Top all-time · #635
Ramit Sethi
Personal blog · iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog · on HN as ramitbusinessproductivityeconomics
Ramit Sethi's personal blog at iwillteachyoutoberich.com covers business, productivity and economics. Since 2007, 98 different Hacker News readers have linked it 136 times, most often “8 "frat-boy" business ideas”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-27, and you can follow it by feed.
Sometimes recommended · 13 of 40 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
HN readers link it for personal finance, salary negotiation, frugality, investing and networking posts, and recommend its guides and book. One commenter disagreed with its latte-factor view.
- Recommended for · 13 comments
- called pretty good, a great book, a great article, an awesome resource, and worth reading today; its author is smart
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 40 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Stop pinching pennies and design the life you’ve always imagined. Spend confidently on the things you love, and cut back mercilessly on the things you don’t.
Most-linked posts?
- /6 people · 7 mentions · first linked 2009-01-31
- /4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2010-11-08
- 8 "frat-boy" business ideas3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2009-02-01
- /3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2009-04-12
- MIT postdoc writes 3 books, a PhD, 6+ peer-reviewed papers, finishes by 5:30pm3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2009-11-23
- The psychology of cutting back on lattes3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2011-06-09
- /blog/salary-negotiation/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2014-09-26
- /2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2018-10-19
- /the-big-wins-manifesto/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2023-11-15
- "Just get started" is bad advice2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2010-09-14
What Hacker News says?
What to do if you win the lottery. https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/win-lottery-what-...
Comment linking /blog/win-lottery-what-to-do/
on “Ask HN: What to do after $8M (all cash, post tax) exit?”Submitted 8 "frat-boy" business ideas as a story · 55 points
HN discussionAnother amazing information: https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/win-lottery-what-... Please be conservative and take time to educate yourself about investing / markets. It will take about a year. YOU CANNOT TRANSFER RESPONSIBILITY for this. You need to know how this works.
Comment linking /blog/win-lottery-what-to-do/
on “Ask HN: What to do after $8M (all cash, post tax) exit?”Submitted Time Management: MIT Postdoc writes 3 books, a PhD defense, papers by 5:30 as a story · 40 points
HN discussionHere's a few from my own quick searching that I found most interesting/foundational/helpful: http://calnewport.com/blog/2009/07/08/grit-grinds-and-living... http://calnewport.com/blog/2012/11/21/knowledge-workers-are-... http://calnewport.com/blog/2009/06/22/on-the-value-of-hard-f... http://calnewport.com/blog/2009/02/16/the-danger-of-deep-pro... http://calnewport.com/blog/2008/02/15/fixed-schedule-product... http:/…
Comment linking /blog/getting-started-is-bad-advice/
on “Disconnect. Offline only”Submitted An email from a very confused guy who can’t find a job as a story · 38 points
HN discussionIf it ever comes up that you talk to them about it there are many sources of good information. But just to name one, https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/ is pretty good, I think. (Not associated.) There is a book that I gave my kids.
Comment linking /
on “What Is the Most Valuable Thing You Can Learn in One Hour?”Submitted I just launched a $2,500 scholarship for entrepreneurial ideas...please apply! as a story · 22 points
HN discussion> Well, the other reason $400k in revenue was possible: ........ There aren't many topics with such a wide audience. OP mentions Ramit Sethi, so have to quote his post on this statement, it's called "The Shrug Effect" https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/success-and-the-s...
Comment linking /blog/success-and-the-shrug-effect/
on “The Economics of Writing a Technical Book”Submitted I Will Teach You To Be Rich - The Myth of the Great Idea as a story · 17 points
HN discussionFrom the article it sounds like part of it is going after the same sort of business as Ramit Sethi [1] [2] He seems to mainly sell courses on how to create and sell courses. I don't know how comfortable I would feel doing that. Maybe that's just me. [1] https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/about/about-ramit/ [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramit_Sethi
Comment linking /about/about-ramit/
on “1000 True Fans? Try 100”Submitted Experiments from the world of psychology and persuasion as a story · 16 points
HN discussionRight now is a challenging time to invest. In general I would lean towards well managed active funds versus pure index funds. The markets are in a time that a good active manager can get you some added return. With that said I'd probably lean towards something like the all-weather portfolio. See: https://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/all-weather-portf... Note: this portfolio does cost you some potential upside…
Comment linking /blog/all-weather-portfolio/
on “Ask HN: I have $450K cash, what should I do to maximize my return?”Submitted Why haven’t you started your own business? as a story · 11 points
HN discussionAn article by Cal Newport goes into depth on when "just get started" makes sense, and when it's a bad idea: http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/getting-started-is...
Comment linking /blog/getting-started-is-bad-advice/
on “Move your feet”Submitted It Never Gets Easier Than Now as a story · 8 points
HN discussionFair enough. You could go to meetups, go to conferences, engage other devs on social media. Send thoughtful emails to people who know people. Ramit Sethi has a couple of blog posts showing email scripts for getting busy people to say yes to coffee[1][2]. A longer term alternative is to make cool things and tell people about them. Write some open source or a side project and post it to HN. Lather, rinse, repeat until…
Comment linking /blog/video-how-to-use-natural-networking-to-connect-with-people/
on “Career planning: Where do old devs go to?”Submitted How to find your first 3 paying clients as a story · 7 points
HN discussionJust $2 a day! I don't spend as much, and yes, coffee can be so much cheaper, but it's also not a lot of money. Interestingly, the following guy has a recurring theme on how trying to save on lattes is inefficient and distracting (similar to the idea of premature optimization in code): http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/save-on-coffee/
Comment linking /blog/save-on-coffee/
on “Ask HN: Your Passive Income Suggestions?”Submitted Earning more money: Finding the right idea as a story · 6 points
HN discussionRamit Sethi argues that the belief that you can't go to college due to a lack of money is largely misplaced, at least in the USA. I'm sure there are edge cases where it really is impossible to get funding, but I know several people who went to very expensive schools and got it nearly all paid through various scholarships. NB: most of these scholarships were not granted by the college itself, but by an outside agency…
Comment linking /blog/some-people-think-theres-only-a-limited-amount-of-money/
on “Anonymous Donor Pays for College of Every Student in Kalamazoo”Submitted MIT postdoc writes 3 books, a PhD, 6+ peer-reviewed papers, finishes by 5:30pm as a story · 6 points
HN discussionNever say never. Ramit Sethi, a smart writer and generally perceptive entrepreneur, highlighted textbook exchanges in May 2006 as his top "stupid frat-boy business idea". He wrote: "NO BOOK EXCHANGE HAS EVER REALLY SUCCEEDED. I HATE TO CRUSH DREAMS BUT PLEASE FORGET ABOUT THIS." http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/8-stupid-frat-boy-... But now there is Chegg. And Chegg is not just Sethi's despised textbook exc…
Comment linking /blog/8-stupid-frat-boy-business-ideas/
on “Startup Ideas Every Nerd Has (That Never Work)”Submitted How do I stop being so damn lazy? as a story · 5 points
HN discussionTry out Ramit Sethi's videos ( http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XY5SeCl_8NE ). I haven't watched any yet myself but I've heard they are good. He also has an article on negotiation at http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/salary-negotiation...
Comment linking /blog/salary-negotiation/
on “Salary negotiations for techies (2011)”Submitted Think in weeks, not years as a story · 5 points
HN discussionTo be fair, it's an actual company that's really called I will teach you to be rich. http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/ Although it sounds high pressure to work overtime, it actually sounds like a pretty interesting job. Apart from the PHP.
Comment linking /
on “Europe Remotely – EU-friendly remote dev jobs”Submitted How to turn your skills into services that people will pay for as a story · 5 points
HN discussionRamit Sethi[1] focuses almost exclusively on increasing income. He thinks the "latte factor" is bullshit, since you can just bring in more money. Personally, I think that increasing income and reducing expenses are two sides of the same coin. You're either changing the numerator or the denominator in the time-to-FI equation. The really powerful stuff happens when you do both at the same time . [1]: http://www.iwillt…
Comment linking /
on “What I’m Teaching my Son about Money”Submitted Detailed breakdown of how the Negotiate It iPhone app was built as a story · 4 points
HN discussion
