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You may think I'm rich, but I don't. How very very true that is. I have friends that make less than half what I do. Once upon a time, I would have thought th
by IsaacSchlueter 18y ago
You may think I'm rich, but I don't.
How very very true that is. I have friends that make less than half what I do. Once upon a time, I would have thought that my current income would mean I'd "made it". But somehow, here I am, still occasionally concerned about being overdrawn, still trying to be frugal, still feeling like I don't make enough to do all the things I want to do. By world standards, I was fantastically wealthy when I was peddling vacuums.
Some things are more a function of the human condition than anything else. People in San Diego complain about the weather.
- vaksel 18y agoall things are relative. You can be the smartest person in your state, but not the country. You can be the smartest person in the country, but not the world. Same thing with wealth, you may be a millionaire but there are MILLIONS other people who are richer than you.
- Eliezer 18y agoSo if you're the smartest person in the world, does everything stop being relative? Or do you start worrying about alternative Everett branches?
- litewulf 18y agoWell, smartness is a bit more complex. I may be better at skill A, but my friend is way good at B. Thus, he is "smarter".
- whatusername 18y agoAnd thus the problem with IQ tests... Wealth isn't like that though. If I have X Peso's (Or Dollars, etc) and you have X + Y then you are richer (for any positive value of Y). The only 2 limits to comparison that I can see is: * Liquidity - (ie - Bill Gates can't sell all his MSFT stock without the price crashing significantly) * Historical Data - How do BillyG/Buffet/Slim compare to Rockefellar and King Soloman?
- eggnet 18y agoActually it is the same. As you point out, the formula for converting all of the forms of wealth into the same units is subjective. In order to determine the richest person in the world this is just as important as defining the right way to measure the smartest person. And both equally pointless.
- vaksel 18y agoWell at that point I guess you can strive to be the smartest person ever. But its a finite measure, at some point there is always that 1 person who is the richest/smartest.
- wallflower 18y agoThis reminds me of what someone taught me about being the relative best. Sometimes it is good enough to be the best in your environment. For example, it is easier to be the most popular guy in a room (e.g. throw a party/be a host/invite lots of people) than the most popular guy in a club. Big fish in a small pond. Local maximums (City Council member) are more realistic and achievable than global maximums (global maximum = U.S. President).
- lsemel 18y agoEverything is relative. No matter what you have, there is always someone with more. If you have $1 million, there's someone with $10. If you have $10 million, there's someone with $100. If you have $100 million, there are billionaires. And if you're the richest of the billionaires, there will still be people who are better looking, healthier, younger, and happier whom you can feel inferior to.
- timr 18y agoI thought that was a fairly inane point. While I have no doubt that Joe Millionaire feels like he's not rich if he can't buy a new Lotus without blinking, that's pretty much irrelevant to any practical discussion of wealth. When your income places you well into the top 1% of earners and you're still hurting for cash, that's your problem. Learn to live within your means.
- netcan 18y agoWell that goes to the definition of rich. I'd say it is (or should be) at least partially to do with the psychology.
- daniel-cussen 18y agoSome people hurt for cash and are frugal no matter how rich they are. This helps them get rich.
- ojbyrne 18y agoI don't think its a matter of "hurting for cash." Its the thought that you could lose it all just as easily as gaining it all (or actually much, much easier). And as you get older and accumulate responsibilities, the overhead of families, good schools, retirement, all weigh on you making that thought all the more horrific. Entrepreneurs are probably much more vulnerable to these kinds of worries, because that's what they worried about (losing it all) on the way up.
- sah 18y agoI think the clearest line between rich and not is whether you have to work to earn a living. In my book, if you're an "earner" at all, you're not rich yet.
- yters 18y agoI think it's both not working to earn a living and what a person can easily afford to do. I say this because I don't think one needs a lot of money to not need to earn a living.
- jauco 18y agoAnnual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pound ought and six, result misery. -- Charles dickens, david copperfield