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I was a multi-millionaire by 27–here's what I learned

103 pointsby kschuaabout 8 years ago

27 comments

noam87about 8 years ago
You know how these articles never end? &quot;So I&#x27;ve decided to give away all my riches to the less fortunate and go back to scraping by for a living like everyone else.&quot;<p>Give me a break.<p>Don&#x27;t like managing your wealth? Just let it sit in your bank account (after all, it doesn&#x27;t really matter that much if it grows or not right?).<p>Don&#x27;t like mistrusting people? Live a humble lifestyle and there&#x27;s no reason they&#x27;d ever suspect you&#x27;re wealthy. I&#x27;ve met plenty flip-flop and $10 shirt millionaires.<p>Can&#x27;t figure out your &quot;purpose&quot; in life? Sounds like you have too much time and too little imagination; join a charity they&#x27;d be glad to keep you busy.
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anothercommentabout 8 years ago
He mentions the &quot;basic necessities being taken care of&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&#x27;t think that aspect should be underestimated. As I am scrambling by these days, I often run into these problems.<p>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.<p>Health issues, accommodation, travel plans, lots of worries can go away and they wear down people who don&#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).<p>On the other hand, it seems a lot of people feel rich when they aren&#x27;t yet. For example, 5 Million $ doesn&#x27;t seem that rich to me, more like a slightly higher pension prospect.<p>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).
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madmax108about 8 years ago
This is so contrastingly similar (yup, that&#x27;s a phrase) with an equally thought provoking set of tweets notch put up a couple of months after selling minecraft:<p>&quot;The problem with getting everything is you run out of reasons to keep trying, and human interaction becomes impossible due to imbalance.<p>In sweden, I will sit around and wait for my friends with jobs and families to have time to do shit, watching my reflection in the monitor<p>When we sold the company, the biggest effort went into making sure the employees got taken care of, and they all hate me now.<p>Found a great girl, but she&#x27;s afraid of me and my life style and went with a normal person instead.<p>I would Musk and try to save the world, but that just exposes me to the same type of assholes that made me sell minecraft again<p>People who made sudden success are telling me this is normal and will pass. That&#x27;s good to know! I guess I&#x27;ll take a shower then!&quot;<p>Really puts a light on the whole, money will make you happy spin that so many technologists seem to have fallen into.<p>References:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;notch&#x2F;status&#x2F;637562496056995840" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;notch&#x2F;status&#x2F;637562496056995840</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;notch&#x2F;status&#x2F;637563038258868224" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;notch&#x2F;status&#x2F;637563038258868224</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;notch&#x2F;status&#x2F;637563226755067904" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;notch&#x2F;status&#x2F;637563226755067904</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;notch&#x2F;status&#x2F;637563481139638272" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;notch&#x2F;status&#x2F;637563481139638272</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;notch&#x2F;status&#x2F;637563733124980736" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;notch&#x2F;status&#x2F;637563733124980736</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;notch&#x2F;status&#x2F;637565210266570752" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;notch&#x2F;status&#x2F;637565210266570752</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;notch&#x2F;status&#x2F;637569407208849408" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;notch&#x2F;status&#x2F;637569407208849408</a>
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ddalexabout 8 years ago
Cicero - the famed roman author - explained very clearly the difference between being wealthy and not.<p>The wealthy are able to control how they spend their time. The not wealthy have somebody else control what they do with their time. The Romans had a word for the time period that you control - &#x27;otium&#x27;. It was the ideal state for the Roman nobleman, as they were supposed to have enough income coming from their properties so that they don&#x27;t have to work out for it.<p>The time that you didn&#x27;t control was the opposite state of &#x27;otium&#x27;: &#x27;negotium&#x27;.<p>It&#x27;s more than just a matter of how much money you have and your believes. Having more money lends you a greater power to bargain on what you do with your time. Personally, I have enough of a rainy day fund so I am not compelled to stick around a job I don&#x27;t like. But I still have to go to a job each day, and I feel really lucky that I can choose a job that I like. The vast majority of people are not as fortunate as myself.
pipio21about 8 years ago
I was never into luxury cars, with the exception of a Tesla that I love I bought because I was interested in the technology more than in the car itself.<p>But I always dreamed about having a good yacht so after selling my first company I bought one. The person who sold it to me joked about two greatest days of owning a yacht: the day you buy it, the day you sell it.<p>I did not understand at the time the second part deeply. But it did not take too long. The thing was a pain in the ass. Turns out the more beautiful the yacht, the more maintenance it needs, the bigger problems it has, the weaker it is against the elements and the bigger the storage you need to use, the more people it needs.<p>After a while I realized instead of giving me happiness it was giving me frustration, anger and pain. Instead of me owning this thing it was the opposite, the thing owning lots of my time and money.<p>In the end I just sold the thing and I felt like 100 kgs(200pounds) were taken off my shoulders and it was an amazing moment.<p>In the future if I need sailing I will lend it instead.<p>Being wealthy could be a trap. It is a good thing to have some psychological training first and prepare. Also learn about investing your own money, never trust others with your money, specially if they are the experts.
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askafriendabout 8 years ago
It sounds like a fun challenge. Someone sign me up please. The average downsides of wealth are far better than the average downsides of being poor.<p>I understand where this article is coming from though and it does a good job of making the point it intends to.
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Johnny555about 8 years ago
<i>I have become aware that I tend to worry about not having enough money in the future, and that this fear has been with me all of my life.</i><p>Less affluent people have that same fear, the difference being that &quot;in the future&quot; can mean next year, next month, or even tomorrow.<p>While wealthy people may worry that they won&#x27;t be able to keep up their lifestyle forever, they know that they will still be able to buy food and shelter (and medical care) even if they lose nearly all of their wealth.
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sudhirjabout 8 years ago
Was expecting a humblebrag puffpiece, but there is a lot of experience there worth sharing. Dealing with friends &#x2F; family, self worth &#x2F; image &#x2F; confidence, investing, the luxury treadmill were all quite interesting and thought provoking.
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vcool07about 8 years ago
While i don&#x27;t necessarily agree with the overall dystopian tone of this article (almost a version of - richest person in the room is also the saddest one), I have to agree on some of the points. Below is my take on this :<p>1. Having more money does present you with complications. You can&#x27;t just keep it in a Savings account and ignore it. You just can&#x27;t , especially for long periods of time. This adds a significant amount of stress, much more than you would&#x27;ve imagined !<p>2. You start making investments (good and bad). With bad, you learn a lesson and move on. With good, you again go back to the first point.<p>3. Worst problem is when you invest in expensive&#x2F;market-risk assets (Ex:a house). After your purchase, if the market goes bad&#x2F;you don&#x27;t want to maintain it etc., it becomes a burden like no other. There are many a sleepless nights to be had in anticipation of the outcome.<p>4. I&#x27;ve a friend who goes to a 9-5 job, stays in a rented house, has a small piece of land he has bought as an investment for his old days, and spends most of his free time watching movies (basically doing what he likes). He doesn&#x27;t have a fancy car (he actually doesn&#x27;t have any car), or a fancy house, but he seems quite happy with what he has. That&#x27;s the crux of the article I presume ?
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sametmaxabout 8 years ago
So he learned literally all bottom lines from all holywood movies about wealth ever ?<p>Kudos man. I&#x27;m glad it took 5M$ to get you to that point. I paid a netflix fee for the same result but hey, tomato...
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SloopJonabout 8 years ago
From the end of the article: &quot;This article originally appeared on Medium.&quot;<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;hackernoon.com&#x2F;multi-millionaire-at-27-what-i-learned-7df8153f5425" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;hackernoon.com&#x2F;multi-millionaire-at-27-what-i-learne...</a>
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dknsabout 8 years ago
&quot;In fact, wealth can actually make life worse. We can use wealth to distract us from our deeper issues by spending money on things we don&#x27;t need, or worrying about losing our wealth.&quot;<p>You&#x27;ll have those &#x27;deeper issues&#x27; when you&#x27;re poor as well. The difference will be you&#x27;ll be anxious because you won&#x27;t be sure if you&#x27;ll have the money for all of your bills or you&#x27;ll have enough to feed your family and not worrying if you can afford next luxury car.<p>I see blogs&#x2F;articles like this pop from time to time. A rich guy (who probably didn&#x27;t ever experience in his life how it&#x27;s like to be poor) saying &quot;being rich isn&#x27;t a solution to all of your life problems&quot;. Well, I&#x27;m sure it isn&#x27;t, being rich doesn&#x27;t equal being content in life, but it sure as hell beats being poor.
palerdotabout 8 years ago
&gt;I have a very strong impression that what defines how much money or income anyone has is almost completely defined by their limiting beliefs.<p>This one really struck me. Repeatedly this point comes up in all the new age money related philosophies, and I&#x27;m kind of starting to agree with it. Nice write up.
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sundvorabout 8 years ago
&quot;Deeply enjoying whatever it is you&#x27;re experiencing right now is the ultimate wealth.&quot;<p>This. Finances are currently a struggle for me, and work hasn&#x27;t been all easy either, however I still have the ability to deeply enjoy whatever I&#x27;m doing - not all the time, but often enough that I feel happy in light of everything.<p>I feel a sense of gratitude* for that.<p>*) <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;freakonomics.com&#x2F;podcast&#x2F;why-is-my-life-so-hard&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;freakonomics.com&#x2F;podcast&#x2F;why-is-my-life-so-hard&#x2F;</a>
petardabout 8 years ago
The content ads in the article like &quot;Rich people use these 6 mental tricks to make more money&quot; or &quot;How rich people save&quot; are kind of funny - and sad at the same time.
nunezabout 8 years ago
On one hand, I appreciate the insight and advice from people much wealthier than me on how being wealthy isn&#x27;t as cracked up as it&#x27;s made out to be.<p>On the other hand, they are wealthier than me and <i>can</i> say that. I can&#x27;t. It is difficult to take their advice at face value because of it.<p>I think that the only two solutions to this problem are (1) Fore-go wanting to become wealthy and being content with what you have, or (2) Try to attain enough wealth to see for yourself whether the sacrifices made were worth it.<p>If staying where you&#x27;re at doesn&#x27;t seem right to you, then you&#x27;re only option is door (2).<p>To be clear, I don&#x27;t think that doing everything you can to make more cash is the right way to go. From what I&#x27;ve seen, it is very difficult to attain massive amounts of wealth without getting in really early on a business opportunity that rocket ships. I think having core values (i.e things you cannot give up) helps. But if the expected reaction from reading this piece is &quot;Well, being rich doesn&#x27;t sound much better than having to worry about money all of the time, so I guess I&#x27;ll just keep working at okay salary levels until I retire 60 years from now,&quot; then I can&#x27;t feel ok with that.<p>That&#x27;s where my head&#x27;s at right now.
rl3about 8 years ago
I love how the author bears resemblance to Russ Hanneman from <i>Silicon Valley</i>—even warning the reader of the perils involved in buying exotic sports cars.
mattfrommarsabout 8 years ago
I&#x27;ve noticed something which I refuse to believe might be the case. I rather deny the fact then accept it around the people I am with because if I accept it, I feel I don&#x27;t know what I&#x27;m doing in my life and all might have been a lie.<p>I&#x27;ve been living in a developing country [my home country] after moving away from a the first world country for family reason. As a 25 year old, introvert and someone who has social anxiety without ever knowing it, I just can&#x27;t understand what is happiness.<p>I have observed people out in the street, at stores, at restaurants just doing their jobs and happy. They laugh and go to small parties and look as if content. This observation was made even by a working at a small local company which wasn&#x27;t much that people just worked. They did not have any desire to make more money as to gain skills. It boggles my mind they just &#x27;keep churning&#x27;. They go back to their home living with family and come back, rinse on repeat. Even small shops, really small shops&#x2F;restaurants who might think they need money to survive, they don&#x27;t have any real check and balance. It&#x27;s literally &quot;I want this&quot;. You go off someone else where the cook might be, you pick up it up after it&#x27;s done and you head back to the cashier. The cashier doesn&#x27;t have any idea what I ordered, the quantity or anything. There is possibility just walk away without paying.<p>Whereas what I believe at the moment, I need skills and wealth to achieve happiness. I sometimes question, am I even unhappy? Yes I&#x27;m unhappy because I don&#x27;t have a career, I don&#x27;t have a home, I don&#x27;t wealth etc. But in reality, the way families work here, they want everyone to live under the same roof, making small amount of money to &#x27;run the kitchen&#x27;, share family car. Why seek an independent life when all the needs can be provided by entire families working together.<p>I fear the life I&#x27;m striving for might lead to loneliness. I.e moving away from my home, starting a career, moving to a different country from developing to develop, getting into corporate life and eventually becoming wealthy. In my eyes, I would feel I&#x27;m the most successful with most money in the bank, but what would other think?
jankotekabout 8 years ago
&gt; <i>It&#x27;s really challenging being wealthy. Approach with caution.</i>
d--babout 8 years ago
Well, this is more about what the OP unlearned. He has yet to learn how to live with moeny, now that he&#x27;s kind of stuck with it.<p>I have some very wealthy friends who do not fit that pattern at all. They know what to do with their money (and no it&#x27;s not about buying luxury cars). They know how to keep a sense of purpose in their lives. They know how to keep healthy relationships despite the money imbalance.<p>What&#x27;s interesting is what comes AFTER the realization that money doesn&#x27;t buy everything. It still buys you a lot of freedom, the question is what you do with that!
fiftyacornabout 8 years ago
The section &quot;Most financial advisors know nothing&quot; made me laugh
tudorwabout 8 years ago
Not much patronage mentioned, if you have the cash and are lacking inner beauty, why not find an auteur, artist, student, anyone who will create beauty and bring joy, throw money at it joyfully and if you are lucky you are creating cultural wealth and financial opportunity for others. Commission some art, buy your own orchestra! (Email address in profile... ;)
1ba9115454about 8 years ago
TLDR<p>The best things in life are free.
ensiferumabout 8 years ago
Boohoo... poor you.<p>Sorry no sympathy.
Kenjiabout 8 years ago
&gt;Most financial advisors know nothing<p>I worked at a bank and can confirm. Most financial advisors even lack the basic math skills, they can do linear functions if they are above average. Needless to say, I&#x27;m outta there and in tech now. Just do your homework and decide what to do with your money yourself. You&#x27;ll save time and lots of money.
andrewclunnabout 8 years ago
&quot;Limiting beliefs&quot; eh? God damn, I hate how wealthy people love their therapists so much and all need some simple dogma or narrative to explain their success. Though I guess I see poor people doing the same with finding externalized reasons for their lack of success.
behnamohabout 8 years ago
This coming from the guy who&#x27;s already <i>rich</i>.<p>I doubt he had the same opinions before he got rich.
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