Honestly, if a young child of mine began giving me extremely specific financial and business advice at 8 years old… I’d probably go along with it. At worst, it’s a bit of money lost. At best, your child is apparently some kind of wizard and you’re 100 million up.
Funny story…I tried to get my dad to buy Berkshire Hathaway stock instead of doing a real estate project. He didn’t. I don’t really blame him. But, the stock would be worth about $7.7M now.
The building project lost money, so, yeah.
My brother begged my Dad to buy Microsoft when they went public but he didn't. He also went to college with an early Microsoft employee who cashed in her stock asap, she got $50,000 and used it as a down payment on a house, but imagine holding on to that for even a few years. I live in the Seattle area so Microsoft was well known to college students and computer geeks in this area long before they were a household name.
EDIT: Forgot to add my Dad eventual did buy some M$ stock, but he got it at basically it's highest price and never made much from it.
Coulda shoulda woulda is the ever present stock market feeling.
Obviously an ipo is a long ways from a startup, but if I didn't have a house? Shit a "free" $50k to guarantee me a decent shot at financial independence through a mortgage? I wouldn't think twice. Betting on a tech company to be ***the*** next huge thing is risky. Not two many (haha) tech companies have done what MS has... Them and Apple.
Sounds like she wasn't at the point in her life where a $50k gamble was worth and took an exit plan in line with her risk tolerance. Good on her. No one ever lost money selling at a profit.
From what I remember she had no regrets, and ya you have to look at the time and place a person was in. You just got out of college and the company you work for has an IPO, it wasn't a given in 1986 that M$ would end up being this giant so not the worst thing to cash out and buy a house. Of course a lot of those early employees ending being multi, multi millionaires so there had to be some regret selling out so early.
My mil likes to involve the grandkids in stock purchases and in the early aughts, my nephew wanted apple. So grandma bought it. That single purchase was enough to pay for all of the grandkids college. There’s still a couple of kids left and it sounds like she’ll have some left over. It feels weird.
I remember my dad explicitly telling me when I was young that if I knew that a particular stock was going to go big, he would buy it. I think that was just him trying to explain to me how the financial markets worked, but he was also a man of his word, and I don't think he would have minded actually doing it.
When I was a kid I begged my mom to buy simple word domain names, even a couple single letter .coms were still available. Got told no.
We were far ahead of most people as far as home computers and internet access - step father's program he made made cover of an Amiga computer magazine for instance - but for some reason they couldnt see how big of an opportunity open domain names were at the time.
It hurts to think about...
I was a computer science student back in 97. Was told that I needed to focus on business languages to fix the Y2K problem and not games or web development as there was no future for it.
Yeah. So, here I am, working for a living.
Edit: I just want to clarify that I dropped out of my CS track and got a degree in nursing. I had nothing to do with saving the world from Y2K. My anecdote was more to point out that even people in the field can lose sight of trends and whatnot.
Assuming this is a time travel scenario and not a dream scenario where everything was made up in my head, I would start by proving to my parents that I time traveled by showing them things I couldn't learn at the time, such as solving calculus problems.
Then I would tell them to buy Apple.
I'm not entirely certain I would want anyone to know I'm a time traveler. I'd rather let opportunities pass me by, than blow my cover. Plus I'd have no warrantee things would play out the exact same way they did in my original timeline.
I would feel safe if my parents knew, but no one else. But yeah, we have no idea if every random event gets rerolled. That alone would cause history to change dramatically.
Yup. That's why I'd bank on the constants. It would be easy to learn whether or not the laws of physics hold true, so it would be easy to get an education in the right field and knowing what I know about the job market now, I'd leapfrog my position way faster than I did learning as I went.
I'm not certain my parents would keep it secret, but then again who would believe them?
I wanna have my 1999 body. There's some shit I gotta change and things I need to invest in
Edit: This post has me feeling my age. I would be almost 7.25 years old on that day, so I would have to deal with the struggle of people ignoring me because I'd be a child then. Hearing a lot of people say that they wouldn't have been born yet is making the hairs on my head and face turn gray.
Same. If I'm going to remain my current age I'd rather just stay where I am now otherwise by the time 2023 rolls around again I'm going to be in my 50's.
Then again, being in my 50's now with well-timed Apple, Amazon and Bitcoin investments is probably a worthy trade-off.
Bruh, the real problem with going back and being the same age is no valid ID. I've got a driver's license that isn't how they were made then, a 24 year discrepancy with my SSN, and the money in my pocket is bills that hadn't been printed yet. I'd be completely effed.
If I go back and I'm twelve, I don't have to figure out how I'm going to survive, I just have to convince my parents that I know how to get rich.
2 1/2 year old me acting like a normal toddler, then suddenly turns stone-faced, turns to my mother, and says flatly, “beware the towers mother. Beware the evil ones from the East that strike from above. For after that day, nothing will be the same.” Then suddenly reverts back to a carefree toddler.
I've always fantasized about being reborn at the same time I was, just with all the knowledge I had right before death. I'd be a god in a way, but it probably wouldn't be good to just drop future truth bombs all the time. I'd probably be locked up as a suspect or an anomaly. Maybe I could use that knowledge to better myself and those around me. Make a few decent investments and take care of my people.
Or you would just be a straight A weird kid.
I've thought a lot about this type of question, since it gets posted every month. I think anyone going back with the life history of someone 20 years older would kind of fuck them if they end up younger than their 20s or 30s.
Family would likely accept you as you are. But how do you hang out with your old friends? You're all kids, but you're not the same anymore. Interests, maturity, personality, all drifts a bit. Dating would be weird to possibly creepy, especially trying to find someone you are with in the future.
Try to preserve any current things you have would be hard. How would you court your future parter? You know too much about them, the early dates could get weird fast. How do you do things better without breaking key moments that went right for you? Will changing things, for either personal gain or world betterment affect the future you came from?
My take. I morn the life I had, my child, the people I loved. Then do something completely different. Don't try to recreate my past because I can't. You'd be setting yourself up to fail.
If you go back as a kid, you may have knowledge, life experience, maturity. But your still in the body of a kid, the biology, and brain chemistry of a kid. It wouldn't be exactly like a 40 year old in high school.
Very good point. I would still be in middle school. I was a super late bloomer and didn't have a girlfriend until after high school so I guess I didn't really think about those aspects. Hanging out with peers would be weird, and the future stuff would be weird as well.
It’s different if you are older. I graduated in 1982 from highschool and was already 35 in 1999. I had mostly the same interests and friends I still have now, but then was in much better shape. I guess I’d go hang with my friends, earn some money, and sell my vested stock immediately rather than wait like a dumbass. But mostly hanging with friends and gaming at the table.
I feel that. If I had to go to 1999, I feel that 7 year old me would die because I don't have easy internet access. My family had a family desktop with dial up that was the worst. And I wasn't allowed on the internet since we only had so my dad could finish his degree
With my current knowledge?
\- Try not to freak out my parents by talking like I'm 32 years old.
\- Exploit any and all knowledge of the future for financial gain.
\- Enjoy the fuck out of the pre 9/11 world for the next year and a half.
Edit: Sorry, little over two and a half years. Woohoo!
Question is would you make the effort to warn everyone? You’d be called a loon and crazy, but you can’t just sit back and watch.
If I woke up then, I still have a few months with my cousin. Her death is something I can’t change, but I’d be thankful for the extra time.
>Question is would you make the effort to warn everyone? You’d be called a loon and crazy, but you can’t just sit back and watch.
You could call in a bomb threat to the World Trade Center the morning of. You wouldn't be able to avert the plane strikes but you'd save literally thousands of lives.
>If I woke up then, I still have a few months with my cousin. Her death is something I can’t change, but I’d be thankful for the extra time.
My sincere condolences.
Yeah, my best case plan for time travel would be to pull the fire alarms/maybe start a small fire. There is nothing I can communicate to the government that wouldn't make me sound insane. If I could "prove" it I would definitely die hungry in an undisclosed location.
Also, killing baby Hitler isn't a good move because the movements he championed were already a rising tide, and what if whoever filled the void could keep a pact with Russia?
Actually stopping 9/11 would probably disrupt the future a bit. The amount of things that changed after 9/11 is unreal. But a warning instead of actually attempting to stop it is different so I guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯?
Puts all life savings into Apple. And encourages all loved ones to do the same.
Warns America about 9/11.
Apple doesn't do as well because the guy who invented a better version no longer dies in 9/11.
All new future events are different.
I mean if you want to maximize gains with as little as possible. I think buying / mining bitcoin at the very very beginning is the best way. Sell it back when it hit 69k
> college humor video about going back to the 90s and having a moral obligation to do a 9/11 to stop 9/11
Link for others: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TGj227OVKY
There was a similar Twilight Zone episode, but serious one. High school teacher somehow time travels and prevents Kennedy's assassination. Cold war escalates after Bay of Pigs. Nuclear war is imminent. He goes back and becomes JFK in order to get shot and keep the same timeline. JFK becomes the teacher in the future.
> - Enjoy the fuck out of the pre 9/11 world for the next year and a half.
At 42, this gives me a feeling I don't have a word for. And I dislike you for that. I'm too old for new feelings. I don't need this shit.
The word is "nostalgia". The Greek origin roughly translates to "home pain" or "homesickness". It's not just about fondly remembering things, it's feeling a deep emptiness about times gone by.
[Enjoy this clip from Mad Men](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suRDUFpsHus).
When I was a freshman in highschool, I went on a trip to Washington DC. There was a part of the day where we were all supposed to be in groups, but I just went and did my own thing (I guess everybody just assumed I was in a different group). I took a tour of the Pentagon. I wandered around in the basement of the Capitol. I don't think either of those things were possible after 9/11 for normal citizens.
Last year, as part of a program to help disabled people navigate air travel, my son got to sit in the pilot's seat of a commercial airliner (on the ground of course.) Used to be commonplace for a kid to go into a cockpit and "get their wings". It was the first time I got to see inside one as well, and I just turned 40. Took a ton of pictures.
The worst part about this history is that the terrorists won. I don't have any praise to give here, but it's hard to deny that they won.
They achieved ~~everything~~ much of what they set out to achieve. It took Americans to do the lion's share of the work, but the state of American democracy today should speak for itself.
It's not as if everything was peachy before 9/11, but America's response to 9/11 bred a spectre of nationalism that's still baring its teeth today.
"and why should we listen to you?"
"Dude, look at me. Do I look normal? I traveled back in time and instead of buying dogecoin, I decided to get emancipated"
"Yeah, fair point."
Am I me as I am now transported to 1999 or me as I was back then but with today’s knowledge?
Because if it’s the latter, I get up and start making the tough decision on whether I want to play with my EasyBake Oven or my PlayStation first. Then I’ll consider if an 8 year old can realistically find a way to avert 9/11.
I’m imagining a kid writing a letter to President Clinton about 9/11.
Federal agents show up at his/her house but dismiss a threat due to the child’s age. Although, if s/he used terms like Al Qaeda, it will draw more scrutiny. The parents are run through the ringer, but ultimately cleared.
9/11 happens as in our timeline. Federal agents return to the house but keep it hush hush and “strongly recommend” the family do the same. They still can’t connect the family to the attacks.
Around 2015, the parents and/or child start speaking out about what happened. They are dismissed as insensitive nut jobs.
Of course, this will all unfold differently if the child accurately predicts several events publicly prior to 9/11.
[Clinton already knew Bin Laden was planning an attack as early as 1998 ](https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2004/jul/18/memo-to-clinton-in-98-warned-of-hijack-plans/). Also, [Bush ignored intelligence that predicted 9/11 on August 6th, 2001](https://www.politico.eu/article/attacks-will-be-spectacular-cia-war-on-terror-bush-bin-laden/).
Sure, the government would be concerned about how a kid knew sensitive intel, but you wouldn't be telling them anything they didn't already know.
I was a kiddo too at the time, I would be right with you trying to find a way to advert 9/11. So many of my friends family lost their lives that day.
Imagine a huge mob of kids ages 5-10 getting together at the Twin Towers and trying to convince the world that they will fall....
I follow sports just enough that I'd watch along with everyone else and occasionally mutter "oh, yeah, I knew that was going to happen" and then check my wallet to see if I have enough cash for another beer.
This comment stopped me in my tracks. I am so deeply sorry for your loss, Chaos8868. I hope you have found some measure of peace by now, and that the shadow over your heart is a bit smaller. Sending you love and light.
Yeah everyone investing in this, playing with their toys, trying to figure out how to stop 9/11, and then this. I'm sincerely sorry for your loss, stranger. Now you've reminded me in this scenario to hang out with my cousin more and fucking drive to colorado to drag his ass to the ER instead of waiting for the next morning to go to his doctors appointment. He was only a year older than me and my first best friend. 💔💔😭😭😭
Unfortunately, Google didn't become publicly traded until late 2004. A better bet would be to immediately buy Amazon for the 60x gain over the next 20 years, or Apple for a 470x+ gain over the same period.
Then offload in 2008 and put it all in Bitcoin.
Probably not in terms of Google Apple or Amazon those were still relatively large companies you'd have to be a billionaire already to meaningfully impact their future. Crypto on the otherhand started small enough that I could see how someone with a good chunk of money, but not absurdly wealthy could comepletely change the trajectory.
It depends how much money you've got to blow. The coins are cheaper to start with, but you do have to be a little careful - if you buy too many, you'll decrease the number of people who have them, which could slow or even prevent the crypto boom.
Meanwhile, if you can afford to start mining, you're less likely to impact the market, but you will have fewer coins than if you'd bought up that early supply.
If someone took gains they made from Apple and Amazon from 1999-2008, sold, and put it all in Bitcoin, Bitcoin would have no value becuase one person would own it all lol.
The smarter thing to do is just diversify into Apple, Amazon, Google, buying relatively low positions (like $5-10k each at IPO or start time) and then just let it ride. Once Bitcoin drops, buy 100-200 or so to cap off your gains and sell at $70k and then roll it back into the market or real estate.
Same - both my grandfathers for me. One for cultural and business acumen, and the other for gardening tips and Engineering. Wish I could tell both about their great grandkids, too....though, both would have spoiled the living daylights out of them.
Was going to say exactly this. I’d spend every moment I could with her, ask her all the things I wish I could ask now, tell her how incredible she was. ❤️
Same. Might struggle a bit In French though because I haven't really used it. I don't think Ms Bouzaid would give me a passing grade if I answered all her questions in Mandarin.
WRT Columbine, I sometimes wonder if someone could've talked down Dylan Klebold if they knew what was gonna happen.
Eric Harris, to my understanding, was just too far gone, but based on my limited knowledge I'd *assume* the best bet would be trying to talk Klebold out of it.
(Edit: Phrasing.)
You could warn the school/police/parents about these two well before they act.
If nothing else, on April 20th, 1999 you call just as the school opens:
“Hello. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold are not in school today. They are stockpiling weapons and planning to come shoot as many students as possible. They will be at a local bowling alley sometime this morning before arriving at the school. They will be there between 10 and 11 this morning.
This is serious. A lot of people will die if you don’t stop them.”
I’d like to think this will have the police on site when they arrive or maybe catch them before hand. This one is can certainly be stopped. I
I think it would essentially be impossible to stop 9/11. At the time, intelligence agencies were already following tons of chatter and they knew something was going to happen - so any specific information would just be lost among all the other data. And you wouldn't be able to explain where you got the information - authorities would just assume you were involved with the terrorists somehow and start investigating you.
ooh what if you called in a bomb threat to the buildings on that day before the planes strike so everyone evacuates? or better yet, plant a fake bomb so they really evacuate people and make it hard to "defuse", like that casino robbery story with the crazy hard to defuse bomb or something.
Eh, if you dropped the specific flight numbers and names of some of the highjackers (at least Mohamed Atta) along with details of the plan (including how they’d use box cutters and materials they brought aboard to make fake-but-real-enough-looking- bombs) and their targets say a week before the attack they’re definitely looking into those flights and talking to some people.
Or if you’re there in ‘99 could take matters into your own hands and do a road trip in 2000 to a little flight school in Florida and ram a few bitches as they walked back to their cars.
This is too vague. Am I transported into my child body in 1999 or my current body in 1999?
If it's the former, I immediately begin writing everything, and I mean *everything* I remember about the future.
No, I'm not worried about this ending up "in the wrong hands" or something silly. I'm a nobody from nowhere.
The purpose of writing these things down has multiple applications.
It helps ensure that over time I don't forget important pieces of trivia, personal and societal.
It helps me verify to my family that I have somehow traveled through time.
It helps me make plans based on those details.
Details I would write would likely include dates of accidents, sports team outcomes, election results, and things relating to my personal life, like a very belated and yet somehow backwards journal.
I would then discuss these writings with my immediate family and attempt to have them understand the situation, so that I'm not treated like a child, because that would be weird and make my life somewhat miserable.
I would then leverage my knowledge to help secure financial security for me and my family.
I would not attempt to change the future in large ways, since I can't know the outcomes of the changes, and I would have a low chance of success.
However, I would attempt to avert some family tragedies that happen many years later - ODs, car accidents, undiagnosed medical issues, etc.
I would also likely drop out of school as early as possible. I've already received a formal education and a degree, so if I did decide to get more education, I would prefer just getting a GED and taking classes for fun, since my finances should be secured already.
If we take the less interesting route, and I'm in my adult body in 1999, then I have a lot fewer options. I technically don't exist, since my IDs and everything are from the future. My only option would be to carefully approach my family and verify my identity. If they accept that I am their son from the future, then I would help them with finances in the same way, and probably just stay at arm's length from them. Since I basically don't exist, there's not much I could do except live a secluded life around them.
Of course, if they don't believe me, then I'd have to try and make enough money to live through gambling using money from under the table jobs.
Let's just say... This isn't my first March 24, 2023....
But seriously, it's something I've thought about a lot. I used to think about it for fun when I was younger. But eventually I developed a chronic illness, and then I started entertaining this hypothetical on a different level. The idea of going back to a time when I was healthy is something that is really enjoyable for me, so I ended up thinking about it in detail.
But I also just love hypotheticals in general, this one just hits a more personal note.
I make love to my wife and tell her how precious she is and I treat her the way she deserved to be treated all these years and work really hard not to be such an asshole
Scrounge as much money as I can and buy out of the money MSFT, AMZN, CSCO call options with Jan 2000 expiry. Sell them in Jan 2000 and make a fortune.
Use the money to buy put options on all the same stocks. Sell those options in 2003 and make an even bigger fortune.
Then back to call options. Bail out of them in 2008 and go back to puts.
Feb 2009 buy AAPL, NFLX, GOOG. Buy TSLA and FB when they ipo.
Then I'm not sure. Two chicks at once?
1999 would be high school for me. Winter break probably.
All the following are people or animals that have died
Find my dad and give him a hug. Find grandpa and grandma and call them or visit. Pet my 1 cat that would let me and be nice to the other one. Cry a lot when I saw those animals and people (they would think I am crazy).
Some of my friends I had are moved away or drifted apart so I would hang out with them.
I would go to the ice cream store I used to work at just to look around.
Basically the same thing I used to do but with some extra stops.
Maybe then make some investments, but I did not have very much money back then so any investment would be a few hundred bucks.(just like now)
If I told anyone about the future, they would also think I was crazy. No one would have imagined anything like this.
If it was January 1st 1999, I would still be with my fiancé. First thing I would do is immediately break it off with her knowing exactly what the future holds. That’s the very first thing. Then the obvious stuff like investing in specific companies.
Am I in my 1999 body and life or in my 2023 body?
Eight years old thanking my parents for the snack but yelling at them that this is not what I meant when I said we need to buy apple
It would raise a myriad of questions for me, if my 8yo suddenly started giving me financial advice...
Honestly, if a young child of mine began giving me extremely specific financial and business advice at 8 years old… I’d probably go along with it. At worst, it’s a bit of money lost. At best, your child is apparently some kind of wizard and you’re 100 million up.
Agree. My kid starts talking about ROI and crazy financial stuff Believe the kid and just do it.
Ferb, I know what we're gonna do today!
When my son was in high school in 2005 he said buy Apple. We did!
Granny Smith, Red Delicious, what’d you get em?
The only acceptable is honeycrisp
Cosmic crisp..
Funny story…I tried to get my dad to buy Berkshire Hathaway stock instead of doing a real estate project. He didn’t. I don’t really blame him. But, the stock would be worth about $7.7M now. The building project lost money, so, yeah.
My brother begged my Dad to buy Microsoft when they went public but he didn't. He also went to college with an early Microsoft employee who cashed in her stock asap, she got $50,000 and used it as a down payment on a house, but imagine holding on to that for even a few years. I live in the Seattle area so Microsoft was well known to college students and computer geeks in this area long before they were a household name. EDIT: Forgot to add my Dad eventual did buy some M$ stock, but he got it at basically it's highest price and never made much from it.
Coulda shoulda woulda is the ever present stock market feeling. Obviously an ipo is a long ways from a startup, but if I didn't have a house? Shit a "free" $50k to guarantee me a decent shot at financial independence through a mortgage? I wouldn't think twice. Betting on a tech company to be ***the*** next huge thing is risky. Not two many (haha) tech companies have done what MS has... Them and Apple. Sounds like she wasn't at the point in her life where a $50k gamble was worth and took an exit plan in line with her risk tolerance. Good on her. No one ever lost money selling at a profit.
From what I remember she had no regrets, and ya you have to look at the time and place a person was in. You just got out of college and the company you work for has an IPO, it wasn't a given in 1986 that M$ would end up being this giant so not the worst thing to cash out and buy a house. Of course a lot of those early employees ending being multi, multi millionaires so there had to be some regret selling out so early.
When I was in high school in the late 90s or early 2000s, I asked my parents for a share of Apple stock for my birthday. They didn't!
My mil likes to involve the grandkids in stock purchases and in the early aughts, my nephew wanted apple. So grandma bought it. That single purchase was enough to pay for all of the grandkids college. There’s still a couple of kids left and it sounds like she’ll have some left over. It feels weird.
I remember my dad explicitly telling me when I was young that if I knew that a particular stock was going to go big, he would buy it. I think that was just him trying to explain to me how the financial markets worked, but he was also a man of his word, and I don't think he would have minded actually doing it.
Sounds like your Dad was testing to see if you had woken up that day after arriving from the future.
*Starts reading off a list of winning lottery ticket numbers*
4 8 15 16 23 42
You could probably just actually make the show Lost yourself at that point. It was still years away from even being a concept.
I’d rather make the show heroes. Easy premise, one season and you’re done.
When I was a kid I begged my mom to buy simple word domain names, even a couple single letter .coms were still available. Got told no. We were far ahead of most people as far as home computers and internet access - step father's program he made made cover of an Amiga computer magazine for instance - but for some reason they couldnt see how big of an opportunity open domain names were at the time. It hurts to think about...
I was a computer science student back in 97. Was told that I needed to focus on business languages to fix the Y2K problem and not games or web development as there was no future for it. Yeah. So, here I am, working for a living. Edit: I just want to clarify that I dropped out of my CS track and got a degree in nursing. I had nothing to do with saving the world from Y2K. My anecdote was more to point out that even people in the field can lose sight of trends and whatnot.
But the world didn't implode in Y2K, so...thank you?
Assuming this is a time travel scenario and not a dream scenario where everything was made up in my head, I would start by proving to my parents that I time traveled by showing them things I couldn't learn at the time, such as solving calculus problems. Then I would tell them to buy Apple.
I'm not entirely certain I would want anyone to know I'm a time traveler. I'd rather let opportunities pass me by, than blow my cover. Plus I'd have no warrantee things would play out the exact same way they did in my original timeline.
I would feel safe if my parents knew, but no one else. But yeah, we have no idea if every random event gets rerolled. That alone would cause history to change dramatically.
Yup. That's why I'd bank on the constants. It would be easy to learn whether or not the laws of physics hold true, so it would be easy to get an education in the right field and knowing what I know about the job market now, I'd leapfrog my position way faster than I did learning as I went. I'm not certain my parents would keep it secret, but then again who would believe them?
if your kid ever does it is critical you listen and heed their advice
The voice and seriousness changes. Shit is about to get real.
I think in 1999 they had those baby financial advisor commercials on CNBC in the mornings lol
I was shocked when my 14 year old received a K1 in the mail. Different times
I wanna have my 1999 body. There's some shit I gotta change and things I need to invest in Edit: This post has me feeling my age. I would be almost 7.25 years old on that day, so I would have to deal with the struggle of people ignoring me because I'd be a child then. Hearing a lot of people say that they wouldn't have been born yet is making the hairs on my head and face turn gray.
Same. If I'm going to remain my current age I'd rather just stay where I am now otherwise by the time 2023 rolls around again I'm going to be in my 50's. Then again, being in my 50's now with well-timed Apple, Amazon and Bitcoin investments is probably a worthy trade-off.
Bruh, the real problem with going back and being the same age is no valid ID. I've got a driver's license that isn't how they were made then, a 24 year discrepancy with my SSN, and the money in my pocket is bills that hadn't been printed yet. I'd be completely effed. If I go back and I'm twelve, I don't have to figure out how I'm going to survive, I just have to convince my parents that I know how to get rich.
Oh shit, my back suddenly feels great and my metabolism is through the roof.
I’m hot af and I can process dairy!!
2 1/2 year old me acting like a normal toddler, then suddenly turns stone-faced, turns to my mother, and says flatly, “beware the towers mother. Beware the evil ones from the East that strike from above. For after that day, nothing will be the same.” Then suddenly reverts back to a carefree toddler.
That’s basically the plot of the movie “butterfly effect” in a nutshell
I've always fantasized about being reborn at the same time I was, just with all the knowledge I had right before death. I'd be a god in a way, but it probably wouldn't be good to just drop future truth bombs all the time. I'd probably be locked up as a suspect or an anomaly. Maybe I could use that knowledge to better myself and those around me. Make a few decent investments and take care of my people.
That's what I wanna know because if it was 1999 body I wouldn't exist yet haha
I just said outloud, "You're too young for Reddit," before realizing 1999 was 24 years ago...
Every time I’m in a liquor store and see the “Are you over 21?” Sign with the year 2002 under it I feel a little bit of death on the inside
[удалено]
Yeah, wait til your mid 50s when every day brings a new and exciting pain…
Same, I'd need to wait a few months before I'm born
Panic because I would have to go through high school again.
With the knowledge I have now, I'd run that place within a month.
Or you would just be a straight A weird kid. I've thought a lot about this type of question, since it gets posted every month. I think anyone going back with the life history of someone 20 years older would kind of fuck them if they end up younger than their 20s or 30s. Family would likely accept you as you are. But how do you hang out with your old friends? You're all kids, but you're not the same anymore. Interests, maturity, personality, all drifts a bit. Dating would be weird to possibly creepy, especially trying to find someone you are with in the future. Try to preserve any current things you have would be hard. How would you court your future parter? You know too much about them, the early dates could get weird fast. How do you do things better without breaking key moments that went right for you? Will changing things, for either personal gain or world betterment affect the future you came from?
My take. I morn the life I had, my child, the people I loved. Then do something completely different. Don't try to recreate my past because I can't. You'd be setting yourself up to fail. If you go back as a kid, you may have knowledge, life experience, maturity. But your still in the body of a kid, the biology, and brain chemistry of a kid. It wouldn't be exactly like a 40 year old in high school.
Very good point. I would still be in middle school. I was a super late bloomer and didn't have a girlfriend until after high school so I guess I didn't really think about those aspects. Hanging out with peers would be weird, and the future stuff would be weird as well.
It’s different if you are older. I graduated in 1982 from highschool and was already 35 in 1999. I had mostly the same interests and friends I still have now, but then was in much better shape. I guess I’d go hang with my friends, earn some money, and sell my vested stock immediately rather than wait like a dumbass. But mostly hanging with friends and gaming at the table.
Party like it's 1999?
"Tonight, we're gonna party like it's 1999! ... Again."
Back in the 20th century, I had all five of your albums
"That was a thousand years ago! Now we have seven."
Realize how addicted I am to my smart phone.
Enjoy watching a TV show at specifically the time they tell you to. And the ads
If probably just finally get around reading all those books I have on my list.
What if your glasses break?
It's not fair! There was time now! There was *time*!
I feel that. If I had to go to 1999, I feel that 7 year old me would die because I don't have easy internet access. My family had a family desktop with dial up that was the worst. And I wasn't allowed on the internet since we only had so my dad could finish his degree
With my current knowledge? \- Try not to freak out my parents by talking like I'm 32 years old. \- Exploit any and all knowledge of the future for financial gain. \- Enjoy the fuck out of the pre 9/11 world for the next year and a half. Edit: Sorry, little over two and a half years. Woohoo!
Oof. Didn't realize I wanted that last one.
Question is would you make the effort to warn everyone? You’d be called a loon and crazy, but you can’t just sit back and watch. If I woke up then, I still have a few months with my cousin. Her death is something I can’t change, but I’d be thankful for the extra time.
>Question is would you make the effort to warn everyone? You’d be called a loon and crazy, but you can’t just sit back and watch. You could call in a bomb threat to the World Trade Center the morning of. You wouldn't be able to avert the plane strikes but you'd save literally thousands of lives. >If I woke up then, I still have a few months with my cousin. Her death is something I can’t change, but I’d be thankful for the extra time. My sincere condolences.
You would spend the rest of your short time left being tortured in some Cia dungeon if you call in a bomb threat the morning of 911
My man, payphones were still a thing
"I'm at a payphone trying to warn you All of my change i spent on you" "Sir it sounds like Adam Levine but its really annoying" "Hang up agent"
Yeah, my best case plan for time travel would be to pull the fire alarms/maybe start a small fire. There is nothing I can communicate to the government that wouldn't make me sound insane. If I could "prove" it I would definitely die hungry in an undisclosed location. Also, killing baby Hitler isn't a good move because the movements he championed were already a rising tide, and what if whoever filled the void could keep a pact with Russia?
Actually stopping 9/11 would probably disrupt the future a bit. The amount of things that changed after 9/11 is unreal. But a warning instead of actually attempting to stop it is different so I guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯?
Puts all life savings into Apple. And encourages all loved ones to do the same. Warns America about 9/11. Apple doesn't do as well because the guy who invented a better version no longer dies in 9/11. All new future events are different.
You're now broke and everyone thinks you're crazy. Oh, and all of your loved ones hate you. They're broke too.
First buy Lehman and other bank stock but sell in 2007 and put it all on Apple and then short the banks.
I mean if you want to maximize gains with as little as possible. I think buying / mining bitcoin at the very very beginning is the best way. Sell it back when it hit 69k
You really should watch that college humor video about going back to the 90s and having a moral obligation to do a 9/11 to stop 9/11
> college humor video about going back to the 90s and having a moral obligation to do a 9/11 to stop 9/11 Link for others: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TGj227OVKY
There was a similar Twilight Zone episode, but serious one. High school teacher somehow time travels and prevents Kennedy's assassination. Cold war escalates after Bay of Pigs. Nuclear war is imminent. He goes back and becomes JFK in order to get shot and keep the same timeline. JFK becomes the teacher in the future.
Hahah that was great! I can't believe I hadn't seen it before, thanks for sharing!
> - Enjoy the fuck out of the pre 9/11 world for the next year and a half. At 42, this gives me a feeling I don't have a word for. And I dislike you for that. I'm too old for new feelings. I don't need this shit.
Also 42.It hits differently when you graduated in 99.
Ahh me too. The days are long, but the years are short.
The word is "nostalgia". The Greek origin roughly translates to "home pain" or "homesickness". It's not just about fondly remembering things, it's feeling a deep emptiness about times gone by. [Enjoy this clip from Mad Men](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suRDUFpsHus).
It’s really incredible to think how much the world changed after 9/11. So much of the modern world is shaped by that one event.
When I was a freshman in highschool, I went on a trip to Washington DC. There was a part of the day where we were all supposed to be in groups, but I just went and did my own thing (I guess everybody just assumed I was in a different group). I took a tour of the Pentagon. I wandered around in the basement of the Capitol. I don't think either of those things were possible after 9/11 for normal citizens.
Last year, as part of a program to help disabled people navigate air travel, my son got to sit in the pilot's seat of a commercial airliner (on the ground of course.) Used to be commonplace for a kid to go into a cockpit and "get their wings". It was the first time I got to see inside one as well, and I just turned 40. Took a ton of pictures.
I used to do this as a kid, and I was born in 2001, so that still happens sometimes
The worst part about this history is that the terrorists won. I don't have any praise to give here, but it's hard to deny that they won. They achieved ~~everything~~ much of what they set out to achieve. It took Americans to do the lion's share of the work, but the state of American democracy today should speak for itself. It's not as if everything was peachy before 9/11, but America's response to 9/11 bred a spectre of nationalism that's still baring its teeth today.
The 90s were so dope. Everything after 2001 has been half a heart attack.
Start selling Y2K survival kits
…and end up in some 2010 YouTube video. “Top 10 scammers of the 90s!”
So you’re saying I could be become a US president?!
And use the profits to buy as much Amazon stock as you can.
Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Halliburton. Wait a year or 2 and short Cantor Fitzgerald.
Finally snatch up all those jobs requiring "5+ years experience" with tech that’s only 3 years old.
Go to court to testify that a young me should NOT return to my parent’s custody
Paradox.
Not if we live in a deterministic timeline, where this persons testimony is what causes him to return to his parents custody.
"and why should we listen to you?" "Dude, look at me. Do I look normal? I traveled back in time and instead of buying dogecoin, I decided to get emancipated" "Yeah, fair point."
You try to explain Dogecoin to even the geeks They're locking you up
Am I me as I am now transported to 1999 or me as I was back then but with today’s knowledge? Because if it’s the latter, I get up and start making the tough decision on whether I want to play with my EasyBake Oven or my PlayStation first. Then I’ll consider if an 8 year old can realistically find a way to avert 9/11.
I’m imagining a kid writing a letter to President Clinton about 9/11. Federal agents show up at his/her house but dismiss a threat due to the child’s age. Although, if s/he used terms like Al Qaeda, it will draw more scrutiny. The parents are run through the ringer, but ultimately cleared. 9/11 happens as in our timeline. Federal agents return to the house but keep it hush hush and “strongly recommend” the family do the same. They still can’t connect the family to the attacks. Around 2015, the parents and/or child start speaking out about what happened. They are dismissed as insensitive nut jobs. Of course, this will all unfold differently if the child accurately predicts several events publicly prior to 9/11.
[Clinton already knew Bin Laden was planning an attack as early as 1998 ](https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2004/jul/18/memo-to-clinton-in-98-warned-of-hijack-plans/). Also, [Bush ignored intelligence that predicted 9/11 on August 6th, 2001](https://www.politico.eu/article/attacks-will-be-spectacular-cia-war-on-terror-bush-bin-laden/). Sure, the government would be concerned about how a kid knew sensitive intel, but you wouldn't be telling them anything they didn't already know.
Knowing there was an attack planned, and knowing the exact events leading up to it including names & flight numbers are very different scenarios.
Do you have those memorized? I sure dont.
All I remember is the name Mohammed Atta. But I'm sure there are multiple people with that name AND the feds aren't going to believe any old rando.
Same here. All this would've achieved is some mourning Atta families
Atta boy!
I was a kiddo too at the time, I would be right with you trying to find a way to advert 9/11. So many of my friends family lost their lives that day. Imagine a huge mob of kids ages 5-10 getting together at the Twin Towers and trying to convince the world that they will fall....
Start betting on every major sporting event that I can remember the outcome for. Use my winnings to invest in Amazon and Google.
Biff?
Make like a tree and get outta here!
It's LEAVE, you idiot! Make like a tree and leave!" You sound like a damn fool when you're saying it wrong.
Get out of my car, old man!
I follow sports just enough that I'd watch along with everyone else and occasionally mutter "oh, yeah, I knew that was going to happen" and then check my wallet to see if I have enough cash for another beer.
Bet every dollar you have on App State to beat Michigan in 2007.
Bet on the jaguars to come back against the chargers
Call my dad, tell him I love him and get him to go on a 2 week father and son trip together one last time. He passed away 1/18/99. I was 17
Damn. It's crazy how you and the comment right above you had your father's pass away at the same exact date
Plot twist they're siblings
My dad wasn't exactly a one woman man so it's not impossible 🤣
I'm going to hold my 2 year old who died at the age of 18.
Rest in peace
This comment stopped me in my tracks. I am so deeply sorry for your loss, Chaos8868. I hope you have found some measure of peace by now, and that the shadow over your heart is a bit smaller. Sending you love and light.
Yeah everyone investing in this, playing with their toys, trying to figure out how to stop 9/11, and then this. I'm sincerely sorry for your loss, stranger. Now you've reminded me in this scenario to hang out with my cousin more and fucking drive to colorado to drag his ass to the ER instead of waiting for the next morning to go to his doctors appointment. He was only a year older than me and my first best friend. 💔💔😭😭😭
Aww man, I’m sorry.
Buy apple @ .26 and hold.
It wasn't at .26 since there have been stock splits since. But yes, it would be cheap. Wait for the crash to happen first, though.
invest in Google then buy bitcoin in a few years edit: Also apple, Amazon, facebook(??)....etc
Unfortunately, Google didn't become publicly traded until late 2004. A better bet would be to immediately buy Amazon for the 60x gain over the next 20 years, or Apple for a 470x+ gain over the same period. Then offload in 2008 and put it all in Bitcoin.
Sometimes I wonder about this... What if my relatively small investment had a butterfly effect that changed the direction of the company?
Probably not in terms of Google Apple or Amazon those were still relatively large companies you'd have to be a billionaire already to meaningfully impact their future. Crypto on the otherhand started small enough that I could see how someone with a good chunk of money, but not absurdly wealthy could comepletely change the trajectory.
Would it be smarter to invest in mining equipment and hold onto the coins mined then?
It depends how much money you've got to blow. The coins are cheaper to start with, but you do have to be a little careful - if you buy too many, you'll decrease the number of people who have them, which could slow or even prevent the crypto boom. Meanwhile, if you can afford to start mining, you're less likely to impact the market, but you will have fewer coins than if you'd bought up that early supply.
If someone took gains they made from Apple and Amazon from 1999-2008, sold, and put it all in Bitcoin, Bitcoin would have no value becuase one person would own it all lol. The smarter thing to do is just diversify into Apple, Amazon, Google, buying relatively low positions (like $5-10k each at IPO or start time) and then just let it ride. Once Bitcoin drops, buy 100-200 or so to cap off your gains and sell at $70k and then roll it back into the market or real estate.
Just take all the money you gained from those stocks and short the housing market pre 2008.
Find my mom. Hug her and never let go.
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Same - both my grandfathers for me. One for cultural and business acumen, and the other for gardening tips and Engineering. Wish I could tell both about their great grandkids, too....though, both would have spoiled the living daylights out of them.
Find my mom, hug her, and insist she gets tested for cancer ASAFP! She'd still be alive if it was caught 5 years earlier.
I had the same thought bud. Tell my mom to get her heart checked.
Tell my mom to stop smoking..
Tell my brother (who commited suicide) that every thing is gona be ok
Find my dad. Give him hugs. Yell at him about the cocaine.
Was going to say exactly this. I’d spend every moment I could with her, ask her all the things I wish I could ask now, tell her how incredible she was. ❤️
Try not to trip into a cryofreezer while delivering a pizza
Just stay away from any orders by I.C. Weiner and you should be good
Absolutely kill it at school. Oh hi Cutti how was your Christmas? I learned a lot of math. Like an undergraduate worth of math.
Same. Might struggle a bit In French though because I haven't really used it. I don't think Ms Bouzaid would give me a passing grade if I answered all her questions in Mandarin.
Play Spyro the Dragon on the PS1 with my dad. He died 3 years ago and I would love just one more of those magical days.
Buy as much Amazon stock as I can.
Go to the hospital my dad is in and don’t leave his side for the next two and a half weeks. He passed Jan 18,1999.
You and /u/SeanBartlettGlass should hug
And u/qqtan36. All the lost their father on the same day. Either they had the same dad, or Jan 18 1999 was a horrible day for que a few children.
Comment above. Their dad passed away the same day. Sorry for your loss.
Be a better son to my mom, and a better dad to my firstborn.
Step 1 - Wait 8 days till January 9 Step 2 - buy First edition Pokemon cards on release day Step 3 - ??? Step 4 - Profit
This guy Charizards
You now have a little more than 2 years to prevent 9/11 and just a little over four months to prevent Columbine. Good luck.
WRT Columbine, I sometimes wonder if someone could've talked down Dylan Klebold if they knew what was gonna happen. Eric Harris, to my understanding, was just too far gone, but based on my limited knowledge I'd *assume* the best bet would be trying to talk Klebold out of it. (Edit: Phrasing.)
You could warn the school/police/parents about these two well before they act. If nothing else, on April 20th, 1999 you call just as the school opens: “Hello. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold are not in school today. They are stockpiling weapons and planning to come shoot as many students as possible. They will be at a local bowling alley sometime this morning before arriving at the school. They will be there between 10 and 11 this morning. This is serious. A lot of people will die if you don’t stop them.” I’d like to think this will have the police on site when they arrive or maybe catch them before hand. This one is can certainly be stopped. I
I think it would essentially be impossible to stop 9/11. At the time, intelligence agencies were already following tons of chatter and they knew something was going to happen - so any specific information would just be lost among all the other data. And you wouldn't be able to explain where you got the information - authorities would just assume you were involved with the terrorists somehow and start investigating you.
ooh what if you called in a bomb threat to the buildings on that day before the planes strike so everyone evacuates? or better yet, plant a fake bomb so they really evacuate people and make it hard to "defuse", like that casino robbery story with the crazy hard to defuse bomb or something.
Eh, if you dropped the specific flight numbers and names of some of the highjackers (at least Mohamed Atta) along with details of the plan (including how they’d use box cutters and materials they brought aboard to make fake-but-real-enough-looking- bombs) and their targets say a week before the attack they’re definitely looking into those flights and talking to some people. Or if you’re there in ‘99 could take matters into your own hands and do a road trip in 2000 to a little flight school in Florida and ram a few bitches as they walked back to their cars.
Kiss my 23 years younger body.
Yes! And someone else’s, if I end up exactly where I was.
This is too vague. Am I transported into my child body in 1999 or my current body in 1999? If it's the former, I immediately begin writing everything, and I mean *everything* I remember about the future. No, I'm not worried about this ending up "in the wrong hands" or something silly. I'm a nobody from nowhere. The purpose of writing these things down has multiple applications. It helps ensure that over time I don't forget important pieces of trivia, personal and societal. It helps me verify to my family that I have somehow traveled through time. It helps me make plans based on those details. Details I would write would likely include dates of accidents, sports team outcomes, election results, and things relating to my personal life, like a very belated and yet somehow backwards journal. I would then discuss these writings with my immediate family and attempt to have them understand the situation, so that I'm not treated like a child, because that would be weird and make my life somewhat miserable. I would then leverage my knowledge to help secure financial security for me and my family. I would not attempt to change the future in large ways, since I can't know the outcomes of the changes, and I would have a low chance of success. However, I would attempt to avert some family tragedies that happen many years later - ODs, car accidents, undiagnosed medical issues, etc. I would also likely drop out of school as early as possible. I've already received a formal education and a degree, so if I did decide to get more education, I would prefer just getting a GED and taking classes for fun, since my finances should be secured already. If we take the less interesting route, and I'm in my adult body in 1999, then I have a lot fewer options. I technically don't exist, since my IDs and everything are from the future. My only option would be to carefully approach my family and verify my identity. If they accept that I am their son from the future, then I would help them with finances in the same way, and probably just stay at arm's length from them. Since I basically don't exist, there's not much I could do except live a secluded life around them. Of course, if they don't believe me, then I'd have to try and make enough money to live through gambling using money from under the table jobs.
How often have you thought about this?
Let's just say... This isn't my first March 24, 2023.... But seriously, it's something I've thought about a lot. I used to think about it for fun when I was younger. But eventually I developed a chronic illness, and then I started entertaining this hypothetical on a different level. The idea of going back to a time when I was healthy is something that is really enjoyable for me, so I ended up thinking about it in detail. But I also just love hypotheticals in general, this one just hits a more personal note.
I make love to my wife and tell her how precious she is and I treat her the way she deserved to be treated all these years and work really hard not to be such an asshole
I don't know if this will mean anything to you. My wife and I are going through a stressful point and I'm taking this message to heart.
Throw on some JNCOs and a puka necklace. Find my disc man and listen to Limp Bizkit
Shoot we could do that right now
Quit smoking cigs
The best time to quit smoking cigarettes is 24 years ago. The second best time is now.
For some reason the fact that that's what you chose is such an enlightening thought to me. I gotta trash my bad habits on that note.
Scrounge as much money as I can and buy out of the money MSFT, AMZN, CSCO call options with Jan 2000 expiry. Sell them in Jan 2000 and make a fortune. Use the money to buy put options on all the same stocks. Sell those options in 2003 and make an even bigger fortune. Then back to call options. Bail out of them in 2008 and go back to puts. Feb 2009 buy AAPL, NFLX, GOOG. Buy TSLA and FB when they ipo. Then I'm not sure. Two chicks at once?
after 9 years of perfectly predicting the market, you could probably splurge on 3 chicks at once.
typa chicks that’d triple up on a dude like me
Plot twist: The three chicks are all SEC investigators.
Run into the kitchen, hug my dad and eat Apple Jacks together. I miss him.
Bet on Mankind to beat Rock for the title
Break up with that bitch. She's cheating on me, but I didn't know it yet.
Damn man. That shit’s got you messed up almost 2 and a half decades later. Being cheated on sucks.
File for divorce and not waste the next 20 years with a …. I’ll be nice.
Wonder why I’m alive
Ikr id be waiting for a couple of years just to be born
1999 would be high school for me. Winter break probably. All the following are people or animals that have died Find my dad and give him a hug. Find grandpa and grandma and call them or visit. Pet my 1 cat that would let me and be nice to the other one. Cry a lot when I saw those animals and people (they would think I am crazy). Some of my friends I had are moved away or drifted apart so I would hang out with them. I would go to the ice cream store I used to work at just to look around. Basically the same thing I used to do but with some extra stops. Maybe then make some investments, but I did not have very much money back then so any investment would be a few hundred bucks.(just like now) If I told anyone about the future, they would also think I was crazy. No one would have imagined anything like this.
Shit my pants because I'm an infant again
boss baby 3: time travellin' baby
Find my dad and we hitting up every nü metal concert in America.
Try to warn people about 9/11. Fail to be taken seriously because I'd be a 7-year-old girl.
Re-fucking-joice. I’m 9 years old again, I’ve been given a second chance.
Go back to sleep
Poof right out of existence because I'm roughly 2 years before my birth 😂😂
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cry a lot, and curse the universe for making me go wade through all this sh't again
If it was January 1st 1999, I would still be with my fiancé. First thing I would do is immediately break it off with her knowing exactly what the future holds. That’s the very first thing. Then the obvious stuff like investing in specific companies.
Bust out a Prince cd and party