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Ask PG & other successful folks: how did your life change after FU money?

277 points by resdirector 16y ago

Here are some questions that I find myself pondering from time to time as I code. To those who have achieved "FU money" (I use this term loosely): * Has your life changed in unexpected ways? * Has there been any change in the way you interact with strangers? * Has the number of things you have to endure increased or decreased? * And is "FU money" all its cracked up to be? e.g., is your life an order of magnitude more enjoyable now, or is it pretty much the same etc?

jeb 16y ago
Pretty much the same life, the toys are just a bit bigger. One thing I've found though - girls don't care about the money in the bank. Maybe they care about if you drive a big car or something, but just spending a lot does not seem to result in the ladies being significantly more impressed. Interaction with other people is more of a i-don't-give-a-shit-who-you-are anymore. Take it or leave it is much easier. Life is more relaxed - that constant stress of being broke is gone. But there are other problems that come up when some problems go away. Stuff that appeared smaller before (how do I get people to like me, for example), now seem more important.
- jbm 16y ago
  This probably says more about me than anyone else, but I felt the same after getting enough money in the bank for one years rent.
  - revorad 16y ago
    Haha, that made me laugh out loud. I'm sort of in the same situation, but when things get hard in my startup I sometimes begin to panic.
- rdl 16y ago
  I personally think "worthwhile" girls are not so much attracted to money as financial stability and responsibility. However, there are times when toys are really nice to have, and can be fun in social settings -- maybe bias toward purchases which can be enjoyed with other people. There are definitely diminishing returns -- being able to afford an occasional meal at a decent restaurant is worth a lot, but being able to buy out the bar every night is not necessarily any better. Three classics from Quora may be relevant: http://www.quora.com/How-does-a-penniless-entrepreneur-attract-gold-diggers http://www.quora.com/How-does-a-penniless-entrepreneur-attra... http://www.quora.com/How-does-a-wealthy-man-in-Silicon-Valley-attract-gold-diggers http://www.quora.com/How-does-a-wealthy-man-in-Silicon-Valle... http://www.quora.com/How-does-a-successful-entrepreneur-get-a-date-in-Silicon-Valley-and-avoid-gold-diggers http://www.quora.com/How-does-a-successful-entrepreneur-get-...
- yummyfajitas 16y ago
  One thing I've found though - girls don't care about the money in the bank. Wherever you are meeting girls, I want to go there. My experience in an NJ bar a week or two ago: I was talking with a coder friend of mine about my job. This was a geeky conversation with words like "latency", "queues" and "atomic operations", as well as "lost $BIGNUM in half a second", rather than a manly conversation about "parachuting into darfur to deliver aid." A guido girl at the bar visibly perked up and came over to talk and asked if I was a trader within 5 minutes of conversation. (Note: I don't have fuck you money, though my casual reaction to losing $BIGNUM might suggest I do.)
  - rdl 16y ago
    This is a great point against living in NYC metro area. I doubt you'd suffer this in Boston (Academia seems to be the dominant life form), SFBA (tech; a trader would be a lot less sexy than the founder of a tech startup even pre-fu money), or Seattle or Portland (environmentalism? art? food?).
    - hugh3 16y ago
      SFBA (tech; a trader would be a lot less sexy than the founder of a tech startup even pre-fu money) Tech startup founders are a dime a dozen around here. In fact, I've found the best way to get a girl interested is to say "Hi, I'm not a software engineer!"
    - warfangle 16y ago
      That's mainly NJ guido-style greed. There are definitely areas of NYC where the predominant culture is, "are you doing something interesting/neat/cool" instead of, "are you working for Goldman Sachs;" be it art, programming, music, technology, food, whatever. The key, of course, is to make what you do sound sexy ;). In some areas, dropping an employer name like Goldman might even get you scorned.
      - brown9-2 16y ago
        I think we should probably all abstain from pretending that "dating" in entire cities or states can be summed up so easily, or that it's even a topic that can be distilled into such a short description of general traits. One bad experience certainly doesn't label them all.
- jaxn 16y ago
  Following traditional gender roles, the male's job is as a provider. When you start talking about settling down, the reduced ambiguity about future provisions seems to start looking real attractive. YMMV
- bsnss-mn-cdr 16y ago
  There are two types of people ( not just women but I see it more with women because I pay more attention to them... ) those who want to have nice material things more than anything else and those that don't. The women who genuinely do not care about material things in life will most likely not be 'impressed' by what you have or how you spend your money. On the other side however the women who do care will be significantly more impressed with the more expensive things you have and how you spend your money. I completely agree with the not needing to always watch yourself around others just in case they could potentially 'make your life better'.
  - robryan 16y ago
    There is a lot of middle ground here, my girlfriend isn't going to leave me if I don't have a high paying job or company but she sure wouldn't object if I did come into money and gave her expensive gifts.
ErrantX 16y ago
I'm in no way in the league of pg or others but I might have an interesting story to share. While at university I was pretty skint (as students are). Anyway, long story short I happened to "start a company" that never took off but did take the interest of another competitor - who then bought me out (it never came to anything from them - they were "super funded" and had a not-that-good team....). Anyway; it wasn't a lot of cash considering - but compared to what I was living on... I immediately went and bought a silly car which ate up petrol and insurance money (tip 1: don't buy a really nice car unless you drive a lot, now I run a 14 year old Peugeot and it is more reliable, economical and fun :)). This sort of thing (silly spending) went on for about a month until I was stocked up on all sorts of technology porn (in fairness to myself I did splash money on my friends/flatmates quite liberally). I can't exactly remember what made me stop but did eventually realise that I was acting silly ;) Even when I stopped spending it was hard to avoid buying stuff I saw and trivially wanted - there was no sense of ownership on the expensive items any more (compared to the 32" TV I had bought a few months earlier and saved for for nearly a year) and they never really made me happy. Long story short; most of it went into Ebay, I put the money into a long term fund and finished up Uni as a poor student. Two years later the money is still there; I managed to find a job that rocks and pays pretty good (considering). I've got over the need for money/items and have (in my mind) a much nicer outlook on life and "stuff" :) So, yes, having "large amounts of cash" (relatively speaking) did change me - but not in the way I expected :) And the best bit is that I have money for a house, wedding ring (hopefully :)), kids etc... in the future if things don't work out.
aaronsw 16y ago
In the short-term, my life was much worse. I spent a lot of really painful time struggling to come to grips with my situation. After that was over, things went pretty much back to normal. There's now a low-level fear all the time of losing all the money (something PG's written about recently) and I'm constantly worried I've invested it badly. I didn't make any dramatic life changes so people don't really treat me differently. The biggest thing is that it provides a sort of mental backup -- when I'm feeling bad about myself or about to do something risky, I can tell myself not to worry. My sense is that it bears out what the happiness research says: dispositional factors are much more important than situational ones. PG was an abnormally happy person before he got rich and he's still abnormally happy. I was pretty miserable before and I'm still miserable. (The reasons are more complicated but the result is I prefer my misery.)
- jacksoncarter 16y ago
  Did you tend to worry a lot before you had the money? You mention the misery is consistent. Is worry part of that. I think coming into money is pretty much like losing a limb or experiencing a tragedy. After a certain period of time, the person who has experienced the tragedy goes back to where they were, mentally, before the tragedy. Same with lots of money, eventually they return to their norm.
  - sreitshamer 16y ago
    Lots of money brings lots of freedom, which can bring a lot of instability/chaos. You lose all the structure that you had from the constraints of working for a living. If the instability (and resultant stress) is too much, going back to "the way you were" could be a relief.
  - aaronsw 16y ago
    There's a lot of truth to this, but the worry about investing it wrong is definitely new. There wasn't anything I really worried about that way before the money. Maybe if I had a family to support, it'd be different, and I would have constantly worried about having to take care of them. pg talks about always being worried about being broke; I don't recall ever worrying about that. If anyone ever asked me, I guess I would have said that I could always just move back in with my parents.
ttol 16y ago
Be prepared for it mentally and emotionally before getting FU money. It's not dissimilar to winning the lottery. Most of you reading this site is either working extremely hard to get FU money or has it already. If you're not prepared for it, it will just amplify your worst nightmares and habits, and there's a good chance the meaning of many things in life, including life itself, will disappear. Plan for a use/purpose for the FU money. The journey is sometimes better than the destination, so make sure that once you arrive at the destination, it is only one stop of a longer journey. Here's a story of a millionaire who liked the journey much more than the destination, so gave away all the money to restart the journey. http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SmartSpending/blog/page.aspx?post=1618309&_blg=1,1618309 http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SmartSpending/blog/page... After you've bought/rented all your material wants, you will feel an empty feeling and ask yourself, "that's it?", unless you have a purpose greater than yourself. Belong to a higher cause, whether it's joining a local non-profit or helping others (or start a yc? ;-). Money is a means to an end, not the end itself. Beyond buying power, money has no value unless it is used/invested/earmarked. Here are some example people who were unprepared and how they used their FU money: http://www.oddee.com/item_97101.aspx http://www.oddee.com/item_97101.aspx EDIT: Not sure why I'm being downvoted. Yes, we can talk about the great positives of FU money and the awesome power/material good it brings, but not about the potential downsides it'll bring if you don't keep it in check or plan for it in advance? For what it's worth, I've started several companies, each did well, and the points I've raised above were important for me (for belonging to a higher purpose, I sat on the board of a non-profit and helped raise money). There was a time when I thought I reached my "destination", only to feel that I had arrived at an deserted island.
- d_r 16y ago
  I'm not sure why someone would downvote you. Having a journey _is_ key, and this is why "FU money" would be useful. Given a lucky $5,000,000 lottery win, many people on HN would probably have a chance to leave the day job and finally take a shot at accomplishing their dream (perhaps building the next amazing geo-tagging-social-network, or opening a store, or whatever it might be.) Without a dream, people will just spend money on toys that seem far too obvious, such as fancy cars. Simple money management skills help as well.
MisterWebz 16y ago
I would appreciate it if people posting here would also tell us if they were low/middle/upper class before they got wealthy/wealthier.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
  - statictype 16y ago
    A person's life after getting FU money could very well depend on their financial state (and relatedly, their experiences and outlook in life) before getting rich. Seems like a valid question to me.
    - MisterWebz 16y ago
      Exactly. Too bad no one here mentioned it, i was really curious.
prog 16y ago
I won't say I am in the big league but I have enough to last me a couple of years if I stay comfortably. It is invested well so I am hoping that it will last longer. I also don't have any major outgoings like mortgages or rent. > * Has your life changed in unexpected ways? One change has been that I haven't worked for the last 2 years and don't plan to in the near future. I love programming so just spent my day working on some hobby projects and watching stocks. The risk is that as there isn't any hard deadline for delivery I end up taking things easy which is not good and probably something I should be changing. One problem I face is that much of the money is just lying in either accounts or investments so its not really visible - no flashy cars or toys for me. And I tend to be frugal in my living so most people think I am good for nothing and feel bad for my wife. Some of her concerned friends have been asking here when I plan to start working. My wife doesn't have any problem with my lifestyle as she knows about my financial situation. > * Has there been any change in the way you interact with strangers? Social interaction is one thing I miss about having a job. It provides a clear structure in which you interact with other people. So my interaction is now primarily with existing friends and family. If anything, my previously average social skill have probably become below average. > * Has the number of things you have to endure increased or decreased? I would say life has started appearing much simple to me. With money not a factor in my choices, I sit around doing exactly what I want to do. As of now I have nothing to show for my last 2 years (except my investments going up but thats a passive activity) but I am hoping that will change in a year or two. > * And is "FU money" all its cracked up to be? e.g., is your life an order of magnitude more enjoyable now, or is it pretty much the same etc? I would say that I put up with less crap but its less enjoyable. To explain the contradiction, when my wife comes home from work and talks about "management is making X mistake", "my product was not highlighted in our newsletter" etc, the usual office activities. I understand that but its been a long time (2 years to be precise) since I experienced these things. These basic experiences (good or bad) did keep me occupied and made life interesting. Now with all that gone, its HN, hobby projects, stocks and after that I am pretty much on my own do something that would make me feel worthwhile. Overall I would say that I am much more comfortable and happier than I was but my social interactions have become pretty minimal which I don't think is good.
- IgorPartola 16y ago
tsycho 16y ago
Eventually, it didn't change me much, but I do spend a bit more on cheap frivolous stuff (like http://store.xkcd.com/xkcd/#Sudo http://store.xkcd.com/xkcd/#Sudo). But then I have been through the cycle twice. Initially I was broke. When I got my first real job (after undergrad in India), I felt like I had all the money in the world. In the first few months, I bought myself a nice camera, motorbike, smartphone, gifts for family and my girlfriend, started eating at nice restaurants etc. But then I figured I already had whatever I needed and things I enjoyed most didn't really require any money (except the camera and motorbike, I guess). Then I quit my job and went to grad school for which I had to pay for (Masters, not a PhD) and went into debt (US schools are sooo expensive), and drastically cut down my expenses (ate cheap Thai food almost every day). After that I got a well-paying job again, paid off all my loans, and am now back to my earlier lifestyle i.e. I spend on things I enjoy, give a modest amount of money in charity regularly, enjoy the occasional expensive dinner, buy nice gifts for my family and close friends, but I still save a good amount. I am definitely happier than I would be without any money, but I don't think I would be any happier if I suddenly started earning 2x.
- zackola 16y ago
  This is not FU money. FU money is not worrying about having to work.
  - enjo 16y ago
    Maybe it is to him.... I've known a remarkable number of folks who had "FU money" with $20k in the bank.
    - dasil003 16y ago
      Homeless broke people say FU all the time. FU money means never having to work another day for the rest of your life. $20k might mean that in a few places in the world, but some happy-go-lucky personality who doesn't know where their next buck is coming from doesn't count.
      - 16y ago
jacquesm 16y ago
I'm going to think about answering this because it's going to take more than a short comment, those are 4 really complicated questions. The short answers are yes, yes, decreased, no and different. The longer ones will take me a bit of time to put together.
- jacquesm 16y ago
  Ok, it's up: http://news.ycombinator.com/edit?id=1512876 http://news.ycombinator.com/edit?id=1512876
noahlt 16y ago
Was the term "FU money" coined by Neal Stephenson, or was it in use before he wrote Cryptonomicon?
- Elite 16y ago
  I'm pretty sure Nassim Nicholas Taleb wasn't the source, but I first heard the term from him.
  - gregwebs 16y ago
    His explanation was pretty good, roughly: you can say FU while you are still on the phone with someone instead of after you hang up.
- matwood 16y ago
  I don't believe so. That term has been used for years prior to 2000 in competitive offshore fishing.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- dctoedt 16y ago
  I remember reading the term in James Clavell's novel Noble House, published in 1981.
- portman 16y ago
  I first heard it in Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis, 1989. http://www.amazon.com/dp/0140143459 http://www.amazon.com/dp/0140143459
- wglb 16y ago
  In Soul of a New Machine, there is talk about the formation of Data General in 1969. The attorney advising the founders suggested that they set aside $1m each as part of any deal for the purpose of FU money. The usage may predate even that.
DanielBMarkham 16y ago
The more I think about this -- really think about it -- the more I become convinced that anonymity and a small amount of recurring income, along with a reasonably-frugal life, is probably the best outcome in life. EDIT: Just to clarify, I'm not saying to be poor. I'm saying that the more your income becomes visible -- past just having a low-key life -- the more it gets in the way of things, both for you and your family. That can either mean living in a room where they shove a couple pizzas under the door every day or living in a modest 4BR house in a mediocre neighborhood. It's the visibility and the host of hidden entrapments that come with that visibility. What I didn't realize when I was younger that this problem of visibility isn't just limited to how others view your wealth -- it's really more a problem of of you view it.
- protomyth 16y ago
  My brother pointed out to me that he thought life would be great if he "had enough money to control his schedule".
  - kls 16y ago
    My life became measurably better when I gained the independence to set my own schedule. I have to say that financial independence (for me at least) brought a significant amount of happiness, that I am very fortunate to have. I now work from my house, and have 3 small children. The ability to drop what I am doing to seize the moment when the kids are doing something eventful (walking for the first time, speaking there first word, playing video games with them, doing robotics with them) is an amazing freedom and blessing. We frequently pick up and leave to go places on the spur of the moment, which also provides experiences that my kids would not otherwise have been able to do. The best part is I feel more creative than I have ever felt in my 17 years in the industry and I am far more productive and work longer hours without burnout. I see a lot of people saying that achieving financial independence did not make them happier and I don't understand it. For me it gave me the ability to create an environment where I could have a more satisfying family life and a more creative work life. It has done wonders for my happiness.
- sailormoon 16y ago
kloncks 16y ago
Sorry, but what does "FU money" mean?
- icey 16y ago
  "Fuck You" money - enough money that you can tell anyone you want to fuck off and not have to worry about not being able to pay your bills as a result.
  - lisper 16y ago
    There's an important thing to realize about FU money: it does not make telling people to fuck off cost-free. Telling someone to fuck off is an indulgence, and it is not free of cost no matter how much money you have. Having FU money simply means you can afford this indulgence. But one of the many problems that comes from having this kind of money is that now you have to make this choice. When you can't afford something, it's a no-brainer. When you can afford it, you actually have to think about it and take responsibility for the result of your decision.
- BvS 16y ago
  http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=%22FU+money%22 http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&#3...
- zackola 16y ago
  having enough money to tell anyone regardless of who they are, FU!
manmanic 16y ago
I think about this all the time. I didn't make "FU money" from an exit, but rather from the ongoing success of a couple of online businesses, which have been earning me far more than I know how to spend. When this started happening, my initial reaction was to be perplexed, because I no longer had a financial motivation to get up in the morning and work. Money had been the most salient part of my motivation for as long as I could remember. But I found that I still wanted to work, and it took me a while to understand why. It turns out there are lots of other good reasons to create useful things that people will pay for, like self expression, connecting to others, a sense of achievement, and a feeling of contributing to the world. The money was still nice but became secondary. Still, it allows me the luxury of working on interesting things that I think people will like, even if I doubt I'll ever make much money from them. I found that the main challenge of being rich is finding a way to spend the money in a way which contributes to my happiness, rather than detracts from it. This is harder than it sounds. The most obvious way to spend money is to buy an oversized home. But this is a really bad idea. First of all you have to spend a lot of time maintaining that home. But most importantly it will likely alienate your (presumably not so rich) real old friends who are still working daily to pay off the mortgage. How will they feel about inviting you over to their condo when you live in a palace? The solution I found to the "friend alienation" problem is to spend money on personal experiences rather than visible possessions. You can eat out at fancy restaurants, travel the world and enjoy the best shows without your friends knowing what you're up to, at least not in detail. It really helps if you have a spouse and/or children that you can do this with, since they can make these experiences all the more fun. BTW this also neatly dovetails with recent research on happiness: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/02/10/happiness.possessions/index.html http://edition.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/02/10/happiness.possessio... The one rich guy possession I'm allowing myself to buy is a second home in a foreign country that I like to visit often. This will (hopefully) make those visits less hassle and more enjoyable, and again, none of my close friends need to know. And yes, I worry about losing the money a little, and have taken a self-propelled crash course in personal wealth management. But luckily I find the subject quite interesting anyway, and I don't let myself lose any sleep over a couple of percentage points in yield. In the long run, we all die anyway. To summarize, getting "FU money" been a net benefit in my life, but it took a lot of careful thought and planning to ensure it worked out that way. Finally if anyone out there who's suddenly landed FU money is feeling a little disorientated by their new situation, I highly recommend reading "Escape from Freedom" by Erich Fromm, which is a wonderful book about the psychological and existential challenges that freedom brings.
lisper 16y ago
> Has your life changed in unexpected ways? Not really. The most unexpected thing is how much the same life is after FU money than before. The main difference is that a lot more people line up to try to take your money from you. One way or another you pretty much have to deal with the same old shit. > Has there been any change in the way you interact with strangers? I probably feel a little less insecure, especially when I talk to other people with money. But I don't think anything else has changed, at least I hope not. > Has the number of things you have to endure increased or decreased? The number of things I have to endure has definitely decreased. In particular, I don't have to stress out over making the choice between "enduring" a job that I hate or going without a salary. But other problems have arisen to replace those. I call these "nice problems to have", but they are still problems. > And is "FU money" all its cracked up to be? e.g., is your life an order of magnitude more enjoyable now, or is it pretty much the same etc? Neither. Life is definitely better with FU money, but it is no panacea. FU money gives you extra options, but the fundamentals have not changed: you are still faced every morning with a choice of what to do with the resources you have at hand. And even FU money has limits. It's amazing how fast you can learn exactly where those limits are.
orborde 16y ago
This is a stupid thread. It's addressing a problem that most HN readers would love to have, but don't, so it's simply a bunch of pleasant daydreaming, not a useful discussion of how to solve a real problem. I understand that people on HN want to be rich; I'd rather see an HN filled with articles that help materially in getting there, not one talking about how great (or not?) it is to be rich.
- dasil003 16y ago
  It's probably wise to think about it while you still have some perspective. Imagine the let-down of working your ass off and getting the big payday only to screw it all up because you were psychologically unprepared.
- caffeine 16y ago
  > I'd rather see an HN filled with articles that help materially in getting there, It is.
pg 16y ago
I've been meaning to write about this one day. There are some things that change. For example, you learn to distinguish problems that can be solved with money from those that can't. You can buy your way out of a lot of schleps. Life doesn't get an order of magnitude more enjoyable, because you still can't buy your way out of the most serious types of problems, but a lot of annoyances are removed. The best part is what I thought would be the best part: not having to worry about money. Before Viaweb I'd been living pretty hand to mouth, doing occasional consulting. It felt like treading water, in the sense that while it wasn't hard, I knew in the back of my mind that I'd drown if I stopped. Getting rich felt like reaching the shore. One thing you learn when you get rich, though, is how few of your problems were caused by not being rich. When you can do whatever you want, you get a variant of the terror induced by the proverbial blank page. There are a lot of people who think the thing stopping them from writing that great novel they plan to write is the fact that their job takes up all their time. In fact what's stopping 99% of them is that writing novels is hard. When the job goes away, they see how hard.
- dwwoelfel 16y ago
  What kind of schleps have you bought yourself out of? If you prefer a less personal question, what kind of schleps could one buy oneself out of?
  - dstorrs 16y ago
    Here are some "trading money for time / convenience" options that I'd love to be able to afford: 1) Shopping. For a few extra bucks, most large grocery stores will deliver. 2) Laundry. Pay a service to pick up / clean / drop off your clothes. 3) Travel. For long distances, fly first class (far more comfortable), or charter a plane (no TSA experience!). For in-city, take a cab. 4) Dining. Not in the mood to cook? Eat out whenever you want. 5) Taxes. Pay someone else. 6) Housecleaning. Hire a service. 7) If you want to get marginally obnoxious about it...never wait in line again. Just carry a big wad of cash and, if you find yourself stuck at the back of a long line, go to each person in turn and say: "I'll give you $50 (or whatever) for your place in line." Then of course there are opportunities that aren't available until you have FU money: 1) Travel. A lot. To exotic places that you could not otherwise afford. 2) Invest your money better. Many financial instruments (e.g. hedge funds) are available only to rich people; normal folks cannot invest in them, which means they cannot achieve the same level of returns. This is one of the reasons the rich / poor gap keeps increasing. 3) Live in whatever neighborhood you want. 4) If you have really serious FU money, pay your local telecom to sling an OC-3 line into your house, even if it means paying off the city to dig up the street.
marcamillion 16y ago
While I have never gotten 'FU' money, at one point in my life I had access to all the digital media I could ever want. All the appz, movies, games, music, audiobooks, etc. Everything in digital format, I either could get, or had. At first, I was extremely excited - and naturally told a few people (who subsequently told a few people) and before I knew it I was the 'go to guy' for anyone that wanted any media. This experience scarred me. To the point where now I am ultra private and if I get a new album or new movie or something (even through legitimate means) I hoarde it and tell no one. I have always imagined that this is what getting FU money would be like. Relatives, old friends, etc. would come out of the woodworks...especially once you start spending and travelling, etc. For those that have experienced FU money, and the transition from not having to having it, can you shed a little light on how your interactions with close family, other relatives, close friends, etc. changed. Did you tell them? Who did you tell and why? Also, who surprised you by the way they view you and your money? Anything else interesting about how you manage your wealth and why you decide to tell who what, would also be appreciated. P.S. I have since given up said access, because I got bored and the maintenance required was stressful. I wonder if this is a precursor to unimaginable wealth.
- jeb 16y ago
  Are you trying to say that you discovered thepiratebay?
  - marcamillion 16y ago
    Well...that was one way to get that stuff...but at the time...no...I had access to the stuff that eventually trickled down and reached Pirate Bay...long before they got there. Oh...and this was also a few years before and...leading up to the launch of TPB. Why would having axs to TPB be 'stressful' as indicated in my original post?
  - ttol 16y ago
    No, he's trying to say he operated a drop site (glftpd?) where couriers from groups like motiv8 used software like flashfxp or linfxp to trade releases from razor1911, paradigm, etc. This assumes he was integrated at or near the top. Otherwise, he would be further down the trickle.
ANH 16y ago
I'll probably get downvoted, but just a friendly PSA: "successful" does not mean "has lots of money". I might ask the community members what they perceive success to be, if it hasn't been asked already. And if I didn't already have my own definition.
d0m 16y ago
Maybe if someone has enough money to be safe and would be interested in investing with a high ratio, contact me :D
- d0m 16y ago
  As always on hacker news, no fun allowed.
  - d0m 16y ago
    As always on hacker news, truth things get down-voted.
cwall 16y ago
Here are some of the things I discovered after hitting it, and watch others do the same: 1. Getting rich makes you more of who you really are. If you're a jerk underneath it all, you'll be a bigger jerk when you hit it big...and vice versa. 2. In terms of problems, you're squeezing on a balloon. It's easy to pay the bills, but a whole new set of problems and hassles will present themselves. It's just a new set of irritants. There's just as much pain, it just comes from different sources. 3. When you can have everything you want, you have to learn to control your appetites. You can't imagine how much crap you buy when you can afford everything. It's surprisingly hard for most people to control their spending once they hit it. 4. You'll turn into the First National Bank of Bill, but your loan standards will be lower...and few people will ever pay you back. 5. Old friendships will wither and some of them will die, no matter how hard you try to maintain them. Jealousy is one reason. Subtile changes in your own personality will be the other. 5. If your pals aren't all in the same boat, and similarly rich, you'll have no one to play with. In short: Money is a tiger. You master it, or it masters you.
bpm140 16y ago
I once read a fantastic interview with Douglas Adams back in the late 70s, after Hitchhikers Guide had become successful in the UK, but prior to its impending US release. Both Adams and his interviewer knew that the author was about to come into A LOT of money, but he didn't have it yet. The interviewer asked how he expected his life to change and Douglas Adams said one of the most prescient things I've ever read: "The only thing that money changes is the size of your bills." For instance, my wife and I always talked about traveling more, but after selling my company, we continued to mainly talk about travel. It's just not something we do a lot, even though money isn't an issue. Meanwhile, I've got friends who managed to backpack around Asia and Europe all summer in college when they were totally broke. Money doesn't change who you are or how you live all that much.
dedward 16y ago
Using the term loosely (some of my friends would consider me someone with "FU" money - but I'm not in the "go out and buy a porsche for every day of the week cause I like it" territory") 1) I view money differently than I did before. Not because I don't have to care about it, because I absolutely do, or it wouldn't last long, but everyday worries around "how can we pay bill X" go away, and are replaced by worries about long term strategy and, at least in my case, not getting caught up in long term strategy. Life goes on. 2) It takes some effort to adjust your thought process with regards to how to treat others. Talking about my exciting trip to europe with my friends comes across to some people as bragging or showing off - and while it's absolutely NOT - it's just me being happy and sharing it with friends - after some time you learn to read people and pick up on this - and remember that money isn't the same thing for everyone, and can be a sensitive topic. - FU money is no more or less than what you make of it... and it can run out as fast as it came if you aren't careful. Plenty of people are in the "FU" financial stage and don't even realize it, and plenty of people who wish they were there wouldn't do any better - your financial practices largely dictate your long term financial well being - whether you have a little or a lot. I know a number of people well further into the FU money than me - and I'd say they're an even mix of people who became happier, struggled and are still unhappy, or even worse, or who pretty much just stayed exactly the same (as far as I can tell). Remember, when most people say they wish they were rich, what they mean is they want the lifestyle they think rich people have - which isn't, in reality, what they envision it to be. (Rap stars on MTV don't sit around smokin blunts surrounded by hotties 24/7 and driving sports cars - they spend time working on new albums, hanging out with friends, and doing the scene)
- wake_up_sticky 16y ago
  "FU money is no more or less than what you make of it... and it can run out as fast as it came if you aren't careful. Plenty of people are in the "FU" financial stage and don't even realize it, and plenty of people who wish they were there wouldn't do any better - your financial practices largely dictate your long term financial well being - whether you have a little or a lot." Eh, this just doesn't ring true to me. I'm pretty sure that everyone I know would do much better with an extra $10M, not the same or worse.
dbjacobs 16y ago
When I achieved something akin to FU money, there were the expected benefits (i.e., greater freedom), but that freedom also strips away many excuses we come to rely on. For example, if you spend hours coding at the computer (because you love it), that is now YOUR choice and it affects how the rest of your family will perceive it because you can no longer claim that you NEED to spend that much time. In fact, if you are not careful, you may end up with your family controlling more of your time than you want. You also go through a bit of an identity crisis. So much of your identity is tied up in what you do. All of a sudden when you are at your kids soccer game, casual conversation becomes more awkward as people inevitably ask "what do you do?". Put these together and you clearly need to come up with your next purpose because otherwise you will have a heck of a time deciding how to spend your time. In the process of figuring out the planning and investing piece I became a CFP and registered investment advisor (more of a multi-family office). I have now seen a number of others go through the transition and can offer the following observations for different levels of FU money. < $10 million -- The focus stays mostly on the individual and family with the money supporting their pursuits. $10 - $50 million -- At this level there starts to be a strong pull between wanting to support the family and wanting to create a lasting legacy. The pull from these two directions can create a lot of stress depending on the person's values and the values of the rest of their family (mainly spouse). $50 million+ -- At this level the legacy becomes the focus. The responsibility of making that money improve the world becomes paramount. You don't see someone with this kind of money deciding to become a math teacher. In this sense, someone with this much money is less free than someone with only $10 million who wont feel as strong an obligation to ensure their money gets put to good use improving the world.
MTC 16y ago
Some points- 1. I laughed when the gentleman said that $3mm would be enough money for him. Anyone who says $3mm is enough will realize that whatever number they say is "enough" is not enough once they reach it. 2. Money doesn't make you happy. But if you're already happy and you have money, it can make you happier. 3. Money makes people pay more attention to you- especially people who didn't pay attention to you before. People will say, "well Barack Obama would never have shown up to your wedding before you sold your company for $1bb". Well no sh!t. Why would he? Charities will call you. "Well the University never paid attention to you back when you were poor". Universities and Charities are in the business of raising money from individuals.. Why would they? This will be tough for people without money to understand. 4. Those who have sold their companies find that money is sometimes harder to hold onto than it was to make in the first place. If you don't have enough money (to never work again), become complacent due to your original ability to make money (particularly those in tech world), you could find yourself broke. 5. Speaking of broke. Minimize your borrowing. The majority of very rich people who suddenly file for bankruptcy are over-leveraged and/or not diversified in their investments. An example: Let's say I have $20mm. I could go to a bank today and get a $40mm house. However, my taxes, upkeep, mortgage, and other lifestyle expenses would likely cause me to deplete my original 20mm within a few years. 6. When you're rich, its very difficult to deviate from an expected lifestyle. Once you spend 60k on a car, 90% of the time your next car will be more. This is true of houses and everything else you purchase. My advice is pace yourself.

kristiandupont 16y ago

I have been in NYC for the last two and a half months. Granted, that is not a long time, but I have met a lot of girls - even around the financial district - and I have not had similar experiences. No doubt these girls exist but I everywhere I have been there has always been plenty of sweet and genuine girls.

mattmaroon 16y ago
There's this sort of black-and-white distinction between "good girls" and "gold diggers" and it's entirely imaginary. I'll spare you the evolutionary psychology behind it (which is easy to find if you're interested) but all women care about a man's success (of which money is merely the most frequent, but not only, indicator) to a large degree. Saying a girl doesn't care about money is like saying a guy doesn't care about looks. Society has come to view both genders' preferences as shallow, but for whatever reason makes a much bigger deal about it when it comes to women, which is really not fair. They can't help being attracted to a successful guy anymore than we can to a hot girl. My guess is that in NYC, due to the financial industry guys are more sensitive to it, and as such women respond by being a bit more circumspect.
- yummyfajitas 16y ago
  The difference between the two is honesty. A guy will tell a girl "I thought you were beautiful, and wanted to meet you". A girl will rarely say "I thought you were rich, and wanted to meet you." For whatever reason, the vast majority of golddiggers are utterly dishonest about what they are really seeking. This leads men to get into bad relationships (which they would have avoided if the woman were honest), and they often lose big when their career doesn't turn out the way they hoped or when they want to downsize their job (e.g., quit the $300k/year corporate law job for an $85k/year public defender job). I've got no problem with that rare girl who openly admits her desire to trade sex for money. I don't want a relationship with her, but I won't condemn her. [edit: I'll similarly condemn a guy who lies to honest women to get them into bed. I'll giggle when a guy lies about money to sleep with dishonest golddiggers.]

starkfist 16y ago

You went to a bar in... let me guess... Hoboken? That's where all the junior bankers and golddiggers live and hang out. In Brooklyn, nobody cares and you'll get laid LESS if you're a typical finance dildo. There are so many single women in NYC only complete losers and trolls cannot pull trim.

YuriNiyazov 16y ago
I must be doing something wrong. I moved to the Bay Area from Brooklyn and my success rate skyrocketed.
- ovi256 16y ago
  Changes of environment (like moving) are known to trigger changes in behaviour that were latent. It may well have been this change in behaviour (acting more confident, more mature maybe?) not the change of locale. When I say latent, it means that you felt more confident for a while before the move already, but it took the move, which brought anonymity, for you to externalize it. This is why tourists act crazy, and even introverted shy people can act exuberantly on holiday. Or like your case, after a move.
- kadavy 16y ago
  There are far fewer dateable women in The Bay Area than Brooklyn.
  - YuriNiyazov 16y ago
    Depends. If "dateable" is a reflexive relation (meaning that for a woman to be dateable, it's not just that you are willing to date her, but also that she is willing to date you), then maybe not. In the Bay Area, if you are a software engineer that can put together a few interesting words about something other than computers, you are an attractive anomaly. In Brooklyn, you are still a software engineer.
yummyfajitas 16y ago
Spot on. I probably should cross the rivers more often, but hey, two trains. I'm actually not complaining about difficulty getting laid; it's easy enough that it's gotten boring. The real difficulty is finding girls you want to do more than sleep with. Incidentally, Brooklyn is hardly a panacea. A girl in Brooklyn once kicked me out of her apt at 3AM after, while discussing life I accidentally revealed the size of my savings ("enough to travel around India for a few months"). (This was when I was an academic.) While Brooklyn is certainly better than Hoboken, there is no shortage of "artistic" types hoping to meet a guy with enough money that she can live the "bohemian" life without ever suffering materially or worrying about selling her art (and similar stories).
- ttol 16y ago
  Haha, what did she say to kick you out?
  - yummyfajitas 16y ago
    It took a minute for her to realize that my comfortable savings was a few months in a third world country. She started quizzing me on my career -- "But you are a math professor!" "Postdoc, but close enough." "But ...?" Somewhere along the way, she suggested postdocs earned 6 figures, and I just giggled. As the reality sank in, she asked me something along the lines of "how can you only have $XXX [her guess as to my net worth] in the bank?" She kicked me out immediately after I said "I could live for a year on $XXX." Once she concluded I was just a middle class guy, she just said something like "I'd like you to leave, this isn't what I expected." Maybe I'm not a great judge of character, but I honestly was completely blindsided by this. (I'd have been more annoyed if it happened at 2AM rather than 3AM, of course.)
    - pierrefar 16y ago
      I guess "FU money" applies to situations like this too!
    - aaronbrethorst 16y ago
      That's hilarious! I had an almost opposite experience: my girlfriend is a professor at a university in Seattle. She says that she decided I was worth being with when—a couple weeks after we started dating—I quit my soul-sucking job without a backup plan and with only a few months of living expenses in the bank. Specifically, she says she thought it was: "bold," "courageous" and "optimistic." Personally, I thought it was a huge disaster waiting to happen, but better than sticking it out at a job I despised.
- hugh3 16y ago
  A girl in Brooklyn once kicked me out of her apt at 3AM after, while discussing life I accidentally revealed the size of my savings ("enough to travel around India for a few months"). I've always said (though only ever to myself) that rule one of having a lot of money is: never tell pretty girls how much money you have. It might also be rule one of not having a lot of money.

bsnss-mn-cdr 16y ago

I absolutely agree. I have had such roller coaster ride ( very little to mid six figures to negative to millions to almost nothing and then to a lot more than a few million ) by not being prepared, more than once, that I just started a blog about it. TheOfficialSoundtrack.com ( next post coming this week ). [EDIT: I will add that IMHO FU money is /not/ a few million USD.]

wake_up_sticky 16y ago
$3M would definitely be FU money to me. Not enough to live in opulence, but definitely enough to not have to work for a living.
- kls 16y ago
  Yes I would define FU as not having to rely on anyone else for financial security. I would say conserved and invested well FU money starts at 2M USD. It is different from the mega rich.
  - bsnss-mn-cdr 16y ago
    I also thought this before I made the first few million. Except it’s almost impossible to keep the exact same lifestyle you had before ( if it was an 'overnight' FU event like the sale of a large asset ) as you have a lot of new possibilities that you never really payed attention to. It is easy to double, and even triple, your monthly expenditures and still be /very/ conservative with your money. A lot of these new expenses will come from traveling more, socializing more, helping friends and family out ( trust me, not matter how hard you try it will happen more than once ) and this is not even taking into account you starting new projects or testing new ideas that will certainly burn through some cash.
    - kls 16y ago
      Ye I agree completely, my point was just that, if you really really wanted to and you lived a bottom to mid middle class lifestyle to you stretch 2 million and never have to answer to anyone again. I know that reality is a lot different. For example you start shopping for espresso machines and instead of buying the nice consumer model you go out and but the commercial model. The consumer model would have suffices but the commercial model is so much cooler looking. It happen, everyone has something superficial that they are going to buy the top of the line of. For some it is cars for other it is a hobby but, yes this can burn up a lot of cash. I have seen a few though that have turned 2M into FU money, one of them actually decreased their standard of living because, not answering to other people, was the top priority in their life. But, with a low amount like 2M it has to be your top most priority. Also keep in mind I am in Florida and not the valley so the economics are different. Here even at the peak of the land bubble a decent middle class house could be picked up for 200k and home ownership is a big piece of the FU puzzle.
      - bsnss-mn-cdr 16y ago
        Valid point. A person can make anything, and in this case make 2M work for the rest of their life, their true #1 priority is a dangerous person depending on that priority ;)

leelin 16y ago
Heh, here in NYC, even the debt-laden, paycheck-to-paycheck folks do 1-6 1.) FreshDirect - $99 a year for free grocery deliveries 2.) Any corner dry cleaner - $10 a week to drop off two loads of dirty laundry on the way to work. Your doorman will have it when you return that night. 3.) Your company buys you refundable tickets when you have to fly, which I argue is more stress-relieving than 1st class tickets (Dining and Taxes need no explanation) 6.) Whatever maid your doormen / super recommends - $60-90 every two weeks. A bit steep, but playing The Sims made me realize cleaning service is worth it.
- arvinjoar 16y ago
  The Sims taught me to keep my stats balanced. I'm hungry at the moment, I better eat something!
- bjoernw 16y ago
  I just moved to Manhattan. More like $1/lb for wash and fold. 7)Having a local farmer's market deliver a basket of fresh vegetables to you every two weeks.
frisco 16y ago
These largely seem like the exact things you shouldn't do with FU money. Fly private? Bury your own fiber lines? Randomly give out $50 when the spot in line isn't really worth that? These sound like great ways to quickly end up without money again.
- umjames 16y ago
  I choose to look at it this way: the true benefit of having money is the freedom of choice it can buy you, not the material items/services themselves. The freedom to choose not to spend your time doing things you don't like or find tedious sounds pretty good to me.
  - dedward 16y ago
    Bingo - time, your time, is the one thing you can't buy more of later. Having money makes you realize you actually didn't need as much of it as you thought you did.
- joshbert 16y ago
  I don't know why you've been down voted, I was thinking exactly the same as you.
frossie 16y ago
6) Housecleaning. Hire a service. You don't need anything like FU money to hire a cleaning service to come in every one or two weeks. Any normal salaried job puts you into range. I've seen house-sharing students pool their money together to hire one to clean their shared living areas rather than fight over whose turn it is to scrub the bathtub. It also forces you to tidy up on a schedule, as most cleaners won't move stuff to clean. After food, accommodation and broadband, I can't think of anything out of my paycheck that gives me more bang for my buck in terms of quality of life. I would definitely pass up a new TV or better car or most material consumption in order to have a cleaner.
- hugh3 16y ago
  OK, you've talked me into it. I've been thinking about getting a cleaner for a while, it's time to start using a small portion of my money to get rid of the thing I hate most and the thing which I get most depressed for not doing.
gamble 16y ago
Opportunity #2 isn't necessarily a win, if you're not careful. There is an industry out there ready to separate the newly wealthy from their wealth - the same one that convinces average people to dump their money into mutual funds with outrageous fees, but since you're rich they can afford to apply the personal attention and salesmanship of a luxury car dealership.
nandemo 16y ago
1) Shopping. For a few extra bucks, most large grocery stores will deliver. Here in Tokyo a supermarket will charge about U$5 for delivery. I imagine the fee wouldn't be very different in North America. Hardly FU money. (Actually the delivery fee is waived for purchases over $50, so I buy groceries once a week and never pay for delivery.) 2) Laundry. Pay a service to pick up / clean / drop off your clothes. 6) Housecleaning. Hire a service. These are very cheap in the Third World. You can make a living as a remote freelancer out of Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Thai, etc. Of course most people don't want to move to Third World countries buy hey, it's way easier than ever getting FU money. ;-) 4) Dining. Not in the mood to cook? Eat out whenever you want. I don't cook and I spend less than $22 a day for food. Not very frugal but again not even close to FU money. 5) Taxes. Pay someone else. Filling my taxes used to take 5 minutes per year. Now that my name and address are pre-printed on the form, it takes me about 1. Everything else is done by my company.
kls 16y ago
On all of those, if it cost less to hire someone for an hour than you make you should hire them and apply that time to something that pays your wages or your own endeavor. It is better time spent. On taxes if you make over 50k a year you should have a tax professional and not H&R Block or worse yet yourself. I resisted this for years and lost a lot of money because of fear that a CPA would be expensive. A good CPA pays for themselves. When I finally broke down and went to one it cost me $1600 for my personal taxes and I gains 10K over what I could find. He also refiled my last two years (I think it was 2 its been a while) and got me some more money back.

nonce42 16y ago

One thing I genuinely want to know is how much money it takes to be "rich" in Silicon Valley. In my experience, $5M yields a slightly better but still basically middle-class life. I suspect a lot of people are underestimating how much they need to reach the FU level.

kscaldef 16y ago
I guess there's some question of what "FU money" and "rich" means to you. Does it mean never working again? Does it mean working but not having to worry about your salary (for example, opening up careers like teaching that you might not have considered because of poor pay)? Does it mean being able to buy or do anything you want? Your answers to this are going to affect how much money is "FU money" for you. If it means not having to work, you might also consider why you need to live in Silicon Valley. It's not a particularly great place to live other than the job opportunities, and a million dollar house there costs a fraction of that in most of the rest of the country.
detst 16y ago
$5M puts you in the top 1%. I'd say that fits the definition of "rich" for most of the other 99%. Maybe $5M wouldn't put you that high in the Silicon Valley but I'm sure it's close. Also, can I ask if you experience is first hand? If not, be careful with appearances. I just recently discovered that someone I've known for years has significantly more money than their lifestyle would indicate. Not everyone lives extravagantly just because they have money.
- nonce42 16y ago
  Thanks kscaldef and detst for your replies. I do think a lot about moving out of Silicon Valley especially since the state of California is in such a financial mess. Theoretically, I could quit my job now, but it wouldn't make much financial sense, and I enjoy where I'm working. My experience with $5M is in fact firsthand, and it feels a lot closer to "middle class" than to "rich". Maybe it's because I live a non-extravagant lifestyle and I just need to buy myself a Ferrari :-) But seriously, what I'd like is to find out from people who actually know, if there's a financial level at which life changes qualitatively. E.g. is there a level at which it makes sense to stop working and spend your time managing your charitable foundation and hanging out at TED and Davos?
  - waterlesscloud 16y ago
    "But seriously, what I'd like is to find out from people who actually know, if there's a financial level at which life changes qualitatively. E.g. is there a level at which it makes sense to stop working and spend your time managing your charitable foundation and hanging out at TED and Davos?" Not that I know from personal experience, but my best guess on that level of wealth would be 100s of millions. That's a different level of existence. I know plenty of people with millions, they seem more or less ordinary, though their leisure activities exceed the norm. The couple of people in the 10s of millions range that I'm somewhat acquainted with have very nice living environments (think estates), but don't have foundations. The one person I know with foundation/ted/davos is in a family with the 9 figure range. Don't really know silicon valley folks, though.
bl4k 16y ago
If you plan on staying on to live in the valley, $20-30M. I have many friends who are worth $3-5M and they do not consider themselves even close to rich in the valley. Housing and schooling in Palo Alto are very expensive. $5M is nowhere near enough to buy a really nice house and then take it easy for the rest of your life - sad to say, but true. At least in the valley, most people still live below their means. I find that on the East Coast and Southern CA that those with expensive lifestyles are usually heavily burdened by debt. There are many many wealthy people in the valley who live in simple apartments and walk everywhere, not needing the flashy car or flashy clothes to justify their existence and place in society.
- waterlesscloud 16y ago
  Living in Socal for the last decade, I'd have to say it's the top area for living above your means. One phrase I've heard several times here is "car rich, house poor", for example. Having said that, there are an extraordinary number of genuinely wealthy people in Socal. It's odd at times.
- _delirium 16y ago
  I know a few people who consider themselves to be in "FU money" territory, in the sense that they don't have to ever work unless they want to, and have way less than $20m. It depends on how you want to live, to some extent. The Valley isn't all that expensive if you don't require a big house in Palo Alto or Los Gatos, and especially if you're looking to rent. If you set your budget at, say, $50,000/year for housing, i.e. you can afford to pay a bit over $4000/mo rent, there are a lot of options. There are quite nice apartments or even townhouses in S.F. for that money, or reasonably large houses in Santa Clara.
iamelgringo 16y ago
A data point: I work with a lot of doctors that make $200 - $300k a year. And, I'd say that makes the comfortably upper middle class in the Bay Area. Couples where both are nurses can make $250 a year without working very hard. Salaries at those levels make it very feasible to buy a house and take a nice vacation or two to Hawaii, Thailand or Europe. They drive nice cars and have lovely electronics to play with.

davi 16y ago

There are a lot of people who think the thing stopping them from writing that great novel they plan to write is the fact that their job takes up all their time. In fact what's stopping 99% of them is that writing novels is hard. When the job goes away, they see how hard. This resonates. I quit my dot-com job before the bubble burst and I had order 10^4 dollars in my bank account. I decided that rather than invest the money in an apartment house, or pay off debt from college, I would take some time off, and just... see what happened. I had enough money that if I wanted to get into e.g. videography, I could go out and buy a nice video camera and a computer to edit my movies (storage was a lot more expensive back then, no way to do this sort of thing on an iPhone!). If I wanted to get really into mountaineering, I could buy a bunch of gear and go wild. This was a first for me, my family and I had always been pretty broke as I grew up. And what happened? Well, I rediscovered my enjoyment of life drawing, and went to some open sessions, the kind where you pay $10 and everybody draws from the model. And I hung out with friends a lot, and basically re-socialized myself to learn how to relax and have a good time with people. And I ate out a lot, and I partied, and I horsed around. Oh yeah, and I discovered that I really like to run in the woods, up and down hills on narrow trails. But essentially, there was no 'passion' uncovered by that freedom. I discovered my passion when I went back to work. I was sick of programming for money, so I got a job in a molecular neurobiology lab. And that was 9 years ago, and I've been busting ass and totally engaged with science ever since. FU money would be great, but in some ways I feel I already had an experience of it -- or at least, of some of the more interesting things that can come of it. I do feel like I'll drown if I stop treading water, it would be nice to be rid of that sensation.

altano 16y ago
10^4 dollars? 10^4 thousand dollars?
- patrickgzill 16y ago
  I took that as meaning, "under $100,000" ...
- hugh3 16y ago
  If he had 10^4 thousand dollars I assume he wouldn't have to worry about whether to pay off his student loans or not. Unless he had a lot of student loans. I assume it means what it says. Tens of thousands of dollars in the bank. Nice to have, but far from FU.
- waterlesscloud 16y ago
  I got laid off in the dot com crash with a 10^5 dollars in 2001 (I know, I got lucky. Company out of money, but acquired by a bigcorp. Laid off the least senior folk with nice package). It let me move across the country and not work for a couple years. Which was nice, and really it's ultimately been life changing what with a new environment, but it wasn't transformational or anything.