Posted on 08/06/2014 5:09:18 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
In the day and age we live in the majority of people wish they could be rich in monetary terms. They want to have more money than they know what to do with. They want to have all the fanciest stuff, travel the world and not worry about any bills.
Becoming rich may seem like the best thing to ever happen but it also brings in some other problems that your average Joe might not face. The question of Is Getting Rich Worth It? was asked on Quora and an anonymous user answered the question giving some great insight into what its like becoming rich.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I made $15m in my mid-20s after I sold a tech startup. I talked to a lot of people about this question, and thought a lot about how to stay the same person I was before and after making money.
Heres my answer: being rich is better than not being rich, but its not nearly as good as you imagine it is.
The answer why is a bit more complicated.
First, one of the only real things being rich gives you is that you dont have to worry about money as much anymore. There will still be some expenses that you cannot afford (and you will wish you could), but most expenses can be made without thinking about what it costs. This is definitely better, without a doubt.
Being rich does come with some downsides, though. The first thing you are thinking reading that, is, cry me a river. That is one of the downsides. You are not allowed to complain about anything, ever. Since most people imagine being rich as nirvana, you are no longer allowed to have any human needs or frustrations in the public eye. Yet, you are still a human being, but most people dont treat you like one.
Theres the second downside. Most people now want something out of you, and it can be harder to figure out whether someone is being nice to you because they like you, or they are being nice to you because of your money. If you arent married yet, good luck trying to figure out (and/or always having self doubt) about whether a partner is into you or your money.
Then you have friends & family. Hopefully your relationship with them doesnt sour, but it can get harder. Both can get really weird about it and start to treat you differently. They might come and ask for a loan (bad idea: if you give, always give a gift). One common problem is that they dont appreciate Christmas presents the way that they used to, and they can get unrealistic expectations for how large a present should be and be disappointed when you dont meet their unrealistic expectations. You have to start making decisions for your parents on what does and does not cost too much, and frankly, its awkward.
Add all of these up and you can start to feel a certain sense of isolation.
You sometimes lay awake at night, wondering if you made the right investment decisions, whether it might all go away. You know that feeling standing on a tall building, the feeling you might lose your mind and jump? Sometimes youre worried that you might lose your mind and spend it all.
The next thing you need to understand about money is this: all of the things you picture buying, they are only worthwhile to you because you cannot afford them (or have to work really hard to acquire them). Maybe you have your eye on a new Audi once you can easily afford it, it just doesnt mean as much to you anymore.
Everything is relative, and you are more or less powerless to that. Yes, the first month you drive the Audi, or eat in a fancy restaurant, you really enjoy it. But then you sort of get used to it. And then you are looking towards the next thing, the next level up. And the problem is that you have reset your expectations, and everything below that level doesnt get you quite as excited anymore.
This happens to everyone. Good people can maintain perspective, actively fight it, and stay grounded. Worse people complain about it and commit general acts of douchebaggery. But remember this: it would happen to you, too, even though you might not think so. Youll just have to trust me on this one.
Most people hold the illusion that if only they had more money, their life would be better and they would be happier. Then they get rich, and that doesnt happen, and it can throw them into a serious life crisis.
If youre part of the middle class, you have just as many opportunities to do with your life what you want of it. If youre not happy now, you wont be happy because of money.
Whether youre rich or not, make your life what you want it to be, and dont use money as an excuse. Go out there, get involved, be active, pursue your passion, and make a difference.
More money in means more money out.
The only reason I’d love to get rich is because IT REALLY PISSES OFF THE COMMIE LIB DEMOCRATS! They believe that “the little people” shouldn’t have any money. Ask that Kenyan SOB in the White Hut. He’ll tell you.
Adam Smith - “The Theory of Moral Sentiments”
Very timely for me. Thanks for posting.
It really depends on how you define rich.
I do not view the possession of money and/ or material things as rich.
While money is necessary to survive in this world, the only thing that truly matters in the life is love.
That is the only thing you can take with you when you die.
Not that I ever had near 15 million.
Well,I’ll risk it anyway...
No really...I’ll volunteer to be rich and let y’all know how it “feels”...
I notice a nice island in the Bahamas is for sell... gonna buy another Mega Million ticket for Friday
I doubt I would change much, a new computer, a softer bed and a better chair to FReep from.
However, I learned the hard way how unimportant money is compared to family. We were overseas earning a ton of money. My sister passed away during that time. I never had the chance to say goodbye to her.
“Mo’ Money Mo’ Problems.”
Get your BUTT into the office depot desk/chair section and plant it in several chairs until you find the one that makes you say/think: AAAAAHHHHHH.
"The love of money is the root of all evil"
One time my home office chair broke, it didn’t blow up like that poor Chinese guy, but I had to freep from a plastic lawn chair for a while.
Any inheritance horror stories out there?
Just the Kennedys
Family. A lover. Hopefully the lover is your wife.
In "Robinson Crusoe", his father gives him good advice regarding this very subject:
He told me it was men of desperate fortunes on one hand, or of aspiring, superior fortunes on the other, who went abroad upon adventures, to rise by enterprise, and make themselves famous in undertakings of a nature out of the common road; that these things were all either too far above me or too far below me; that mine was the middle state, or what might be called the upper station of low life, which he had found, by long experience, was the best state in the world, the most suited to human happiness, not exposed to the miseries and hardships, the labour and sufferings of the mechanic part of mankind, and not embarrassed with the pride, luxury, ambition, and envy of the upper part of mankind. He told me I might judge of the happiness of this state by this one thingviz. that this was the state of life which all other people envied; that kings have frequently lamented the miserable consequence of being born to great things, and wished they had been placed in the middle of the two extremes, between the mean and the great; that the wise man gave his testimony to this, as the standard of felicity, when he prayed to have neither poverty nor riches.
He bade me observe it, and I should always find that the calamities of life were shared among the upper and lower part of mankind, but that the middle station had the fewest disasters, and was not exposed to so many vicissitudes as the higher or lower part of mankind; nay, they were not subjected to so many distempers and uneasinesses, either of body or mind, as those were who, by vicious living, luxury, and extravagances on the one hand, or by hard labour, want of necessaries, and mean or insufficient diet on the other hand, bring distemper upon themselves by the natural consequences of their way of living; that the middle station of life was calculated for all kind of virtue and all kind of enjoyments; that peace and plenty were the handmaids of a middle fortune; that temperance, moderation, quietness, health, society, all agreeable diversions, and all desirable pleasures, were the blessings attending the middle station of life; that this way men went silently and smoothly through the world, and comfortably out of it, not embarrassed with the labours of the hands or of the head, not sold to a life of slavery for daily bread, nor harassed with perplexed circumstances, which rob the soul of peace and the body of rest, nor enraged with the passion of envy, or the secret burning lust of ambition for great things; but, in easy circumstances, sliding gently through the world, and sensibly tasting the sweets of living, without the bitter; feeling that they are happy, and learning by every days experience to know it more sensibly.
You've gotta be kidding.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.