Dave Cortright 🔸
Bio
Participation4
I have been a serious philanthropist since 2004 and part of the EA community since 2017. I am audaciously optimistic about ameliorating the global mental health crisis and I do EA capacity building through coaching and facilitation. I also support environmental and animal welfare causes. I am on the advisory council of Vegan Outreach and the Santa Clara County Behavioral Health Board.
I am a certified professional coach, with additional experience in crisis counseling and peer mentoring. I shifted to mental health and well-being after 25 years as a designer, manager, and director at Silicon Valley tech companies. I am passionate about helping others, and by guiding them to find their true calling, I amplify my impact on improving the world.
How others can help me
I'm looking for partners to work on a peer support group (PSG) program that will help alleviate the global mental health crisis. I'm especially interested in working with students at colleges and universities, or young adults in general.
How I can help others
Figuring out what to do next in your life for maximal impact.
Don’t ask what the world needs, but ask what makes you come alive, because that is what the world needs: people who have come alive.
—Howard Thurman
Posts 18
Comments116
Topic contributions1
I think about it as 2 mechanisms for income: my effort or my investment's effort. I'm at the point now where my investments do 100% of the work for earning my income, leaving me 100% of my time to spend how I see fit.
You can give more to effective causes sooner, at the cost of investing more effort for longer to keep the money coming in. Ultimately, how you want to give back, at what stage of life, and how much are all unique, personal choices.
Absolutely, make adjustments based on any personal values or beliefs. I consider this to be like many art forms. You need to learn and know the foundational basics before you can make good judgments on which parts to change or ignore.
In most instances, people invest with a portion of each paycheck; there is no lump sum available. If you do have a lump sum and want to invest it, go for it. I stand by it for withdrawals, though. You need to have a prudent cash reserve, and liquidating on a regular schedule is a good way to do this. Or just stop reinvesting interest and dividends.
Agreed that there are other options out there for those who want to invest more time and energy. But it's the 10% case, and what I've outlined here was designed for the 90% case. I tried being a more active money manager, and I realized I'd rather spend my time and attention focused on other things 🙂
For me (and most people, I suspect), usability is a top value. I used to read the Motley Fool and followed some of their advice. I even bought into their premium service for a year. And I found that I didn't want to spend my time tracking investments, trying to time things, buy low, sell high…
I like the buy-and-hold strategy. I think it's good foundational advice, and you can start to tinker and diversify as you personally see fit.
Thanks for sharing your perspective! For any reasonably large economy, I'd think an analog market index fund would be the best alternative. But I admit I didn't look at it in detail. I know that the Millennial Revolution couple are Canadian, and they had some posts on how they invest in America. Those might be of interest.
Please read the US Surgeon General report. It's more than just suicide.
There's also this chart from The Village Effect, citing Holt-Lunstad 2010:
Also, (from an LLM):
A study published in The British Journal of Psychiatry examined the impact of loneliness and depression on mortality over 19 years. The researchers found that individuals experiencing loneliness at baseline had a higher likelihood of death during the follow-up period. The presence of depression further increased this risk, suggesting a potentially synergistic effect between loneliness and depression on mortality. Cambridge University Press & Assessment
Another study, also published in The British Journal of Psychiatry, investigated the association between mental disorders and accidental deaths. The study population was over 6.9 million adults in Sweden, followed for eight years. The researchers found that individuals with mental disorders, including depression, had an increased risk of death from accidents, such as falls, motor vehicle crashes, and other unintended injuries. Cambridge University Press & Assessment
The #1 risk for most people these days is loneliness. The US Surgeon General reported that loneliness is as deadly as smoking. Other sources worth checking out: The Village Effect by Susan Pinker, Friends by Robin Dunbar, and the Harvard Grant Study. I also just released this podcast episode on relationships.
A good friend turned me onto The Telepathy Tapes. It presents some pretty compelling evidence that people who are neurodivergent can more easily tap into an underlying universal Consciousness. I suspect Buddhists and other Enlightened folks who spend the time and effort quieting their mind and letting go of ego and dualism can also. I'm curious what others in EA (self-identified rationalists for example) make of this…
Of course they're going for the easy jokes. It's a comedy show. I'm glad EA is getting more widespread, mainstream exposure.