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Ask PG & other successful folks: how did your life change after FU money?

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Re: Ask PG & other successful folks: how did your life change after FU money?

#151

Post by hugh3 »

altano wrote: post #144
davi wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are a lot of people who think the thing stopping them from writing that great novel they plan to write is the fact that their job takes up all their time. In fact what's stopping 99% of them is that writing novels is hard. When the job goes away, they see how hard. This resonates. I quit my dot-com job before the bubble burst and I had order 10^4 dollars in my bank account. I decided that rather than invest the…

10^4 dollars? 10^4 thousand dollars?

If he had 10^4 thousand dollars I assume he wouldn't have to worry about whether to pay off his student loans or not. Unless he had a lot of student loans.

I assume it means what it says. Tens of thousands of dollars in the bank. Nice to have, but far from FU.

Re: Ask PG & other successful folks: how did your life change after FU money?

#152

Post by hugh3 »

frossie wrote: post #108
dstorrs wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here are some "trading money for time / convenience" options that I'd love to be able to afford: 1) Shopping. For a few extra bucks, most large grocery stores will deliver. 2) Laundry. Pay a service to pick up / clean / drop off your clothes. 3) Travel. For long distances, fly first class (far more comfortable), or charter a plane (no TSA experience!). For in-city, take a cab. 4) Dining. Not in the mood to cook? Eat…

6) Housecleaning. Hire a service. You don't need anything like FU money to hire a cleaning service to come in every one or two weeks. Any normal salaried job puts you into range. I've seen house-sharing students pool their money together to hire one to clean their shared living areas rather than fight over whose turn it is to scrub the bathtub. It also forces you to tidy up on a schedule, as most cleaners won't move…

OK, you've talked me into it. I've been thinking about getting a cleaner for a while, it's time to start using a small portion of my money to get rid of the thing I hate most and the thing which I get most depressed for not doing.

Re: Ask PG & other successful folks: how did your life change after FU money?

#153

Post by marcamillion »

marcamillion wrote: post #72

While I have never gotten 'FU' money, at one point in my life I had access to all the digital media I could ever want. All the appz, movies, games, music, audiobooks, etc. Everything in digital format, I either could get, or had. At first, I was extremely excited - and naturally told a few people (who subsequently told a few people) and before I knew it I was the 'go to guy' for anyone that wanted any media. This exp…

What's with all the downvoting?

Re: Ask PG & other successful folks: how did your life change after FU money?

#154

Post by patrickgzill »

aaronsw wrote: post #6

In the short-term, my life was much worse. I spent a lot of really painful time struggling to come to grips with my situation. After that was over, things went pretty much back to normal. There's now a low-level fear all the time of losing all the money (something PG's written about recently) and I'm constantly worried I've invested it badly. I didn't make any dramatic life changes so people don't really treat me dif…

Somehow your post reminded me of "The Heart" a poem by Stephen Crane:

In the desert I saw a creature, naked, bestial, Who, squatting upon the ground, Held his heart in his hands, And ate of it.

I said, "Is it good, friend?" "It is bitter - bitter," he answered; "But I like it Because it is bitter, And because it is my heart."

Re: Ask PG & other successful folks: how did your life change after FU money?

#155

Post by mattmaroon »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #102
mattmaroon wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's entirely sexism. Most people wouldn't condemn a man for choosing to talk to the more attractive of two girls at a bar. It would be considered normal behavior. Yet most would condemn a woman for talking to the richer of two guys. Unless appearances are some better indicator of a person's quality than wealth neither is more or less shallow than the other, but one is judged to be moreso. If that's not sexism nothin…

The fact that women are statistically more likely to exhibit behavior (using personal relations for money) which society frowns on does not make it sexist to frown on that behavior. Only treating women differently for that behavior would be sexist, and I don't believe we do. Similarly, men are statistically more likely to exhibit violent behavior (and there is an evolutionary basis for this). Therefore, condemning vi…

Women are statistically more likely to exhibit that behavior only because they have orders of magnitude more chances to do it. I think if men could pull it off they'd do it even more frequently than women.

Re: Ask PG & other successful folks: how did your life change after FU money?

#156

Post by d0m »

d0m wrote: post #146
d0m wrote: post #80

Maybe if someone has enough money to be safe and would be interested in investing with a high ratio, contact me :D

As always on hacker news, no fun allowed.

As always on hacker news, truth things get down-voted.

Re: Ask PG & other successful folks: how did your life change after FU money?

#157

Post by mattmaroon »

noname123 wrote: post #116
mattmaroon wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not dishonesty per se because it's not a conscious behavior. Most women don't know they give a rich guy bonus points, just as men consciously underrate the importance of their spouse's appearance. It's one of many areas where humanity's conscious thoughts and actions radically diverge. It's a subtle subconscious leaning. A similar example: doctors routinely prescribe things that get them paid more (for instance…

I agree with what you are saying to a certain degree, but following on your same line of thought, evolutionary psychology and what not - back in the cave-human age, cave-women look for security in a cave-man; this doesn't necessarily have to be money, but a sense of the cave-man's gravitas to inspire confidence and take care of shit when shit hits the fan. Counter-example to your thesis that women only want money: Mu…

I didn't say women want only money. They want success (and not only success) of which money is just the easiest and most direct indicator.

Re: Ask PG & other successful folks: how did your life change after FU money?

#158

Post by ajju »

mattew wrote: post #133
pg wrote: post #65

I've been meaning to write about this one day. There are some things that change. For example, you learn to distinguish problems that can be solved with money from those that can't. You can buy your way out of a lot of schleps. Life doesn't get an order of magnitude more enjoyable, because you still can't buy your way out of the most serious types of problems, but a lot of annoyances are removed. The best part is wha…

I had a sister with a severe mental disability (Rett Syndrome) who died at the age of 17. A very wise, (and very broke) parent of another girl with Rett Syndrome explained to us that if you have a problem that money can solve, you don't really have a problem. While I do not posess a great deal of monetary wealth, this idea has helped me differentiate between fiscal problems and other, in many ways, more challenging p…

From second hand experience I can tell you that if you have a problem that money can solve (for example a serious health problem for which an expensive cure exists), but not enough money to solve it, it can be as bad as or worse than a problem that money can't solve.

Re: Ask PG & other successful folks: how did your life change after FU money?

#159

Post by nonce42 »

detst wrote: post #139
nonce42 wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing I genuinely want to know is how much money it takes to be "rich" in Silicon Valley. In my experience, $5M yields a slightly better but still basically middle-class life. I suspect a lot of people are underestimating how much they need to reach the FU level.

$5M puts you in the top 1%. I'd say that fits the definition of "rich" for most of the other 99%. Maybe $5M wouldn't put you that high in the Silicon Valley but I'm sure it's close. Also, can I ask if you experience is first hand? If not, be careful with appearances. I just recently discovered that someone I've known for years has significantly more money than their lifestyle would indicate. Not everyone lives extrav…

Thanks kscaldef and detst for your replies. I do think a lot about moving out of Silicon Valley especially since the state of California is in such a financial mess. Theoretically, I could quit my job now, but it wouldn't make much financial sense, and I enjoy where I'm working.

My experience with $5M is in fact firsthand, and it feels a lot closer to "middle class" than to "rich". Maybe it's because I live a non-extravagant lifestyle and I just need to buy myself a Ferrari :-) But seriously, what I'd like is to find out from people who actually know, if there's a financial level at which life changes qualitatively. E.g. is there a level at which it makes sense to stop working and spend your time managing your charitable foundation and hanging out at TED and Davos?

Re: Ask PG & other successful folks: how did your life change after FU money?

#160

Post by bl4k »

nonce42 wrote: post #104
pg wrote: post #65

I've been meaning to write about this one day. There are some things that change. For example, you learn to distinguish problems that can be solved with money from those that can't. You can buy your way out of a lot of schleps. Life doesn't get an order of magnitude more enjoyable, because you still can't buy your way out of the most serious types of problems, but a lot of annoyances are removed. The best part is wha…

One thing I genuinely want to know is how much money it takes to be "rich" in Silicon Valley. In my experience, $5M yields a slightly better but still basically middle-class life. I suspect a lot of people are underestimating how much they need to reach the FU level.

If you plan on staying on to live in the valley, $20-30M. I have many friends who are worth $3-5M and they do not consider themselves even close to rich in the valley. Housing and schooling in Palo Alto are very expensive. $5M is nowhere near enough to buy a really nice house and then take it easy for the rest of your life - sad to say, but true.

At least in the valley, most people still live below their means. I find that on the East Coast and Southern CA that those with expensive lifestyles are usually heavily burdened by debt. There are many many wealthy people in the valley who live in simple apartments and walk everywhere, not needing the flashy car or flashy clothes to justify their existence and place in society.

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