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A Few Laws of Getting Rich

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21–30 of 55 posts

Re: A Few Laws of Getting Rich

#21

"Money won't make you happy, but poverty will make you miserable"

this is it. the fact people who are successful have to constantly downplay money has stuck me as odd. Except for that Sky Mall guy, afik exactly zero very wealthy people have voluntarily relinquished all or most of their money while alive.

Re: A Few Laws of Getting Rich

#22

money makes you more of yourself no one knows which drink will turn you into an alcoholic… it could be your next one same with money your next or first million might the thing that will disconnect you from all that you hold dear

or it just gives peace of mind, confidence, etc.

some ppl blow it, but that is a choice in the end

Re: A Few Laws of Getting Rich

#23
post #5

Ugh. All these articles conflate the idea of “getting rich” with the kind of wealth that most people don’t know what to do with, eg billions of dollars. What about just reaching the point where you never need to work again? Can we talk about how that’s a reasonable goal for people to push for rather than accumulating the net worth of a small country?

I think it’s a happy medium, and I don’t think the message of the article is for you. More so for the hyper ambitious people set on generating uhnw

Re: A Few Laws of Getting Rich

#24
post #4

Disappointed they landed on the hero worship bus of “there’s no way a billion dollars at 18 would have stopped Bill Gates.” Yes, it absolutely would have. Inflation-adjusted that would be nearly $10 B in cash. He might not have gone and rested on an island but he almost certainly would have done something like pump wild amounts of money into Traf-O-Data and spin out before Microsoft could become a thing.

I think only $6 but your point stands https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1974?amount=1

Re: A Few Laws of Getting Rich

#25
post #5

Ugh. All these articles conflate the idea of “getting rich” with the kind of wealth that most people don’t know what to do with, eg billions of dollars. What about just reaching the point where you never need to work again? Can we talk about how that’s a reasonable goal for people to push for rather than accumulating the net worth of a small country?

> reaching the point where you never need to work again?

You don't want to reach that point. You want to stay below that point, because what brings satisfaction and happiness in life is something called the "power process". The Unabomber explained it well [1]. The Unabomber unfortunately used bad methods to spread his ideas, but the ideas themselves were good.

[1] https://medium.com/chris-messina/surrogate-activities-the-po...

Re: A Few Laws of Getting Rich

#27
post #26

I remember reading an article* a few years ago about how the world’s richest men, including Gates and Bezos, all had very stable marriages. That take didn’t age too well. * this isn’t the article I read but it’s similar https://www.ft.com/content/13cf5fc2-e9cb-11e4-ae1c-00144feab...

The Bill Gates marriage lasted a long time -27 years. I think that is longer than most

Re: A Few Laws of Getting Rich

#28
post #5

Ugh. All these articles conflate the idea of “getting rich” with the kind of wealth that most people don’t know what to do with, eg billions of dollars. What about just reaching the point where you never need to work again? Can we talk about how that’s a reasonable goal for people to push for rather than accumulating the net worth of a small country?

> reaching the point where you never need to work again? You don't want to reach that point. You want to stay below that point, because what brings satisfaction and happiness in life is something called the "power process". The Unabomber explained it well [1]. The Unabomber unfortunately used bad methods to spread his ideas, but the ideas themselves were good. [1] https://medium.com/chris-messina/surrogate-activities…

There are many goals you can set and achieve that require effort but don't relate to needing to work to make money.

Maybe I'm somehow crazy on a forum of tech "entrepreneurs"... but, I like to do stuff like learn to sing and play the guitar, speak new languages, get better at drawing and painting, or plunge ever deeper into the worlds of math and physics... all of which seems eminently compatible with this "power process" thesis and which are all much more pleasant when you don't simultaneously have to work.

Re: A Few Laws of Getting Rich

#29
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's awfully real when you are hungry.

You can't eat money, it doesn't grow on trees. Well, I guess you can eat it but it has no nutritional value.

There are a lot of things you can’t eat, but are very important tools to help you get food. Words, ideas, friendships, jobs. None of them are edible, but very useful. Money is another one.

Re: A Few Laws of Getting Rich

#30

I made a significant amount of money at once. It ended up destroying a few long term friendships. In hindsight, maybe that was my fault. But human nature is a funny thing, and rapid changes in social status will reap havoc on social equilibriums built over decades

Not sure if that was a one-time mistake, but "wreak havoc" is typically how that phrase is written.
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