<story><title>I was a multi-millionaire by 27–here&apos;s what I learned</title><url>http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/28/i-was-a-multi-millionaire-by-27-heres-what-i-learned.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>anothercomment</author><text>He mentions the &amp;quot;basic necessities being taken care of&amp;quot;, but I just want to mention again that a certain amount of money can make a surprising amount of problems go away. I don&amp;#x27;t think that aspect should be underestimated. As I am scrambling by these days, I often run into these problems.&lt;p&gt;For example recently our dishwasher broke down. I spent a lot of time deciding whether to get it repaired or buy a new one, and then researching the latter. With money I would have saved lots of time by simply buying a medium priced new one off the internet.&lt;p&gt;Health issues, accommodation, travel plans, lots of worries can go away and they wear down people who don&amp;#x27;t have the cash. For example we often stress out about travel plans because we have to book far in advance or it gets too expensive. (I know these sound like luxury problems, but when it is a strain on the marriage it can escalate into real problems quickly).&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, it seems a lot of people feel rich when they aren&amp;#x27;t yet. For example, 5 Million $ doesn&amp;#x27;t seem that rich to me, more like a slightly higher pension prospect.&lt;p&gt;I have friends in the tech industry who have some money (not super rich) and take it slow, not taking into account that one day their needs might change and they might suddenly need a lot more money, and have less opportunities to earn it (for example because they get a family, or health issues).</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>holri</author><text>A dishwasher and travel bookings are not basic necessities.&lt;p&gt;When I had no money I did not have a dishwasher at all, but washed by hand.
My travels where in the woods nearby, very relaxing and enjoy full at no cost at all. No booking required.&lt;p&gt;Reading stoic philosophy help me a lot more than money.</text></comment>
<story><title>I was a multi-millionaire by 27–here&apos;s what I learned</title><url>http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/28/i-was-a-multi-millionaire-by-27-heres-what-i-learned.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>anothercomment</author><text>He mentions the &amp;quot;basic necessities being taken care of&amp;quot;, but I just want to mention again that a certain amount of money can make a surprising amount of problems go away. I don&amp;#x27;t think that aspect should be underestimated. As I am scrambling by these days, I often run into these problems.&lt;p&gt;For example recently our dishwasher broke down. I spent a lot of time deciding whether to get it repaired or buy a new one, and then researching the latter. With money I would have saved lots of time by simply buying a medium priced new one off the internet.&lt;p&gt;Health issues, accommodation, travel plans, lots of worries can go away and they wear down people who don&amp;#x27;t have the cash. For example we often stress out about travel plans because we have to book far in advance or it gets too expensive. (I know these sound like luxury problems, but when it is a strain on the marriage it can escalate into real problems quickly).&lt;p&gt;On the other hand, it seems a lot of people feel rich when they aren&amp;#x27;t yet. For example, 5 Million $ doesn&amp;#x27;t seem that rich to me, more like a slightly higher pension prospect.&lt;p&gt;I have friends in the tech industry who have some money (not super rich) and take it slow, not taking into account that one day their needs might change and they might suddenly need a lot more money, and have less opportunities to earn it (for example because they get a family, or health issues).</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>kelnos</author><text>Agreed, this article really rang hollow to me.  I think part of it is that (as he admits), he has&amp;#x2F;had a lot of self-esteem&amp;#x2F;self-worth issues, and his (monetary) wealth got mixed in with that.  Because of that, I wouldn&amp;#x27;t be surprised if he looks at money with a negative bias (&amp;quot;having money made me feel worse because it didn&amp;#x27;t fix my self-worth issues, so it must be bad&amp;quot;) to some extent.&lt;p&gt;I wouldn&amp;#x27;t call myself rich, but I also don&amp;#x27;t need to worry too much about money for the moment.  That means I don&amp;#x27;t have to make a budget, fret over whether or not I should pay more for a flight with a more convenient itinerary, or be constantly anxious over whether or not I&amp;#x27;d be able to pay for medical bills if I unexpectedly injured myself or got very ill.  There are &lt;i&gt;so&lt;/i&gt; many people in this world that don&amp;#x27;t have that comfort, and I think it&amp;#x27;s very easy to forget what that feels like once you&amp;#x27;ve achieved a certain amount of wealth.  (Hell, it&amp;#x27;s hard for &lt;i&gt;me&lt;/i&gt; to really viscerally remember what that feels like.)&lt;p&gt;I think that the &amp;quot;basic needs met&amp;quot; thing is a bit of a fallacy, though I suppose it depends on how you define it.  If you have a steady job that pays your bills and puts food on the table for you and your family, you might think you have your basic needs met, but also be stressed out because you don&amp;#x27;t feel like you have enough time in the day to split between your job, family, friends, and hobbies.  Or you might feel anxiety over job security.  Even having a full year of salary in the bank as a buffer (hardly rich by conventional measures, though sadly most people can&amp;#x27;t manage this) can ease those worries greatly.&lt;p&gt;His comments on fuck-you money were a bit weird, too.  I think most people get that fuck-you money isn&amp;#x27;t about being able to literally say &amp;quot;fuck you; fire me if you want&amp;quot; to your boss when you don&amp;#x27;t like a decision he&amp;#x2F;she has made.  It&amp;#x27;s just about being able to easily walk away from a job that doesn&amp;#x27;t make you happy -- for whatever reason -- without the pressure of needing to find another one immediately.&lt;p&gt;And then there was the bit about having to hire people to do things for you, and manage your money and possessions, and how all that is a full time job... well, no, it isn&amp;#x27;t a big deal, if you don&amp;#x27;t go down the conspicuous-consumption route.  I don&amp;#x27;t have to hire people to take care of my things now, and having more money wouldn&amp;#x27;t magically make that a necessity (or even desirable).</text></comment>