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The question is: do you need money to live a happy life? My opinion is that you don’t. But to each their own. Maybe some people are saving because it makes th

by whall6 5y ago

The question is: do you need money to live a happy life? My opinion is that you don’t. But to each their own. Maybe some people are saving because it makes them happy. In the article Nassim Taleb is quoted saying something about how it’s dumb to accumulate so much wealth but still live in a starter home (not sure if this was directed at Buffet or what). But sometimes people just feel happier having a cushion, or it Buffets case, feel happier having investments pay off.

quantumBerry 5y ago
I think it is possible, but not if anything goes wrong. For instance, I used to live off of ~300 / month in the US by living mostly in forest. However, after having a kid my wife demanded regular housing. I could divorce her and go without housing again, but then the state would impute my income and order child support at 20% of the income I _could_ make (which is very high) even though the actual cost of the necessities for a child is minimal (maybe 200 a month maximum). If you fail to pay you will be charged a felony and go to debtor's prison. So the answer is in many occasions you and your family could live a happy life on basically nothing, but you would have to live with the fact you will be imprisoned and lose all your professional and driver licenses and have all your land and assets seized because you don't earn at your imputed income. For this reason I abandoned a fairly happy life living off almost no money and instead slave away at a keyboard dreaming of the life that once was. Just don't make mistakes.
bialpio 5y ago
> The question is: do you need money to live a happy life? IMO you need a certain baseline amount. There are some necessities that you need to be able to afford (hard to be happy when you're starving). In the USA, I'd say you also need to have a cushion in case of some unforeseen medical emergency, in other places that may not be as necessary.
ndesaulniers 5y ago
Was it comedian Daniel Tosh that said: > They say money can't buy happiness, but do you know what money can buy? A jetski! And when have you ever seen someone not happy on a jetski. You'd be smiling as you ride that thing into the pier! (paraphrased)

by whall6 5y ago

quantumBerry 5y ago

I think it is possible, but not if anything goes wrong. For instance, I used to live off of ~300 / month in the US by living mostly in forest. However, after having a kid my wife demanded regular housing. I could divorce her and go without housing again, but then the state would impute my income and order child support at 20% of the income I _could_ make (which is very high) even though the actual cost of the necessities for a child is minimal (maybe 200 a month maximum). If you fail to pay you will be charged a felony and go to debtor's prison. So the answer is in many occasions you and your family could live a happy life on basically nothing, but you would have to live with the fact you will be imprisoned and lose all your professional and driver licenses and have all your land and assets seized because you don't earn at your imputed income. For this reason I abandoned a fairly happy life living off almost no money and instead slave away at a keyboard dreaming of the life that once was. Just don't make mistakes.

bialpio 5y ago

> The question is: do you need money to live a happy life? IMO you need a certain baseline amount. There are some necessities that you need to be able to afford (hard to be happy when you're starving). In the USA, I'd say you also need to have a cushion in case of some unforeseen medical emergency, in other places that may not be as necessary.

ndesaulniers 5y ago

Was it comedian Daniel Tosh that said: > They say money can't buy happiness, but do you know what money can buy? A jetski! And when have you ever seen someone not happy on a jetski. You'd be smiling as you ride that thing into the pier! (paraphrased)