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Money doesn't matter (or buy happiness) - Rich people. Google isn't important - Ex-Googler. I think I see his point, but I think he's forgetting about the priv

Money doesn't matter (or buy happiness) - Rich people. Google isn't important - Ex-Googler. I think I see his point, but I think he's forgetting about the privilege of making good money at Google for a while and becoming an ex-Googler for all his life.

HenryBemis 3y ago
"money doesn't matter" I can say that the people who say this DO NOT keep an excel on their desktop where every 1st of the month they go around their accounts, investments, etc. and enter the 'updated values' and they see their net-worth growing month-by-month. Money matters (when you are planning your vacations, when you get seriously ill, when you want to buy a new house/car/laptop), etc. Only naive people say that money don't matter. There are MANY things that matter, money is one of them.
- marcodave 3y ago
  As someone who just this year started to keep track of the money across the months, I can say that you get some sort of high when you get close to payday and you see the line going up.
- strken 3y ago
  People who say money doesn't matter aren't naive. They're mostly either trying to make someone feel better about not having any, or trying to get someone to stop placing so much importance on wealth. It's one of those "serious but not literal" statements.
  - closewith 3y ago
    I think in general it's a form of self-justification to allow a person to feel that they are good despite being wealthy in an extremely unequal world.
- gorjusborg 3y ago
  There's a reason the English saying is 'Money can't buy happiness', not 'money doesn't matter'. The point is that it isn't money that makes you happy, it is the life you build. That can be different for different people, and money can help. The point is that money isn't the goal.
  - phone8675309 3y ago
    Money can't buy happiness, but it does make the sad times easier.
    - 2toxic 3y ago
      money can't buy happiness, indeed, but it's more comfortable to cry in a leather chair inside a mercedes, than on the bus.
      - phone8675309 3y ago
        Yes, that's the point I'm trying to make.
    - meiraleal 3y ago
      Not really: if one is happy with money then gets sad, money doesn't help it. Poor people think that money fix sadness but that's not true. A meaningful life brings happiness, poor or rich
      - phone8675309 3y ago
        I'd rather be rich and sad than poor and sad.
      - deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
      - Jcowell 3y ago
        Poor people do not think money fix sadness lol. They just think it fixes a lot of the things that does make you sad, like not being able to pay rent, afford a meal for upper family, buy christmas presents for your kids, pay to get your car fixed. etc.
- automatic6131 3y ago
  >"money doesn't matter" Understood to mean (in the context of this blog) the difference in living standards and happiness are not affected by a 150k/year income or a 450k/year income. Or another way, "I (author) have encountered the diminishing return on happiness. dH/dm = 0".
- fragmede 3y ago
  Updating it by hand? What kind of a neanderthal do you take us for?
- dkdbejwi383 3y ago
  If one didn't have such a spreadsheet and did't know how to start tracking such things as they were a bit financially illiterate, where would you recommend they start?
  - digging 3y ago
    Export your last 6 - 12 months of transactions from your checking account, savings account, and/or credit card. Just getting the data is a good start. Then you can bring those sheets together. What I did was combine my expenses across my debit card and credit card, then sort them into categories. Subscriptions, grocery (I shop at 2-4 stores regularly), hobbies, restaurants, etc. I made a calculator in the sheet to convert my biweekly pay into monthly income. (there's slightly more than 2 pay periods per month, because a pay period is usually 28 days. I don't recall the exact number.) Once you have that, you can normalize all your expenses as well. For example, add up everything you spent on groceries in a 6 month period, divide it by 6. That's your mean monthly grocery bill. It's a bit of work to get it all down but once you build the calculator it's not as much work to maintain it every month or six. I was able to figure out what it costs to maintain my lifestyle more or less, and then determine an amount I'm comfortable having automatically transferred to my savings account immediately after every paycheck comes through. (For me that also includes an amount that will go toward rent as I pay rent out of my savings account to ensure I never accidentally don't have money available.) Now I don't have to think about my savings often, I know it's going up at a certain rate. This also allowed me to take on some significant extra expenses to support my partner for a period of time without any fear.
- PeterisP 3y ago
  Money is like oxygen, it doesn't warrant much attention unless you're not getting enough, and then it matters a whole lot.
dcminter 3y ago
He didn't say money didn't matter, he said that's not why he moved to Silicon Valley. i.e. it's not his top priority. Yes, it's a position of privilege, but he's allowed to have differing priorities from someone who is struggling. Once you have enough money for basics and contingencies, yes, happiness is more important.
kashyapc 3y ago
I think Daniel Kahneman phrases it better: "Money doesn't buy you happiness, but lack of money does buy you misery!" Anyone "rich" who forgets this is inhaling their success too deeply and is not acknowledging their good fortune.
- dleink 3y ago
  or as the great poet yeezy put it, "Having money isn't everything, not having it is."

HenryBemis 3y ago

"money doesn't matter" I can say that the people who say this DO NOT keep an excel on their desktop where every 1st of the month they go around their accounts, investments, etc. and enter the 'updated values' and they see their net-worth growing month-by-month. Money matters (when you are planning your vacations, when you get seriously ill, when you want to buy a new house/car/laptop), etc. Only naive people say that money don't matter. There are MANY things that matter, money is one of them.

marcodave 3y ago
As someone who just this year started to keep track of the money across the months, I can say that you get some sort of high when you get close to payday and you see the line going up.
strken 3y ago
People who say money doesn't matter aren't naive. They're mostly either trying to make someone feel better about not having any, or trying to get someone to stop placing so much importance on wealth. It's one of those "serious but not literal" statements.
- closewith 3y ago
  I think in general it's a form of self-justification to allow a person to feel that they are good despite being wealthy in an extremely unequal world.
gorjusborg 3y ago
There's a reason the English saying is 'Money can't buy happiness', not 'money doesn't matter'. The point is that it isn't money that makes you happy, it is the life you build. That can be different for different people, and money can help. The point is that money isn't the goal.
- phone8675309 3y ago
  Money can't buy happiness, but it does make the sad times easier.
  - 2toxic 3y ago
    money can't buy happiness, indeed, but it's more comfortable to cry in a leather chair inside a mercedes, than on the bus.
    - phone8675309 3y ago
      Yes, that's the point I'm trying to make.
  - meiraleal 3y ago
    Not really: if one is happy with money then gets sad, money doesn't help it. Poor people think that money fix sadness but that's not true. A meaningful life brings happiness, poor or rich
    - phone8675309 3y ago
      I'd rather be rich and sad than poor and sad.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
    - Jcowell 3y ago
      Poor people do not think money fix sadness lol. They just think it fixes a lot of the things that does make you sad, like not being able to pay rent, afford a meal for upper family, buy christmas presents for your kids, pay to get your car fixed. etc.
automatic6131 3y ago
>"money doesn't matter" Understood to mean (in the context of this blog) the difference in living standards and happiness are not affected by a 150k/year income or a 450k/year income. Or another way, "I (author) have encountered the diminishing return on happiness. dH/dm = 0".
fragmede 3y ago
Updating it by hand? What kind of a neanderthal do you take us for?
dkdbejwi383 3y ago
If one didn't have such a spreadsheet and did't know how to start tracking such things as they were a bit financially illiterate, where would you recommend they start?
- digging 3y ago
  Export your last 6 - 12 months of transactions from your checking account, savings account, and/or credit card. Just getting the data is a good start. Then you can bring those sheets together. What I did was combine my expenses across my debit card and credit card, then sort them into categories. Subscriptions, grocery (I shop at 2-4 stores regularly), hobbies, restaurants, etc. I made a calculator in the sheet to convert my biweekly pay into monthly income. (there's slightly more than 2 pay periods per month, because a pay period is usually 28 days. I don't recall the exact number.) Once you have that, you can normalize all your expenses as well. For example, add up everything you spent on groceries in a 6 month period, divide it by 6. That's your mean monthly grocery bill. It's a bit of work to get it all down but once you build the calculator it's not as much work to maintain it every month or six. I was able to figure out what it costs to maintain my lifestyle more or less, and then determine an amount I'm comfortable having automatically transferred to my savings account immediately after every paycheck comes through. (For me that also includes an amount that will go toward rent as I pay rent out of my savings account to ensure I never accidentally don't have money available.) Now I don't have to think about my savings often, I know it's going up at a certain rate. This also allowed me to take on some significant extra expenses to support my partner for a period of time without any fear.
PeterisP 3y ago
Money is like oxygen, it doesn't warrant much attention unless you're not getting enough, and then it matters a whole lot.

dcminter 3y ago

He didn't say money didn't matter, he said that's not why he moved to Silicon Valley. i.e. it's not his top priority. Yes, it's a position of privilege, but he's allowed to have differing priorities from someone who is struggling. Once you have enough money for basics and contingencies, yes, happiness is more important.

kashyapc 3y ago

I think Daniel Kahneman phrases it better: "Money doesn't buy you happiness, but lack of money does buy you misery!" Anyone "rich" who forgets this is inhaling their success too deeply and is not acknowledging their good fortune.

dleink 3y ago
or as the great poet yeezy put it, "Having money isn't everything, not having it is."