Winning $20 M Won't Make You Happy

Its not an aversion, it's speaking from experience above a certain level, something you apparently never experienced (yet). Perhaps you will get there in the future and it might change your mind.

cruisecontrol said:
That is an amazing story of your journey to become a trader :thumbsup:

I am a little confused how you say money itself does not bring happiness but then proceed immediately to give several examples of how having money made you happier. You say it buys time, but as we know time is money. It's almost like people have some kind of conditioned aversion to the whole concept of money being able to bring happiness.
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Interesting thread. Everyone has a strong opinion. I guess that's to be expected.

What I know... is that all people, regardless of their rung on the socioeconomic ladder, they never really appreciate what they have until its gone. Maybe @volpri will chime in here and give his opinion on 20MM. He has shared here on ET how he lost his daughter to cancer. I couldn't imagine. I'm willing to bet he'd spend every penny... for one more day with her. I would. That 20MM means nothing.

Stevie Wynn once said years ago he'd give every penny away... just to see again. I never forgot that. (He's legally blind)

So I don't know. Someone here said happiness has to come from within. I'm gonna have to go with that I guess. It does come from within. Its not the money, its the person.

Cherish your real friends and your real family. They are one and the same btw, it has nothing to do with shared dna. True happiness is loving and being loved. Cherish your health.

All of you are blessed at this moment in time... no matter what you're lot in life or what you are going through. It can always be worse.
....Don't ever forget that.
 
Exactly, and what rubs me the wrong way is how a lot of guys who never experienced to make more pretend to know what life is like with more money in the account. Coincidently those are the same people who buy lottery tickets week in week out

comagnum said:
Having a lot of $ will not make you happy, at best it will give you better resources to optimize your lifestyle. If your not currently following your passions - or don't have any to begin with, than thinking having a lot of $ will change that is just an illusion.

Wise people are well aware that their health is the most important asset they have - not money. Any billionaire on their death bed would gladly give every single dollar they have if it would make them healthy & younger.

Studies on wealth & happiness in the U.S. show those making less than $75,000 are happier as their income rises towards this number - however, no matter how much more than $75,000 people make, they don't report any greater degree of happiness.

"Money isn't real, It doesn't matter. It only seems like it does. Sometimes you're flush. Sometimes you're bust. And when you're up, it's never as good as it seems. And when you're down, you never think you'll be up again. But life goes on." - film Blow
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GRULSTMRNN said:
Its not an aversion, it's speaking from experience above a certain level, something you apparently never experienced (yet). Perhaps you will get there in the future and it might change your mind.
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You seem to have a very binary way of thinking. Either I am contented with my lot in life, or not. Either I have experienced this threshold and thus am able to understand it, or not. Either money buys happiness, or not. That's not how this stuff works. One does not need to experience an arbitrary threshold of wealth to understand the concept of diminishing marginal utility. It is present in all aspects of life.
 
vanzandt said:
What I know... is that all people, regardless of their rung on the socioeconomic ladder, they never really appreciate what they have until its gone. Maybe @volpri will chime in here and give his opinion on 20MM. He has shared here on ET how he lost his daughter to cancer. I couldn't imagine. I'm willing to bet he'd spend every penny... for one more day with her. I would. That 20MM means nothing.
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I don't know how rich @volpri is but for most people 20MM is like 10 lifetimes worth of earnings. The idea that someone would trade their entire life's work for one single day with a loved one is frankly ludicrous. It is just feel-good nonsense.
 
Well I beg to disagree.

cruisecontrol said:
You seem to have a very binary way of thinking. Either I am contented with my lot in life, or not. Either I have experienced this threshold and thus am able to understand it, or not. Either money buys happiness, or not. That's not how this stuff works. One does not need to experience an arbitrary threshold of wealth to understand the concept of diminishing marginal utility. It is present in all aspects of life.
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comagnum said:
Any billionaire on their death bed would gladly give every single dollar they have if it would make them healthy & younger.
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That's a statement not only put in the mouth of billionaires but basically people of any wealth, Not sure it is substantiated though. Once one has enough money for himself one tends to work for the sake of it but also to be able to give out to descendants or causes he believes in.
Not obvious one would just give up what he worked for for so long to be healthy again, plus be ready to be poor (again). Ime being poor sucks, i might opt for a quick death while still reasonably healthy rather than being poor again.
The choice to be young again doesn't come up anyway, but it would be interesting to see how much of their net worth people are willing to spend on treatment depending on the chance of success, and how long life expectancy it brings them. There's probably a point where many feel it is not worth sacrificing too much of the family's money and going through the treatment, which are usually not a fun ride. Hard to say how people react on death's door, but i doubt it is the same for all.
 
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vanzandt said:
he lost his daughter to cancer. I couldn't imagine. I'm willing to bet he'd spend every penny... for one more day with her. I would. That 20MM means nothing.
.
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Don't want to bet too much on specific numbers , but I'd suspect many parents would be ready to spend more to save a child than themselves.
The killing of a Sacred Deer is a must see movie on the topic btw, awesome :

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5715874/
 
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Buy1Sell2 said:
Of course winning 20 M would make you happy---Get Right
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B1S2,

You missed the main points of the article: There are things in life that will make you happier than winning $20 M.

Also, to me, there is a fundamental difference in happiness between winning $20 M vs earning $20 M.

Earning $20 M gives you a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. Knowing you have financial freedom should make you happy: But you don't need $20 M for that.

Knowing that if necessary, you know how to make another $20 M, priceless. :D
 
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