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I am rich and have no idea what to do

vinay.sh

881–890 of 1001 posts

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

#881
Give away your money and build a new company if that's the purpose you need to fulfill in life.

Being altruistic can be immensely rewarding.

You have tremendous privilege. Go help some people with that money.

Don't just think of yourself.

Try taking up meditation. Balance your mind. Try to stop your thoughts.

You are super lucky.

Also, consider your death. No matter how much money you have, you can't take any of it with you. One day you're going to die. It's all going away. Enjoy what you have now and ideally help some others. That will bring you purpose.

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

#882

  We are the hollow men
  We are the stuffed men
  Leaning together
  Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
  Our dried voices, when
  We whisper together
  Are quiet and meaningless
  As wind in dry grass
  Or rats' feet over broken glass
  In our dry cellar
  Shape without form, shade without colour,
  Paralysed force, gesture without motion;
  Those who have crossed
  With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom
  Remember us - if at all - not as lost
  Violent souls, but only
  As the hollow men
  The stuffed men.
— T. S. Eliot, The Hollow Men, first stanza (1925)

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

#884

Absolutely childish. I felt similar when I finished my PhD. It was the singular “thing” in my life to the exclusion of all others. Luckily I was 150k in debt so I didn’t have the luxury of acting like a buffoon for months. Man if I was rich I’d donate half, invest half, and go back to stocking a small family owned grocery store like when I was in high school. I really enjoyed that job.

I didn’t have any debt and I attempted suicide. What an idiot move.

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

#885
A lot of comments talking about having kids for purpose, so I thought I'd add mine. I don't have kids and when I compare myself to other friends that have kids I can see how having kids can add purpose (to some extent).

That said, personally I have found immense purpose in life by having a dog. My dog not only makes me happy he teaches me that it is okay to do mundane things in life everyday and still feel extremely happy and satisfied. Each day I look at him and I thank him for being there, for teaching me how to live life, how to love unconditionally and how to live in the moment. I know it's silly but I'm having tears of joy as I'm typing because he is sleeping right next to me at my work desk. Love you my best friend ever !

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

#886
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 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. I’ve seen a lot of people have random outlier success they didn’t earn and it seems to have the same effect as what most people get out of their careers: crushing failure th…

There's a lot of truth in what you are saying, but I also think this framing can lead to unnecessary nihilism and depression.

I think the simple reason that no one feels like they've won is because we're not biologically wired for that. Like all living things, we've evolved to struggle for survival in a harsh environment. Of course modern civilization has separated us from that harsh reality by layers upon layers of human systems and supply chains, so we apply the same instincts to games of our own devising. There's nothing actually wrong with this though. The problem comes from the belief that "winning" will make one happy. The reality is ones drive leads to engagement and perhaps accomplishment, but it can't answer the why. That is something every person with leisure time needs to work out for themselves.

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

#887
post #885

A lot of comments talking about having kids for purpose, so I thought I'd add mine. I don't have kids and when I compare myself to other friends that have kids I can see how having kids can add purpose (to some extent). That said, personally I have found immense purpose in life by having a dog. My dog not only makes me happy he teaches me that it is okay to do mundane things in life everyday and still feel extremely…

You can have both (and a cat while you're at it).

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

#888
post #559

It’s always climbing mountains. Why does nobody ever go money-mad and excavate an exact replica of the dwarven city of Khazad-dûm in the Black Hills of South Dakota?

The mountains are loaded with metaphor, seem nearly insurmountable, filled with danger and excitement… Turns out, of course, that they are less dangerous than in the past, money goes a long way, and the human body is pretty good at walking even without training. Notice it’s never free climbing the nose in a day, which would require 5-7 years of dedicated training.

>Notice it’s never free climbing the nose in a day, which would require 5-7 years of dedicated training.

Would take way more than that for the average person. You can count the number of people who have done that as of now on one hand.

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

#890

The hedonic treadmill runs both ways. I'd venture many people successful on paper are driven by the need to escape something, for me, it's financial insecurity even though I was never poor nor am I close to it right now. If I were to be as financially successful as this fellow, I think I would soon find myself back to having the same fear\ or finding something to substitute it, regardless, the feeling or mood would b…

What's the general recommendation for when this is the case?
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