I make a great salary working as a scientist at tech companies. And I also do investing and created some early stage startup at this point. But I could pursue startups more or go more into business if I cared about money that much. I realized already making 6 figures that more money doesn’t really matter for my lifestyle. Like Warren Buffett said the only real difference at the high end is transportation: private jets. I suppose one could get a bigger house but at some point it’s just wasteful and tacky, and the trappings of wealth become more and more gross and superficial at some point. I’d like a nice house, or a vacation home also, but after that I’d rather spend money on curing diseases or helping people. The other points made in this article are of some minor importance, but as Marlowann commented, they’re really problems with insecurities inside people, that people need to address anyway, they’re not pros or cons of having money.

I feel like the biggest advantage of being rich is being able to work on whatever you’re most passionate about. Since when you’re hired by someone often you’re told what to do, and that might not be the best task on which you should spend your very limited time on Earth. I feel lucky to have a career in science and technology where there is a lot of flexibility in what I can work on. Nevertheless having more money would give me more potential positive impact on the world.

Some of the other perks such as having houses in multiple countries, can actually be had by people with less income if they just shop for a good deal and rent out the house when they’re gone. Beautiful women can be had by anyone who works out, has a decent career, has good social skills, and practices dating. If you want to be superficial, even luxury cars can be obtained on the cheap by shopping for a used car. I don’t care about luxury cars and I enjoy a pretty woman but it’s more important she has a good soul.

So on the whole I mostly view wealth as something utilitarian to let me work on fun problems, since I already have enough money to live a nice lifestyle. I mostly do investing for the theoretical reasons that it helps correctly allocate capital to growing businesses thus creating jobs, prevents loss of principal due to the central bank, and benefits capitalism and creates new technologies. Similar reasons for my startup. That is, the drive to make money is because of the theory of making the world better, and not the practical benefit of spending it. The practical benefits don’t actually seem that big since I know rich and non-rich technologists and we all live nearly identical lives anyway, it’s just we get to do more or less exciting work and have more or less ability to change the world. Getting that extra $100k, or even $1m in funds will modify only a little bit of my day, where maybe I take a helicopter home instead of car, but on the whole I’ll be happy either way and just do fun and challenging activities.

Probably the money is most appealing to people who are so superficial that they interpret having a helicopter instead of a car as evidence of them being a better person. This superficiality is a non-sequitur although greatly encouraged by my society (America). It doesn’t really change their lives much, and almost surely worsens their character, personality, relationships, and friendships. However even if these people are only motivated by the superficial desire to flaunt their ego and as a result they create businesses, jobs, services, goods, then this is still a good thing, which is probably why this is held out as a carrot, motivating people to be rich. But the motivation is backwards so it would probably be better if people were directly motivated by the desire to create businesses and improve society than being driven solely by money, that way they wouldn’t be driven by negative emotions such as jealousy, or feel their motivation is gone if they become rich.

That money doesn’t bring you happiness isn’t a problem with money; it’s a problem with building up unrealistic and inaccurate expectations.

If being rich means the end of your goals and ambitions, then you are a very shallow person. Try pursuing wisdom and truth, and fulfillment of the mind; not only can you do that while trying to get rich at the same time, but once you’re rich, you can still keep on with those higher pursuits.

And nobody cares about being judged unfairly. Surround yourself with as many wise and good people as you can and this will never be any more than an occasional and minor nuisance. Besides that, if people get aggressively envious, you can afford jiu-jitsu lessons and a gun license.

Someone being richer than you is, again, not a problem with money, but with a lack of gratitude. If I have $20 million, I won’d give a damn if the next guy has $25 million; because I have more than enough for what I need materially already.

As for guilt, be honestly charitable and have good use (for yourself to save or spend, or for others) for every single dollar you have, and you will never feel guilt. I don’t see the point in even bringing this up.

Hiring others to handle your wealth isn’t a problem with being wealthy but rather with how you use your wealth, along with how much you know about the use to which you put it. Keep things as simple as you can and plan things out ahead of time and it won’t be complicated enough to justify a complaint.

Scams and fraudsters are preventable by means of research and credibility. If you can’t keep things simple enough to avoid great problems with how you organize and protect your money, you may as well give most of it away to charity and manage the rest by yourself.

Your last point has far more to do with recognizing female psychology than with being rich; most people who are good with women rarely come across this problem. There are signs you can look out for and subtle tests you can give to weed out the gold diggers.

Cons. Where do I go next after visiting all the places/countries I like?
.-= DJ@ProductivePinoy on: Avoid Low Price Strategy =-.