4 ms·

Probably the culture of where I live is very different from the other side of the ocean, but... why is money such a big point in this article? I love my work an

Probably the culture of where I live is very different from the other side of the ocean, but... why is money such a big point in this article? I love my work and I'm decently paid and... I don't really want to be rich. With the given title, I would advocate for/stress on contentment rather than monetary richness.

hnthr_w_y 2y ago
honestly, I want to be rich. I do make a decent living, but not enough to quit my job. At this rate I'll have to work until I'm 50 or 60, which is same as everyone else, so cry me a river, but even so, it would be nice to dedicate more time to hobby which at this rate I can at most dedicate a weekend to, but in practice it's a bit less because I have to go out with the wife and I have visit my family, etc. Most weeks I have a full day at most to pursue anything.
- nuancebydefault 2y ago
  From what i understand my life is very similar as yours. One out of 7 seems not too shabby though. Maybe a cliché but... my advice would be to try to get most out of each simple experience. Today my spouse and kid went for a long walk together with me... while I could have been doing woodworking. I _tried_ to teach the kid the joy of walking without having too much on his mind. I also started conversations with strangers while waiting in the ice cream queue. There's always something to learn from that. I guess you by now understand my advocating for contentment.
  - kragen 2y ago
    this afternoon i couldn't have been doing woodworking because i don't have woodworking tools. that's not just because i can't afford them; my apartment is not really big enough for a woodworking shop, and i worry that the wiring might catch fire if i tried to plug in a high-powered saw. i'm having a hard time being content, despite going on a walk with my wife this morning and having lots of lovely conversations with strangers over the last three days, because the rent is due in two weeks and i'm nervous about whether i'll have enough. ever since i got covid for the third time in april, at which point i couldn't get paxlovid, i don't remember things like i used to. (i suspect that with enough money i could have gotten paxlovid.) also, my aunt is going to die soon, and i don't have the money to visit her before that i really wish i'd spent more effort on making, and saving, money 20 years ago. i wouldn't want to spend my life on it, and no amount of money will keep me from dying, but right now i'm spending a lot of my life coping with the consequences of not having it
    - kilpikaarna 2y ago
      Sorry to hear that, hope things work out for you! I've enjoyed and appreciated your work!
      - kragen 2y ago
        thanks! i hope you continue to do so
erik_seaberg 2y ago
Besides removing distractions, having more money raises the limits on what you can build before it needs to become self-sustaining. Retirement should be a consolation prize but not the entire goal.
com2kid 2y ago
Because America has such a poor social safety net that it is very easy to go from well paid to homeless in just a few years. Accordingly, everyone is fighting to make enough money to not get fucked over during each of our cyclical "economic recessions". During each recession more and more people permanently fall into poverty and everyone who is left fights even harder to not be a victim the next time the economy goes south.
tightbookkeeper 2y ago
In place of money, you can equally substitute status, prestige, or power. When it comes to young people choosing careers in the US the money choice is more prominent.
dxbydt 2y ago
I don’t want to lead with the mean retort that people who say they don’t care about money often don’t have any, so let me give you the kinder version - I think you come from a place of immense privilege. Either born in a first world country, or born to well off parents or in a rich society. otoh, Where I come from , we have a proverb that’s hard to translate but describes our misery quite accurately - “we don’t even have enough water to wipe our anus after we poop”. So that’s why I seek wealth. Not because I’m not content, or stressed out or whatever. Because the people I was born with, my cousins, brothers, relatives - they are still digging ditches. I am no smarter than them perhaps, but because I chose to pay a little extra attention at academics, atleast I have some money to buy some water so I can wash my butt after I poop. Don’t hate on people who want money. The world outside your tiny bubble is very, very poor.
- nuancebydefault 2y ago
  I understand most of the world population is very poor. > Don’t hate on people who want money. Why would I? > The world outside your tiny bubble is very, very poor. I have a hard time understanding this tiny bubble part. Both my parents came from poor farmer families. My father was a carpenter who maintained a tiny farm before and after his daytime job. My mother helped with that and took care of the children. My father saw the sea for the first time aged 65, though it is only 200km. I try to put things in perspective... I read the average water consumption per person per year in USA is on average 90000 litres. That is our yearly household consumption.
- codeforafrica 2y ago
  I can confirm that more or less. A month ago I visited a village where a new groundwater well was just completed. Some of the people there have to walk miles to get to that well to fetch water. Every day. And if they had to pay for the water, they would struggle. Last week I took my kids and a friend to dinner. We spent about 50$. Not much for us for 4 people. But for quite a lot of locals we just blew a months earning or more in one evening. This income difference baffles me every time. Myself I am out of work for a year, and while I saved some money, if I don't find some remote work soon I'll have to pack my bags and move my whole family back to Europe to file for unemployment. But I am not complaining because at least I do have that option. The people here around me don't. So despite my situation I am still privileged.
thayne 2y ago
Consider who the author is: a wealthy investor for whom money is obviously very important.
asdf6969 2y ago
> why is money such a big point in this article? There’s no such thing as a reasonable quality of life on an average income anymore. People who don’t prioritize money will live like poor students for the rest of their lives renting with roommates. They will never have a family, healthcare, hobbies, or respect from their community. Stop pretending that not prioritizing money is an option. It’s incredibly condescending. In most parts of most developed countries you need at least a top 20% income just to live with dignity.
- jazzyb 2y ago
  Granted: If you live in America, depending on your situation, you may need wealth or a good job to have access to decent healthcare. But, "They will never have a family... hobbies, or respect from their community." This is completely out of touch. Plenty of Americans in flyover country accomplish all of these on an average salary. Source: They're my neighbors.
- anon291 2y ago
  > In most parts of most developed countries you need at least a top 20% income just to live with dignity. In America, you really do not (I don't know about other parts of the world). We have lots of really sweet towns and things where you can live on a totally average income. Just visited my cousin in the rural midwest (town of like 1000 people) and she and her husband live a great life, with their own plot of land, their eight kids, and a normal income (single income -- only husband works). And before I get the 'oh well that's only for white people' response, we're brown-skinned; she's an immigrant; and she's not only accepted but embraced and actually holds elected office. In my experience, the people making these kinds of claims have some innate bias against these places. But they're like a dime a dozen. We passed by dozens of similar towns on our four hour drive from the nearest airport.
rr808 2y ago
Same. I think PG and the bay area has been such a goldmine the last few decades most people in tech and VC driven by the rewards. Most people in American are somewhat more money driven than Europeans, but most are relatively content than the Bay Area population.
ta_1138 2y ago
In the culture where you live there are good chances you don't finish college with a couple hundred thousands dollars in debt, and getting a reasonable home near the place where you want to work doesn't cost a million dollars. On top of that, bad luck in America can be very expensive. the wrong illness can make living a low stress life difficult Therefore an American that sees a pile of debt in their future, the kind of career that can pay for that kind of debt, and therefore lead to just being reasonably content and independent, is not all that far from one where you end up in the neighborhood of being rich. It's definitely what happened to me: The difference between not having a lot of economic stress and 'oops, I could retire tomorrow' was about 5 years.

hnthr_w_y 2y ago

honestly, I want to be rich. I do make a decent living, but not enough to quit my job. At this rate I'll have to work until I'm 50 or 60, which is same as everyone else, so cry me a river, but even so, it would be nice to dedicate more time to hobby which at this rate I can at most dedicate a weekend to, but in practice it's a bit less because I have to go out with the wife and I have visit my family, etc. Most weeks I have a full day at most to pursue anything.

nuancebydefault 2y ago
From what i understand my life is very similar as yours. One out of 7 seems not too shabby though. Maybe a cliché but... my advice would be to try to get most out of each simple experience. Today my spouse and kid went for a long walk together with me... while I could have been doing woodworking. I _tried_ to teach the kid the joy of walking without having too much on his mind. I also started conversations with strangers while waiting in the ice cream queue. There's always something to learn from that. I guess you by now understand my advocating for contentment.
- kragen 2y ago
  this afternoon i couldn't have been doing woodworking because i don't have woodworking tools. that's not just because i can't afford them; my apartment is not really big enough for a woodworking shop, and i worry that the wiring might catch fire if i tried to plug in a high-powered saw. i'm having a hard time being content, despite going on a walk with my wife this morning and having lots of lovely conversations with strangers over the last three days, because the rent is due in two weeks and i'm nervous about whether i'll have enough. ever since i got covid for the third time in april, at which point i couldn't get paxlovid, i don't remember things like i used to. (i suspect that with enough money i could have gotten paxlovid.) also, my aunt is going to die soon, and i don't have the money to visit her before that i really wish i'd spent more effort on making, and saving, money 20 years ago. i wouldn't want to spend my life on it, and no amount of money will keep me from dying, but right now i'm spending a lot of my life coping with the consequences of not having it
  - kilpikaarna 2y ago
    Sorry to hear that, hope things work out for you! I've enjoyed and appreciated your work!
    - kragen 2y ago
      thanks! i hope you continue to do so

erik_seaberg 2y ago

Besides removing distractions, having more money raises the limits on what you can build before it needs to become self-sustaining. Retirement should be a consolation prize but not the entire goal.

com2kid 2y ago

Because America has such a poor social safety net that it is very easy to go from well paid to homeless in just a few years. Accordingly, everyone is fighting to make enough money to not get fucked over during each of our cyclical "economic recessions". During each recession more and more people permanently fall into poverty and everyone who is left fights even harder to not be a victim the next time the economy goes south.

tightbookkeeper 2y ago

In place of money, you can equally substitute status, prestige, or power. When it comes to young people choosing careers in the US the money choice is more prominent.

dxbydt 2y ago

I don’t want to lead with the mean retort that people who say they don’t care about money often don’t have any, so let me give you the kinder version - I think you come from a place of immense privilege. Either born in a first world country, or born to well off parents or in a rich society. otoh, Where I come from , we have a proverb that’s hard to translate but describes our misery quite accurately - “we don’t even have enough water to wipe our anus after we poop”. So that’s why I seek wealth. Not because I’m not content, or stressed out or whatever. Because the people I was born with, my cousins, brothers, relatives - they are still digging ditches. I am no smarter than them perhaps, but because I chose to pay a little extra attention at academics, atleast I have some money to buy some water so I can wash my butt after I poop. Don’t hate on people who want money. The world outside your tiny bubble is very, very poor.

nuancebydefault 2y ago
I understand most of the world population is very poor. > Don’t hate on people who want money. Why would I? > The world outside your tiny bubble is very, very poor. I have a hard time understanding this tiny bubble part. Both my parents came from poor farmer families. My father was a carpenter who maintained a tiny farm before and after his daytime job. My mother helped with that and took care of the children. My father saw the sea for the first time aged 65, though it is only 200km. I try to put things in perspective... I read the average water consumption per person per year in USA is on average 90000 litres. That is our yearly household consumption.
codeforafrica 2y ago
I can confirm that more or less. A month ago I visited a village where a new groundwater well was just completed. Some of the people there have to walk miles to get to that well to fetch water. Every day. And if they had to pay for the water, they would struggle. Last week I took my kids and a friend to dinner. We spent about 50$. Not much for us for 4 people. But for quite a lot of locals we just blew a months earning or more in one evening. This income difference baffles me every time. Myself I am out of work for a year, and while I saved some money, if I don't find some remote work soon I'll have to pack my bags and move my whole family back to Europe to file for unemployment. But I am not complaining because at least I do have that option. The people here around me don't. So despite my situation I am still privileged.

thayne 2y ago

Consider who the author is: a wealthy investor for whom money is obviously very important.

asdf6969 2y ago

> why is money such a big point in this article? There’s no such thing as a reasonable quality of life on an average income anymore. People who don’t prioritize money will live like poor students for the rest of their lives renting with roommates. They will never have a family, healthcare, hobbies, or respect from their community. Stop pretending that not prioritizing money is an option. It’s incredibly condescending. In most parts of most developed countries you need at least a top 20% income just to live with dignity.

jazzyb 2y ago
Granted: If you live in America, depending on your situation, you may need wealth or a good job to have access to decent healthcare. But, "They will never have a family... hobbies, or respect from their community." This is completely out of touch. Plenty of Americans in flyover country accomplish all of these on an average salary. Source: They're my neighbors.
anon291 2y ago
> In most parts of most developed countries you need at least a top 20% income just to live with dignity. In America, you really do not (I don't know about other parts of the world). We have lots of really sweet towns and things where you can live on a totally average income. Just visited my cousin in the rural midwest (town of like 1000 people) and she and her husband live a great life, with their own plot of land, their eight kids, and a normal income (single income -- only husband works). And before I get the 'oh well that's only for white people' response, we're brown-skinned; she's an immigrant; and she's not only accepted but embraced and actually holds elected office. In my experience, the people making these kinds of claims have some innate bias against these places. But they're like a dime a dozen. We passed by dozens of similar towns on our four hour drive from the nearest airport.

rr808 2y ago

Same. I think PG and the bay area has been such a goldmine the last few decades most people in tech and VC driven by the rewards. Most people in American are somewhat more money driven than Europeans, but most are relatively content than the Bay Area population.

ta_1138 2y ago

In the culture where you live there are good chances you don't finish college with a couple hundred thousands dollars in debt, and getting a reasonable home near the place where you want to work doesn't cost a million dollars. On top of that, bad luck in America can be very expensive. the wrong illness can make living a low stress life difficult Therefore an American that sees a pile of debt in their future, the kind of career that can pay for that kind of debt, and therefore lead to just being reasonably content and independent, is not all that far from one where you end up in the neighborhood of being rich. It's definitely what happened to me: The difference between not having a lot of economic stress and 'oops, I could retire tomorrow' was about 5 years.