certainly followed Naval's advice by driving your burn rate down to near zero levels while living in Moscow. Big expensive city like that.... you could teach a master-class. Well done!

Re: Naval Ravikant on retirement and other topics

Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2019 9:51 pm
by frihet
Thank you so much for posting this. It truly lit up my boring stand by night shift. Wisdom and warmth.

Look at his eyes. They radiate happiness....

Have heard him once before on "invest like the best" I believe.

Loved the Confucius quote “

“Every man has two lives, and the second begins when he realizes that he has only one”

Re: Naval Ravikant on retirement and other topics

Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2019 7:21 am
by pukingRainbows
A few takeaways for me:
1. Having the mindset of the entrepreneur makes sense as ERE people are similarly intertwined in life, money and purpose.
2. The third path of 'retirement' which was doing something you love, where work is not work for you but play
3. How the challenge of modern society is how to battle the excess of what was previously scarce.
4. Meditation as doing nothing and letting your mind relax and unwind itself completely

I think Naval has created an integrated and coherent belief structure that works very well.

However, I don't think everyone is fundamentally creative or that turning everyone into engineers would be successful in solving the worlds material problems. I think he underestimates the fundamental difference in people's characters and predilections. So I don't think his ideas will work for everyone. But who cares? It's great stuff and I'm glad he's contributing his ideas into the mix.

Re: Naval Ravikant on retirement and other topics

Posted: Sat May 14, 2022 4:53 am
by fiby41
We’re talking about getting wealthy so you can retire, so you have your freedom. Not retire in the sense that you don’t do anything. But in the sense that you don’t have to be any place you don’t want to be, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do, you can wake up when you want, you can sleep when you want, you don’t have a boss. That’s freedom.

Everybody can be wealthy. Everybody can be retired. Everybody can be successful. It is merely a question of education and desire. You have to want it. If you don’t want it, that’s fine. Then you opt out of the game.


How to Get Rich https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-TZqOsVCNM