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I might've done it in my 20s. But now that I'm much later in life the time is far more precious than the money. And I don't think it's a good idea to hand fam

I might've done it in my 20s. But now that I'm much later in life the time is far more precious than the money. And I don't think it's a good idea to hand family members never-work money. Their own achievements become meaningless.

spicyusername 8mo ago
Their own achievements become meaningless. I'm sure most people wouldn't mind.
- laughing_man 8mo ago
  Of course not. But I used to know a group of guys who were born fabulously wealthy. None of them were happy. For them to get a job it would be essentially working for free relative to the wealth they have. I'm sure there are people out there who would find meaning in creating art of some type, or turning their fortune into an even bigger fortune, but I suspect those people are rare.
  - lotsofpulp 8mo ago
    The people I know who do not have to work to ensure healthcare for their kids seem happier than the ones who do have to work. Being able to go on vacations for extended durations or at convenient times is also heavily utilized.
  - thunky 8mo ago
    > None of them were happy That's because they're human, not because they're filthy rich and have all the privileges in the world. If it were that simple they could give all their money away and get a job at Walmart to find perfect happiness.
    - lazide 8mo ago
      I’d argue it’s more an attribute of being a driven, difficult to satisfy, competitive, human. Which correlates strongly with ‘success’ in any system where there is a clear metric for success, which is certainly true for our current economic system eh? If there was a system they wanted to compete in where the metric was ‘happiness’ measured by some concrete metric, I bet those same people would be as aggressively ‘happy’ with however it was measured too - and just as actually miserable. That those people are rarely (if ever) happy is a side effect of those attributes, and a core part of what makes them the way they are. After all, if they were able to be happy with anything less…. They’d have stopped already? And hence have less/a lower ‘score’ on that particular metric? And probably actually be happier. Notably, I know plenty of people who are very happy with nothing - dirt poor - and plenty of people who are also miserable with nothing too. The difference is, it’s a lot less competitive being dirt poor eh?
MidnightRider39 8mo ago
Idk I would rather spend 10 years in jail later in life than in my twenties. Otherwise I agree with you it’s not a trade off that is worth it at any point in life
- laughing_man 8mo ago
  I could have had a whole lot of fun in my thirties and forties with that kind of money. At this point it would just mean iron clad financial security and not much more. Even if I could afford Gabe Newell size yacht I wouldn't buy one.
  - simondotau 8mo ago
    And meanwhile you can spend that time in jail working on fitness, instead of being addicted to social media and scrolling tik-tok.
    - lazide 8mo ago
      [flagged]
    - MidnightRider39 8mo ago
      You can already do that now? It’s actually much harder to “better” yourself when in jail than outside. The conditions range from pretty bad to horrible. Of course if you go to jail in like Sweden it might not be so bad. But everywhere else hell naw People in this thread seem to think that jail is something like vacation.
      - K0balt 8mo ago
        Idk, in my hometown, jail is seen by some as being preferable to winter village life. A few people commit petty crimes for the purpose of a 6 month lockup until spring (or at least this was the case 3 decades ago). Could be that Alaska has (had) particularly great jails?
      - simondotau 7mo ago
chrisweekly 8mo ago
"Their own achievements become meaningless." You're saying that making money is the sole criteria for "meaningful achievement"?
- laughing_man 8mo ago
  No, but imagine if every time you did something there was a thought in the back of your mind that said "I could have paid someone else to do this without materially affecting my wealth."
  - permo-w 8mo ago
    But having that thought is not a given. I value my own work significantly more than work I paid for, even if it is of the same quality.
  - chrisweekly 8mo ago
    Huh? How does that even relate to the ability to find meaning in things unrelated to money?
    - laughing_man 7mo ago
      I watch a lot of sailing channels on YouTube. The most interesting part is when you get a couple buying an old sailboat and refitting it on a tight budget. It always takes longer and costs more than they anticipated, but watching the struggle is really interesting. And when they finally set sail for Hawaii or whatever they have a huge sense of accomplishment. But imagine if they were fabulously wealthy. Sure, they could set themselves a budget, but even for them that would feel... contrived. The whole thing would feel like LARPing as someone without so much money. So that sense of accomplishment is going to be out of reach, even assuming they didn't just buy a brand new boat.
      - chrisweekly 7mo ago
        It seems to me you're "projecting", and still taking it as a given that the presence of wealth eliminates the possibility of meaningful achievement.

spicyusername 8mo ago

Their own achievements become meaningless. I'm sure most people wouldn't mind.

laughing_man 8mo ago
Of course not. But I used to know a group of guys who were born fabulously wealthy. None of them were happy. For them to get a job it would be essentially working for free relative to the wealth they have. I'm sure there are people out there who would find meaning in creating art of some type, or turning their fortune into an even bigger fortune, but I suspect those people are rare.
- lotsofpulp 8mo ago
  The people I know who do not have to work to ensure healthcare for their kids seem happier than the ones who do have to work. Being able to go on vacations for extended durations or at convenient times is also heavily utilized.
- thunky 8mo ago
  > None of them were happy That's because they're human, not because they're filthy rich and have all the privileges in the world. If it were that simple they could give all their money away and get a job at Walmart to find perfect happiness.
  - lazide 8mo ago
    I’d argue it’s more an attribute of being a driven, difficult to satisfy, competitive, human. Which correlates strongly with ‘success’ in any system where there is a clear metric for success, which is certainly true for our current economic system eh? If there was a system they wanted to compete in where the metric was ‘happiness’ measured by some concrete metric, I bet those same people would be as aggressively ‘happy’ with however it was measured too - and just as actually miserable. That those people are rarely (if ever) happy is a side effect of those attributes, and a core part of what makes them the way they are. After all, if they were able to be happy with anything less…. They’d have stopped already? And hence have less/a lower ‘score’ on that particular metric? And probably actually be happier. Notably, I know plenty of people who are very happy with nothing - dirt poor - and plenty of people who are also miserable with nothing too. The difference is, it’s a lot less competitive being dirt poor eh?

MidnightRider39 8mo ago

Idk I would rather spend 10 years in jail later in life than in my twenties. Otherwise I agree with you it’s not a trade off that is worth it at any point in life

laughing_man 8mo ago
I could have had a whole lot of fun in my thirties and forties with that kind of money. At this point it would just mean iron clad financial security and not much more. Even if I could afford Gabe Newell size yacht I wouldn't buy one.
- simondotau 8mo ago
  And meanwhile you can spend that time in jail working on fitness, instead of being addicted to social media and scrolling tik-tok.
  - lazide 8mo ago
    [flagged]
  - MidnightRider39 8mo ago
    You can already do that now? It’s actually much harder to “better” yourself when in jail than outside. The conditions range from pretty bad to horrible. Of course if you go to jail in like Sweden it might not be so bad. But everywhere else hell naw People in this thread seem to think that jail is something like vacation.
    - K0balt 8mo ago
      Idk, in my hometown, jail is seen by some as being preferable to winter village life. A few people commit petty crimes for the purpose of a 6 month lockup until spring (or at least this was the case 3 decades ago). Could be that Alaska has (had) particularly great jails?
    - simondotau 7mo ago

chrisweekly 8mo ago

"Their own achievements become meaningless." You're saying that making money is the sole criteria for "meaningful achievement"?

laughing_man 8mo ago
No, but imagine if every time you did something there was a thought in the back of your mind that said "I could have paid someone else to do this without materially affecting my wealth."
- permo-w 8mo ago
  But having that thought is not a given. I value my own work significantly more than work I paid for, even if it is of the same quality.
- chrisweekly 8mo ago
  Huh? How does that even relate to the ability to find meaning in things unrelated to money?
  - laughing_man 7mo ago
    I watch a lot of sailing channels on YouTube. The most interesting part is when you get a couple buying an old sailboat and refitting it on a tight budget. It always takes longer and costs more than they anticipated, but watching the struggle is really interesting. And when they finally set sail for Hawaii or whatever they have a huge sense of accomplishment. But imagine if they were fabulously wealthy. Sure, they could set themselves a budget, but even for them that would feel... contrived. The whole thing would feel like LARPing as someone without so much money. So that sense of accomplishment is going to be out of reach, even assuming they didn't just buy a brand new boat.
    - chrisweekly 7mo ago
      It seems to me you're "projecting", and still taking it as a given that the presence of wealth eliminates the possibility of meaningful achievement.