Ignorance can always be overcome, and this post helps me put that a bit more into perspective. =)

Another quote I heard while in grad school, self-esteem decreases every every year you are in graduate school, while self-esteem increases every year you are in medical school.

I think this topic is actually crucially important, specifically with respect to money. The things you “don’t know you don’t know” about money can end up being extremely costly, and set you back years. For instance, I didn’t know how “financial advisors” were compensated, and ended up putting too much trust in the salesman. The result was we spent almost a decade buying expensive, actively-managed mutual funds with MERs of 3.75%! We thought we were doing the right thing, being smart, “paying ourselves first” and all of that, but we were getting robbed and didn’t even know it. We could be so much further ahead if we’d only known that we should have learned about MERs.

I could list several other examples, but the end result is the same. We went in with insufficient knowledge (but thought we had all the information), and it cost us dearly (financially) in the end. Now, I’m sure there are still many hazards out there I don’t know about, but I’ve got a much more cynical attitude when it comes to protecting my money. But that attitude came as the result of some very costly lessons in things I didn’t even know I didn’t know.

You should check out the book Wild At Heart.

It is a Christian book about what being a man is, but one whole section of the book is devoted to the concept you talked about here, the fear that people will find out you are a fraud.

Also, I recommend No Plot No Problem when it comes to writing. For me it is basically a motivational book about keep on writing and telling that voice inside you to be quiet.

I think this is a natural feeling that capable, self-aware people have. Because we realize we don’t know everything, we worry that we missed something.

I would worry if you didn’t doubt yourself.

I love it when people are obviously BS’ing, but if you call them on it, they will argue with you for 2 solid hours and then think you are just being bitchy.

I love those moments of clarity when something just makes sense.

I like knowing that I don’t know it all…life would be boring, wouldn’t it?

I think everybody just needs to keep an open mind and try to BS less.

Oh, and take advantage of the experience of others. I truly learned a bunch from other people’s mistakes, so I don’t have to make them to understand. That has put me ahead financially by at least 5 years. I share my mistakes with everybody, so hopefully they won’t have to make them too.

For example, I only learned about Roth IRA’s in 2007 (age 24)…my little sisters now know about them at ages 14 and 19…

* 0th Order Ignorance: Lack of Ignorance
I know something

* 1st Order Ignorance: Lack of Knowledge
I do not know something

* 2nd Order Ignorance: Lack of Awareness
I do not know that I do not know something

* 3rd Order Ignorance: Lack of Process
I do not know a (suitably effective) way to find out that I don’t know something

* 4th Order Ignorance: Meta-Ignorance
I do not know about the 5 Orders of Ignorance

Remember that in computers we start counting at 0 not 1, never quite figured out why they teach you to count from 1 to 10 instead of 0 to 9.

But good food for thought for all of us

“Schwartz argues that if you feel like you don’t know anything, if you feel like a fraud, it’s not because your “stuff you know” slice is small; it’s because your “stuff you know you don’t know” slice is large. And that’s a good thing.”

This beautiful post of yours also clarified for me why I’ve always felt so uncomfortable around people with infinite, boundless, unfettered confidence (“ie – why can’t I just honor their complete fearlessness, am I jealous of that ability??”). However I’m now thinking it’s a healthy discomfort, for as you wisely say, “But when you’re completely ignorant, the stuff you don’t know you don’t know can really hurt you (and others).”

Lastly – as a staunch feminist, it strikes me how strongly this post is resonating with those of us who are your female fans… not sure if we are just more willing to write about the impostor syndrome or if we truly suffer from it more than men, but it’s an interesting trend to note in the comments.

Thanks again for this incredible piece & all the great work you are doing. I for one, can’t wait to read YOUR MONEY: THE MISSING MANUAL as I know that you know… a lot!

“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”

Imperfection is a natural part of being human. Even our “experts” are not absolute. We tend to seek out those who are “most” knowledgable in a certain topic/ field of expertise, but must always leave room for a “margin of error.”

Confidence is about believing that you are affluent in something, and humility is being able to accept what we do not know, yet being dertemined to gain that knowledge to better oneself.

Let A(t) denote the amount you know at time t.

Let B(t) denote the amount you know you don’t know at time t.

lim A(t)/B(t) = 0

If you’ve never had calculus, this is just a math expression that says as time passes, the amount you know you don’t know dwarfs the amount you know (and presumably you are learning all the time, so that’s saying something).

I cannot tell you how many times I’ve had students in office hours saying how much they love the person brave enough to ask the “dumb” questions. Because they’re not dumb questions, just questions other people are too scared to ask. My classes that do best are the ones that ask the most questions. They seem to get a much deeper understanding of the material, rather than just a mechanical understanding.

It is always good to remember, in all things, from the environment, to health (Physicians, attend this!) to interpersonal relationships: what we don’t know outweighs what we do know, to such a degree that what we do know appears to be infinitesimal by comparison! There is a humility in this that is worth striving for.

One of my friends, with a masters in interpersonal communication, gave me a tip: have a “plant,” a student you know from a previous semester, sit in your class and ask questions that you know students should be asking. She says it warms up the group. I haven’t had to try this yet, but it’s in my toolbox.

PLEASE ask questions!

The raw data that you share can be obtained in many other places. But those places lack something and apparently those sources are not as helpful to people. Ever tell a friend/family member something and they refuse to believe it, but another person comes along and says the same exact thing and they immediately believe it. It’s sort of like that.

I started reading GRS probably in 2007, along with several other PF blogs. All of them pretty much said the same thing, but I only read 2 on a regular basis now. It’s all about the approach.

Also, I think its obvious that even our leaders in banking and politics don’t always know what they are doing – if they did, would we be in this mess.

Seems normal to me.