4 ms·

Tell me about it. Wouldn't you know it, part of those Friday nights are spent looking up at the sky, dreaming about said future wealth... My highest value is a

by oz 16y ago

Tell me about it. Wouldn't you know it, part of those Friday nights are spent looking up at the sky, dreaming about said future wealth... My highest value is autonomy: ability to do what I want, when I want. This is what I'm hoping money will buy me. Will it? I need to know. In 'How to Get Rich', Felix Dennis warns against dedicating one's life to wealth, and even says that warning is the most important part of the book. But he correctly says right after that he doubts the warning will have any effect, as the reader is probably young and tired of poverty. Boy was he right...

ErrantX 16y ago
ability to do what I want, when I want. This is what I'm hoping money will buy me. Will it? I need to know. Depends; you can do this on a lot less than you imagine - if you want to live in a 10 bedroom mansion, drive sports cars and so forth then you're going to need the big money. Realize now you are statistically unlikely to get it; and, given that, think about what you specifically want rather than broad concepts. Another consideration - are you thinking of wealth in the right terms? pg points out in his essays that wealth is not only about money; it's just that this is an easy way to gauge relative wealth. The point he makes is that you can make wealth by creating something that converts to cash (even if you never convert it to cash). But there is another point; which is that you can be wealthy without being financially super-rich. I got lucky (am about the same age as you); as I dreamed about being super rich I ended up messing around with something in my spare time which worked out as being worth something. It was nothing stellar but in the right place at the right time it made me some money - and I found it, actually, wasn't buying me the "wealth" I expected. Since then I've figured out exactly what I want to attain in life and my drive towards that is much more focused (I will post the list if you like, but it's not really important :) after all, what you want is a personal matter)
- oz 16y ago
  "Realize now you are statistically unlikely to get it; and, given that, think about what you specifically want rather than broad concepts." Funny, I was about to read a chapter on this very topic in Felix Dennis' How to Get Rich' last night. I skipped it, because I didn't want to hear it. I read PG's wealth essay in about 2006, when I was in first year at college (I dropped out after first year to work at a telecom startup - anything to avoid school!). I think he said something like wealth is whatever you want; If you're a billionaire but there's no food for sale, your cash is useless. True enough. I do know that I want autonomy, and not having to rely on anyone financially (I used to think I didn't need others for anything, but recently realized how stupid I was). It's just that I've seen that almost everything in our lives is related in some way to money. Many marital disagreements are about money. Many lives get ruined by poverty. Not having to worry about money simply makes life easier. Hierarchy of needs, you know? Although I've never been poor (more or less middle class), I've come to realized that I, like most people, are only a few wrong turns from poverty. Please post the list! For me I've often thought that I'd like to be rich enough @ 30 to be a music composer. I sometimes procrastinate by researching MIDI, Linux Audio software like Rosegarden, etc.
  - ErrantX 16y ago
    because I didn't want to hear it. "The first stage of any cure is admitting the problem. The hardest part of any cure is facing the solution" :) I do know that I want autonomy, and not having to rely on anyone financially You could easily achieve this on very little money; but this is a very broad and non-specific aim whioch covers anyone from the millionaire to the hermit (and, arguably, better describes the hermit). I'm doing an Msc in project management at the moment and we just did a section about why projects fail; the number one reason was a failure to specify the problem to be solved in enough detail. Many marital disagreements are about money. Many lives get ruined by poverty. Not having to worry about money simply makes life easier. The important thing to remember is that having lots of money is not necessarily a solution for this - or rather it certainly ain't the only solution. For me I've often thought that I'd like to be rich enough @ 30 to be a music composer. Well, if you have a talent then there is a lot of money in that area (my brother is setting up to be a composer, does very nicely even while finishing off his degree). If you don't have the ability to do that as a job then, yeh, that sounds like a pretty concrete/specific aim to go for! Fix on that and flesh it out as an idea. Write it down and stick it up somewhere prominent. Break it down into steps/things you will need. Then really dedicate to achieving it. My goals are not particularly finance oriented any more and so might be a little wierd :) Only one requires actual serious amounts of money (and, really, that is the "long term dream" I allow myself). - live on a narrow boat for a reasonable period of time (status: looking at buying one now, sticking point is decent but not insanely expensive internet access) - have a successful company by 27 (status: working on it, but this is too general at the moment and I need to concrete it better first) - marry someone amazing (status: found her but she slipped the net :) working on that) - be respected by people [by which I mean earn a position of respect somewhere important] (status: very hard, harder than I thought. though I have a little/growing respect in my work niche here in the UK) - be respected by my employees by a) leading the charge at the company and b) being an understanding boss (status: requires my own company...) - write a piece of open source code that is used "universally" and is regarded as awesome by at least someone :) (status: this could well be fluke to achieve) - live in a small whitewashed cottage in Cornwall (I know the one I want, currently a wreck) - learn to fly, fly a jet (status: problematic as it a serious piece of time is needed to achieve it) - go into space (status: pipe dream, but am determined to achieve it in time)
alexyim 16y ago
Interesting... I got a lot out of that warning. I actually took a break from what I was doing to really think about it.
- oz 16y ago
  I've been giving it some thought as well. I don't want to be in the rat race at 40. But how much is enough? That's what I need to think about. Have you made a decision on what you're gonna do?

by oz 16y ago

ErrantX 16y ago

ability to do what I want, when I want. This is what I'm hoping money will buy me. Will it? I need to know. Depends; you can do this on a lot less than you imagine - if you want to live in a 10 bedroom mansion, drive sports cars and so forth then you're going to need the big money. Realize now you are statistically unlikely to get it; and, given that, think about what you specifically want rather than broad concepts. Another consideration - are you thinking of wealth in the right terms? pg points out in his essays that wealth is not only about money; it's just that this is an easy way to gauge relative wealth. The point he makes is that you can make wealth by creating something that converts to cash (even if you never convert it to cash). But there is another point; which is that you can be wealthy without being financially super-rich. I got lucky (am about the same age as you); as I dreamed about being super rich I ended up messing around with something in my spare time which worked out as being worth something. It was nothing stellar but in the right place at the right time it made me some money - and I found it, actually, wasn't buying me the "wealth" I expected. Since then I've figured out exactly what I want to attain in life and my drive towards that is much more focused (I will post the list if you like, but it's not really important :) after all, what you want is a personal matter)

oz 16y ago
"Realize now you are statistically unlikely to get it; and, given that, think about what you specifically want rather than broad concepts." Funny, I was about to read a chapter on this very topic in Felix Dennis' How to Get Rich' last night. I skipped it, because I didn't want to hear it. I read PG's wealth essay in about 2006, when I was in first year at college (I dropped out after first year to work at a telecom startup - anything to avoid school!). I think he said something like wealth is whatever you want; If you're a billionaire but there's no food for sale, your cash is useless. True enough. I do know that I want autonomy, and not having to rely on anyone financially (I used to think I didn't need others for anything, but recently realized how stupid I was). It's just that I've seen that almost everything in our lives is related in some way to money. Many marital disagreements are about money. Many lives get ruined by poverty. Not having to worry about money simply makes life easier. Hierarchy of needs, you know? Although I've never been poor (more or less middle class), I've come to realized that I, like most people, are only a few wrong turns from poverty. Please post the list! For me I've often thought that I'd like to be rich enough @ 30 to be a music composer. I sometimes procrastinate by researching MIDI, Linux Audio software like Rosegarden, etc.
- ErrantX 16y ago
  because I didn't want to hear it. "The first stage of any cure is admitting the problem. The hardest part of any cure is facing the solution" :) I do know that I want autonomy, and not having to rely on anyone financially You could easily achieve this on very little money; but this is a very broad and non-specific aim whioch covers anyone from the millionaire to the hermit (and, arguably, better describes the hermit). I'm doing an Msc in project management at the moment and we just did a section about why projects fail; the number one reason was a failure to specify the problem to be solved in enough detail. Many marital disagreements are about money. Many lives get ruined by poverty. Not having to worry about money simply makes life easier. The important thing to remember is that having lots of money is not necessarily a solution for this - or rather it certainly ain't the only solution. For me I've often thought that I'd like to be rich enough @ 30 to be a music composer. Well, if you have a talent then there is a lot of money in that area (my brother is setting up to be a composer, does very nicely even while finishing off his degree). If you don't have the ability to do that as a job then, yeh, that sounds like a pretty concrete/specific aim to go for! Fix on that and flesh it out as an idea. Write it down and stick it up somewhere prominent. Break it down into steps/things you will need. Then really dedicate to achieving it. My goals are not particularly finance oriented any more and so might be a little wierd :) Only one requires actual serious amounts of money (and, really, that is the "long term dream" I allow myself). - live on a narrow boat for a reasonable period of time (status: looking at buying one now, sticking point is decent but not insanely expensive internet access) - have a successful company by 27 (status: working on it, but this is too general at the moment and I need to concrete it better first) - marry someone amazing (status: found her but she slipped the net :) working on that) - be respected by people [by which I mean earn a position of respect somewhere important] (status: very hard, harder than I thought. though I have a little/growing respect in my work niche here in the UK) - be respected by my employees by a) leading the charge at the company and b) being an understanding boss (status: requires my own company...) - write a piece of open source code that is used "universally" and is regarded as awesome by at least someone :) (status: this could well be fluke to achieve) - live in a small whitewashed cottage in Cornwall (I know the one I want, currently a wreck) - learn to fly, fly a jet (status: problematic as it a serious piece of time is needed to achieve it) - go into space (status: pipe dream, but am determined to achieve it in time)

alexyim 16y ago

Interesting... I got a lot out of that warning. I actually took a break from what I was doing to really think about it.

oz 16y ago
I've been giving it some thought as well. I don't want to be in the rat race at 40. But how much is enough? That's what I need to think about. Have you made a decision on what you're gonna do?