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Why Aren’t Rich People Happy With the Money They Have?

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Re: Why Aren’t Rich People Happy With the Money They Have?

#121

Post by scarejunba »

naasking wrote: post #41
tryptophan wrote: post #13

One comment I read somewhere is that with increasing wealth you lose the ability to make sense of the numbers anymore. What is the difference between 50 and 100 million in an emotional sense? The fear of losing it all, however, stays the same no matter the amount, and so the urge to keep accumulating doesn't go away despite a rational view that would recognize that 100million is more than enough.

> What is the difference between 50 and 100 million in an emotional sense? It's roughly the difference between being able to own a private jet. There's probably always something spurring one on to the next level if you let it.

Seriously. Octopus cost $200 million. Anyone who wants her is going to have to be a billionaire. There's always something out there you can't have till you're mega-rich.

Re: Why Aren’t Rich People Happy With the Money They Have?

#122

Post by scirocco »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #94
osrec wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's generally assumed that more money equals better physical health, but the psychological aspects are very underrated. Money equals certainty for a lot of people. It lets them count on certain things always being there. Having your own home, respect, clout totally builds your confidence and lets you face life with positivity. You can afford to be wrong more often, so you don't mind sticking your neck out -…

I wouldn't be surprised if the levels of inequality are negatively impacting innovation. There has to be an optimum level but I don't think we are anywhere near it in the Anglo-sphere.

It absolutely is.

https://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/10-countries-with-most-in...

Re: Why Aren’t Rich People Happy With the Money They Have?

#123

Post by jgh »

CalRobert wrote: post #90
rgbrenner wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100k * 10% = 10k/year. 10% is about the best return you can count on (very optimistically) I don't know what country you live in, but 10k in the US, even for a single person, would put you far below the poverty line. No way you could afford that dental work after you pay rent on that. And let's not even talk about all of the other huge expenses that will come up later in your life. $10m * 3% = $300k/year That's a hig…

Am I weird? I spent a year living somewhat frugally (still enjoyed myself, still took a trip now and then) in San Diego and spent about 20,000. That was only my share tbf, my wife covered her half of expenses. We had a flat in a nice neighbourhood, shared an old but decent-condition car, took one trip to New England that year.. We had obamacare which helped a lot. I see people on HN talking about needing massive amou…

The massive amount of money basically sits in an investment account and generates dividends to live off of. That's what people are talking about. In order to have a salary they're used to they need like 20-30x the cash in the bank to generate it (preferably a bit extra to keep up with inflation too). Otherwise if you weren't using it to do that presumably you'd eventually run out of money and have to go back to work (except now you're old and 30 years out of date)

Re: Why Aren’t Rich People Happy With the Money They Have?

#124

Post by 10122018 »

keithwhor wrote: post #118
10122018 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I would be very surprised if you could live worry-free with the investment proceeds of $100,000. I think you have made the assumption that I would stop working. That might be the goal of many people, but it's not mine, and it's not how I would define being comfortable. Aside from that, yes, I was using a fairly arbitrary number to make a point. I hadn't done the math. Which, here on HN, was probably a mistake. But…

$100k wouldn’t be a reliable safety net for long. A good network of people who trust you to execute reliably is worth way more than $100k — see: business owners who have repeatedly survived bankruptcy. I understand how ridiculous this may sound. There’s a presupposition of access to capital / employment. A large chunk of the world doesn’t have access to that, to no fault of their own. But don’t discount yourself that…

I appreciate your comment. I know that having more than $100K in the bank would be a better safety net. Hell, having $5K would feel fantastic right about now. My point is merely that many people feel happy and comfortable with so much less than $10M, and it's absurd to believe otherwise. Most interlocutors here seem to have latched on to my pretty arbitrary figure of $100K and forgotten or ignored that original point.

Re: Why Aren’t Rich People Happy With the Money They Have?

#125

Post by Applejinx »

JamesBarney wrote: post #92
10122018 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> in the $10-30 million range you can live a comfortable life without having to worry about finances again This statement strikes me as very disconnected from the reality that the vast majority of people on this planet live in, and honestly, a little bit irritating. I'm well aware that many here on HN would be millionaires, but as somebody who grew up in poverty and is now a full-time uni student with no savings in t…

> If somebody were to give me a hundred thousand dollars to invest, I am quite certain I could live comfortably for the rest of my life This shows a pretty big disconnect. And is something no one in their 30s+ would say. The common rule of thumb is you can live off of an investment at 4% indefinitely(assuming 6% return and 2% inflation). This gives you $4,000 a year. Crappy insurance: $4,200 a year. Crappy 300 sq ft…

This seems like a hidden assumption.

Why would you not work doing whatever it is you do as an avocation, or if you like, a hobby or dream job? If it's what you love and what fascinates you, why would that not lead to income across your whole life? Granted, it'd take years to get to the point where it's sustainable, but surely there is tangible value in this?

I do not understand a mindset of 'My only purpose is to amass a pile of wealth so large that I don't spend any of it or do anything else ever, merely use the mechanisms of finance to subsist unproductively off the leakage from my giant pile of wealth, literally forever'.

How is this plan in any way good, ethical or beneficial to either the person or the society they're in? You're going to die having made no use of the hoard you seized, despite having taken it from others who need wealth of their own to survive. Rethink these assumptions.

Re: Why Aren’t Rich People Happy With the Money They Have?

#126

Post by ryanwaggoner »

rolleiflex wrote: post #98
pmoriarty wrote: post #34

Some thoughts from Seneca: "Let me share with you the saying which pleased me to-day. It, too, is culled from another man's Garden: "Poverty brought into conformity with the law of nature, is great wealth." Do you know what limits that law of nature ordains for us? Merely to avert hunger, thirst, and cold. In order to banish hunger and thirst, it is not necessary for you to pay court at the doors of the purse-proud,…

One of my favourite philosophers and one I try to follow the most, but the unacquainted reader should be made aware before reading his commendations of poverty that Lucius Annaeus Seneca was the richest man in the Roman Empire.

Thank you. I’ll pass on reading The Bill Gates Guide to Being Poor and Happy About It too :)

Re: Why Aren’t Rich People Happy With the Money They Have?

#127

Post by kkarakk »

baroffoos wrote: post #43
kochikame wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I went through the exact same arc with Reddit. Once you reach a point where you have say 100,000+ karma, no downvote can ever really touch you anymore and you can start being honest again. If in addition to that you don't care about being banned from certain subs, well, congratulations, you're once a again a free man!

My original account has been banned from hundreds of subs. The vast majority of them I had never even been on before and was bot banned because I commented on a competing sub or something. These days I just make up a random account every month.

some subs like offmychest ban anyone with a submission history to political subs like kotakuinaction as they perceive that someone with links to that subreddit cannot possibly contribute in a constructive manner. whether they are right or not is something only they as mods can perceive.

it is actually against reddit rules to auto ban users like that but it is part of the increasing number of rarely enforced rules on reddit

Re: Why Aren’t Rich People Happy With the Money They Have?

#128

Post by charlesdm »

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #97
rv-de wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In terms of machine learning money is the opposite of regularization. The more money the less regularization the more over-fitting to your specific self-chosen environment. A not rich person will have to learn to cope with obstacles. A rich person can remove obstacles. But it is impossible to remove all obstacles which will lead to increased hostility towards those remaining annoyances - like for example with SUVs in…

Money is an insanely toxic mental, political, and social poison, for exactly these kinds of reasons. It's also a social reward function that privileges egotism and narcissism over empathy; exploitation, scamming, and rent-seeking over creativity, curiosity and invention; and short-term gain over long-term damage. Like the hardest of hard addictive drugs, it's an almost irresistible modifier of behaviour and attitude.

There's plenty of creativity in tax avoidance and financial engineering.

Now, I'm not saying that is the kind of creativity you want to promote, but it certainly is there. There are many people who have fun doing this kind of work.

Re: Why Aren’t Rich People Happy With the Money They Have?

#129

Post by golergka »

bisRepetita wrote: post #87

>“The sensation of ‘being well-off,’” [...] “is not about fulfilling a childhood dream of buying a sailboat or something; feeling wealthy is about comparison with others in your reference group When there is a debate about increasing % of taxes further for higher income (often in the name of redistribution, reducing inequalities), I often hear the argument that it will reduce the motivation for the higher income peop…

It will reduce their motivation to keep paying taxes in this particular country.

Re: Why Aren’t Rich People Happy With the Money They Have?

#130

Post by kkarakk »

dang wrote: post #106
baroffoos wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

90% of the stuff I post is upvoted but I don't care if one opinion I stand behind is downvoted. I also create a new account every month so that probably wont affect me.

That's against the rules, so please don't: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Plenty of explanations about why: https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme...

the alternative to an automated one click action is a lengthy approval process...no one is going to follow this. it is trivial to create a new account. considering the userbase of this site it is even weirder to have shadowbans considering it is trivial to check and then change usernames/IPs.

also the semi-noob phrase is showing the age of that document

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