Mark Leavy wrote: ↑Thu Jan 13, 2022 2:19 pm
No opinion on iBonds per se, but I am strongly against
the little optimizations.
I think they are a distraction. I call it "optimizing the small".
Local Optimizations for the mathematically inclined. They can make you feel like you are
optimizing while you are actually doing nothing that will have a real impact on your life. They are a distraction from asking yourself the bigger questions.
I don't disagree with your perspective (from a math perspective, the local maximum may be far lower than the global maximum), however if one has already resolved what they believe are the bigger questions, then optimizing what you're categorizing the "smaller" items is the best one can do.
There are many decisions I could make to make more money, have a lower cost of living, etc. However, given some of the major decisions I've made (life partner, location, choice of life I want to live - land, animals, etc), the best I can do is optimize within those constraints. You may consider those "small", but that doesn't mean it's not worth _my_ time at this point.
All that said, I agree with you that one should be mindful of the challenge you make -- am I optimizing at the right level? (being a software engineer, optimizing an n^2 algorithm is a waste of time vs finding an O(n) or O(nlogn) algorithm)