The problem with advice on the internet — any kind of tip, or trick, or lifehack, or killer new strategy — is that in most cases it’s not actually that useful. Not because the advice is bad, but because you often don’t have a framework to put it in. Take the ubiquitous hot investment tip: even if it’s 100% true, what should you actually do? Buy a little? A lot? When do you sell? How do you know it’s not working?

The few cases where it’s useful is when it fills in a specific piece of a puzzle that you’re missing.

It’s a little like being handed a part to a machine — unless you know where it fits, and you know what piece you’re going to attach to one end and what part you’re going to attach to the other, it’s hard to really make use of it, even if someone else swears by it.