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

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

#701

Post by sangnoir » Fri, Jan 03, 2025, 9:03 AM UTC

not_a_bot_4sho wrote: post #585

crakhamster01 wrote: post #573

I can definitely sympathize with this guy. I imagine selling your company, coming into immense wealth, and losing your identity of ~10 years can really mess up an individual. But at the same time... this seems rich coming from the dude who co-founded Loom. Calling his ex-coworkers NPCs and believing he's qualified to streamline the US government - all because he built a glorified screen recorder? Have some humility L…

After repeatedly mentioning talking/recruiting the "smartest people" around DOGE, that was enough to know this person's opinion isn't very important. Or more to the point, it's not an honest objective take. Sort of like a TV or movie award show, with everyone praising everyone else's "genius". Reads more like in-group flattery to establish position within the group. But what do I know, I'm not tres commas rich.

Despite his best channeling of Russ Hanneman, he is one comma short of the tres comma club. Maybe his new passion in life will be getting his net worth to a billion dollars.

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

#702

Post by submeta » Fri, Jan 03, 2025, 9:05 AM UTC

It’s sort of like the parent whose kids have finally left home or the person who hits retirement after decades of routine. You spend so long in a role that demands all your energy—raising children, clocking into work, scaling a startup—that once it’s gone, it feels disorienting. It’s not really about the money he made; it’s about losing the sense of urgency and purpose that kept him going. Now he’s stuck figuring out how to fill that void, which is something parents and retirees often deal with, too.

Professional athletes who retire face a similar void after years of training for a single goal; military personnel returning from deployment often grapple with the loss of a clear mission; newly graduated students or PhD candidates who’ve just defended their thesis can feel a void, too. It’s the same pattern: once your main structure or purpose vanishes, you have to figure out how to fill the space it leaves behind.

His story is not about money. Although many see that as the main info here, it’s not. It’s about losing identity, the main goal in life.

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

#703

Post by cwalv » Fri, Jan 03, 2025, 9:05 AM UTC

xdfgh1112 wrote: post #673

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…

I did the same as OP. Quit my job then started distancing from everyone and removing responsibility in the pursuit of freedom to do what I want. But all I did was wallow and stay alone. Not sure what the answer is but your insights were very powerful to read.

The book of Ecclesiastes is about this. It makes more sense if you s/meaningless/vapor/g, i.e. we're all chasing after something like smoke that we can see but can't 'catch'.

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

#704

Post by modeless » Fri, Jan 03, 2025, 9:07 AM UTC

I think it's strange that he rejected the idea of humanoid robots because it was "cringe" to copy Elon so instead he... studies physics with a goal of applying first principles thinking to manufacturing businesses? That's kind of Elon's whole thing.

To be clear I don't think any of it is cringeworthy at all. I just don't understand the reasoning there. Why not do humanoids, they're awesome, and Elon is hardly the only one who thinks so!

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

#705

Post by verzali » Fri, Jan 03, 2025, 9:09 AM UTC

...is this satire?

I honestly have a hard time believing anyone could survive doing what he says he did in the Himalayas without learning to spell "rappel" if it isn't.

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

#706

Post by ediatedia » Fri, Jan 03, 2025, 9:09 AM UTC

iancmceachern wrote: post #672

I can't imagine a world where I wouldn't know what to do. There is diarrhea on my building, trash in the street, people needing medical help in the alley, and potholes in the street. Just walk out your front door and start doing things. My recent triumph was getting a building owner on my street to finally repair the hole in front of their building. Imagine what I could do with a backhoe. Start small, think big. Help…

The author seems to wear their support of capitalism "on their sleeve", so acting in their self-interest is endemic. At the risk of sounding bitter, I imagine these problems aren't trendy enough to solve yet, or maybe they just had something akin to blinkers on en route to their hike.

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

#707

Post by cwalv » Fri, Jan 03, 2025, 9:15 AM UTC

survirtual wrote: post #689

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…

Anyone who has "more money than they know what to do with" is a fool. There is an unlimited set of things to do with large resource allocation. Depending on the magnitude of that resource allocation, the set increases exponentially. It shows a total lack of introspection as well as connections with the people, the Earth, and the universe as a whole. Go eat some psychedelics and travel inside yourself for a while. Lis…

It's true that there are infinite ways to waste a fortune, but that doesn't mean you're a fool for not having decided how to spend your money. I'd actually argue that it'd be more foolish to go figure out what to spend it on "in no time"

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

#708

Post by roughly » Fri, Jan 03, 2025, 9:31 AM UTC

THERAPY.

THE THING YOU ARE LOOKING FOR IS THERAPY.

SAY IT WITH ME:

THER A PY.

Everything in this post is about how you keep tripping over your own bullshit and don’t know what you want. The only difference between you and everyone else having an existential crisis is you won the lottery before you ran out of ways to lie to yourself. The good news is you’ve apparently got enough money to pay for the help so many other people need but can’t get. Go find a therapist and figure out why you’re so goddamn miserable (emotionally, not as a person) and what stupid stories you’ve been telling yourself to make you that way so you can use all the wealth you’ve accumulated to do something fulfilling, instead of trying to cosplay as the most visibly miserable person on the planet.

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

#709

Post by numbasys » Fri, Jan 03, 2025, 9:35 AM UTC

For the author: Getting all that money without the life experience to build some values or ambitions for your impact on the world is proof enough that your fortune is just random luck. There are millions who have put more thought into life and had no financial reward for it. Give it to them, or get a life for yourself. Then you'll know what to do.

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

#710

Post by cmckn » Fri, Jan 03, 2025, 9:49 AM UTC

It’s a weird post. Part cry for help, part not-so-humble brag, and 100% not something any close friend, significant other, or therapist would recommend you hit send on. Feels a little strung-out, to be honest.

“Rich guy is bored, you’ll never believe what happens next”