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You don't really want a million dollars

ryanwaggoner.com

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Re: You don't really want a million dollars

#21

Post by marknutter »

wwortiz wrote: post #6
marknutter wrote: post #4

The "HN Users, please upvote this" banner at the bottom is disconcerting. If HN is becoming a place people are desperate to get their stories voted up on, I fear the quality is going to start decreasing dramatically in the coming months.

> Hello there, fellow HN user! If you like this post, I'd really appreciate an upvote. That has been there for a while, I thought he might of changed that to what you wrote but as it is now, it is just asking if you like it to upvote it which is how hacker news works. You don't get this if you don't come from hacker news either.

Do we really need a banner reminding us to upvote a story we like? I'm pretty sure all HNers understand how voting sites work.

Re: You don't really want a million dollars

#22

Post by kenjackson »

I think Ryan misses the point for most people. I do want a "million" dollars for freedom, but it's not just to go to Thailand. In fact I don't really like traveling, but I'd pay a lot if you could teleport me instantly.

I want the freedom to work on what I want to work on AND to buy what I want. I'm tired of saying, "I won't get that TV now, because in 12 months that TV is coming out". Or "lets wait 8 months for the price to drop on that car". Or "do we really need a view?"

It's not that I need less stuff. I'm fairly certain I want more new stuff (and I'll happy donate my old stuff). And it's not like I want to hike barefoot through rainforests. I generally want to spend time doing things like trying to build a new tablet OS. Or playing a full season of Madden as the Vikings. Or doing Sunday Times puzzles in less than five minutes. Or spend a month completely rewiring my houses to have incredible home automation.

I frankly don't see how you do that stuff w/o money. I guess a "million" dollars or the ability to create things by thinking them up.

Re: You don't really want a million dollars

#23

Post by wwortiz »

marknutter wrote: post #21
wwortiz wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Hello there, fellow HN user! If you like this post, I'd really appreciate an upvote. That has been there for a while, I thought he might of changed that to what you wrote but as it is now, it is just asking if you like it to upvote it which is how hacker news works. You don't get this if you don't come from hacker news either.

Do we really need a banner reminding us to upvote a story we like? I'm pretty sure all HNers understand how voting sites work.

No but this has been there for a long time and your previous comment was marking it as a coming downfall in hacker news.

Re: You don't really want a million dollars

#24

Post by tapiwa »

My biggest problem with most of the "I just need $1m" people I have met is twofold.

One, most of them would have no idea how to use that million in a sustainable way. Take a look at all the lottery winners that end up broke. The article does touch on this ... you don't need a million dollars to do half the things that many people feel they will do when they miraculously land that million.

Secondly, most people are not prepared to put in the kind of work that leads to a million dollar payoff. No, playing the lotto does not count. Getting a big payoff takes hard work, luck, and more hard & smart work.

Far too many people are not prepared to pay the price of success.

Re: You don't really want a million dollars

#25

Post by jshen »

qjz wrote: post #20
byoung2 wrote: post #2

One of the hardest parts of just hopping on a plane to some exotic destination is figuring out what to do with your "stuff" back home. People think that with a million dollars they'll pay off the house, car, quit their jobs and travel the world. Instead, they should consider selling the car and house (or renting it out) and living abroad instead of traveling. I have stayed in the Philippines for months at a time for…

I agree that a lot of people need less stuff. But the lifestyle you describe is minimalism for one . Minimalism for two is exponentially different, and minimalism for four is exponentially different to that. I need to keep my kids in one place for nine months out of the year, supply transport to conflicting events, and eventually secure them a decent post-secondary education. A million dollars would come in awfully h…

I was about to post something similar but with less kindness. I really hate this self-righteous posts from people that have no kids and essentially no real responsibility except themselves. It's the height of arrogance to preach to other people from such a position.

Re: You don't really want a million dollars

#26

Post by djhworld »

Travelling on a shoe string budget is possible for people on modest incomes but it's not exactly living comfortably is it?

People want a million dollars so they can live a comfortable life rather than trudging through life and then going to the grave.

Yes, you could blow the lot on a car, house, long holiday etc but they're short term gains that won't really change your life that much. After all buying an expensive house will land you with expensive upkeep/running costs.

A sensible person (here in the UK anyway) could pay themselves a healthy wage (£35k p/year tax free) for 20+ years and they can save the rest for retirement.

The downside to this though is, once you've done a trip to Thailand and so on, I think boredom would probably set in so you'd want to spend the time after that doing something meaningful like working for a charity

Re: You don't really want a million dollars

#28

Post by byoung2 »

qjz wrote: post #20
byoung2 wrote: post #2

One of the hardest parts of just hopping on a plane to some exotic destination is figuring out what to do with your "stuff" back home. People think that with a million dollars they'll pay off the house, car, quit their jobs and travel the world. Instead, they should consider selling the car and house (or renting it out) and living abroad instead of traveling. I have stayed in the Philippines for months at a time for…

I agree that a lot of people need less stuff. But the lifestyle you describe is minimalism for one . Minimalism for two is exponentially different, and minimalism for four is exponentially different to that. I need to keep my kids in one place for nine months out of the year, supply transport to conflicting events, and eventually secure them a decent post-secondary education. A million dollars would come in awfully h…

I was referring specifically to people who want to just hop on a plane but talk themselves out of it because they need more money. People with families will have other reasons to not sell the house and jump on a plane.

Who knows, you could probably take the kids along and home school them from abroad. It would be interesting to learn about history and language while visiting the actual countries. World War 2 looks a lot different in Japan or the Philippines.

Re: You don't really want a million dollars

#29

Post by nchlswu »

This is more or less a question of lifestyle or philosophy and not a question about whether you need a million or not.

I know i don't need a million bucks, but I'd sure like more than that.

A friend of mine never cared about his money and is as happy as he can be. Right now he's travelling across the states with next to nothing. I envy the people who can enjoy what's truly necessary in our lives, but saying outright that those people who live this still have this ingenuity, discipline and proactivity to be successful is wrong.

Forcing yourself to live a minimal lifestyle is different actually living it.

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