Money is a misery

He is not really that rich. He has more than me, but less than some on this board. And he is married! His wife went along with this?
 
I was surprised to read that he is married. I hope that goes well for him as he does seem to be a very nice man.

For many years, he said, he was not brave enough to give up his comforts. The tipping point came during a three-week holiday with his wife in Hawaii.
''It was the biggest shock in my life when I realised how horrible, soulless and without feeling the five-star lifestyle is.
''In those three weeks we spent all the money you could possibly spend. But in all that time we had the feeling we hadn't met a single real person - that we were all just actors. The staff played the role of being friendly and the guests played the role of being important, and nobody was real.''

Sounds about right to me. The affluent life does more or less suck. But in many places, it takes quite a bit of money to just feel safe that whatever modest lifestyle and comforts you have chosen for yourself can reasonably be expected to continue.

Ha
 
Money is simply a tool, and its effects are determined by how it is wielded. If in the course of accumulating a lot of it one develops an obsession with continuing to accumulate more of it, yeah, I can see that becoming misery.
 
I don't desire wealth or money but I do desire enough of it to not have to work anymore!
 
It's great to read that. He's a wise person with the courage to act on his wisdom, IMO.

haha said:
The affluent life does more or less suck. But in many places, it takes quite a bit of money to just feel safe that whatever modest lifestyle and comforts you have chosen for yourself can reasonably be expected to continue.
Click to expand...

Also true and very well said!
 
To paraphrase the great philosopher Johnny Depp: "Money doesn't buy happiness.....but you can buy a boat that goes right up to its dock.":blush:
 
I know many Europeans who think that money, beyond the point of providing a simple and comfortable lifestyle, IS misery. Yes, there is such a thing as having "too much" money on the old continent. People satisfy themselves with less for a variety of reasons, i.e. political (leftists), religious (Catholic's vow of poverty), societal (money invites jealousy) and cultural (carpe diem).
 
FIREdreamer said:
I know many Europeans who think that money, beyond the point of providing a simple and comfortable lifestyle, IS misery. Yes, there is such a thing as having "too much" money on the old continent. People satisfy themselves with less for a variety of reasons, i.e. political (leftists), religious (Catholic's vow of poverty), societal (money invites jealousy) and cultural (carpe diem).
Click to expand...

Another reason is their superior safety nets. Anyway, I don't really buy this. It costs big coin to have a nice apt in the central part of London, Paris, Berlin, Barcelona. Euopeans do talk a good game though.

Ha
 
Soooo, per this article we know that at the $5.3 million level you are a "tycoon"...

You tycoons here... how does it feel:confused: :ROFLMAO:


And another question... what is the smallest amount you can have to be part of the club? Or is it how you spend it? I mean, this guy was spending like he had more... so I would guess his income was pretty good to support his lifestyle...
 
From a post by Alan, I learned that Europeans are conditioned to be content with the social safety net that they have. Hence, they do not need to save up and amass a large personal savings like we do in the US. Who is to say that we even have enough? There is a current thread on how medical insurance has been going up. Yes, ours has been going up steadily too.

I need a lot of money to feel safe. That's my story and I am sticking to it.
 
I think what he is doing is silly, but whatever works for him. I just hope he won't regret it later.

I don't think anybody here would ever have the same problem this guy has. I say this because I think most of the people here practice LBYM. And people here in general are sensible. - We know the value of money, but we don't go out spending tons trying to fill some emptiness inside ourselves.

This guy is just not happy. Not because he has money. I think this guy thought having tons of money would make him happy. And now he has tons, he has realized that it hasn't made him happy. And now, he thinks getting rid of money would make him happy.
 
haha said:
Another reason is their superior safety nets. Anyway, I don't really buy this. It costs big coin to have a nice apt in the central part of London, Paris, Berlin, Barcelona. Euopeans do talk a good game though.

Ha
Click to expand...

Yeah you're right. What do I know about Europe anyways.
 
I think he's realized that money, despite its benefits, has a huge cost of ownership.
 
This thread reminds me a lot of Eric Hoffer, fruit picker, longshoreman, and writer of many interesting books on society, the best known probably being The True Believer.

Fro Wikipedia-
"He postulated that fanaticism and self-righteousness are rooted in self-hatred, self-doubt, and insecurity. As he describes in The True Believer, he believed a passionate obsession with the outside world or with the private lives of other people is merely a craven attempt to compensate for a lack of meaning in one's own life."

Ha
 
NW-Bound said:
From a post by Alan, I learned that Europeans are conditioned to be content with the social safety net that they have. Hence, they do not need to save up and amass a large personal savings like we do in the US. Who is to say that we even have enough? There is a current thread on how medical insurance has been going up. Yes, ours has been going up steadily too.
Click to expand...
This may be true, but the problem is that they face many of the same ticking time bombs with unfunded liabilities and promised future benefits as we do. And I would submit that any cuts in unsustainable promises would hit those a lot harder who always just assumed the benefits would be there for them than it would hit people who were skeptical about it from a young age and decided they needed to be able to rely on themselves as a "fallback" position in case economics forced governments to renege on their promises.
 
haha said:
Another reason is their superior safety nets. Anyway, I don't really buy this. It costs big coin to have a nice apt in the central part of London, Paris, Berlin, Barcelona. Euopeans do talk a good game though.

Ha
Click to expand...


Yeah, but my nice apt costs big coin here in NY too and I don't get security of health care coverage. :)
 
Soon they'll write about me:

Family Sells $1.5M Home for One That's One Third The Price To Help Said Family Retire in Early 40s
 
The guy sure needs a new set of friends, and he sounds like a publicity hound. I hope he's covered his health insurance & long-term care, and I don't just mean of the "we'll call you in about six months when we have the availability to remove that tumor" variety.

Deadline journalism aside, "Stewardship 101" can be quite the burden of responsibility. Chuck Feeney's lifestyle makes this Austrian tycoon look like a piker.
 
haha said:
The affluent life does more or less suck.

Ha
Click to expand...
If your life sucks, IMO, it's not because you are affluent. Now if you've bought a bunch of expensive stuff because you were trying to reach some level of status or luxury or whatever - sure, that can lead to misery.

haha said:
For many years, he said, he was not brave enough to give up his comforts. The tipping point came during a three-week holiday with his wife in Hawaii.
''It was the biggest shock in my life when I realised how horrible, soulless and without feeling the five-star lifestyle is.
''In those three weeks we spent all the money you could possibly spend. But in all that time we had the feeling we hadn't met a single real person - that we were all just actors. The staff played the role of being friendly and the guests played the role of being important, and nobody was real.''
Click to expand...
I have to say, I don't get this. Just because you have money it doesn't mean you have to spend it this way. Yes, you can go and stay at 5-star resorts, but you don't have to. One of the best trips ever to Hawaii was an extended group birding trip where we tromped all over several islands in some really remote areas and saw lots of unique and awesome stuff. And other times we found a modest vacation condo at a very good location, and then did tons of stuff on our own and had a blast. Hardly ever saw the hotel staff - too busy.

We avoid resort vacations like the plague mainly because they do seem artificial and not worth the money, but mainly because they don't accommodate our interests. We like to get out and do stuff. You can do that for little $$, you can do that for lotta $$$. Either way, you're probably gonna have a lot of fun.

I think this is just someone not knowing how to go and do things that are fun. Just like people who get bored with only recreative activities in retirement (although there are plenty who don't get bored with only recreative activities). Having money means that you have more means to go do what you really want to spend your time doing.

And then there is a major benefit of money of getting involved in things that are really important to you where you can donate your money and your time. Also - having a safety net to help family members out if they are in dire need.

So isn't this just a case of someone getting caught up in some kind of pre-conceived notion that if you have money you are required to spend it (and your time) in a certain way?

This is really bizarre - he might be worth $5.3M - but it looks like most of it was tied up in multiple luxury homes and toys? I agree with that - yeeeeech! And was he still working to afford all that stuff? That sounds like a big part of his problem. I just can't imagine having most of my net worth tied up in multiple (expensive to maintain, I'm sure) homes! Certainly the nest egg required to sustain such a lifestyle without working would be quite a bit higher than his current net worth.

I can't believe he is so simplistic in his thinking. Maybe that is how he got into all this trouble in the first place.

FWIW - according to this article I am also a "tycoon". But since I am the "Tycoon next door" type, my life is very, very different.

Audrey
 
Onward said:
I think he's realized that money, despite its benefits, has a huge cost of ownership.
Click to expand...
That is what he thinks is the problem. But money has very little cost of ownership - in fairly liquid investments, very little at all. It's the THINGS that can have a high cost of ownership. And the pursuit of a certain type of lifestyle.

Audrey
 
The article is very fishy to me--I think he is looking for publicity to sell his real estate. And I do wonder if his wife has separate assets.

Had he gone to a different resort in Hawaii where they made him feel really special and less like "actors," would he not be selling everything off?
 
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