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America’s Professional Elite: Wealthy, Successful and Miserable

nytimes.com

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Re: America’s Professional Elite: Wealthy, Successful and Miserable

#51

Post by that_jojo »

jblow wrote: post #14
minikites wrote: post #3

>“I feel like I’m wasting my life,” he told me. “When I die, is anyone going to care that I earned an extra percentage point of return? My work feels totally meaningless.” Capitalists are realizing the fundamental emptiness of capitalism. It's hard to have a sense of purpose when your entire life is spent making a number on a spreadsheet into a slightly larger number for the benefit of someone even more elite than yo…

If this is your thesis you’ll have to explain how e.g. Communism totally did not have this problem.

Why? He never said anything at all about Communism or any other ideology being superior in particular. Looks a bit like you're itching for a fight that no one is actually giving to you.

Re: America’s Professional Elite: Wealthy, Successful and Miserable

#52

Post by dilyevsky »

uptown wrote: post #37
strikelaserclaw wrote: post #6

- He had received an offer at a start-up, and he would have loved to take it, but it paid half as much, and he felt locked into a lifestyle that made this pay cut impossible. “My wife laughed when I told her about it,” he said. Sounds like a good wife to me, and this "pay cut" is making 500k-600k instead of 1.2 million, what world are these people living in that you can't give up a job that you hate because you can't…

What world are they living in where startups are paying $500-$600k?

If “startup” means “pre IPO” then there quite a few places in town that go up to this for very senior roles.

Re: America’s Professional Elite: Wealthy, Successful and Miserable

#53

Post by krapp »

piptastic wrote: post #7
minikites wrote: post #3

>“I feel like I’m wasting my life,” he told me. “When I die, is anyone going to care that I earned an extra percentage point of return? My work feels totally meaningless.” Capitalists are realizing the fundamental emptiness of capitalism. It's hard to have a sense of purpose when your entire life is spent making a number on a spreadsheet into a slightly larger number for the benefit of someone even more elite than yo…

is it capitalism or the fundamental emptiness of life?

It is the false premise that employment in a capitalist system exists to provide meaning or value through work, that work is noble or carries some implicit moral weight or dignity of purpose.

Work exists to allow you to enrich the capital ownership class, of which you are likely not a part (if you were, you wouldn't need to work to eat.) That's it.

If you want to find more, look elsewhere.

Re: America’s Professional Elite: Wealthy, Successful and Miserable

#54

Post by martythemaniak »

Murdoch wrote: post #17

The rich are depressed, the middle-class is shrinking and fearful, the poor are hopeless. I'm gonna take a leap here and say maybe people need some religion in their lives to give direction and meaning. I found it interesting that a person in the article who made $1.2M a year was still depressed in thinking they were wasting their lives and it was all meaningless. I ask myself, does this person have children? a famil…

I agree in general, it's something I've thought about. Sometimes I want to quit my software dev job and become a shaman because I see people miserable and unable to make sense of their lives. But who can afford to live on a shaman's salary :p

One thing I've consistently noticed in regards to jobs is that people's perceptions are very inward focused. It is all about whether they are fulfilled, if they are interested, if they are bored, if they're learning, etc. You can see this clearly in discussions on HN about "Bullshit Jobs". If people thought more about whether their job is useful to other people, rather than gratifying to themselves, they'll come to very different conclusions.

Re: America’s Professional Elite: Wealthy, Successful and Miserable

#55

Post by JohnFen »

nightski wrote: post #42

I'd just like to add a thought - maybe happiness isn't all it's cracked up to be? I mean sure, we should strive to achieve a certain standard of living for everyone. But once you get to a certain point of "happiness", maybe it's the happiness itself which makes you miserable?

> I find I am at my best when things are not going perfectly and I am backed against a corner.

I would suggest that such a situation makes you happy. Happiness does not imply the lack of struggle or difficulty. In fact, I think most people need struggle and difficulty in the mix in order to be happy.

Re: America’s Professional Elite: Wealthy, Successful and Miserable

#56

Post by 11thEarlOfMar »

"...an underlying sense that their work isn’t worth the grueling effort they’re putting into it."

Just because you've become wealthy doesn't mean that you find meaning in your work. Or, conversely, non-wealthy people can also fall into this syndrome.

There is certainly another population of people who started out and continued doing what they love and in the process became wealthy. It'd be interesting to identify and interview both groups and look for what makes the difference. For example, what about the Harvard MBAs who took control of a struggling company, turned it around and grew the workforce, putting more people to work and winning the allegiance of their customers. I'd guess that group would find much more meaning in that result than the bulk of the hedge fund group.

Re: America’s Professional Elite: Wealthy, Successful and Miserable

#57

Post by that_jojo »

hanniabu wrote: post #28
jdhn wrote: post #11

So just now the NYTimes is finding out that money can't outright buy happiness?

It can most certainly buy happiness if money was the only issues. Many other issues are usually introduced such as being a workaholic and making yourself miserable, love issues, lack of wholesome friendships, etc.

"Money can buy happiness if money could buy happiness"

Re: America’s Professional Elite: Wealthy, Successful and Miserable

#58

Post by JackFr »

smacktoward wrote: post #26
dangwu wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not about living on 500k vs 1 million. It’s about much, much earlier retirement.

More likely it's about keeping up with the Joneses. If all your old school friends are making $5 million, it pains your status gland enough to "only" be making $1 million.

The funny thing is when you move from making $1mm to $5mm you pick up a different set of friends to keep up with.

Re: America’s Professional Elite: Wealthy, Successful and Miserable

#59

Post by onetimemanytime »

strikelaserclaw wrote: post #6

- He had received an offer at a start-up, and he would have loved to take it, but it paid half as much, and he felt locked into a lifestyle that made this pay cut impossible. “My wife laughed when I told her about it,” he said. Sounds like a good wife to me, and this "pay cut" is making 500k-600k instead of 1.2 million, what world are these people living in that you can't give up a job that you hate because you can't…

Making $1.2 Mil and probably spending already even the future raises that may not come. Your lifestyle adjusts to your salary.

Re: America’s Professional Elite: Wealthy, Successful and Miserable

#60

Post by entee »

uptown wrote: post #37
strikelaserclaw wrote: post #6

- He had received an offer at a start-up, and he would have loved to take it, but it paid half as much, and he felt locked into a lifestyle that made this pay cut impossible. “My wife laughed when I told her about it,” he said. Sounds like a good wife to me, and this "pay cut" is making 500k-600k instead of 1.2 million, what world are these people living in that you can't give up a job that you hate because you can't…

What world are they living in where startups are paying $500-$600k?

Could be a sales gig, commission can push total comp quite high, particularly in enterprise sales gigs.
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