4 ms·

The Rich Are Not Who We Think They Are. and Happiness Is Not What We Think It Is

6 points by taubek 4y ago

sharemywin 4y ago
https://archive.ph/HpM4l https://archive.ph/HpM4l
hosh 4y ago
Maybe I just had different experiences in my life, but that many of the high-income earners own unsexy businesses does not surprise me. Millionaire Next Door talked some of that, and I remember reading a number of books that talked about owning assets that generate income rather than getting a higher paying job. Even Tim Ferris's 4 Hour Workweek was coming from that frame. To go further, I had also went through a period of exploring and practicing minimalism. And now, my understanding of "wealth" and "abundance" has changed again, closer to the classical turn of the phrase, "the fat of the land". There's abundance and regenerative growth in natural systems that have yields for humans, for those that are good stewards of the land at least.
fatnoah 4y ago
Thanks to raising a kid in a large US city, and through my job in tech, I've met and/or regularly interacted with a fair number of "rich" people, as defined by this article. The level of richness definitely was in tiers. $1B+ - I've met five of these types, and all of them were founders of tech companies. $100M+ - Again, a small sample size of only three or four people. One was a founder of a non-tech business, and the others were children of founders of large tech companies. $10M+ - This was the smallest bucket with only 1-2 people. Both were in finance. $1.5M+ - Dozens upon dozens of families. Some lawyers and the one "unexpected" small business owner occupied the lower end of the range, while nearly everyone else was in finance. < $1.5M - Everyone else.
- dc-programmer 4y ago
  Any sweeping generalizations you can make about the different groups?
  - righttoolforjob 4y ago
    seems like he missed getting to the point..
  - Phrenzy 4y ago
    There is a great Reddit post that discusses this topic. https://np.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/2s9u0s/what_do_insanely_wealthy_people_buy_that_ordinary/cnnmca8/?context=3 https://np.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/2s9u0s/what_do_in...
  - fatnoah 4y ago
    My own experience was that only a couple of people in the groups I mentioned seemed like anything other than normal people, i.e. other moms and dads at Scouts, school events, kids sports & activities, etc. The only real sweeping generalization I can make is that money (somewhat at $10M+ and mostly at $100M+) means that almost nothing is impossible. When you've got that kind of cash, a $200 dollar shirt is functionally the same price as a $20 shirt. It's not worth worrying about cost below some minimum increment. Most were also highly involved in multiple cultural and philanthropic organizations. There's also a level where it almost becomes impossible to NOT make money. One family I know decided to renovate their primary residence, so they bought another single-family residence nearby (keep in mind, this is downtown in a major US city) to live in during the multi-year reno. Once the reno finished and the moved back in, they renovated the "temporary" home and sold it at a large enough profit to pay for both renovations. The other "generalization" is that all had pretty unique attributes. One of the $1B folks traveled with an entourage everywhere, while another rode his mountain bike to/from work and was super-low key despite having multiple homes, flying private, etc. Another in the $10M+ club mowed his own lawn, had one used car, but lived in an $8M home. Yet another in that same club is on the board of many cultural organizations. Some had drivers, and some didn't. One family had a nanny who was on one of those nanny shows that were popular a while back (and she was freaking amazing, BTW. She was magic with kids. My kid absolutely adored her)
4oo4 4y ago
This really seems like an extremely long-winded way to say "money can't buy happiness". Which is partially true, in that after a certain point, once your essential needs are met you get diminishing returns for happiness on the additional money you make, in part from the additional exertion it takes to do that. However I think this is a huge distraction from the fact that not having enough money to meet your basic needs is aboslutely an impediment to happiness, since this causes a constant state of fear, precariousness and helplessness. Fixing income inequality and helping more people gain access to food stability, healthcare, and jobs that pay a living wage would increase the happiness of many people.
vannevar 4y ago
>The researchers found that the typical rich American is, in their words, the owner of a “regional business,” such as an “auto dealer” or a “beverage distributor.” It would be interesting to see how many people who own auto dealerships or beverage distributorships grew them from nothing versus bought them. I have frequently heard both of these businesses described as licenses to print money, and have seen that firsthand with some auto dealerships (notably Toyota). Retired athletes often buy into these businesses for that reason.
mbrodersen 4y ago
I consider anybody who has all of his/her expenses covered by passive income (assets) to be wealthy. In other words, if you still have to work to cover your expenses then you are not wealthy. And of course the more expenses your passive income (assets) can pay for, the wealthier you are.

6 points by taubek 4y ago

https://archive.ph/HpM4l https://archive.ph/HpM4l

hosh 4y ago

Maybe I just had different experiences in my life, but that many of the high-income earners own unsexy businesses does not surprise me. Millionaire Next Door talked some of that, and I remember reading a number of books that talked about owning assets that generate income rather than getting a higher paying job. Even Tim Ferris's 4 Hour Workweek was coming from that frame. To go further, I had also went through a period of exploring and practicing minimalism. And now, my understanding of "wealth" and "abundance" has changed again, closer to the classical turn of the phrase, "the fat of the land". There's abundance and regenerative growth in natural systems that have yields for humans, for those that are good stewards of the land at least.

fatnoah 4y ago

Thanks to raising a kid in a large US city, and through my job in tech, I've met and/or regularly interacted with a fair number of "rich" people, as defined by this article. The level of richness definitely was in tiers. $1B+ - I've met five of these types, and all of them were founders of tech companies. $100M+ - Again, a small sample size of only three or four people. One was a founder of a non-tech business, and the others were children of founders of large tech companies. $10M+ - This was the smallest bucket with only 1-2 people. Both were in finance. $1.5M+ - Dozens upon dozens of families. Some lawyers and the one "unexpected" small business owner occupied the lower end of the range, while nearly everyone else was in finance. < $1.5M - Everyone else.

dc-programmer 4y ago
Any sweeping generalizations you can make about the different groups?
- righttoolforjob 4y ago
  seems like he missed getting to the point..
- Phrenzy 4y ago
  There is a great Reddit post that discusses this topic. https://np.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/2s9u0s/what_do_insanely_wealthy_people_buy_that_ordinary/cnnmca8/?context=3 https://np.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/2s9u0s/what_do_in...
- fatnoah 4y ago
  My own experience was that only a couple of people in the groups I mentioned seemed like anything other than normal people, i.e. other moms and dads at Scouts, school events, kids sports & activities, etc. The only real sweeping generalization I can make is that money (somewhat at $10M+ and mostly at $100M+) means that almost nothing is impossible. When you've got that kind of cash, a $200 dollar shirt is functionally the same price as a $20 shirt. It's not worth worrying about cost below some minimum increment. Most were also highly involved in multiple cultural and philanthropic organizations. There's also a level where it almost becomes impossible to NOT make money. One family I know decided to renovate their primary residence, so they bought another single-family residence nearby (keep in mind, this is downtown in a major US city) to live in during the multi-year reno. Once the reno finished and the moved back in, they renovated the "temporary" home and sold it at a large enough profit to pay for both renovations. The other "generalization" is that all had pretty unique attributes. One of the $1B folks traveled with an entourage everywhere, while another rode his mountain bike to/from work and was super-low key despite having multiple homes, flying private, etc. Another in the $10M+ club mowed his own lawn, had one used car, but lived in an $8M home. Yet another in that same club is on the board of many cultural organizations. Some had drivers, and some didn't. One family had a nanny who was on one of those nanny shows that were popular a while back (and she was freaking amazing, BTW. She was magic with kids. My kid absolutely adored her)

4oo4 4y ago

This really seems like an extremely long-winded way to say "money can't buy happiness". Which is partially true, in that after a certain point, once your essential needs are met you get diminishing returns for happiness on the additional money you make, in part from the additional exertion it takes to do that. However I think this is a huge distraction from the fact that not having enough money to meet your basic needs is aboslutely an impediment to happiness, since this causes a constant state of fear, precariousness and helplessness. Fixing income inequality and helping more people gain access to food stability, healthcare, and jobs that pay a living wage would increase the happiness of many people.

vannevar 4y ago

>The researchers found that the typical rich American is, in their words, the owner of a “regional business,” such as an “auto dealer” or a “beverage distributor.” It would be interesting to see how many people who own auto dealerships or beverage distributorships grew them from nothing versus bought them. I have frequently heard both of these businesses described as licenses to print money, and have seen that firsthand with some auto dealerships (notably Toyota). Retired athletes often buy into these businesses for that reason.

mbrodersen 4y ago

I consider anybody who has all of his/her expenses covered by passive income (assets) to be wealthy. In other words, if you still have to work to cover your expenses then you are not wealthy. And of course the more expenses your passive income (assets) can pay for, the wealthier you are.