What are your credentials?

Hopefully I dont get flamed for this, but I am curious what credentials you have that would make other FWFers/FDFers confident in your advice?

The reason I ask is because I see on other sites I use there are a lot of users that give their opinion as if it were expert advice, when it is obvious they have no idea what they are talking about. I don’t see that as much here, but I’m still curious about your background and how it relates to the advice you share here.

Personally, there isn’t much reason to listen to any of my advice. I have no college education. My very limited financial success is a result of right place right time, hard work, using common sense, and taking some calculated risks. The longer I am on this forum, I realize there are quite a few very intellingent individuals here and I am definitely leaving money on the table.

With that said, what is your background, and why should we take your advice?

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You are more intelligent than you give yourself credit. I can tell just by you knowing and owning up to your own limitations. Many tend to be narcissistic and give themselves too much credit and not listen to other views. Others tend to mimic the views of others without much thought. The rare person realizes that their life viewpoint is colored by their experiences in life and is limited and will listen, consider and even relish the views of others. Using these other opinions to help round out their life experience. A formal “educational setting” is not necessary to enhance one’s viewpoint and sometimes hinders enhancing one’s views by putting too much credence in the expressed viewpoints of a biased instructor with “Credentials”.

Myself I graduated college but most of my formal education only enhanced my technical knowledge. I gained a more rounded life experience through my interactions (and listening) with others.

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Trust but Verify.

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You sell yourself short, then give some great reasons why others might consider your advice. :slight_smile:

I had a limited education. Attended college for awhile in pursuit of an accounting degree, then changed my mind. I took an extended break while caring for my mother who was dying of cancer. I intended to go back to college, but hadn’t yet decided on a new major. I was working full-time as an office temp, part-time as a karate instructor (1st degree black belt), when a warm-hearted, sincere man asked me out on a date and changed my life for the better forever. :heart_eyes:

As my brief bio here says, full-time housewife and avid Runescape player. My husband hates dealing with finances, though he was quite good at it before we met. He turned it all over to me after we married. Like you said, a lot of our success is right time, right place, hard work, common sense. I’ve tried to learn from my mistakes and think I’ve done an OK job of it.

I feel somewhat qualified to talk about household finances, taxes, cooking, Runescape, raising kids, maybe/maybe not in that particular order. I also believe that what worked for me, might not necessarily work for someone else, so my advice should always be taken with that in mind.

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I learned in my first job as a lawyer that I shouldn’t confuse a law degree with intelligence. There’s lawyers, and then there’s lawyer’s lawyers.

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Well, what a great post to have to follow.

I’m a licensed lawyer. I think the following facts about me have very little bearing on my competence, but . . . I graduated Order of the Coif with Honors from a Top Tier law school and was lucky to get a federal clerkship in a competitive District Court.

I think my better qualification for the work I do is my dabbling in this points and miles stuff. I’m the “Darr” of the Alex & Darr duo writing on Doctor of Credit. What this means in practice is that I can understand, negotiate, and value cases better than an average lawyer (I like to think so, at least).

I’ve spent the past year working on building a consumer arbitration practice (and am long overdue for writing up a thread on the topic). When I get around to it, please know that I’m simply detailing my experience and happy to answer questions. I’m not trying to solicit clients, advertise, or anything like that. What I write on here is never intended to be legal advice.

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I have no formal education in finance, accounting, taxation, etc. I learned everything I know from reading FWF, irs.gov, boggleheads, MMM, DoC, etc. I keep track of every penny and estimate my taxes (now with schedules A-E) to within a few dollars using spreadsheets that I’ve created.

My formal education is in comp sci/eng, work experience in systems-level programming (networking, databases, encryption & security), and some background and interests in web dev, robotics, AI.


Q: why did the multithreaded chicken cross the road?
A: to To other side. get the


There are two kinds of people in the world: 1) those who can extrapolate from incomplete data

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my first post on FD! :stuck_out_tongue:

(longtime FWF postaholic)

short and sweet:

  • engineering degree
  • 10 years as a hands-on landlord and property flipper
  • experienced in tax sales, foreclosures, sheriff’s sales, alternate RE acquisition
  • pretty good with creative tax strategies
  • half decent day trader
  • half decent cryptocurrency speculator
  • retired this year at 37 y/o
  • zero actual credentials or training in finance
  • strong believer in the power of hard work, research, taking calculated risks, and innovating.

here’s hoping this community thrives the way FWF did in its heyday!

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So, heres my story… i spent 17 years as a volunteer, which was a great education in rational thinking. Entered the real world about 6.5 years ago. I was promoted to an executive position at my first job, within 6 months. Saved a good amount of earnings (I was used to life on a stipend). Used a $15K bonus to pay down mortgage to 1) eliminat PMI, and 2) eliminate tens of thousands in interest. Quit job after 4 years to get out of the rat race and enjoy my kids. Got hired on at a law firm as the business manager. Its boring, but pays my bills.

Our house is very modest (we lived in a 425 sq ft studio for years as volunteers). The house was completely remodeled before we purchased it, and the seller/contractor lost money on the sale. We bought just before the market turned in our area.

I have no conventional investments, but have invested in P2P lending, making 14% on investments. I have also researched cryptocurrency, and bought some about 2 months ago. No bitcoin. I believe there is money to be made in bitcoin, but it is not backed by anything other than hope. Of the crypto I bought, my initial purchase has seen a 285% increase so far.

So, other than taking a course in competitive strategy, and others in programming, I have no formal education, but I feel like I have done ok for myself. I don’t have any solid knowledge to share. But, I do appreciate all of the collective wisdom here.

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I am a nobody. Don’t take my advice.

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Yeah sure. Share your story, please.

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Thank you for asking this question.

I rarely give advice here because I’m more of a taker than giver, at least when it comes to the usual FD topics.

Gov’t. retiree, MBA, bound to get work soon - some of it in my former field, and some of it in something I’m really interested in (crossing fingers), although I have no idea what that might be.

A lazy, unmotivated underachiever, I went for my MBA for a very stupid reason: it seemed like a good idea at the time. I really had no direction and no idea who I was or who I wanted to become (and I still don’t know!). But it helped set me on a viable career path. The MBA was nothing (I barely graduated) compared to the financial learning and reading I have done since then.

Credit for my financial knowledge and modest success goes mostly to WSJ (particularly Jonathan Clements, now of HumbleDollar.com), Kiplinger’s, FWF and FD.

jaytrader, that just ain’t so!

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I’m the real TripleB.

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Welcome. Looking forward to great contributions from someone with such a diverse and successful background.

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Early retired slacker. The “i’ll still have to work a little” type, not the “I have enough money to never lift a finger again” type. MS and miles and points shenanigans fill in the gaps.

Before that, I was a video editor at MTV networks, followed by a decade as a professional gambler, scaling the quite lucrative online casino bonuses 1999-2006 and land based casinos after that.

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I got a PhD in computer science, then I worked at some household name computer companies in Silicon Valley where I got half a dozen patents, got bored with tech and became an investment banker in NY where I worked as a derivatives modeler/structurer and currently am an operations executive at a regional bank in the SF bay area.

What I am considering now - (1) retiring to a third world country and (2) co-starting a real estate development company with a local developer. I might start a hedge fund at some point but don’t want to go through the hassle of raising money right now.

I try not to advise anyone on any thing. Giving people advise only makes them angry.

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LOL. For unsolicited advice, sure. Is it so if they actually asked for it?

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I thought you were busy avoiding Vogons and keeping track of your towel.

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