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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

#301

Post by A_D_E_P_T »

Okay, I have a wild idea for you.

You need adventure.

As others have said, you also need a hobby.

Consider how rapamycin was discovered, by scientists traveling to distant Rapa Nui and sampling soil. There are lots of truly wild places left on Earth -- most of Papua New Guinea, the northwestern Bolivian Amazon, the deep interior of the DRC, to name but few -- places where civilization has yet to touch. Go out there, discover new plant and insect species, and fingerprint plant and soil samples. You might find some very interesting and commercially-useful small molecules. But, more importantly, it would be a lot of fun.

You'd need a team, but that shouldn't be too difficult to assemble.

It's what I would do if I had absolute freedom.

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

#303

Post by dang »

rafram wrote: post #217

[flagged]

"Don't be snarky."

"Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith."

"Please don't post shallow dismissals, especially of other people's work. A good critical comment teaches us something."

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

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

#304

Post by akamaka »

kortilla wrote: post #252
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.

This is a facile dunk. Economics literature is filled with examples of debt destroying countries’ economies either through hyper inflation or default. Since the US controls its currency, it is very likely to take the inflation route, but if you get enough hawks they might choose to default.

A good economics education would let someone be specific about what they think the problem is. What year will the US default on its debt? How much money needs to be cut from the budget to avoid that? To what extent will those cuts slow down the economy and be self-defeating?

If he arms himself with the right mathematical tools, he might just discover that the default he’s expecting is actually not imminent.

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

#305

Post by more_corn »

If having a bunch of money is a problem, there’s a solution. Give it away and start again. It sounds stupid but a lot of people do it.

I’ve traveled a lot and opportunity is definitely not evenly distributed. There are millions of people who have potential and can’t afford silly things like books, school, tools necessary to succeed. If I wanted to give away a bunch or money I’d found work training programs for blue collar jobs in some major cities of developing nations. Provide training and tools for capable youngsters who might not otherwise have opportunities.

Although… this is not a tale about having too much money. It’s a tale about not knowing what to do next.

You need to recapture the satisfaction of work. Your professional identity was a big part of who you were and you’re falling apart without it. Unfortunately the old one is dead so you have to create a new one. The good news is there’s a foundation to build in.

Track down half a dozen people you’ve enjoyed working with before and start a business with them. I also recommend working mentorship into the mix.

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

#306

Post by neilv »

Regarding the part of breaking up with girlfriend shortly after a winning startup exit, I'm reminded of a friend. (Different situation, but something to think about.)

She saw her bf through the difficult process of a developing a creative work, and eventually he completed it, won a prestigious reward... and he broke up with her.

He got invited to the White House because of the award, and I think missing out on that recognition and experience, where she could've attended as the partner, was symbolic for her.

It wasn't that he was upgrading, since she was an all-around catch, including probably being fabulous at whatever kind of cocktail party circles he entered.

It did seem like awkward timing, to decide that a relationship wasn't going to work out, after all.

(Don't worry, she's OK now: highly accomplished in her own career and creative side, and is also raising a family with a better match.)

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

#307

Post by Krei-se »

cj wrote: post #73

I don’t think his problem is money. I think his problem is his identity (founder of Loom) suddenly disappeared. Now he needs to develop a new identity. This is especially difficult for single founders without kids (in the sense that people with spouse/kids already derive much of their identity from those 2 things). Selling a company isn’t all that different from going through a divorce (in the sense that your identit…

True, i would still argue that your identity might be fogged by these things and come out clearer after lifting roles you may stumbled into more than you chose them.

So sure hope for him and others they survive their 7 years of catharsis!

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

#308

Post by madrox »

workflowsauce wrote: post #288
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…

> Something I did not read in this essay is how he grew closer to anyone (in fact, I read the opposite). No path out of this valley involves traveling alone. I think he needs to get closer to himself. I think he's on the right track.

I've found that you don't see yourself without people around you to hold up a mirror

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

#309

Post by jonnycoder »

I have the opposite problem. I know exactly what I would do if I had enough money in the bank to live off the interest. I remind myself how lucky I am and to be grateful, which is probably the most helpful thing I do.

As someone who has developed software for almost 20 years, and who is also staying on top of LLMs because I genuinely enjoy it, I really feel like I will make some good money soon.

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

#310

Post by bdangubic »

goalieca wrote: post #266
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.

I think you missed the point of DOGE. This isn't a problem about navigating and optimizing a complex bureaucracy, it's to call out that massive bureaucracy exactly where it comes at a high cost and little, perhaps even negative, value. This is a managerial problem and a political problem at its core. We should all be rooting for them to succeed and table their findings, in plain speak for all the public to see. Then…

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