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more money, more problems?

Tell that to the average American who spends 75% of their waking hours away from their family slaving away at a job just so they can live pay check to pay check.
 
This seems to be a myth perpetuated by people who have more money than they need, trying to make other people believe that it's a tough life making 500k a year.
 
JMapleton said:
Tell that to the average American who spends 75% of their waking hours away from their family slaving away at a job just so they can live pay check to pay check.
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In order to enjoy premium cable packages, take frequent trips to the casino, and exercise their Gawd-given right as red-blooded 'Merican to drive a monstrous vehicle that gets 12MPG.

I see lots of people working paycheck to paycheck. And every last one of them either has never heard of birth control or they piss their income down the drain on bullshit consumerism (hell I was one of them for most of my 20s).
 
tcsenter said:
In order to enjoy premium cable packages, take frequent trips to the casino, and exercise their Gawd-given right as red-blooded 'Merican to drive a monstrous vehicle that gets 12MPG.

I see lots of people working paycheck to paycheck. And every last one of them either has never heard of birth control or they piss their income down the drain on bullshit consumerism (hell I was one of them for most of my 20s).
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It's one thing for a vain person with no true interests or hobbies to waste money in mindless pleasures or "keep up with the Jones's."

But it takes money for most people to pursue their interests and see the world.

I do not wish to spend my life in a Thoreau-esque fashion simply trying to survive.
 
Money doesn't buy happiness, but lack of money sure buys unhappiness.

The problem with more money though, is that it usually comes with more stress. You can earn a bit more than minimum wage working at jobs with no responsibility. End of the day and you go home. Nothing work related to worry about. Screw up once and you just shift to the next minimum wage job tomorrow (someone may suffer through burned/cold fries though, the tragedy!) The tradeoff is that there are lots of money problems to worry about.

When you go to high paying fields, that often comes with high responsibility. Screw up once as a CEO and you might bankrupt thousands of people, go to jail, and be unhireable for life. Think Enron or similar. Sure there are few money problems with that life, but you have serious other issues nagging you 24/7. You don't ever stop working with that kind of stress. I knew two people who tried, both committed suicide.

It is probably more accurate to say it is a U-shaped curve. No money = major problems. High money usually = major stress. In between, life is good.
 
The more you have, the more people want to take away. This is true with anything.

I know lots of families who do grew up really poor with one or two people who ended up making a decent living. Every other day is immediate family asking for money. It's the same line every single time..."Oh, you make 50K a year, you should have lots of money to help me".
 
Gibson486 said:
The more you have, the more people want to take away. This is true with anything.

I know lots of families who do grew up really poor with one or two people who ended up making a decent living. Every other day is immediate family asking for money. It's the same line every single time..."Oh, you make 50K a year, you should have lots of money to help me".
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Entitlement mentality, ftl.

I have been amazed/inspired by the large percentage of my childhood friends that have done well. We all were lower middle class with, for the most part, both parents working. Maybe 1 out of 10 hasn't done better than our parents.
 
TalonStrike said:
more money, more problems?
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It depends on the person.

I have seen people that got $100,000, or even $200,000 from a will or insurance settlement, and in a couple of months they have blown the money with nothing to show for it.

One guy I know, he got around $200,000 when he turned 18. The money came from trust fund. Within 3 or 4 months he had blown all of the $200,000 and had nothing to show for it. He bought a new truck for $40,000, a couple of $10,000 4-wheelers, and trashed them all. The ATVs got water in the motors and were sold for maybe $2,000. The truck was traded in a few months later on another new truck. In all, I think he bought 3 or 4 trucks, one right after the other.

I think that money can cause bitter feelings. I know people who got an insurance settlement, then developed attitudes that they were better then everyone else.

This one lady I know, she refers to middle class people as trash. She got her money through an insurance settlement from a car wreck. Even though she was raised in a poor family, she now looks down on people that struggle for money.
 
I agree with the assessment of a "U-shaped" curve, with the problems on either end just being different. I'd say the sweetspot range for a single person is $60k-$90k (plus Cost of Living adjustments for location - NY != SD), and married is $130k-$180k, plus additional $ for kids. This gives plenty of money to plan for retirement and live a good life, without having the stresses of "being rich."

Getting rich off a trust fund or insurance settlement and becoming an a-hole isn't a problem, it's just called being an a-hole.
 
Money makes good people better and bad people worse, and accentuates whatever traits you have. If you cant manage $500/wk, you cant manage $5000/week. If youre a gambler, you'll lose even more. If youre a saver, you'll save even more.
 
blackangst1 said:
Money makes good people better and bad people worse, and accentuates whatever traits you have. If you cant manage $500/wk, you cant manage $5000/week. If youre a gambler, you'll lose even more. If youre a saver, you'll save even more.
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This. People who screw up their lives after winning the lottery were generally screw ups beforehand.
 
Its usually better to not flash your money around until you can be sure it can't be taken from you. Security > Random money flying around buying usless shit. I do that with a death stare and a readiness to shoot anybody trying to take my stuff dishonestly. Because theives need to learn not to be theives.
 
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