I am rich and have no idea what to do • Hacker News Board

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

#421

Post by binarymax » Fri, Jan 03, 2025, 2:06 AM UTC

Not to judge or sound condescending, but it seems like you’re lacking empathy and a community.

I know exactly what I’d do in your situation: help others. I live in a small city, and it has some problems and some opportunities. Even lacking funds I still do what I can to help the community around me. Spend some time with people who aren’t all in tech or on the beach and go find some reality. People like elon preaching doge are too far removed. Work on the ground. It’s hard and it’s real.

Best of luck!

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

#422

Post by naming_the_user » Fri, Jan 03, 2025, 2:06 AM UTC

fragmede wrote: post #373

naming_the_user wrote: post #158

As a young(ish) man with retirement level wealth personally I don't understand this primarily I suppose because my main passions in life are not profitable. Great, so now I don't have to profitmax every single thing and can rely on my investments. That means I can study pottery, languages, learn about cars, guns, travel, spend time with my old mum, family, start a small business, whatever it is, without care for whet…

> you can't explain away being able to travel wherever whenever you want Just lie and say you work for an AI startup that's in stealth mode and that they're sending you there for a work retreat to bond with your coworkers. Few people in your life care that much about your job to dig deeper.

Sure, you can do that. That's what I mean by being unable to relate.

It's not like it's a one off "I took a couple of days off to build a table" or "I used my X weeks holiday to go to Thailand", all of your hobbies, interests, travel, museum visits, etc etc happen all of the time when most people around you are doing a 9 to 5.

"How was work today?" It wasn't, I don't work, I haven't worked for years, I can tell you about my entrepreneurship or my studying or whatever but then again, now you know I don't work.

That's at a lower level. If you have 50 million like the author then you may well have multiple homes or just live out of hotels if you choose to, it's constant.

Are you hiding all of that?

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

#423

Post by paxys » Fri, Jan 03, 2025, 2:07 AM UTC

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 don't fault this guy for wanting to join DOGE and make a difference. The fact that he was able to make a few phone calls and actually get hired into an influential position despite having zero background in government, civics, economics, finance etc. should, however, tell you everything you need to know about the department and its brain trust.

I wonder what will happen to all these Signal conversations when the inevitable scandals/lawsuits/inquiries happen. Surely the public will be able to scrutinize them right?

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

#424

Post by mmoustafa » Fri, Jan 03, 2025, 2:07 AM UTC

I am hearing you say “why can’t I be normal and do insignificant things” while calling the people who do “NPC coworkers”

And that is your internal struggle my friend

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

#425

Post by justinclift » Fri, Jan 03, 2025, 2:08 AM UTC

j4coh wrote: post #3

Same situation, I truly empathise because it really does seem to take a lot of purpose out of everything. What I’ve found is that you need to replace money/salary/financial success optimisation (assuming you spent a lot of your life and energy to this point focused on these, much like I did) with something else totally unconnected with being measured in that way. For me, I am focused on proving myself as a guitarist…

> you need to replace money/salary/financial success optimisation

Kind of ironic, but that kind of sounds like the people who've been saying those things aren't the most important in life might have been right all along?

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

#426

Post by tiffanyh » Fri, Jan 03, 2025, 2:09 AM UTC

setheron wrote: post #276

tiffanyh wrote: post #45

The author co-founded Loom [0], which was acquired by Atlassian a year ago ~$1B. If the insights are correct, each cofounder netted ~$56M [1] [0] https://vinay.sh [1] https://www.cbinsights.com/research/loom-valuation-investor-...

They had this as an internal product within Google. I liked it as part of their lab 120 division. They ended up killing it :(

Who is "they" in your comment?

Do you mean the Loom cofounders are ex-Googlers?

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

#427

Post by adamredwoods » Fri, Jan 03, 2025, 2:09 AM UTC

I've always had philanthropic ideas that I will never be able to do, because I do not have the funds or the time. Metastatic cancer and alzheimers, on a cellular level, is an obvious pursuit. I would educate myself and get involved. I want to make a difference in the world, and not by monetary measures.

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

#428

Post by Rodeoclash » Fri, Jan 03, 2025, 2:10 AM UTC

lisper wrote: post #118

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…

In a way having money makes it harder because it makes it harder to blame your unhappiness on your circumstances.

100% - it takes away your hope. In this case, that by "making it" in the world of startups will fill the void in your life.

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

#429

Post by alfor » Fri, Jan 03, 2025, 2:10 AM UTC

What you are chasing is your god or a spiritual quest.

As you don't have a conception of a global god on top of all the other you swing from one to another: finding myself, doing hard, things, robotics, climate change, girlfriend, pleasure, etc.

Those can all be good things, but they are not the top thing.

"You will have no other god beside me"

The central God is you idea of good, the things beyond your reach.

You keep your girlfriend, she become your wife and you have kids. You can climb montains but it doesn't need to be himalaya, etc. Maybe your big thing will still end up around physics Everything in it's place. In the proper amount.

Now if you loose one thing it's not the end of your world.

This keep you centered and avoid the crazy swings.

As we can see in this tale, his god was the startup or money. Once he had more than enought no motivation was left, he killed his god and had to find another one. This happen to a lot of people that reach their goal, instead of being happy they are emotionaly destroyed.

I hope this is clear and can help others.

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

#430

Post by louwrentius » Fri, Jan 03, 2025, 2:10 AM UTC

tayo42 wrote: post #226

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 part was disturbing. this guy cant run his own life but wants to dictate how others will live and get involved in government. the US is going to have to deal with real consequences from idiots like this. I think running successful companies and making lots of money like this is just random luck sometimes. how did a person with no ability to introspect, surrounds him self with people that like and cant critically…

It either favors or breeds sociopaths