121–130 of 266 posts
One immediate and incremental thing you can do is start seeing a therapist. It's not just for the depressed, I think everyone can benefit from therapy, but you really might find help in your situation. I'd also get a personal trainer and gym membership if you don't already have one. Basically, you can afford to pay for some external motivation, and you don't need to be motivated to make money, so you can get motivate…
So this either means investing in yourself ... Start a company or business. Or investing in others: making safe bets in the market (not crypto).
This is normal. You will get used to it, and you will likely bounce to your personality before the windfall. You have solved one problem in life that most people never solve, and that puts you in a very small group. However, the rest of the problems are still there. The need to work for money can no longer distract you from them. You still need human connection and purpose. You still will age, have to worry about you…
> How did you get out of this? What can I do? Get married. Your wife will know what to do with the money. Have kids. You won't need to worry about this sort of stuff again. I have 3. I get motivated at 7 AM, every morning.
This seems like a non sequitur. There's no reason the person you marry will magically have a good sense for money.
> Have kids. You won't need to worry about this sort of stuff again. I have 3. I get motivated at 7 AM, every morning.
It doesn't work like that for everyone.
Put the money away, living off a small percentage to maintain a comfortable but average standard of living for someone with your abilities.
Consider finding enlightenment (seriously).
If/when enlightened, help others find enlightenment.
As someone who won IPO lottery twice netting 8 figures after tax, that would be the advice.
Learn investment basics, invest your lump sum into VOO, VTI, and the likes, and enjoy luxury of knowing you don't have to work when you retire.
You might also want to watch videos of Graham Stephan on youtube - all things considered, he's very clear about how frugal lifestyle benefits you long-term.
Leave yourself enough for a year or so, and take that time to figure out what you’d really like to do without putting too much pressure on yourself on a daily basis. Spend that time focusing on doing healthy activities, socializing, reading in areas that you aren’t that familiar, etc. I don’t know if it’s an option, but if you could withdraw from school with the option to return at a later date that might be a good idea if you’re not finding the motivation at the moment.
1. Invest most of the cash in a conservative way, so it lasts. That means stocks and some bonds to ride out downturns. You will want to work with a fee-only adviser for this to consider everything from taxes to future spouses to inheritance.
2. Consider your interests and learn about the psychological implications of your situation. Specifically about the (fat) FIRE (financial independence, retire early) movement. They deal with the same problem. Relevant HN discussion here[1] and first hand experience here[2,3]. There is research that early retirees have shorter live expectancy[4] and having >5h of free time a day is detrimental to happiness[5]. People need purpose.
3. With 1) out of the way and the lessons from 2) you can explore what makes you happy. Generally it's a mix[6] of control (your life, your time), competence (mastering a skill, like CS), connection (friends, family, peers) and purpose/mission. Since you already did a few startups, maybe that's something to explore further.
Hope this gives you a roadmap and best of luck.
1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26543527
2: https://livingafi.com/2015/03/09/building-a-vision-of-life-w...
3: https://livingafi.com/2021/03/17/the-2021-early-retirement-u...
4: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16243848/
5: https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/psp-pspp0000391.p...
6: https://www.alexjhughes.com/books/2018/7/4/the-geometry-of-w...
This is normal. You will get used to it, and you will likely bounce to your personality before the windfall. You have solved one problem in life that most people never solve, and that puts you in a very small group. However, the rest of the problems are still there. The need to work for money can no longer distract you from them. You still need human connection and purpose. You still will age, have to worry about you…
Yeah this really resonates. It's like for most of us, money is a motivator that distracts us from dealing with the problems or issues that are always there anyways. We are bred to believe if we just solve the money issue, everything else will fall in line. And becoming rich is a great way to realize how much of a myth that is.
Exactly. Not to mention the additional rich people's problems that poor or even merely well-off people don't have and could hardly imagine.