The endless pursuit of money

Since this post will probably get a ton of MS, I will start this with a disclaimer. There is no judgement from me, I honestly just have a genuine curiosity of what I am about to ask.

Disclaimer: I fully understand it is within everyone's legal right to earn as much money as humanly possible. I am in no way judging anyone for there decision. I merely want some perspective as I don't ascribe to the thinking of profit above all. I fully understand that some people love their job and the by-product of that job is an insane compensation. I also know that my question comes off as somewhat naive. Again, I am just bringing up this topic in hopes of a discussion, and to gain insight.

This has maybe been discussed on here before, and if it has I apologize. But, why is there an endless pursuit of money? Why is it that people with $50MM don't stop pursuing $100MM, or $500MM? Aren't you set for life with that amount of money? Is it really possible that money can satisfy you? If so, why doesn't it seem that anyone is satisfied with an insane amount of money? A quote from "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" comes to mind when Shia Labeouf comes to mind, when he asks his boss what his number is, the number that he would just give it all up, and he answers "more". Again, I get it that as people come into more money, they hang around circles of people with more money, and therefore said person wants more money, and in turn becomes an endless pursuit. But wouldn't it make more sense if people were just able to call it quits after a sum of money that would afford them the ability to not worry about money anymore?

Hope this spurs some good discussion and insight. Cheers ya'll!

 

To make a lot of money in your career you have to be very good at it and to get that good at it you need to like it. I’ve personally sunk so much time into my business that it’s about more than money. Other than taking a break to travel for a month, I’d be greatly disappointed to not have to go to work anymore. Honestly walking away from everything is a sad thought.

 

Yeah I agree with this. You can only travel for so long before it get's boring or only do so many non-profits before it's the same old.

If you've got to $50m through professional work or owning a company (ie mostly self made) - you have an innate hunger for success. Especially after experiencing for yourself.

My grandfather always says to me 'the day I retire will be the day I drop dead'. He owned his own business for over 25 years.

 

They do quit sometimes..... you ever heard of early retirement? Not everybody keeps it going into their 60s to maximize their wealth, but if they did decide to do that then I don't see anything wrong with that. When you have more wealth you can be more generous monetarily. The biggest motivational factor I've seen is if they have children/grandkids then they may continue working long past when they could have in order to maximize what they can pass on to them aka generational wealth.

 

Who want's to be a pussy who gives up and doesn't follow their purpose in life? You've done incredibly well for yourself, why give up basically and do fuck all? (You can't travel for the next 30 years until you die)

People who give up at that easily don't make it to said NW ($50m) being self made. You're one of them.

 

I’ll take an opposing viewpoint and say that if you take a viewpoint that you need to be endlessly pursuing money then you’re just going to end up being a slave to money and let so much of life pass you by. I’m not saying you have to give it all up but it’s a very healthy thing so be able to say that you’ve reached a certain point where you’re content with having worked for what you’ve got and then transitioning to more passive income strategies.

There’s a reason why people on their deathbed never say that they wished they’d worked more and made more money. No, they say that they wished they had worked less and had more of a life outside of work.

Someone getting to a point where they’re content with the success that they’ve had doesn’t mean they’re a pussy, it means that they’re self-confident and have a healthy relationship with work. Making lots of money more than likely isn’t their purpose in life (and theres potential for a very shallow and unfulfilled existence if one takes that view).

Let me caveat all of that and say that there is nothing noble about working to create opportunities for your family, but that shouldn’t be an end-all be-all and forsaking everyone in pursuit of wealth. That should be some necessary sacrifices while still caring well for your family’s non-fiscal needs.

 

There's also no such thing as a legacy when we're going to experience the heat death of the universe at some point. That's an exaggeration but in truth, nothing lasts forever. A couple hundred years from now, students will be forgetting the names of most of the current day Presidents and certainly very few CEOs or billionaires will make the collective consciousness. (Bill Gates perhaps, but will even Steve Jobs make it?)

The legacy argument could mean you want to set up your progeny, but again, 3-4 generations down the line and you're dead and out of control, and wealth typically reverts back to the soil like a dead tree. Sometimes it doesn't even take that long.

Life is fleeting and there is nothing wrong with making the most out of your one wild and precious life to build companies and wealth, but temper that with the stoic reality that we are all ultimately meaningless in the universe.

Be excellent to each other, and party on, dudes.
 
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Would escape at $5M if i were sufficiently frustrated. Definitely gone for good at $10 million. 4% a year on that is $400K. I think I could manage.

But I've tempered my tastes extremely well even as my income has increased-i just find the minimalist lifestyle more appealing than a high flying one (I still don't own any furniture aside from a bed and television). My only real luxury is travel - I keep an actual budget for it so that I don't skimp on the amenities.

Other people have tastes or lifestyle demands that require a much larger nut. Some folks just really enjoy their work and have mastered it such that they drive a significant premium, and like the joker said-don't do what you're good at for free. Roger Goodell makes $40 Million a year. He could walk away any year and be set. But not too many other jobs out there are paying that-you also have to imagine the level of prestige it affords him, the access to masters of the universe, the control over media, etc. are as important as the compensation. It's probably intoxicating to know that your only bosses are 30 some odd billionaires.

Which is to say that the money is merely incidental when you're as driven as some of these people making it.

 

For many people, myself included, it's the most competitive game you can play, where the reward (more money) has a real and tangible effect on your quality of life (less so when going from 100 million and up, but the vast majority of people never reach that level anyways)

 

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