I usually take the view that I'd listen more to you if, to prove your point more empirically, you got reasonably rich and then just decided to give away all your wealth and resign to some lonely cabin in Maine.
I can't either, but for a rather different reason. What exactly does being rich get you these days?
You get to sit in a slightly nicer seat on an aeroplane. You get to drive a car that has vastly more power than any sane person needs, rather than one that merely has substantially more power than any sane person needs. You get to own a house with a lot of surplus rooms to fill up with stuff that has no discernible impact on your standard of living.
Rich people don't get access to a super-duper internet, they don't get to watch better movies or listen to better music, they don't really get to make better friends. Most material comforts are perfectly accessible to someone on an ordinary middle-class income.
Never having to work again is cool, but most people are unlikely to reach that point. Your probability of accumulating that level of wealth before retirement age is remote, the hedonic treadmill is a powerful trap and most people find meaning and value in work anyway.
Being average isn't better than being rich, but it isn't much worse either, at least not in a country with a sane government. The stuff that makes a real difference is mostly a matter of public policy - Germans and Scandinavians don't live in fear of a medical bankruptcy or an at-will dismissal, nor do they desperately want to own a home to escape shady landlords and rising rents.
And the statistically average American is barely treading water. I realize that the average European is better off, but that's not relevant to America right now.
I can tell you that there's a huge breakpoint once you are in a situation where you are both 'living below your means' and have a nest egg that is measured fractions of a year of living expenses. It's a safety net. It lets you take risks that you otherwise wouldn't feel safe/sane entertaining.
If you really hate your job, you can job hunt and not be petrified that people at work will find out. You can take a risk on a startup that is doing something you consider good (ethically) or awesome (technologically) and not worry as much about them being out of business in eight months.
You can push back on demands to compromise your ideals. What's the worse they can do, fire you? Your explanation for why you were let go writes itself. You can work reasonable hours. You can spend some of that time doing volunteer work or other social activities that may actually improve your employment options in the future (virtuous cycle, pun intended).
And, you can afford to participate in the technology treadmill that most likely underlies your job skills if you hang out on HN.
[edit] Stresses outside of work show up in how you interact with people. I was much more agreeable at work when I knew my rent was paid even if payroll screwed up my paycheck. (And I was much more agreeable at work once I started taking care of my health, too, which was easier when I had more leisure time).
That said, I personally define rich as being part of the capital class rather than the worker class. My perspective (note that some of these are a bit hand-wavy since the levels of money needed sometimes differ significantly and sometimes the lines are not clearly delineated):
- You don't sit on a commercial airplane. You own your own plane or take charters. Slightly lower on the totem pole is taking commuter jets (something akin to semi-charters).
- You typically/often don't drive a car for the purpose of transportation. Someone drives you. That said, you may own one or more cars. Some of these cars may not even be street legal, but they can be delivered to the track for times that you want to take them out for a spin.
- You do, in fact, listen to better music than most people. This might be in the form of live music. It might be in the form of a very well-designed high end music system in a listening room -- music you thought you knew well will sound completely different.
- You don't actually need to use the internet -- for the most part, you have people do those things for you. That said, if you need fast internet, you will probably live in an area that can accommodate your needs (depending on where you live in the US, access to fast internet is not a given even if you have the money).
- Any "work" that is done is done because it is an interesting problem to work on. Other than that, there is very real unofficial work of building and maintaining social capital. Sometimes this is the ugly kind of social climbing that is dramatized on TV. Other (often?) times, it is cultivating relationships and having experiences with people you like somewhere between a little and a lot (more time with the latter). Since money and (to a lesser extent) time are not limiting factors, incredible experiences can be had.
- Most things that people would consider "chores" are not a necessary part of your everyday life. No grocery shopping. No carpooling. No cooking. No restricted schedule due to child care (nanny almost always available).
Those a just a few things that I think are or can be different/better for people in the capital class. Some things that are worse is that often times folks born into the capital class have existential crises. Avoiding this type of crisis comes down to good parenting (and perhaps good parenting advisers and nannies).
Just my 2 cents...
Also, why would someone give up money they already had? They either worked hard for it or obtained it by some luck. In both cases, throwing it away is not earning that person more time for hobbies or to spend with family.
It takes work and skill to get rich, and the reward may not be worth it to some, or it may be antithetical to their goals.
No one is saying being richer is bad. Just that for many people the compromise is not worth it.
Townes Van Zandt is one of our heroes and he died basically broke and unknown.
Maybe your problem is you're not hanging out with enough poets.
Funny enough, here's a verse from my latest:
Driving in his Mercedes-Benz,
Talking on his Bluetooth headset,
About the national debt.
With his hand-picked best friends,
A past he better damn forget,
That's the winning mindset.
Chorus:
Cuz he knows what to do,
He's just better than you,
He goes to all the right places,
Knows all the right faces,
He only gets what he chases,
He's just better than you.
---
Good luck in the rat race!
I can work more and make more money, but I make enough for my lifestyle and I have lots of time left over for my family. I don't want all the money in the world if I won't have the free time to spend the money.
That's the point that's being made here. If I were to suddenly get 10% more money for exactly the same amount of work it's not like I'd turn it down, and if I won the lottery I wouldn't give it away.
'money' is quantifiable, however 'good' is not
If that's what makes you tick, then by all means work your fingers to the bone trying to achieve those things. But this shouldn't be the golden standard for a life well lived.
I believe that as a society we should focus more on building happiness through mental health instead of buying into the "buy more be more happy" way of life. Again, if that's what you truly want then go for it - but it shouldn't be assumed.
