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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 worki

by 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.
- gaius 16y ago
  There are a ton of stories of lottery winners who blew the lot in surprisingly little time, and have literally nothing to show for it. The problem seems to be if you suddenly have x money, you start to live as if you have 10x.
  - sree_nair 16y ago
    I hear a lot of people saying this. Do you have any data points links for the same?. Just curious.
    - gaius 16y ago
      Not any hard numbers on % of lottery winners or anything, but stories in the papers are common: http://www.metro.co.uk/news/813314-top-5-lottery-winners-who-lost-everything http://www.metro.co.uk/news/813314-top-5-lottery-winners-who... http://loanscreditcards.co.uk/tag/uk-lottery-winners/ http://loanscreditcards.co.uk/tag/uk-lottery-winners/
  - bd 16y ago
    With lotteries there is a strong selection bias. Rational people usually don't indulge in lotteries. Among lottery winners there will be disproportionally more people who are going to be really bad with money management.
- brc 16y ago
  I don't know. Some fancy cars are pretty awesome. Just sayin'
- dedward 16y ago
  You just said something really interesting in there...... that perhaps it would be building the next geo-tagging-social network. That's the problem - assuming the readers are techies.... if I suddenly had my FU money - the last thing I'd want to do is start a technology company, unless it was something I was really super passionate about. I'd personally rather go back to having my computers as my hobby, and work on my family, other hobbies, travel, maybe learn to write better.... and work on long term financial managemnet so I'll be set for good, as well as my family. And yeha, maybe a fancy-ish car or two - but the money buys my personal time back- the last thing I'd want to do is dump it into work again...
jacobolus 16y ago
Tim O’Reilly: "Money is like gasoline during a road trip. You don't want to run out of gas on your trip, but you're not doing a tour of gas stations. You have to pay attention to money, but it shouldn't be about the 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.

by ttol 16y ago

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.

gaius 16y ago
There are a ton of stories of lottery winners who blew the lot in surprisingly little time, and have literally nothing to show for it. The problem seems to be if you suddenly have x money, you start to live as if you have 10x.
- sree_nair 16y ago
  I hear a lot of people saying this. Do you have any data points links for the same?. Just curious.
  - gaius 16y ago
    Not any hard numbers on % of lottery winners or anything, but stories in the papers are common: http://www.metro.co.uk/news/813314-top-5-lottery-winners-who-lost-everything http://www.metro.co.uk/news/813314-top-5-lottery-winners-who... http://loanscreditcards.co.uk/tag/uk-lottery-winners/ http://loanscreditcards.co.uk/tag/uk-lottery-winners/
- bd 16y ago
  With lotteries there is a strong selection bias. Rational people usually don't indulge in lotteries. Among lottery winners there will be disproportionally more people who are going to be really bad with money management.
brc 16y ago
I don't know. Some fancy cars are pretty awesome. Just sayin'
dedward 16y ago
You just said something really interesting in there...... that perhaps it would be building the next geo-tagging-social network. That's the problem - assuming the readers are techies.... if I suddenly had my FU money - the last thing I'd want to do is start a technology company, unless it was something I was really super passionate about. I'd personally rather go back to having my computers as my hobby, and work on my family, other hobbies, travel, maybe learn to write better.... and work on long term financial managemnet so I'll be set for good, as well as my family. And yeha, maybe a fancy-ish car or two - but the money buys my personal time back- the last thing I'd want to do is dump it into work again...

jacobolus 16y ago

Tim O’Reilly: "Money is like gasoline during a road trip. You don't want to run out of gas on your trip, but you're not doing a tour of gas stations. You have to pay attention to money, but it shouldn't be about the 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.