Does anyone else find it frustrating when people talk about not working too hard and already having enough, after they have become wealthy?
What if, learning to be happy with "enough", is how people get filthy rich?
Derek Sivers and the Art of Enough
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Re: Derek Sivers and the Art of Enough
#12Re: Derek Sivers and the Art of Enough
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
$22 million dollars is not "hardly wealthy". It's filthy rich.
He gave those $22 million away. That is the point.
He didn't, he siphoned them in a "charity/fund" for tax purposes. That's a rich man's move 101. It only becomes an actual charity if he (knock on wood) dies young from my understanding...
Re: Derek Sivers and the Art of Enough
#14Does anyone else find it frustrating when people talk about not working too hard and already having enough, after they have become wealthy?
Derek did not became wealthy. He gave the $22 million dollars he got from selling his company to a fund, and gets over $1000 each month, hardly "wealthy". Derek has worked in a circus and knows how to live cheap enough. He also has lots of friends so he does not need to pay for lots of things. I know people that earn in excess $10.000/month and spend it all or even get into debts.
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Re: Derek Sivers and the Art of Enough
#15Derek and his writing used to be a frequent top page link on HN. When I first started reading them I found them inspirational. As I read more of his writing I got the impression that most of the things he did were presented in the light of “I’m just a simple person that doesn’t need a lot” type of minimalism. However if you look at his “charity” he seems to have just figured out a way to avoid taxation and keep most if not all of his CD Baby exit. Additionally despite using what was the .com boom environment of the late 90s and early 2000s to generate his wealth I believe he has renounced his US citizenship and lives abroad now. I don’t care that he did that really, it just seems that his public persona is a bit of an act and hides a bit of entitlement/petulance.
Re: Derek Sivers and the Art of Enough
#16Does anyone else find it frustrating when people talk about not working too hard and already having enough, after they have become wealthy?
Derek did not became wealthy. He gave the $22 million dollars he got from selling his company to a fund, and gets over $1000 each month, hardly "wealthy". Derek has worked in a circus and knows how to live cheap enough. He also has lots of friends so he does not need to pay for lots of things. I know people that earn in excess $10.000/month and spend it all or even get into debts.
I actually know Derek in real life (although not very well). He gave away most of his wealth, but he still draws a very comfortable salary from the fund he set up with the wealth that remains. He's rich.
I'm not sure where you heard the $1k/month figure, but there's no way he possibly makes that little. He lives in Oxford, possibly the most expensive city in the UK outside of London. $1k/month in Oxford isn't enough to rent a one-bedroom flat, without even considering other living expenses - there's no way he lives in Oxford on an income that low.
Re: Derek Sivers and the Art of Enough
#17Nothing against what he says. But his ideas are not original or new and have been taught in many various forms of therapy for years and years and years. I get really tired of holding up rich dudes with blogs as gurus. Its kinda sick.
Re: Derek Sivers and the Art of Enough
#18Derek and his writing used to be a frequent top page link on HN. When I first started reading them I found them inspirational. As I read more of his writing I got the impression that most of the things he did were presented in the light of “I’m just a simple person that doesn’t need a lot” type of minimalism. However if you look at his “charity” he seems to have just figured out a way to avoid taxation and keep most…
“I don’t need a lot” isn’t mutually exclusive with “I don’t want to pay a lot in taxes”. Besides that, he lives in New Zealand where everything costs twice as much. Sounds like your crediting his success solely on being at the right place at the right time. I got news for you - that’s pretty much all success or a component of it. Not to mention, he did build a sustainable business that gave independent artists an outlet to distribute their music. I’d say the guy is a saint.
Re: Derek Sivers and the Art of Enough
#19Like anything else in life this piece has good parts and not-so-awesome parts.
My opinion: take the good and forget the rest.
If I can draw the line on what is enough for me, I can lead a life that is happier and free of divisive depression that comes from comparing myself to others.
Re: Derek Sivers and the Art of Enough
#20Derek's writing influenced me quite a bit in the early 2000s. I bootstrapped a software business from zero to near $10m in annualized revenue, and sold it almost half a decade ago. I contributed 100% of my equity into a charitable remainder trust because I learned about that idea from his website.
Since then, I've done a lot of "puttering". I'm teaching myself jazz guitar, and I'm currently enrolled in law school. I have basically unlimited time to read whatever interests me. If I could go back five years and give myself some advice, I would say that "enough" is not durably satisfying. Purpose is durably satisfying. Purpose arises from constraints. Having "enough" means you lack a particular type of constraint. Thus, enough" can get in the way of developing purpose, particularly if you are somewhat undisciplined like me.
(Also, I would abolish charitable remainder trusts from the tax code. I created one for lifestyle reasons not tax reasons, but after experiencing the tax consequences firsthand, I think they are profoundly unfair.)