Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The real use of money is to buy freedom

paraschopra.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 303 posts

Re: The real use of money is to buy freedom

#11

Post by paraschopra »

monkeyspaw wrote: post #6

>A life spent mostly hoarding money and possessions is a wasted life I find it interesting that an article whose tone is one of optimism is so judgmental.

I wasn't being judgmental, mere factual. My hypothesis is that people want to maximize happiness/well-being and hoarding money and possessions is a suboptimal way of doing that.

On a slightly related note, Sam Harris has written an excellent book 'The Moral Landscape' where he argues that science and scientists __should__ be judgmental towards morals and life choices.

Re: The real use of money is to buy freedom

#12

Post by ashray »

paraschopra wrote: post #10
ashray wrote: post #2

Great post Paras. However, I wish you would have addressed what you do with your new found financial freedom. I suppose running your business takes up most of your time. That's fine as long as it's enjoyable I guess. The question here is, if something, what would you have done differently ? Or, going forward, what are you going to do differently ? Also, the modern economy is poised against us in terms of preserving t…

There's an interesting thread on Quora titled 'What does it feel like to be a self-made millionaire under the age of 25?' http://www.quora.com/Becoming-a-Millionaire/What-does-it-fee... As you will read through it, terms like insecurity, worry, surprise on unchanged happiness levels would be quite common among the answers. I have been thinking a lot about investments and have concluded that my main criteria is minimu…

Thanks for your response, the Quora thread is very interesting.

Another question, and this is a little more personal. Also, I don't mean to be accusatory at all or anything of that sort so please don't take it that way.

Do you feel any new found desire to help those less fortunate than you ? I don't mean by providing employment, etc. I'm sure you do plenty of that through your business.

I just know plenty of fairly rich people who feel like they're not 'rich enough' to help those that are less fortunate (even people whose net worth is in the tens of millions!)

Re: The real use of money is to buy freedom

#13

Post by paraschopra »

rahimnathwani wrote: post #8
birken wrote: post #5

There is a really great article in The Atlantic (from 2011) called "Secret Fears of the Super-Rich" on this topic: Excerpt: The respondents turn out to be a generally dissatisfied lot, whose money has contributed to deep anxieties involving love, work, and family. Indeed, they are frequently dissatisfied even with their sizable fortunes. Most of them still do not consider themselves financially secure; for that, they…

I recall a colleague once (~10 years ago) telling me that some people he knew felt that 5k GBP would be enough to solve all of their (money) worries. I thought it absurd, i.e. too low given things like planning for old age. I guess there are people who would think my estimate too low if I said I needed 5m for the same purpose. (not saying 5m is the right number for me or anyone else.)

One of the projects I want to do is to map living expenses, inflation and life expectancy to know exactly how much money is "enough". My problem is that we forget that we tomorrow should be more valuable to us than today and by the time we get this realization, we might have lost many years (of adulthood).

Re: The real use of money is to buy freedom

#14

Post by ashray »

monkeyspaw wrote: post #6

>A life spent mostly hoarding money and possessions is a wasted life I find it interesting that an article whose tone is one of optimism is so judgmental.

I think the takeaway is that life would be best spent finding out what it is that truly makes you happy and then pursuing that. A lot of people think 'more money' is the answer to that.

More money is just a way to be able to pursue whatever you think will truly make you happy. Whether that's kayaking, kung-fu, dancing, golfing, getting laid, going out for dinner, going on vacation, etc.

A means, not the end.

Some people just lose the plot on the way and continue down the more money path forever. Those are the people who end up living to work and not working to live.

Re: The real use of money is to buy freedom

#15

Post by tluyben2 »

monkeyspaw wrote: post #6

>A life spent mostly hoarding money and possessions is a wasted life I find it interesting that an article whose tone is one of optimism is so judgmental.

Well, it's a truth most people realise later in life. If someone would've told me that when I was 22, I wouldn't have believed it. Actually, if someone would've said that exact sentence to me, I would've believed it, but I didn't think I was doing that. In hindsight, I was. I realised it early enough luckily.

Re: The real use of money is to buy freedom

#16

Post by forgottenpaswrd »

When you know self made millionaires you learn one thing:

"Money is not wealth". Almost nobody that understands wealth holds money, money is a tool for exchanging things and its value decreases with time.

They hold real state, they hold precious metals, they hold stock, they travel, they know people.

The people that made money usually like making wealth and don't fear losing it so much, they learn all their life to handle risk with positive results. It is their children or grandchildren who fear it, because they don't.

The good thing about being rich is that you could be poor whenever you want. You could also help lots of people in your life, which feels amazing.

Re: The real use of money is to buy freedom

#17

Post by lucaspiller »

ashray wrote: post #14
monkeyspaw wrote: post #6

>A life spent mostly hoarding money and possessions is a wasted life I find it interesting that an article whose tone is one of optimism is so judgmental.

I think the takeaway is that life would be best spent finding out what it is that truly makes you happy and then pursuing that. A lot of people think 'more money' is the answer to that. More money is just a way to be able to pursue whatever you think will truly make you happy. Whether that's kayaking, kung-fu, dancing, golfing, getting laid, going out for dinner, going on vacation, etc. A means, not the end. Some peo…

> A lot of people think 'more money' is the answer to that.

I'm don't believe this is true, at least directly. I believe people start out thinking that they just need to make X amount of money to fulfil their dreams. The problem is once they start earning money they start changing their lifestyle to match it. Once they are in this situation it is hard to give up the restaurants, cars and houses to chase their dream. As such they decide they want fancier restaurants, fancier cars and even bigger houses which requires more money. It's sad, but people who are comfortable are unlikely to change much, even if the result would make them a lot happier.

Re: The real use of money is to buy freedom

#18

Post by joosters »

forgottenpaswrd wrote: post #16

When you know self made millionaires you learn one thing: "Money is not wealth". Almost nobody that understands wealth holds money, money is a tool for exchanging things and its value decreases with time. They hold real state, they hold precious metals, they hold stock, they travel, they know people. The people that made money usually like making wealth and don't fear losing it so much, they learn all their life to h…

The good thing about being rich is that you could be poor whenever you want.

What? Name some rich people who are now voluntarily poor! I'd happily bet that 99.9999% of multi-millionaires never choose to be poor in their lifetime. But I'm sure lots of them feel amazing about thinking how they could help people.

Re: The real use of money is to buy freedom

#19

Post by tluyben2 »

After working very hard on things to 'make money' (no goal attached, just making money, boy I was naive) doing stuff I really didn't like to do (building large EJB based systems for banks/insurance and we had entity beans back then!), I had some realisation that actually, this sucks. I alienated my gf at the time, my friends, my family. I worked, 200+ people under me and it sucked. I thought about it a few days, sold off some stock to make sure I could have freedom.

Which I also believe is the main goal of having money. No loans/mortgages, being able to do what you want. And then I started making companies again, doing about the same thing (without the entity beans, or beans at all :), but now it's fun. If it goes badly (the current crisis almost bankrupted one of my companies) I handle it like you are supposed to handle it; in a calculated, company-first, manner. And pull through stronger than before. If you don't have that freedom, you make decisions which often don't reflect the best interest of the company because, well, you cannot pay the rent or feed your family.

I always believed in lots of interests and hobbies (my twitter feed must seem rather ADD, but I actually have a planned working day in which I get to do those things) as I think the biggest waste of life you can have is boredom and now I actually get to make companies around those things. Money in the bank gives you the balls and the contacts to do that while as before that wasn't even an option without right-out prostituting yourself. And the freedom to say no to something which would before have been (or have seemed like) a brilliant opportunity because you just don't want to.

Freedom usually (unless there are health issues in your family/close friends) also buys you no stress which already comes from the above. But having my own fruit/vegetable garden and having the time to prune the trees and prepare nice food from it etc is very far removed from shit in styrofoam containers and not even tasting it during a client conference call.

Edit: I forgot my new-found pet peeve with getting older; people get way to serious over 30. Life's a game and a short ride; money allows you to live it like that.

Re: The real use of money is to buy freedom

#20

Post by dobbsbob »

joosters wrote: post #18
forgottenpaswrd wrote: post #16

When you know self made millionaires you learn one thing: "Money is not wealth". Almost nobody that understands wealth holds money, money is a tool for exchanging things and its value decreases with time. They hold real state, they hold precious metals, they hold stock, they travel, they know people. The people that made money usually like making wealth and don't fear losing it so much, they learn all their life to h…

The good thing about being rich is that you could be poor whenever you want. What? Name some rich people who are now voluntarily poor! I'd happily bet that 99.9999% of multi-millionaires never choose to be poor in their lifetime. But I'm sure lots of them feel amazing about thinking how they could help people.

I believe that was sarcasm however warren buffet is a good example. He's giving all his money away and leaving his kids squat because he doesn't want to create a legacy of trust fund descendants but they certainly won't be poor.
Post reply on HN