Lifechanging amount of money

[legobikes]

The problem is, can you stay a good person with insane wealth? I kinda don't think you can. The post you reposted pointed out why- the ultra wealthy just tend to become garbage people because literally nothing matters, you have everything you want, no one tells you no or that your idea is bad and you have control and influence over things you absolutely should not. I don't know if anyone can resist those kind of temptations...

Reposting this excerpt from Money and the Meaning of Life:

Money can buy almost anything we want--the problem being that we tend to want only the things that money can buy. Money can solve almost any problem, but the solution never lasts. Money can be a reconciling influence, harmonizing conflicting forces--but from the outside, rather than from within the individual. To depend on money is to depend mainly on a force that comes from outside the initiative and inner depth of the individual. I did not mean to say that the earning of money has this characteristic--on the contrary, there are many conditions in life in which the earning or acquiring of money demands the exercise of something like will. No, I was claiming that the wrong dependence on money to get through difficulties puts something external in the place of an internal, psychological force that needs to be developed and exercised in every normal adult man or woman.

...

To know what money is for and what it isn't for is like knowing how to live. A lot of wealthy people use money to soften all the edges of life, to avoid working through difficulties. It's like cotton batting. But not only wealthy people. The rich ones sometimes use money in this way, the not-so-rich ones dream of using it like that.

...

Used wrongly, money prevents relationship, prevents exchange between certain essential elements of the whole life. As a drug, money can simply substitute an external reconciliation for an internal confrontation of forces. It can solve problems where what is needed is the experiencing of questions. Like technology--and money is a form of technology--money is good at solving problems; it is bad at opening questions. Like technology, money is used wrongly when it converts inner questions that should be lived into problems to be solved. Money fixes things, but not every difficulty in life should be fixed.

[Turf Doc]

I've thought about this, and I think even if 5m randomly appeared in my bank account, I don't think i'd be any happier or meaningfully change my trajectory in life. I'd probably buy a lot more crap but i dont think id be any happier. Thats pretty crazy when i think about it and I realize thats an incredible position to be in

[F0017S0]

I selected $1-2m. That would be more than enough to fund a cash purchase of a nice home, an education or two, and leave some left over to save. Yes, I might keep a nominal percentage of it to do something fun hobby-wise, but overall, I wouldn't be heading to the fanciest hotel, buying the fanciest car, et cetera.

Money is a tool, and each tool in our life has a different use. It can under some circumstances buy time, but in most others it buys things. That's really the utility of money.

[VentAlarm]

The problem is, can you stay a good person with insane wealth? I kinda don't think you can. The post you reposted pointed out why- the ultra wealthy just tend to become garbage people because literally nothing matters, you have everything you want, no one tells you no or that your idea is bad and you have control and influence over things you absolutely should not. I don't know if anyone can resist those kind of temptations.

For me personally I said 500k. If I paid off the mortgage I'd go back to part time work, no questions asked. It kinda makes me feel like a jerk when I say I probably wouldn't notice an extra 1k in my banking account. 15 years ago that would have been life changing!

Also who needs 10M before spending 2k on a hotel or flying first class internationally? I'd do both now and our NW is under 2M.

That’s nonsense.

[Brains428]

***sorry not set that they painted but art that they own and have on loan to the Smithsonian museums.

They also built the Crystal Bridges Museum, too. Very cool if you're in Northern Arkansas.

[Logan 6]

Guess I am the only one.
The Waltons was a 70s tv series featuring the Walton family. Not Sam Walton and kin.
It was pretty popular back in the day.

[wideopenspaces]

That’s nonsense.

Care to elaborate? I'd posit that anyone with 1B, if they were actually a good person would be giving that money away so would not have that amount. But even then, look at Bill Gates. That guy has given money away but done it in a way that has had negative outcomes. Because he thinks he knows the best way to do everything and no one tells him he's wrong. So I'm not sure even giving the money away in a responsible way is even possible. But I'd love to hear other stories if you have them.

[mkintx]

Ever since I read millionaire next door, what is keeping me back from wanted to upgrade our lifestyle long term is the fear of raising entitled kids who will expect economic outpatient care. That’s why I put there is no amount of money that will change how we live right now. Yesterday my 3yo son wanted to wash dishes with me. Maybe pigs will fly today because that’s never happened before, but I’ll count that as a win towards showing him how to be a normal person.

I really appreciate this perspective. My son just started college and it seems to be full of many very wealthy students. He really enjoys driving in his friend's $65k car. But he told us that he knows we have plenty of money we don't spend on such things, and he understands our values that way. He also told me that one of his friend's fathers is also a physician, but "is the kind of doctor who spends money on material things." I'm glad he gets it. And that he is using money from his summer job as spending money, and being judicious about it. No windfall would cause me to start blowing money on all of the "hot women" mentioned in a previous post (or hot men, not mentioned), or to buy my kid a luxury car for college.

[VentAlarm]

Care to elaborate? I'd posit that anyone with 1B, if they were actually a good person would be giving that money away so would not have that amount. But even then, look at Bill Gates. That guy has given money away but done it in a way that has had negative outcomes. Because he thinks he knows the best way to do everything and no one tells him he's wrong. So I'm not sure even giving the money away in a responsible way is even possible. But I'd love to hear other stories if you have them.

You’re argument is illogical for multiple reasons. The first of which is I know a billionaire heir and heiress. The heir is a raging (something that will get * on here) and has been since before he knew he was rich. The heiress is a wonderful person.

The second is lack of logic that leads to marxism and/or stoicism. Either money is evil, in which case why are you saving? If you reject that hypothesis, you are arguing for a asymptote above which people become evil. Do you honestly believe this? Because it’s what you are arguing for. If so, what is the level? Why is .999B less evil than the next dollar? What’s the threshold? Being able to buy whatever you want? Cook for you? Clean your house? A video phone that can call anyone in the world? Because, if so, everyone on here has met that level.

You are saying (whether you realize it or not) that someone who has more money than you have by a large margin is evil. If this is the case, why isn’t everyone in our country evil? We are fabulously wealthy compared to large swaths of the earth; and really everyone in history. Is everyone in the past better than us, because we have more wealth than kings and queens of old.

[Tangler]

Ventalarm is obviously correct!

Money is not evil.

Anyone who thinks it is is on the road to sadness.

Money is an amplifier.

It makes you louder.

If you are nice it amplifies your goodness.

Money allows you to help more people and helps you do a lot of good for more people. (Good samaritan needs $ to do good).

If you are a turd, money makes you a bigger turd.

[artemis]

Guess I am the only one.
The Waltons was a 70s tv series featuring the Walton family. Not Sam Walton and kin.
It was pretty popular back in the day.

No, I got the reference. Goodnight, John-Boy!

[Tangler]

Care to elaborate? I'd posit that anyone with 1B, if they were actually a good person would be giving that money away so would not have that amount. But even then, look at Bill Gates. That guy has given money away but done it in a way that has had negative outcomes. Because he thinks he knows the best way to do everything and no one tells him he's wrong. So I'm not sure even giving the money away in a responsible way is even possible. But I'd love to hear other stories if you have them.

So………who should get to decide how Bill Gates spends “HIS” money. You? The IRS? Some government agency? Some really altruistic political figure? Bernie? Trump? Biden? Some socialists that are “smarter” and “kinder” than Bill?
How much should we take = steal from this evil man?
When did he become evil? What is the threshold?

Are all rich evil? Are all poor virtuous?

Why would anyone save if you believed this?

[ObgynMD]

I really appreciate this perspective. My son just started college and it seems to be full of many very wealthy students. He really enjoys driving in his friend's $65k car. But he told us that he knows we have plenty of money we don't spend on such things, and he understands our values that way. He also told me that one of his friend's fathers is also a physician, but "is the kind of doctor who spends money on material things." I'm glad he gets it. And that he is using money from his summer job as spending money, and being judicious about it. No windfall would cause me to start blowing money on all of the "hot women" mentioned in a previous post (or hot men, not mentioned), or to buy my kid a luxury car for college.

Any pearls of parenting wisdom for those of us a couple of years behind you? I’d love my son to be like how yours is.

[Zaphod]

i agree entirely. i can't decide how to vote.

i mean $20k would meaningfully impact my life b/c we would probably use it to do something we really want to do.

the level at which it would change my planning is probably more like $500k b/c that would make a serious dent in our only debt (mortgage).

agree, poll too complicated.

under 1k how would you know, I dont keep track of my accounts that closely or check them often. I "know" the general level and our spending levels.

Anything would "make a difference" as in I could purchase/save any amount and if 10k, a new something would be meaningful.

I dont really think 2M is meaningful though in net worth, assuming this is tied up in retirement accounts and house, this isnt changing your daily life really as its not accessible.

I could never work again with an extra 3M sure, but it wouldnt feel very safe (although it obviously is at a certain lifestyle), leading to a lifestyle and stress level for at least several years I dont want to have. So usually I fall in the 5 to 10M camp. Obviously this is above and beyond, but thats what meaningful is, you could live well as if you were pulling in a nice salary and still never worry about going broke. Simple basic boring investing would make you even wealthier in time.

Its nice having money in the retirement account, but thats there to grow for decades, accessing it would be a failure at low levels. So it would have to be enough to not work and maintain lifestyle that is better than now (but not crazy), and leave a significant amount to compound for decades that I wouldnt have to ever think of accessing.

[Zaphod]

Money doesn't change who you are - it magnifies who you really are.

I imagine most people here wouldn't go and splurge on material things if given a windfall, aside from a pied-a-terre perhaps, since most already are or will be multi-millionaires in their career at some point. If you were frugal to begin with, you would stay frugal, most likely. If you were charitable, you would give more, etc.

This is exactly why lottery winners and athletes/artists who were poor or ignorant about money eventually end up broke after earning millions. Habits die hard.

Ive no crazy grand designs on life of luxury but Im certainly not where I'd be if optimized and +10M or so. Absolutely have a nice house in whatever city I wanted, maybe decent places in a few. Life would be comfy but not extravagant.

Lots of training/working out, new guitars, etc...but nothing crazy.