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greyenlightenment  investments: META/FBL, TSLA, TQQQ, TECL, MSFT ...  1d ago (greyenlightenment.com)   784 thread views

Why does advice work so poorly?

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Summary:

There is an extreme amount of intraindividual variability, yet advice tends to be one-size-fits-all. This is especially relevant for fitness and dieting advice.

Advice does not work as well in adversarial situations, in which both parties are applying the same advice.

Too many people applying the same advice dilutes it effectiveness. This is seen in college admissions, where everyone follows the same essay-writing advice.

Survivorship bias may make some advice appear better than it actually is. Those who are successful at applying advice will tell others. The majority, who fail, will just go away.

Other advice is time sensitive or topical, and what worked in the past will not work now or in the future. 'Value investing' worked great for much of the 20th century, but became less effective in the 21st century.

Can I ask how old you are?

I hope you don't take this the wrong way, but this reads like something I might have written between 20-25 or so.

I think a big part of transitioning from the academic universe to something approximating the 'real world' is that no one is going to walk you through life.

It's on you to pull out the bits of advice that resonate with you and decide to try those out, then decide which of those you want to keep trying, which of those you want to stop trying, and what you want to try out that no one advised you to do.

You get to decide the itinerary, you get to decide the score card too.

I sorta see what you mean. Personally, I have learned give and take little advice. People generally do not want unsolicited advice. Good advice is typically very specific and by an expert ; for example , an academic advisor.

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