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Surprisingly, today's very rich say that money itself wasn't much of a motivator. Once you've got food in your belly and a big-screen TV, the mere prospect of m

Surprisingly, today's very rich say that money itself wasn't much of a motivator. Once you've got food in your belly and a big-screen TV, the mere prospect of more Benjamins isn't enough to get you leaping out of bed at 5 a.m. Rather, rich folks often make their fortunes after they make up their minds to solve a problem or do something better than it's been done before. Very true for me and I'm sure a lot of the HN community. Once you get past a certain point with money it becomes an after thought, then you have the freedom to think of other things (like big ideas) that will make you more money. The rich get richer for a reason...

13ren 18y ago
Paradoxically, the road to riches often means acting as if you already have that freedom. I think the only true freedom comes from within. Money can't give you this freedom; but this freedom can give you money.
- unalone 18y ago
  What's the Warren Buffet quote? The one where he said that he's not happy because he's made so much money, but he's made so much money because he's happy?
ericwan 18y ago
Yep, especially for techies in america, they already have the right skills and conditions to feed themselves and families, then getting out of bed at 5am just to make some more sounds absurd. Not so much if your purpose is change the world, or be #1 in something.
LogicHoleFlaw 18y ago
You remind me of Orson Scott Card's essay "How Software Companies Die": You can domesticate programmers the way beekeepers tame bees. You can't exactly communicate with them, but you can get them to swarm in one place and when they're not looking, you can carry off the honey. You keep these bees from stinging by paying them money. More money than they know what to do with. But that's less than you might think. You see, all these programmers keep hearing their parents' voices in their heads saying "When are you going to join the real world?" All you have to pay them is enough money that they can answer (also in their heads) "Geez, Dad, I'm making more than you." On average, this is cheap. This is not exactly in line with what we're talking about here - the founder type seems less likely to be satisfied in the described situation. But I think there is a parallel.
vaksel 18y ago
not that surprising...once you have enough money to cover the basic necessities the rate of return on happiness goes down big time. I mean if you think about it, with just 60K/yr you can afford 99% of the stuff a millionaire can(provided you don't live in California). Sure you aren't driving a Ferarri, and don't live in a bigger house, and don't go to the same restaraunts or take the same vacations, but chances are you have very similar electronics(maybe you keep yours longer), eat the same food(or at least can afford to) and sit in the same train/traffic on your way to work and shop at the same grocery store. And if you think about it, most millionaires don't drive Ferraris, they drive average cars like Accords and Camrys and F150 trucks, so chances are, the guy making 60K/yr probably own a better car than that millionaire, because he wants to appear to others as if he has money. I'd probably extend that to about 100K, but after that chances are you have way more responsibility and won't even be able to do anything with all that money. Reminds me of this anecdote, can't say word for word, but it was something to do with a rich guy going to mexico on vacation, meeting a fisherman and telling him that he should work harder. The fisherman asks him why do you do it, and he tells him so that he can retire at 65, buy a house at a little village, so he can fish and spend time with his family. And the mexican says but I have that now, and I work only a few hours per week doing what I love.
dhouston 18y ago
as max levchin said (and probably someone before him), money's how you keep score. there are many examples of entrepreneurs hitting it rich, buying some stupidly large house and not even ending up moving in -- it's more about making the big leagues than having more toys. (whether this is a worthwhile or virtuous endeavor is another discussion, but the point is competitiveness is probably a bigger driver than wealth for its own sake.)

13ren 18y ago

Paradoxically, the road to riches often means acting as if you already have that freedom. I think the only true freedom comes from within. Money can't give you this freedom; but this freedom can give you money.

unalone 18y ago
What's the Warren Buffet quote? The one where he said that he's not happy because he's made so much money, but he's made so much money because he's happy?

ericwan 18y ago

Yep, especially for techies in america, they already have the right skills and conditions to feed themselves and families, then getting out of bed at 5am just to make some more sounds absurd. Not so much if your purpose is change the world, or be #1 in something.

LogicHoleFlaw 18y ago

You remind me of Orson Scott Card's essay "How Software Companies Die": You can domesticate programmers the way beekeepers tame bees. You can't exactly communicate with them, but you can get them to swarm in one place and when they're not looking, you can carry off the honey. You keep these bees from stinging by paying them money. More money than they know what to do with. But that's less than you might think. You see, all these programmers keep hearing their parents' voices in their heads saying "When are you going to join the real world?" All you have to pay them is enough money that they can answer (also in their heads) "Geez, Dad, I'm making more than you." On average, this is cheap. This is not exactly in line with what we're talking about here - the founder type seems less likely to be satisfied in the described situation. But I think there is a parallel.

vaksel 18y ago

not that surprising...once you have enough money to cover the basic necessities the rate of return on happiness goes down big time. I mean if you think about it, with just 60K/yr you can afford 99% of the stuff a millionaire can(provided you don't live in California). Sure you aren't driving a Ferarri, and don't live in a bigger house, and don't go to the same restaraunts or take the same vacations, but chances are you have very similar electronics(maybe you keep yours longer), eat the same food(or at least can afford to) and sit in the same train/traffic on your way to work and shop at the same grocery store. And if you think about it, most millionaires don't drive Ferraris, they drive average cars like Accords and Camrys and F150 trucks, so chances are, the guy making 60K/yr probably own a better car than that millionaire, because he wants to appear to others as if he has money. I'd probably extend that to about 100K, but after that chances are you have way more responsibility and won't even be able to do anything with all that money. Reminds me of this anecdote, can't say word for word, but it was something to do with a rich guy going to mexico on vacation, meeting a fisherman and telling him that he should work harder. The fisherman asks him why do you do it, and he tells him so that he can retire at 65, buy a house at a little village, so he can fish and spend time with his family. And the mexican says but I have that now, and I work only a few hours per week doing what I love.

dhouston 18y ago

as max levchin said (and probably someone before him), money's how you keep score. there are many examples of entrepreneurs hitting it rich, buying some stupidly large house and not even ending up moving in -- it's more about making the big leagues than having more toys. (whether this is a worthwhile or virtuous endeavor is another discussion, but the point is competitiveness is probably a bigger driver than wealth for its own sake.)