This is the whitest thing I've ever read.
You don't really want a million dollars
91–100 of 177 posts
Re: You don't really want a million dollars
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
I won't talk about the college and home ownership questions other than to say that families have figured out how to live happy, healthy lives on far, far less. Go to a good state school, get some scholarships, don't live in Manhattan. This is a poor answer. Just because other people are happy with something doesn't mean everyone is. What do you mean "don't live in Mahnattan"? I want to live in Manhattan. Who are you…
He didn't say that, he said that you don't need to live in Manhattan to have a dignified life . Nobody contests that a million dollars can buy you a lot of very nice things. The point is that too many people spend too much time fretting about going to Thailand when they get a million dollars, while completely missing the fact that a trip to Thailand is maybe $1000. It's mostly a question of priorities, and if you mak…
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Re: You don't really want a million dollars
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
That figure is laughable. Whatever survey it came from is also laughable. You are not laughable. But those factoids? Laughable. This is a silly argument.
Good to hear, because frankly I find it terrifying even though I'm still several years from having kids. That said some of the expenses from their infographic don't look entirely unreasonable. A decade worth of footwear might not cost $1000, but I bet it costs at least $800 when you take into account soccer cleats, penny loafers, etc.
Here, let me help you: DON'T buy your child 5 years of babyGap wardrobe. DON'T buy your child a decade's worth of Nike sneakers. DON'T buy your child a $4000 designer handbag, or 4 $1000 handbags once a year. DON'T build a swimming pool in your backyard (they kill more children than guns). DON'T take your child out to $32/person meals twice a month (that's "middle" expensive?). DON'T get bottled water delivery. DON'T buy a $2000 bed from Pottery Barn (that's "low" expensive?). DON'T take your kid on a $10,000 trip to Europe. DON'T spend $11,700 on "child therapy". DON'T buy your kid a $23,000 new car for their 16th birthday. DON'T send your kid to private school.
Whatever jackass made this infographic ought to be smacked upside the head with a dirty diaper.
I think you'll do fine.
Re: You don't really want a million dollars
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
Very true. Government figures don't include the cost of vacations that parents take before the baby is born (I had to google just to figure out WTF a "babymoon" is). They also leave out the cost of booze to lower the mother-to-be's inhibitions and the cost of the backseat of the car where conception occurred! Alex, do you have any idea how the bottom 95% live?
"Alex, do you have any idea how the bottom 95% live?" Statistically or qualitatively? In all seriousness though, I have no aspirations of living the elite-NYC-preschool lifestyle. That being said, life is about tradeoffs and while some of the expenses might seem patently absurd, others seem like things that anyone might reasonably want for their children: to play sports, go to summer camp, to be able to get a chemist…
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Re: You don't really want a million dollars
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think you're also missing some of the point though. You don't need a million dollars for any or all of those things you just listed. Add it all up and you're barely breaking a few thousand dollars. Sure you need money. He's not saying you don't need money. The point is that when people say they need to be arbitrarily wealthy because they want to eventually do Y, they can usually do Y for much, much less money than…
Honestly, what I want is a lot more than a million dollars. Any one thing may not cost a million dollars (although there are a lot of things I didn't list that I'd like, like a private piloted jet, in-home maid staff, private chefs, production and guest appearances from folks like Jay-Z for a record I'd like to produce, etc...). I've learned to settle to do things I generally "mostly" like. Like, while I like to do s…
See, you don't want to have a private jet or have a Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport. You want to fly in a private jet and drive a Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport. Both are quite a bit more affordable than owning either.
People charter private jets all the time. People of very ordinary means lease and even learn to fly jets.
I haven't looked into it, but I'd bet there is somewhere in Europe that will rent and insure you a Bugatti that you can drive down the Autobahn for a few thousand. Heck, I know for certain you can drive an F1-style open wheeled race car around a track for a couple thousand. You won't even want to go as fast as it can go.
You can get a custom meal by a top ranked chef for one or two hundred dollars. You can't do that every day, but there's the law of dimishing returns on that stuff anyway.
Maid services can be had for several hundred dollars a year. Unless you have a palatial estate (tens of thousands of square feet) you don't need live in help.
I'm not trying to come down on you. I'm just trying to say doing even these extravagant things are not out of reach at all.
Re: You don't really want a million dollars
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
"The government says families in the top-third income bracket will spend $279,450 to raise a child born in 2005 through age 17 -- or about $16,000 a year." The reason that the government figures are wrong is that, to quote Parenting, Inc. again, they don't include the cost of "maternity clothes, new home purchases and moving expenses, childbirth education and newborn classes, prenatal vitamins and extra fruits and ve…
What, in the ever-loving name of Buddha Himself, is a babymoon vacation?
It's the vacation you take shortly before the baby arrives. The wife and I took one (though I refuse to call it that). For the record, we probably spent about $250 on the whole trip (including fuel, lodging, food, etc).
Re: You don't really want a million dollars
#97I kind of look at it differently. I don't feel the need to own a ton of stuff(even though myself and my fiance recently bought a small home) my main monetary goal is to eventually have enough money so that I never have to worry about having money :)
Sounds kind of weird, but I don't spend my money on much stuff, but I like to travel once or twice a year and eat out with my fiance a couple of times a month. However much money it is that I can pay for my current place to live and do those things and never have to worry about it, then thats the right amount of money.
Re: You don't really want a million dollars
#98Interesting post. Let me rephrase the question:
What amount of money would it take to solve my biggest problems?
Here are my biggest problems:
1. My father had a massive stroke and died. I miss him.
2. My mother has severe dementia and now acts like a toddler. I miss her too, in a strange way.
3. In the past 8 years, I have lost 5 close friends and family members including the cousin I grew up with who died very young of pancreatic cancer. I miss them all.
4. I have 3 loved ones with significant health problems. I wish there was more I could do to help. Better yet, I wish the would all just get well.
5. I love to build software and would like to build more, better, and faster.
6. The Pittsburgh Steelers (American football) lost yesterday. I'm crushed.
I have struggled with how more money could help (or have helped) with numbers 1 through 4, but I'm not quite sure how.
If I had more money, I could hire a bunch of people to help me with #5, but I think we're all learning that the correlation between having a lot of money and building lots of great software is becoming a very loose one.
I need a billion dollars to buy the Steelers and run them the way they should be run. I need another billion to pay the referees. In the meantime, I'll just sit and suffer on Mondays like this.
Re: You don't really want a million dollars
#99"You don't want a million dollars, you just want to be happy and if you're resourceful you can do that without it. Unless you do want a million dollars in which case you're too stupid to get it or to rearrange your life to be happy without it. Sucks to be you I guess. Did I tell you about all that time I spent freelance travelling yet?"
Re: You don't really want a million dollars
#100Earlier quoted context omitted.
A million dollars is actually not enough to secure a dignified existence in the US. Nonsense: http://ryanwaggoner.com/2010/08/how-to-retire-at-30-on-1-mil... Not to face bankruptcy if a major health problem arises? Health insurance isn't that expensive unless you have a pre-existing condition [1]. I won't talk about the college and home ownership questions other than to say that families have figured out how to live…
I won't talk about the college and home ownership questions other than to say that families have figured out how to live happy, healthy lives on far, far less. Go to a good state school, get some scholarships, don't live in Manhattan. This is a poor answer. Just because other people are happy with something doesn't mean everyone is. What do you mean "don't live in Mahnattan"? I want to live in Manhattan. Who are you…
Your dreams and desires have nothing to do with living a fulfilling "dignified" life. His answer is so full of truth. You don't need to live in Manhattan to be happy, the same way you don't need to be in the bay area to start a successful startup. If you think that the only way to be happy (in your case) is to live in Manhattan, then you have bigger problems with your priorities than the amount of money you need to live comfortably.
I've love to buy a sporty Jaguar coupe which costs around 110k over here, but since I don't have that kind of money to spend on a car I make due with my 1998 truck. I'm happy. I'll probably buy a 370z in the next six months. It's not a Jaguar, but I will still be happy and live a free and dignified life.