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Save money and invest for your entire life so you can be rich when you are older. I don't know. A lot of people doing this end up spending their whole lives mak

by Ygor 16y ago

Save money and invest for your entire life so you can be rich when you are older. I don't know. A lot of people doing this end up spending their whole lives making more and more money, only to realize in the end that they have all the money they need, but very little time to spend it. Why not spend your days earning as much money as you can, and using that money to do the things you like. So, when you are older, instead of having 1 million dollars in a bank, you have 1 million dollars worth of experience.

ddemchuk 16y ago
dude, beautiful post. The exact strategy I am planning on living my life by
cageface 16y ago
The goal should be to die with a bank balance as close to zero as possible.
- nostrademons 16y ago
  I thought the goal was to live a happy life, whether that results in a bank balance of zero or a few million. The reason I save much of my income isn't because I want to be rich when I retire. It's because I can't think of things to spend it on now that would measurably increase my happiness. I'm not big on spending money just for the sake of spending money - that way lies dissatisfaction and the hedonic treadmill, as your desires increase faster than your ability to pay for those desires. I'd much rather think hard about what I want from life and then spend money, carefully and judiciously, to achieve that. If it's not something I want, why should I buy it? Own your money, don't let you money own you.
  - cageface 16y ago
    Money is virtualized power. If you haven't used it all by the end then you've left things undone. An unused tool is a worthless tool.
    - nostrademons 16y ago
      There is value in having the ability to do something, even if you never actually do it. The options this gives and peace of mind that results is often worth far more than actually exercising that power. The best example, perhaps, is the military. The point of having a strong military is so that you never have to go to war. You can enjoy all the benefits of having won the war - economic power, national prestige, international bargaining leverage - without actually having to fight it. Once you start fighting, you've lost. Generals usually understand this. Occasionally, you get a president or despot that doesn't (we in America just had one), and the consequences generally aren't pretty. I get enormous pleasure out of knowing that I don't have to go to work. I could quit any time I wanted to, and my savings would be enough to find another job or get a company off the ground. That's worth a lot more to me than a fancier car or a nicer place to live or a few skydiving trips. It lets me enjoy what really is a pretty nice place to work rather than feeling oppressed by The Man every day. And I got that job because I could afford to wait another six months or so after my last startup failed, until the right opportunity arose, instead of needing to take the first job offered for financial reasons.
      - cageface 16y ago
        Certainly it's wise to keep some money in reserve through the course of your life. Thanks to my savings I left a boring job last week and have the luxury of taking my time to find or create something genuinely interesting to replace it. In the final arc of your days though it's time to convert potential into actuality. As for the military, I don't think it's really analogous at all. At least in the modern era a standing army is a constant drain on finances and a constant temptation to extremely expensive mischief. How much healthier would the U.S. economy be now if we had disbanded all conventional forces after WWII and maintained instead a small but sufficient nuclear deterrent?
        chopsueyar 16y ago
        I cannot speak for you, but I do have my own privatized security force.
    - 16y ago
- ashconnor 16y ago
  Kids?
  - WilliamLP 16y ago
    Can make their own damn money, the way we did.
orangecat 16y ago
That's a perfectly valid strategy, and you're right to focus on buying experiences rather than things. As long as you don't subsequently complain that those who did save more are in a better financial situation than you are, and therefore they should be taxed to support you.
- chopsueyar 16y ago
  I guess it depends which one of us has more votes, eh?
Retric 16y ago
Having enough savings to not worry about money is worth more than just about anything else you can spend money on. And unlike a vacation in 10 years you still directly befit from that money every single day. Think about it this way, if you save 15% you can spend 85% on just about anything you want AND not feel bad. Spend 100% of what you make and you are constantly hoping that nothing bad happens at the end of the month. Spend 101% of what you make and you will soon enter a world of pain.

by Ygor 16y ago

ddemchuk 16y ago

dude, beautiful post. The exact strategy I am planning on living my life by

cageface 16y ago

The goal should be to die with a bank balance as close to zero as possible.

nostrademons 16y ago
I thought the goal was to live a happy life, whether that results in a bank balance of zero or a few million. The reason I save much of my income isn't because I want to be rich when I retire. It's because I can't think of things to spend it on now that would measurably increase my happiness. I'm not big on spending money just for the sake of spending money - that way lies dissatisfaction and the hedonic treadmill, as your desires increase faster than your ability to pay for those desires. I'd much rather think hard about what I want from life and then spend money, carefully and judiciously, to achieve that. If it's not something I want, why should I buy it? Own your money, don't let you money own you.
- cageface 16y ago
  Money is virtualized power. If you haven't used it all by the end then you've left things undone. An unused tool is a worthless tool.
  - nostrademons 16y ago
    There is value in having the ability to do something, even if you never actually do it. The options this gives and peace of mind that results is often worth far more than actually exercising that power. The best example, perhaps, is the military. The point of having a strong military is so that you never have to go to war. You can enjoy all the benefits of having won the war - economic power, national prestige, international bargaining leverage - without actually having to fight it. Once you start fighting, you've lost. Generals usually understand this. Occasionally, you get a president or despot that doesn't (we in America just had one), and the consequences generally aren't pretty. I get enormous pleasure out of knowing that I don't have to go to work. I could quit any time I wanted to, and my savings would be enough to find another job or get a company off the ground. That's worth a lot more to me than a fancier car or a nicer place to live or a few skydiving trips. It lets me enjoy what really is a pretty nice place to work rather than feeling oppressed by The Man every day. And I got that job because I could afford to wait another six months or so after my last startup failed, until the right opportunity arose, instead of needing to take the first job offered for financial reasons.
    - cageface 16y ago
      Certainly it's wise to keep some money in reserve through the course of your life. Thanks to my savings I left a boring job last week and have the luxury of taking my time to find or create something genuinely interesting to replace it. In the final arc of your days though it's time to convert potential into actuality. As for the military, I don't think it's really analogous at all. At least in the modern era a standing army is a constant drain on finances and a constant temptation to extremely expensive mischief. How much healthier would the U.S. economy be now if we had disbanded all conventional forces after WWII and maintained instead a small but sufficient nuclear deterrent?
      - chopsueyar 16y ago
        I cannot speak for you, but I do have my own privatized security force.
  - 16y ago
ashconnor 16y ago
Kids?
- WilliamLP 16y ago
  Can make their own damn money, the way we did.

orangecat 16y ago

That's a perfectly valid strategy, and you're right to focus on buying experiences rather than things. As long as you don't subsequently complain that those who did save more are in a better financial situation than you are, and therefore they should be taxed to support you.

chopsueyar 16y ago
I guess it depends which one of us has more votes, eh?

Retric 16y ago

Having enough savings to not worry about money is worth more than just about anything else you can spend money on. And unlike a vacation in 10 years you still directly befit from that money every single day. Think about it this way, if you save 15% you can spend 85% on just about anything you want AND not feel bad. Spend 100% of what you make and you are constantly hoping that nothing bad happens at the end of the month. Spend 101% of what you make and you will soon enter a world of pain.