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The real use of money is to buy freedom

paraschopra.com

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Re: The real use of money is to buy freedom

#71

Post by theorique »

officemonkey wrote: post #43

Everybody just loves the word "freedom," like it's some magical super-juice which is the be-all and end-all of the American experience. We will all be free of obligation, pain, responsibility, and any other positive or negative thing soon enough. Instead of the pursuit of freedom, we should dedicate ourselves to obligations that honor ourselves and others. You don't really want "freedom," you want an obligation that…

You don't really want "freedom," you want an obligation that you're excited about, you want a responsibility you're eager to take on, you want a job you love doing, you want a relationship that resonates with your values.

And if those things are freely chosen by you, isn't that a good thing? Living your life as a doctor because that was where you were directed by your parents, rather than as the teacher you dream of being, is not where most people want to be.

Freedom to choose valuable ways to make a contribution, is good. Freedom as ability to flit randomly from A to B to C, with no obligation or responsibility, is useless.

Re: The real use of money is to buy freedom

#72

Post by yummyfajitas »

hansy wrote: post #42
yummyfajitas wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author is from India. Based on that fact, there is a 95% chance that he lived most of his life in poverty comparable to the bottom 5% of Americans. See figure 7: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServ... It's also worth noting that he's writing this from the perspective of a far more materialistic and status-based society than the US.

I have grown up in a typical middle-class household where one is rightly nurtured into not being extravagant. I was taught to value money (which I thoroughly appreciate). Even though, in my childhood, I always got whatever I wanted, the truth is that I never wanted big, expensive toys. The author did not grow up in poverty.

Read the link I provided. India middle class < America poverty.

Re: The real use of money is to buy freedom

#74

Post by [deleted] »

officemonkey wrote: post #43

Everybody just loves the word "freedom," like it's some magical super-juice which is the be-all and end-all of the American experience. We will all be free of obligation, pain, responsibility, and any other positive or negative thing soon enough. Instead of the pursuit of freedom, we should dedicate ourselves to obligations that honor ourselves and others. You don't really want "freedom," you want an obligation that…

[deleted]

Re: The real use of money is to buy freedom

#75

Post by guard-of-terra »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #47
downandout wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He actually mentioned in the article that he grew up "middle class". I am aware that middle class in India may be different than in the US, but it is clear that he was never poor - going to bed hungry etc.

"Middle class" in India does not mean what you seem to think. The vast majority of middle class Indians are poorer than most Americans living in poverty. Read my link - 95% of Indians are poorer than the bottom 5% of Americans. Unless the author defines "middle class" as "top 2%", the fact that he grew up "middle class" is meaningless when comparing his lifestyle to an American one. A stat to illustrate the point - 1…

"Poorer" doesn't mean much. First of all, you should factor in purchasing power; second, constant expenses which are the killer.

In most countries, especially poorer ones, you don't have to own a car to be in the middle class. Neither you have to pay for gas, car itself and parking/garage. You can realistically move by foot and/or mass transit.

Disclaimer: I think I'm in top 5% in my country, probably earn more than USA median and I never had a car.

Re: The real use of money is to buy freedom

#76

Post by brentm »

officemonkey wrote: post #43

Everybody just loves the word "freedom," like it's some magical super-juice which is the be-all and end-all of the American experience. We will all be free of obligation, pain, responsibility, and any other positive or negative thing soon enough. Instead of the pursuit of freedom, we should dedicate ourselves to obligations that honor ourselves and others. You don't really want "freedom," you want an obligation that…

Freedom to me in the context of earning great amounts of money is more related to an inner freedom. It's the freedom that allows your inner voice to say "ok we did this". And it's the one that allows you to feel like you're parents, friends, family, etc will know that all of the hours you've spent were actually worth something.

Re: The real use of money is to buy freedom

#77

Post by mekoka »

officemonkey wrote: post #43

Everybody just loves the word "freedom," like it's some magical super-juice which is the be-all and end-all of the American experience. We will all be free of obligation, pain, responsibility, and any other positive or negative thing soon enough. Instead of the pursuit of freedom, we should dedicate ourselves to obligations that honor ourselves and others. You don't really want "freedom," you want an obligation that…

In theory you would be right. In practice, not so much. Can you go about those obligations you love without having obligations imposed upon you by society, by governments, by life in general, whether you want them or not? I doubt it. Freedom the way the author describes it is still a significant proxy to happiness, the ability to exert options with your life. Money in turn is the nearest proxy to such freedom, as it extends those options and your ability to apply them.

Re: The real use of money is to buy freedom

#78

Post by lhnz »

hkmurakami wrote: post #50
dsirijus wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I went a similar road (from $50 a month in an underground windowless garage with no utilities whatsoever, to a 200m2 penthouse). I'd put an accent on your point #2 - it really makes a huge difference to just shoot up some money into trivialities and mundane annoyances in your life just to make them magically go away. Because there's so many of them, most cannot afford that. I'd like to add a point though, maybe the m…

Was #6 because of how you dressed, or because you could host events at your new place, or some other factors? I'm curious since I have some acquaintances who are morbidly afraid of having members of the opposite sex approach them for their substantial wealth. They go out of their way to mask their material status.

>> morbidly afraid of having members of the opposite sex approach them for their substantial wealth

That sounds a lot like counter-signalling. Do these people avoid buying Ferrari's or are they all wearing second-hand clothes?

Re: The real use of money is to buy freedom

#79

Post by jacques_chester »

paraschopra wrote: post #13
rahimnathwani wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

Find an actuary. This is what they do for a living.

Re: The real use of money is to buy freedom

#80

Post by nexttimer »

miles wrote: post #21

Tim O'Reilly on money: It’s easy to get caught up in the heady buzz of making money. You should regard money as fuel for what you really want to do, not as a goal in and of itself. Money is like gas in the car — you need to pay attention or you’ll end up on the side of the road — but a well-lived life is not a tour of gas stations! Source: http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/01/work-on-stuff-that-matters-...

> The real use of money is to buy freedom

The real problem is: This additional freedom you can buy with money means less freedom for somebody else.

Inequality (wealth-based) means nothing else than domination. If you are richer, then you dominate the poorer people. And richer countries dominate poorer countries.

This is the most basic and fundamental injustice [0] we seem to accept in our Western culture. Because we are those who dominate.

[0] If you remember that we keep telling ourselves the nice little story how every life has the exact same value.

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