Discussion How important is money/wealth?

[Thoughtforms]

I was unemployed with no money coming in due to chronic health problems. That was hard. Not even being able to afford a birthday card and explaining that. It's demoralising.
A year later I was much better and dating a millionaire.

Neither really made a difference to who I am as a person. Being with someone wealthy just made life easier and being able to see a future. Not having to work 9-5 so spending the day doing what you like.

But being around rich people you notice some of them are so defined by their money. They have no personalities, it's their wealth that's made them interesting. And they will tell you they worked hard for their money but they were still all still born rich so they have no concept of reality.


I don't care about being rich. I just want to be able to afford the life my parents did - a house and being able to live day-to-day. To be free of money stress. I have a better job than they did at my age, yet still can't afford to live on my own. It's so hard now.

 

[sólstafir]

Money is the most important thing in the world whether one likes it or not.

Just thinking that you may be born rich, to rich, caring parents with some incurable disease that no money can help you. For many, health may not be the most important thing in life, but without it, nothing else matters, not even money.
[?] Just a thought.
But money makes the world go round, yeah.

 

[TAW122]

@Thoughtforms Yes, I think money helps having a more comfortable life and does make things easier, but in certain instances it wouldn't really help, such as having a genuine, caring relationship, just like you mentioned that some rich people are only defined by their wealth. I too, don't care about being rich, as in having a mansion, a yacht, sports car, and all that stuff. I too, just want to have the bare necessities of life (food on the table, a small condo/house, reliable transportation, utilities, and just be able to live a basic life without too much hassle).

I also agree with you in regards to people who are born 'rich', or born into wealth. They usually don't have concepts of reality and usually take things for granted more than us average people.

@[SIZE=4]sólstafir[/SIZE] Yes, sometimes even money cannot solve such problems such as incurable diseases or poor genetics or disabilities (it can make life a bit easier but people in such predicaments still have low qualities of life).

In other words, I want to say that money is important but only to the degree in which it allows one a means to their ends (goals). So money isn't unimportant, but past a certain point, it becomes just extra and redundant. If I had $1M right now, sure, I'd live a decent life in terms of needs and wants, but I'd still suffer from existential, philosophical problems, relationship and dating issues, and I'd still get old, catch diseases, and eventually die.

 

[Kyrok]

Money is not the most important thing in the world. Farm laborers can be happier than millionaires.
I have enough money to live on my savings, but still am not happy. Too much has gone wrong in my life and the scars will never go away.

Money certainly can fix some of the problems people here have, but it is just not true that being rich means you'll be happy. Happiness comes from a trauma-free upbringing, healthy relationships & a life of purpose.

 

[Final Escape]

I was unemployed with no money coming in due to chronic health problems. That was hard. Not even being able to afford a birthday card and explaining that. It's demoralising.
A year later I was much better and dating a millionaire.

Neither really made a difference to who I am as a person. Being with someone wealthy just made life easier and being able to see a future. Not having to work 9-5 so spending the day doing what you like.

But being around rich people you notice some of them are so defined by their money. They have no personalities, it's their wealth that's made them interesting. And they will tell you they worked hard for their money but they were still all still born rich so they have no concept of reality.


I don't care about being rich. I just want to be able to afford the life my parents did - a house and being able to live day-to-day. To be free of money stress. I have a better job than they did at my age, yet still can't afford to live on my own. It's so hard now.

What happened to the millionaire?

 

[Buddyluv19]

My mother (who, incidentally, I loath) used to say:

"Money doesn't buy happiness, Buddy, but neither does poverty"

Great wisdom out of the mouth of a spoiled brat that never had to work a day in her life and complained about it constantly.

My experience is that anyone who says money isn't CRITICAL in this life, hasn't had to go without it.

 

[Buddyluv19]

I understand that debt can decimate one's life. If you have a family, you may be trapped. But if not, and you're healthy enough to work, declare bankruptcy and start over.

Until I was 30, I made under $10,000/yr in Boston and was relatively happy. Living cheap can be great -- if you can first escape your debt.

Wow, what 'perspective' this is!

 

[mattwitt]

Depends on what you want out of life and who you want your fake friends to be.

 

[lemmeeleev]

For the suicidal, money will open up more methods and that could mean the difference between dying peacefully or in pain for a long time. Unless you're suicidal because of money issues in some way. But for the non suicidal, it'll keep you alive longer and let you live a comfortable life. But even the rich and happy will die along with the rest of us.

 

[Orin]

I've had the fortunate experience of being "rich" and "poor" (I say fortunate because it gave me some perspective in life)

Though let me clarify that i was never truly "poor"; i've always had a comfortable life and enough food to eat. But all my friends were far richer than me lol, so relatively, i saw myself as "poor", but i wasn't bothered by it at all.

Years later my business sort of boomed and i was able to afford more luxuries. Compared to my employees, i was far richer than them, but there was this sense of loneliness because i knew they were just being nice to me because i was their boss. Who knows how they would treat me if i were their equal or "beneath" them? Plus there was this constant stress of worrying about money, how to secure my money, etc. To be honest i was happier when i had less.

But i agree with the OP: a good balance is needed; not too rich that it isolates you from others, and not so poor that your choices become too limited.

 

[Jean Améry]

Obviously money is both vital and the most unimportant thing in the world depending on one's cirumstances. Having to live in poverty has driven many to suicide and it obviously affects people in all sorts of nefarious ways (health, housing, social life...) yet there are very rich individuals who killed themselves so clearly their money could not solve their problems.

As for me I count myself lucky I have no debt, don't have to fear poverty anytime soon and have some money saved. On the other hand the thought of having to work untill retirement is a source of grief and depression so it's a double-edged sword. I don't deplore the fact that I'm not rich though as there are so many with less especially those who have to sleep in the streets.

I'm not a saint and I can't live without money but I try to live as frugal as possible as a form of self-discipline and in order to save as much as possible in order to buy my own place someday. Having money means safety and as others have indicated it's much easier being unhappy when one has some money than none or not enough.

 

[Severen]

Having enough money is important. Beyond that, you are just trying to one up people for no good reason unless you are a philanthropist.

 

[not_a_robot]

Money itself is not important to me, but security and insulation from suffering is. Money is just the easiest way to attain security.
For

Having enough money is important. Beyond that, you are just trying to one up people for no good reason unless you are a philanthropist.

For most people, "enough money" is never enough. Society conditions them to be empty holes that can never be filled, no matter how much they consume.
I don't get it either.

 

[Severen]

For most people, "enough money" is never enough. Society conditions them to be empty holes that can never be filled, no matter how much they consume.
I don't get it either.

And because a lot of people are basically walking black holes, everyone around them has to suffer... It's illegal to be a murderer or a rapist but being a walking black hole is legal... That makes sense. NOT.

 

[JoeFailure]

I'll put it this way...money is very important, but wealth isn't.

I was really, really messed up because of my past for most of my 34 year old life and now that I've really found a purpose and passion and think I could actually have a partner in my life...I realize how much I've wrecked my life by not saving money and pursuing a real career. I would love to teach special ed now but I can't, I don't have enough money to go back to school and make everything work. It's done. It's devastating for me because I would love to live and pursue this, but there's just no way.

Money, even probably a less than normal amount that people have put away at my age like 35-40K, would afford me to pursue a passion and want to help people in life. But I've done irreparable damage.

Having even a decent amount of money lets you have some control over the direction of your life. I'm going to have to die because I didn't do enough to earn it and save it.

 

[Severen]

I'll put it this way...money is very important, but wealth isn't.

I was really, really messed up because of my past for most of my 34 year old life and now that I've really found a purpose and passion and think I could actually have a partner in my life...I realize how much I've wrecked my life by not saving money and pursuing a real career. I would love to teach special ed now but I can't, I don't have enough money to go back to school and make everything work. It's done. It's devastating for me because I would love to live and pursue this, but there's just no way.

Money, even probably a less than normal amount that people have put away at my age like 35-40K, would afford me to pursue a passion and want to help people in life. But I've done irreparable damage.

Having even a decent amount of money lets you have some control over the direction of your life. I'm going to have to die because I didn't do enough to earn it and save it.

Most people around your age are broke as a joke, dude. And the fact that so many people's dreams are shattered over a measly 35K or 40K is just a symptom of a broken system that should have been flushed down the toilet decades ago. There's fucking people who spend 40K like it is $5 while people are CTBing over that kind of money. Even if I became a billionaire tomorrow, I'd still CTB because this world disgusts me so much.