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I am rich and have no idea what to do

vinay.sh

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Re: I am rich and have no idea what to do

#371

Post by Lerc »

In 1997 Kurt Vonnegut did not write

Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don’t.

I'm not sure if Mary Schmich (who did write it) takes pride in her words being frequently credited to an esteemed writer, or if it rankles. Later Baz Luhrmann made the words into a #1.

Anyway, I agree. You don't need to know where to go next, just be curious and find things as you investigate. Sometimes a project will call to you. Don't be concerned if it hasn't yet.

Your project does not have to be a business. If you wanted to embark on a Dwarf Fortress kind of project you could happily work at it for the rest of your life without needing it to be a money making venture. Your Dwarf Fortress might be A database of the world's cheese or a castle built entirely from synthetic diamonds you produce one at a time from your own machine. It doesn't have to be easy or even possible to complete. I don't think you can decide on something and go do it. I think your thing will tell you when it is ready.

Re: I am rich and have no idea what to do

#372

Post by VectorLock »

Mountain_Skies wrote: post #213
akamaka wrote: post #145

> I should work for Elon and Vivek at DOGE and help America get off its current crash to defaulting on its own debt I’ve got an idea: take some good economics courses so that you learn how government spending actually works.

Is this about the impossibility of a government defaulting on its debt if that debt is payable in currency that same government can print? Or is it some stimulus thing?

There is no upper bound on how much debt the US gov can carry as long as they're paying their interest and people still have trust that they will. Its the TRUST part that is at most risk right now.

Re: I am rich and have no idea what to do

#373

Post by fragmede »

naming_the_user wrote: post #158

As a young(ish) man with retirement level wealth personally I don't understand this primarily I suppose because my main passions in life are not profitable. Great, so now I don't have to profitmax every single thing and can rely on my investments. That means I can study pottery, languages, learn about cars, guns, travel, spend time with my old mum, family, start a small business, whatever it is, without care for whet…

> you can't explain away being able to travel wherever whenever you want

Just lie and say you work for an AI startup that's in stealth mode and that they're sending you there for a work retreat to bond with your coworkers. Few people in your life care that much about your job to dig deeper.

Re: I am rich and have no idea what to do

#374

Post by srpablo »

coldtea wrote: post #77
gigatexal wrote: post #35

Seems like the author could do well to spend some of their millions on a therapist?

[flagged]

It's made my life way, way better

It's not a panacea, and the way people talk about it drives me crazy. There are many different modalities, with very different levels of effectiveness for any given person. CBT is awful for me, for example, and it's the most popular modality. I also did ketamine-assisted therapy and it absolutely changed my life.

There are definitely people who won't get anything from it, but the reflexive "therapy is useless" is a weird thing to perform when it's obviously helped a ton of people.

[1]: https://morepablo.com/2023/12/therapy-and-wellness.html

Re: I am rich and have no idea what to do

#375

Post by bentt »

So, while I do not agree with everything Jordan Peterson says (or even most), his writing/speaking about “take responsibility for something meaningful” is good advice.

You want freedom, but that is a freedom to choose. It is not an end goal to never choose anything.

Re: I am rich and have no idea what to do

#377

Post by AdieuToLogic »

morpheos137 wrote: post #144
madrox wrote: post #106

I don't think you have to have Fuck You Money to get to this point. Most people eventually become disillusioned with work enough that they reevaluate what matters to them. Getting a very profitable exit is just one way to trigger that experience. In my experience, a lot of people who get into this state start self-sabotaging hard as a way of rejecting what feels, ironically, like losing control. Sudden freedom can fe…

As someone who has not been successful in life but who is relatively intelligent do you have any recommendations as to how I can get my life on track? I am asking because you said you like developing people. My persistent experience in life for almost 20 years post college has been nobody wants to develop me. I am not in tech but I am generally interested in the area if it can lead me to greater independence and more…

> As someone who has not been successful in life but who is relatively intelligent do you have any recommendations as to how I can get my life on track?

I'm not the OP, but instead just a person who thinks they might be of help. Caveat emptor and all that :-).

Success is what we define both in and of ourselves. Some use material measurements (money, titles, assets, etc.), which are intrinsically relative and thus ephemeral.

Another definition is establishing a sustained environment of happiness. This includes addressing immediate physical needs, such as a place to live, sustenance, and the like. More than that is finding happiness in how we live each day.

> My persistent experience in life for almost 20 years post college has been nobody wants to develop me.

While some may give tips and/or pointers as to how to develop oneself, IMHO, much like happiness, development comes from within. Seeking wise counsel is always a good call, but no one can develop another. All anyone else can do is give perspective from their own journey as it relates to you - mine is you have identified options above which are appealing, so pursue them as if no one else is going to anything to make it happen.

> I have a BA in economics but unfortunately have never used it.

You still have it and one never knows when the education we have helps out until it does. ;)

Re: I am rich and have no idea what to do

#379

Post by kayewiggin »

tokioyoyo wrote: post #172
dmvdoug wrote: post #69

I am really, really eager and excited to see the result when these DOGE-istas cook up whatever insanely “rational” schemes they imagine will make government not completely “dysfunctional” roll them out to the people they actually need to implement them (i.e., Congress). Surprise! Politicians only claim to care about budget and spending matters when the opposite party is in control. But I think most of us aren’t so na…

Agreed, but you have to look at this from “government and elites realized that we’re screwed, and need to just do whatever possible to see what sticks” perspective. This time banging the drums actually might matter because a competitor (China) has caught up in most of industries and playing the “win at all costs” mode. I have no idea how US is going dig itself out of this situation as there’s no cultural, economical,…

> a competitor (China) has caught up in most of industries

stop spreading misinformation. go look at largest companies by market cap in the world https://companiesmarketcap.com/ and you'll see US domination while China has a few handful of companies, mostly banks.

> government and elites realized that we’re screwed

That's more like China. That's why 15k rich chinese are fleeing the country in 2024 https://www.forbes.com/sites/miltonezrati/2024/07/03/high-ne..., the most of any country in the world. US isn't the one where the stock market and real estate has collapsed.

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