Ask HN: How do billionaires deal with their anxiety? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How do billionaires deal with their anxiety?

#31

Post by busterarm » Mon, Jun 11, 2018, 4:36 PM UTC

rhizome wrote: post #23

asdfman123 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They can quit stressful jobs, or immediately get appointments with great healthcare providers, or go travel in Europe for a year. Let's be fair: money can't solve all your problems, but it can solve some of them. The only problem is that serious mental illness is one of those things that money can't magically fix.

I'm guessing you aren't aware that Kate Spade had sold her company years ago.

She had a new company, so she still had a stressful job: https://francesvalentine.com/

Re: Ask HN: How do billionaires deal with their anxiety?

#32

Post by pricees » Mon, Jun 11, 2018, 4:37 PM UTC

asdfman123 wrote: post #20

thomasedwards wrote: post #15

The same way non-billionaires do: there isn’t anything that money can do about it. While ‘only’ worth $150m, Katherine Brosnahan (you may know as Kate Spade) tragically hanged herself last week after suffering for a few years. If $150m can’t buy you out of it, I’m not sure another $850m would. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Spade#Death

They can quit stressful jobs, or immediately get appointments with great healthcare providers, or go travel in Europe for a year. Let's be fair: money can't solve all your problems, but it can solve some of them. The only problem is that serious mental illness is one of those things that money can't magically fix.

"They can quit stressful jobs, or immediately get appointments with great healthcare providers, or go travel in Europe for a year."

I believe I know what you mean. I disagree. I have no experience being a billionaire, or a millionaire for that matter, however here are my casual observations and thoughts:

A billionaire cannot just quit a job. There must be a transition period. A billionaire can't just no call no show. It's possible, but it never happens.

A billionaire cannot travel to Europe like I can, going from Airbnb to airbnb, hopping in an Uber, surfing with the locals, enjoying fish tacos. A billionaire ends up being an ambassador with little privacy.

Immediately get appointments with great healthcare providers. Maybe. But so can I.

Re: Ask HN: How do billionaires deal with their anxiety?

#33

Post by lbriner » Mon, Jun 11, 2018, 4:37 PM UTC

I don't think a billionaire's money buys as much relief as we might think. You could afford the best therapist but are you getting quality or just someone who can big up their reputation to justify charging you $10K per hour for the same service as every other therapist?

Money can certainly bring you suspicion of others and that can make it as hard as it does for the rest of us to get things done!

It also doesn't buy self-awareness, one of the most important starting points out of anxiety.

Re: Ask HN: How do billionaires deal with their anxiety?

#34

Post by loeg » Mon, Jun 11, 2018, 4:38 PM UTC

thomasedwards wrote: post #15

The same way non-billionaires do: there isn’t anything that money can do about it. While ‘only’ worth $150m, Katherine Brosnahan (you may know as Kate Spade) tragically hanged herself last week after suffering for a few years. If $150m can’t buy you out of it, I’m not sure another $850m would. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Spade#Death

You can use some of that money to buy Alprazolam / Clonazepam :-). They're available as relatively inexpensive generics at this point. Maybe not an option if you are totally broke / impoverished, but certainly something billionaires have access to.

Re: Ask HN: How do billionaires deal with their anxiety?

#35

Post by Thriptic » Mon, Jun 11, 2018, 4:41 PM UTC

They talk to other wealthy individuals. People with a lot of money generally have fairly small circles of friends because it becomes very hard to trust peoples' motives. Most of the people who approach you want access, money, status, or a mixture of those things. Very few really care about you as a person.

The classic "mo money, mo problems" sounds (and is) ridiculous to people without much money, but after a certain threshold it actually becomes true.

Re: Ask HN: How do billionaires deal with their anxiety?

#36

Post by CPLX » Mon, Jun 11, 2018, 4:42 PM UTC

Most of the answers here are assuming that we are talking about the same kind of anxieties everyone faces. Which to some extent is true. But I've spent some time around celebrities and billionaires and I don't think that's totally an accurate take. They have different problems from you and me.

For the most part they don't have the day to day anxieties about money and what things cost of course. And also they have less of the sort of existential dread that their lives won't matter, as they are surrounded by a lot of evidence they are important.

From what I can tell the main anxiety comes from the drastic effect it has on interpersonal relationships. When you have a tremendous amount of money and status you necessarily have a very hard time trusting people, and you're likely to face a near constant inundation of people who want things from you, and who often are being disingenuous about their intentions.

It's exhausting. For the most part they deal with those anxieties by finding ways to get out of that situation by surrounding themselves with people that have similar money and status, removing themselves to isolated or exclusive places, and so on.

Re: Ask HN: How do billionaires deal with their anxiety?

#37

Post by n0us » Mon, Jun 11, 2018, 4:43 PM UTC

pricees wrote: post #32

asdfman123 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They can quit stressful jobs, or immediately get appointments with great healthcare providers, or go travel in Europe for a year. Let's be fair: money can't solve all your problems, but it can solve some of them. The only problem is that serious mental illness is one of those things that money can't magically fix.

"They can quit stressful jobs, or immediately get appointments with great healthcare providers, or go travel in Europe for a year." I believe I know what you mean. I disagree. I have no experience being a billionaire, or a millionaire for that matter, however here are my casual observations and thoughts: A billionaire cannot just quit a job. There must be a transition period. A billionaire can't just no call no show.…

> A billionaire cannot travel to Europe like I can, going from Airbnb to airbnb, hopping in an Uber, surfing with the locals, enjoying fish tacos. A billionaire ends up being an ambassador with little privacy.

Thats what the founder of MySpace does now.

https://theoutline.com/post/4137/myspace-tom-mark-zuckerberg...

Re: Ask HN: How do billionaires deal with their anxiety?

#38

Post by s-shellfish » Mon, Jun 11, 2018, 4:43 PM UTC

undefined1 wrote: post #28

asdfman123 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They can quit stressful jobs, or immediately get appointments with great healthcare providers, or go travel in Europe for a year. Let's be fair: money can't solve all your problems, but it can solve some of them. The only problem is that serious mental illness is one of those things that money can't magically fix.

Yeah, though one can imagine that being a billionaire also introduces some problems. For one thing it changes family and friend dynamics and that's really a key source of happiness.

It's the same problem that comes from excelling at anything valued, or having any intensely desired quality. You don't know why people want to be around you, and you don't know whether they will still be there if (or when) you no longer have those qualities deemed so desirable.

Re: Ask HN: How do billionaires deal with their anxiety?

#39

Post by giarc » Mon, Jun 11, 2018, 4:43 PM UTC

pricees wrote: post #32

asdfman123 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They can quit stressful jobs, or immediately get appointments with great healthcare providers, or go travel in Europe for a year. Let's be fair: money can't solve all your problems, but it can solve some of them. The only problem is that serious mental illness is one of those things that money can't magically fix.

"They can quit stressful jobs, or immediately get appointments with great healthcare providers, or go travel in Europe for a year." I believe I know what you mean. I disagree. I have no experience being a billionaire, or a millionaire for that matter, however here are my casual observations and thoughts: A billionaire cannot just quit a job. There must be a transition period. A billionaire can't just no call no show.…

I think you are lumping all billionaires into the "celebratory billionaire" category. Sure Mark Zuckerberg can no longer zoom around Europe without being recognized, but how many would recognize Len Blavatnik, #46 on Forbes billionare list worth $21B (for example).

Re: Ask HN: How do billionaires deal with their anxiety?

#40

Post by DoreenMichele » Mon, Jun 11, 2018, 4:44 PM UTC

I don't know any billionaires, but I have known some fairly successful people whose success grew out of their anxieties (at least in part). They were not comfortable being vulnerable, ordinary people so they acquired degrees and titles and money and power to hide behind when dealing with other people.

So I will suggest that in some cases the answer may be that becoming a billionaire is part of how they dealt with their anxieties.