1. Started a small mutual fund and retirement fund when I was just starting out and still in undergrad. I did not have much and was fully self sufficient. But someone came to my job and showed us how retirement plans worked and convinced me to start one. Same with a mutual fund. I never put more than $20-$40 in each because I didn’t have much but boy did that pay off.

2. I purchased a small condo in the city with some of the money I put away in #1. Just sold it recently (20 years after purchasing it; lived in it for 5 years, rented it out for a profit for 15 years). I made a lot of money off that sale. More money than I’ve ever seen at once.

3. My spouse and I have always lived below our means. Now we’re not frugal - we go out for nice dinners, travel, have kids. We also have good jobs. But, when we purchased a house we could have afforded to get one that was $600k and instead opted for a smaller townhome in a nice neighborhood for almost half the price. Living this way has paid off more than I could have ever imagined. Both of us don’t have to work. We travel whenever we want. We could technically both stop working in our 40s/50s and probably be fine. It’s a feeling of freedom. We’ve never over-extended ourselves. When our colleagues and friends were buying expensive homes and expensive cars and extending themselves, we just didn’t do that.

Agree. It’s good for small communities that want to have an ongoing conversation but it’s horrible for large communities. No easy way to scan content, find info, or even engage in a conversation.

I don’t think it’s necessary “CEO proof” but it is definitely a bit better positioned to avoid the pitfalls that Twitter and Reddit have experienced. Hence the reason I am here. But there’s nothing stopping a for-profit corporation from buying out the owner of a large instance (or multiple large instances). I think the best way to try and prevent that is for people to join hyper-local, hyper-specific instances that can all connect with one another. I assume that would be the benefit of Lemmy.

It’s more akin to the early 2000s to me. Not in the sense of how the tech works but more in the feeling of nothing being “owned” by any one person or entity and things just being…free.

This is what I want to see personally.

I think this is what Lemmy and other Fediverse sites need - a really good mobile app. once that happens, I think Lemmy, kbin, etc will start really attracting users.

There were the time-sucks like r/amitheasshole that I loved, but what I really miss is the practical every-day subs where people shared valuable information. I am really into vegetable gardening, mechanical keyboards, and a few other hobbies and it was great to go to those subs and ask questions or get information. Vegetable gardening was particularly helpful in the last month so I am really missing it! Also, I was really active in a sub for people with type 1 diabetes and that was a huge resource in my life. Really missing that one.