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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?

#301

Post by [deleted] »

camelNotation wrote: post #248
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 believe it's possible to achieve the same level of life satisfaction by translating your experience of the world through a lens of gratitude and purpose. I've had opportunities to meet and get to know people with high net worth (mostly successful entrepreneurs) and people that willingly chose to live below the poverty line (religious devotees, teachers in poor communities, public advocates in poorly-funded non-prof…

[deleted]

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

#302

Post by ecolonsmak »

osrec wrote: post #89
belorn wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

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 -…

Returning to ho capitalism functioned during the years of 1930-1980, before the reduction in top marginal tax rates would go a long way towards leveling the playing field.

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

#303

Post by commandlinefan »

cyberferret wrote: post #20

But isn't it the well oiled marketing and advertising industry that is keeping us constantly unhappy and forcing us to compare our own (projected) shortcomings against others? My hypothesis is that wealthier people are even deeper in this trap, as once you can afford nice clothes, accessories, cars, houses etc., you are immediately exposed to others in the same (or higher) wealth bracket, thus exacerbating these feel…

> isn't it the well oiled marketing and advertising industry that is keeping us constantly unhappy and forcing us to compare our own (projected) shortcomings against others?

No, that's our wives.

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

#304

Post by ryanmercer »

dragonwriter wrote: post #292
ryanmercer wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.)

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

I have a co-worker that supports a family of four, with a mortgage, on not much more than I make.

Do they take fancy vacations? No.

Do they drive new cars? No, in fact they have 1 car.

Do they eat out, buy convenience foods, buy fast food? No, they make their meals and enjoy them together.

Do they have the latest gaming consoles? No but his kids are both teens and are still happy with 2-3 generation old consoles.

Do they wear new clothes? No, most of their clothing comes from second hand stores, often barely warn.

You don't have to spend gobs of money to have a family. Loo at any number of Christian denominations and you'll find people living quite happily with not a lot of money going out, if you want to really see it look at many families that are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints (colloquially known as Mormons) and you'll see families larger than 4 that do are quite healthy and happy, in the US, on household incomes well under 6-figures.

Simply buying food in bulk, buying used cars and buying clothing on sale and/or second hand (and passing it down when it comes to children) stretches money considerably:

- 50lbs of rice $17.98 29,550 kcals

- 25lbs steelcut oats $32.98 42,500 kcals

- 15lbs potatoes $6.98 5,205 kcals

- 5lb bag instant mashed potatoes $6.98 9,600 kcals

- 25lbs flour $6.98 41,275 kcals

And for meat, if you buy as little as 1/4 of a cow at a time you get rather steep savings. A quarter beef is anywhere from 80-100lbs of meat (a lot of steak but mostly roast, chuck roast, 3-5lbs of short ribs and the bulk being ground beef) for 6-8$ a pound. Buy a whole beef and you're talking 350lbs~ of butchered weight at 8-9$ a pound.

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

#305

Post by badpun »

tk75x wrote: post #274
badpun wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This read a lot like an Onion satire, I sincerely hope that only a handful minority of people would be susceptible to such wants inflation. These wants honestly sound like desperate ways to distract yourself with toys and experiences until you die. Also, your analysis on having maximum freedom of will at $3B is flawed in that money can only buy so much. For example, you can be the world's wealthiest man but that won'…

> These wants honestly sound like desperate ways to distract yourself with toys and experiences until you die. If you aren't working for your subsistence, what else are you doing with your life but finding distractions until your time is up? > [money] won't buy you healthy body, good looks or a charitable personality. Money can directly buy you good looks and a healthy body through plastic surgery, more fashionable c…

> If you aren't working for your subsistence, what else are you doing with your life but finding distractions until your time is up?

Of course, it's dependent on the person. I perosnally believe that our time should be spend trying to make the world a tiny better place - even through seemingly mundane actions like open source contributions, involvement in local politics or just personal development - trying to be a more genuine, thoughtful and warm person. The opposite, i.e. concentrating on yourself only, leads to the said distraction threadmill and is not pretty. > Money can directly buy you good looks and a healthy body through plastic surgery, more fashionable clothes/accessories, as well as the free time and ability to hire a personal trainer and equipment necessary to get fit. World class doctors are now available as well to help extend your healthy life as long as possible.

These are still relatively marginal improvements though. An ugly, small, disproportionate 60 year old man with a bland personality will not be able to turn himself into someone who gives women a faster heart rate, no matter how much he spends on various improvements. The sad reality of the hedonistic lifestyle is that money does not give you a good place on the lader - you can buy gadgets like a yacht with a submarine, but girls in the club would still much rather sleep with a beautiful 20-year old broke guy than with the old billionaire.

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

#306

Post by dang »

nf05papsjfVbc wrote: post #187
dang wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

I'm afraid I do not see this part of the rule explained enough. Why is the identity important there? Wouldn't the content of the messages suffice? Often I do not even look at the name of the poster.

In the search link I posted above, there are lots of explanations of this, for example https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17996295. The point is that HN is a community and a community consists of people relating to one another. The fact that you can pick whatever name you want and it needn't be your real one doesn't change that.

It's also the way HN has always worked. A collection of nameless posts would be a very different kind of forum. Anyone is welcome to start one, but not to turn this one into that one.

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

#307

Post by tejohnso »

ThrowawayR2 wrote: post #285
tejohnso wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So the standard point of view is that you can't stop worrying about money until you have passive income of roughly USD $300,000 per year? Why would you need five times the average annual gross household income to be comfortable? That sound like the symptom of a serious problem. Why not take your current annual spend, multiply it by 1.2 for a nice cushion, and then figure out what you need at 3% to gain that annual re…

That passive income does have to carry you through bad economic times as well. What if the rate of return is only 1% or the value of your portfolio drops drastically because of a full-blown economic depression?

The 3% is an average. Some years it'll be higher, and that extra income goes into your savings and offsets the bad years. Plus there's the cushion mentioned and that should also be accumulating a larger and larger safety net.

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

#308

Post by sneak »

thedaemon wrote: post #284
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…

I don't know why everyone assumes such a low return. I think the term Invest has got everyone confused. Investing $100k doesn't have to be a long term investment like an IRA. You could invest in a startup, invest in the stock market, etc. Give me $100k and I'll retire within the year. A few smart quick investments can really pan out. It can also fail, as we all should know.

Outline specifically what you would invest it in, otherwise we have no reason to believe you.

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

#309

Post by MockObject »

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…

> The basic idea being that as currently set up, economics means that it is a zero sum game. In terms of money, either I have the 100 dollars or you have 100 dollars, we cannot both have the same 100 dollars.

It's a common misconception.

A voluntary exchange of, say, a loaf of bread for $5, occurs when the seller values the $5 more than the loaf, and the buyer values the loaf more than the $5. After which they've both increased their total value.

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

#310

Post by rafiki6 »

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…

Interesting. I've noticed that the upvoting/downvoting system isn't very objective and tends to favor one side of an opinion over another. Meaning people will upvote you on HN if what you post resonates with them, and HN readership is skewed towards one end of the political/social spectrum. This means that the reward mechanism of HN (upvoting for karma), rewards those with content that conforms rather than challenges some of the assumptions and opinions that run prevalent here. It's very analogous to the real world and money. It's quite rare to be rewarded monetarily for challenging status quo or established trends/opinions. If I was to open a business to challenge an incumbent in an industry, the obstacles I'd face make the risk daunting. That's why the failure rate for start-ups is so high. I'd love to see a study of HN and Reddit and their voting system to see if we can find any strong correlations between that and the real world.
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