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

theatlantic.com

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

#291

Post by Stryder »

lisper wrote: post #17

A while back I noticed that my HN karma was rising at a rate that would put me on the leaderboard, so I decided to make an effort to submit content and post quality comments just to see if I could crack the top 100. After a few months I did it, and kept rising up to a high of 85 (today I'm #88). Then I realized I was spending way too much time on HN, and how easy it was to fall into this trap of thinking I was doing…

Money can’t purchase genuine human connection, and that’s pretty much the root of it.

Anything that can be purchased is that much more enjoyable when real human connection is involved, otherwise it honestly doesn’t matter how lavish the thing is, it just becomes kind of boring.

It’s possible to purchase fake connection, but again it’s pretty boring because it’s fake.

Even the money making process is more boring without genuine connections to others.

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

#292

Post by dragonwriter »

ryanmercer wrote: post #288
tokyodude wrote: post #270

The article said they interviewed people with at least $1 million net worth but $1 million net worth isn't really rich is it? In SF you might be able to afford a 1 bedroom studio apartment. I'm guessing the same is true in NYC, London, much of Los Angeles, Tokyo. Sure, with $1 million maybe you could retire in Cambodia but for most 1st world people $1 million is not enough be able to stop working for someone else and…

>Sure, with $1 million maybe you could retire in Cambodia but for most 1st world people $1 million is not enough be able to stop working for someone else and do what you want. . >I'm confident $1million is not even close enough to be able to do that in most 1st world countries. The average HOUSEHOLD income in the US is around 59k. 1 million is about 300k more than I need to retire today at 33 with a 3% safe withdrawa…

So, in other words, it's not enough to meet GPs threshold of not work for anybody and support a family of four.

It's enough (by your description) to not work for anybody and support a family of 1 (at a level a little over to the US current median individual income.)

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

#293

Post by ArchTypical »

andrepd wrote: post #222
simonh wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

[flagged]

> American prosperity is as much an outcome of capitalism as poverty, repression, and murders in Central America are.

ANY sort of inherent human greed capitalizes on suffering. It doesn't magically disappear with another system. There is always a pareto distribution of wealth. The differences are in which metrics are the primary leverage for accumulation and the scale of the differentials (wealth disparity) along the curve.

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

#294

Post by rejberg »

badpun wrote: post #162
IllusoryReverb wrote: post #58

I have had the sense that guilt plays a part in dissatisfaction with wealth, whether consciously or subconsciously. The way the economic system is set up, a person can only have money, wealth at the expense of others. I only have what I have because someone else has been deprived of it. Its difficult to enjoy something when at the back of ones mind, it is earned off the suffering (real or imagined) of others. I came…

> I only have what I have because someone else has been deprived of it. This is clearly incorrect. If you made something and now own it, the thing did not exist until you made it - hence no one could have been deprived of it.

Maybe the making of the thing deprived no one, but once it's made it could always be given to someone else, so owning it means that someone else who could own it doesn't.

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

#295

Post by perfunctory »

lisper wrote: post #17

A while back I noticed that my HN karma was rising at a rate that would put me on the leaderboard, so I decided to make an effort to submit content and post quality comments just to see if I could crack the top 100. After a few months I did it, and kept rising up to a high of 85 (today I'm #88). Then I realized I was spending way too much time on HN, and how easy it was to fall into this trap of thinking I was doing…

> There is something visceral about looking at a number that you have somehow convinced yourself is a measure of your value as a human being

If only we could somehow get the rich to look at the CO2 ppm and be excited about that number getting smaller.

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

#296

Post by bytematic »

scarface74 wrote: post #228
antognini wrote: post #32

There was a well written comment on Reddit a few years back about how your life changes at different levels of wealth: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/2s9u0s/what_do_i... The main gist was that in the $10-30 million range you can live a comfortable life without having to worry about finances again. In the $30-100 million range you can start doing "rich people" things like have a private jet (though this m…

And this yet another example of the HN bubble. My parents retired at 55 and 57 in a small town and have never worried about money. My dad had maybe a million in retirement as a factory worker and my mom retired with a pension as a school teacher. My mom did low pay volunteer work as a consultant for a few years after she retired, but now they are in their mid 70s and not “worried” about money between social security,…

That 2-3 million number is a common one I see for software engineers who aim to have that much invested by 40-50. Certainly my goal.

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

#297

Post by tomp »

belorn wrote: post #80
lisper wrote: post #17

A while back I noticed that my HN karma was rising at a rate that would put me on the leaderboard, so I decided to make an effort to submit content and post quality comments just to see if I could crack the top 100. After a few months I did it, and kept rising up to a high of 85 (today I'm #88). Then I realized I was spending way too much time on HN, and how easy it was to fall into this trap of thinking I was doing…

This might sound odd, but there is some real health benefits in perceiving oneself as having high social status. A few of those are better immune system, successful aging, lower stress hormones, lower risk for illness and depression, faster recovery, and just general higher energy and confidence. It can have a very strong positive effect on ones social network. It is a very powerful and deeply biological aspect of li…

> Looking at research and listening to experts in this fields, it is really fascinating how anything can be made into a value system for social status

Do you have any resources that you recommend?

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

#298

Post by SnaKeZ »

tromp wrote: post #245
lisper wrote: post #17

A while back I noticed that my HN karma was rising at a rate that would put me on the leaderboard, so I decided to make an effort to submit content and post quality comments just to see if I could crack the top 100. After a few months I did it, and kept rising up to a high of 85 (today I'm #88). Then I realized I was spending way too much time on HN, and how easy it was to fall into this trap of thinking I was doing…

I spent years and years playing a MUD (Multi User Dungeon) trying to top the leaderboard. Once there, I couldn't stop. I kept going and going, until one day I overflowed the signed 32 bit int experience, and then promptly disappeared from the rankings. That turned out to be a good thing. I lost most interest in advancing the counter...

When a bug can save a life :D

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

#299

Post by commandlinefan »

10122018 wrote: post #182
hueving wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think you are fully grokking "not worrying about finances". Your scenario requires consistent outsized market returns to give you less money than the poverty level. You will be wiped out by inflation, a recession, a newborn child, or a myriad of other unexpected expenses that will quickly blow through your poverty-level allowance. That's nowhere near "not worrying about finances". "Not worrying about finances…

> Seriously, read the thread again. This has nothing to do with comfort, it's about FU money. I was responding to the HN comment, not the Reddit thread. If you're talking about having "FU money" and I'm talking about being "comfortable" then I think we are talking about different things. > You're thinking that people who don't constantly have to worry about finances is what the poster is talking about, but that's wor…

I get that you're responding to the comment, but I still think you're wrong - I think OP is absolutely correct that around the $10MM mark (or higher), you actually stop worrying about your future. Maybe you're fortunate enough to be optimistic enough not to worry, but I'm in a similar position to yours: grew up as one of four kids in a household that never took in more than $30K/year. I never went hungry, but I felt lucky when we had spaghetti with meatballs instead of just tomato sauce. Now I have enough in my 401(k) that I could probably manage to squeak out enough income to live around that level for the rest of my life, but I'm constantly worried about the future (rationally or irrationally). I still have two kids who have to go to college and I hope to be able to pay for it. I still have to have a car for the next 20 years (at least) that will get me back and forth to work. I might have medical expenses. Whether you think I'm right or wrong, I wouldn't really stop _worrying_ about the future until I had at least 7 figures in safe, liquid assets.
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