171–180 of 180 posts
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As long as you are content there forever. Like the research says, once you take the worry about money out of the equation, money no longer becomes much of a motivator. Kind of makes it hard to work or do other ventures.
If money was you only motivator in the first place.
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It's entirely sexism. Most people wouldn't condemn a man for choosing to talk to the more attractive of two girls at a bar. It would be considered normal behavior. Yet most would condemn a woman for talking to the richer of two guys. Unless appearances are some better indicator of a person's quality than wealth neither is more or less shallow than the other, but one is judged to be moreso. If that's not sexism nothin…
The difference is that gold-diggers don't want to sleep with rich men just so they can bask in the glow of their richness. They want to sleep with rich men in the hopes that they'll buy them fancy things, or at least fancy experiences. They want to enrich themselves at the expense of the rich man, whereas the man chasing beautiful women isn't hoping to make himself more beautiful and them less so. This is also the di…
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Yes I would define FU as not having to rely on anyone else for financial security. I would say conserved and invested well FU money starts at 2M USD. It is different from the mega rich.
I also thought this before I made the first few million. Except it’s almost impossible to keep the exact same lifestyle you had before ( if it was an 'overnight' FU event like the sale of a large asset ) as you have a lot of new possibilities that you never really payed attention to. It is easy to double, and even triple, your monthly expenditures and still be /very/ conservative with your money. A lot of these new e…
I know that reality is a lot different. For example you start shopping for espresso machines and instead of buying the nice consumer model you go out and but the commercial model. The consumer model would have suffices but the commercial model is so much cooler looking.
It happen, everyone has something superficial that they are going to buy the top of the line of. For some it is cars for other it is a hobby but, yes this can burn up a lot of cash. I have seen a few though that have turned 2M into FU money, one of them actually decreased their standard of living because, not answering to other people, was the top priority in their life.
But, with a low amount like 2M it has to be your top most priority. Also keep in mind I am in Florida and not the valley so the economics are different. Here even at the peak of the land bubble a decent middle class house could be picked up for 200k and home ownership is a big piece of the FU puzzle.
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What kind of schleps have you bought yourself out of? If you prefer a less personal question, what kind of schleps could one buy oneself out of?
Here are some "trading money for time / convenience" options that I'd love to be able to afford: 1) Shopping. For a few extra bucks, most large grocery stores will deliver. 2) Laundry. Pay a service to pick up / clean / drop off your clothes. 3) Travel. For long distances, fly first class (far more comfortable), or charter a plane (no TSA experience!). For in-city, take a cab. 4) Dining. Not in the mood to cook? Eat…
On taxes if you make over 50k a year you should have a tax professional and not H&R Block or worse yet yourself. I resisted this for years and lost a lot of money because of fear that a CPA would be expensive. A good CPA pays for themselves. When I finally broke down and went to one it cost me $1600 for my personal taxes and I gains 10K over what I could find. He also refiled my last two years (I think it was 2 its been a while) and got me some more money back.
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Here are some "trading money for time / convenience" options that I'd love to be able to afford: 1) Shopping. For a few extra bucks, most large grocery stores will deliver. 2) Laundry. Pay a service to pick up / clean / drop off your clothes. 3) Travel. For long distances, fly first class (far more comfortable), or charter a plane (no TSA experience!). For in-city, take a cab. 4) Dining. Not in the mood to cook? Eat…
Heh, here in NYC, even the debt-laden, paycheck-to-paycheck folks do 1-6 1.) FreshDirect - $99 a year for free grocery deliveries 2.) Any corner dry cleaner - $10 a week to drop off two loads of dirty laundry on the way to work. Your doorman will have it when you return that night. 3.) Your company buys you refundable tickets when you have to fly, which I argue is more stress-relieving than 1st class tickets (Dining…
7)Having a local farmer's market deliver a basket of fresh vegetables to you every two weeks.
I've been meaning to write about this one day. There are some things that change. For example, you learn to distinguish problems that can be solved with money from those that can't. You can buy your way out of a lot of schleps. Life doesn't get an order of magnitude more enjoyable, because you still can't buy your way out of the most serious types of problems, but a lot of annoyances are removed. The best part is wha…
So of the folks on here who got FU money - how do you invest it? Do you actively manage it or have a manager? I saw something on HN a while back called the permanent portfolio which looked simple and conservative (25% stock, 25% bonds, 25% gold, 25% cash) and was curious if any rich folks out there are using that in practice.
Non-expert investors should basically just buy index funds and hold them, transitioning them slowly to less volatile bonds as they get older and are more vulnerable to risk.
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I also thought this before I made the first few million. Except it’s almost impossible to keep the exact same lifestyle you had before ( if it was an 'overnight' FU event like the sale of a large asset ) as you have a lot of new possibilities that you never really payed attention to. It is easy to double, and even triple, your monthly expenditures and still be /very/ conservative with your money. A lot of these new e…
Ye I agree completely, my point was just that, if you really really wanted to and you lived a bottom to mid middle class lifestyle to you stretch 2 million and never have to answer to anyone again. I know that reality is a lot different. For example you start shopping for espresso machines and instead of buying the nice consumer model you go out and but the commercial model. The consumer model would have suffices but…
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One thing I genuinely want to know is how much money it takes to be "rich" in Silicon Valley. In my experience, $5M yields a slightly better but still basically middle-class life. I suspect a lot of people are underestimating how much they need to reach the FU level.
If you plan on staying on to live in the valley, $20-30M. I have many friends who are worth $3-5M and they do not consider themselves even close to rich in the valley. Housing and schooling in Palo Alto are very expensive. $5M is nowhere near enough to buy a really nice house and then take it easy for the rest of your life - sad to say, but true. At least in the valley, most people still live below their means. I fin…
I've been meaning to write about this one day. There are some things that change. For example, you learn to distinguish problems that can be solved with money from those that can't. You can buy your way out of a lot of schleps. Life doesn't get an order of magnitude more enjoyable, because you still can't buy your way out of the most serious types of problems, but a lot of annoyances are removed. The best part is wha…
What sorts of new problems do you have when you are rich? Do people treat you differently? Perhaps they are not as nice?
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You just said something really interesting in there...... that perhaps it would be building the next geo-tagging-social network. That's the problem - assuming the readers are techies.... if I suddenly had my FU money - the last thing I'd want to do is start a technology company, unless it was something I was really super passionate about. I'd personally rather go back to having my computers as my hobby, and work on m…
That changes with time. Some people that make it have a tendency to take some time off and do those type things. A portion of people take time off to restore an old car, teach themselves art, music, woodworking, go back to school for something unrelated, build a house by hand and a multitude of other things, but eventual a good portion finally return to some form of work. Sometimes a new interest turns into a busines…
We only get a short time on the treadmill, better to throw it out the window so the next walker get's a beautiful view.