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There was a discussion on fintech and one of the HN users chipped in that he was making 7 figures but at the end of the day he never had time for family/kids an

by qaq 6y ago

There was a discussion on fintech and one of the HN users chipped in that he was making 7 figures but at the end of the day he never had time for family/kids and now sitting in huge empty house was reflecting that this was pretty sad way to approach life.

cletus 6y ago
So part of getting on the ride at Six Flags is knowing when to get off. How much money is enough, exactly? To cover your needs and a comfortable life, that'd be $2m of even lower. If you're making 7 figures, you could make that pretty damn quick and then get out if you wanted to. Some people do this. I've seen stories about people who quit finance by the time their 30 because it's not what their passion is, they want to spend time with family or whatever. But money can be a trap. If you're making $5m/year, it's easy to think that if you stay another year you'll walk away with another $2-3m (after taxes). I bet that's hard to walk away from. Also, people's standard of living often rises with income so you might be making $5m/year but now you have to pay the mortgage on a 4000 sq ft apartment overlooking Central Park, your house in Southhampton, your 4 cars and a boat. Anthony Levandowski was a classic example of this. Paid $120m+ by Google. That's more money than any reasonable person needs for a lifetime. But he got greedy. Think about that. Why get greedy when you have more than you could possibly need? For some I suspect it's not to much the money but it's the power and the ego. You like being seen as a huge success. You like the attention that gets you. So I have no issues with business grads seeking to make their fortune in investment banking (even though I think that industry as a whole adds pretty limited value to humanity; but that's a separate topic). But if you can't get out and lose everything else as you chase even more money... well, that's on you.
wojciii 6y ago
This is actually a valid point. I don't care about money as such. It's nice to have and being able to buy luxury is great. But being able to buy stuff for your wife and children and having the time to spend with them is even better. Loneliness sucks. Even with lots of money.

by qaq 6y ago

cletus 6y ago

So part of getting on the ride at Six Flags is knowing when to get off. How much money is enough, exactly? To cover your needs and a comfortable life, that'd be $2m of even lower. If you're making 7 figures, you could make that pretty damn quick and then get out if you wanted to. Some people do this. I've seen stories about people who quit finance by the time their 30 because it's not what their passion is, they want to spend time with family or whatever. But money can be a trap. If you're making $5m/year, it's easy to think that if you stay another year you'll walk away with another $2-3m (after taxes). I bet that's hard to walk away from. Also, people's standard of living often rises with income so you might be making $5m/year but now you have to pay the mortgage on a 4000 sq ft apartment overlooking Central Park, your house in Southhampton, your 4 cars and a boat. Anthony Levandowski was a classic example of this. Paid $120m+ by Google. That's more money than any reasonable person needs for a lifetime. But he got greedy. Think about that. Why get greedy when you have more than you could possibly need? For some I suspect it's not to much the money but it's the power and the ego. You like being seen as a huge success. You like the attention that gets you. So I have no issues with business grads seeking to make their fortune in investment banking (even though I think that industry as a whole adds pretty limited value to humanity; but that's a separate topic). But if you can't get out and lose everything else as you chase even more money... well, that's on you.

wojciii 6y ago

This is actually a valid point. I don't care about money as such. It's nice to have and being able to buy luxury is great. But being able to buy stuff for your wife and children and having the time to spend with them is even better. Loneliness sucks. Even with lots of money.