Gates to students: Don’t try to be a billionaire, it’s overrated
74 replies, posted
[QUOTE=raviool;33010159]"being a billionaire is overrated"
-billionaire[/QUOTE]
If anything a billionare would be more qualified to tell you it isn't worth it rather than someone who isn't. It's like when teetotal people tell you alcohol isn't worth it, i'd rather hear that from a russian alcoholic who's destroyed half his liver.
[QUOTE=Ninja Duck;33013174]Good god, you're right.[/QUOTE]
Think this is fine.
i don't think a few million dollars can buy what i want to be happy
[QUOTE=Shiftyze;33007540]Money isn't happiness. Just look at all the happy children in Africa. They are the happiest people in the world.[/QUOTE]
[img]http://www.foreignpolicy.com/files/fp_uploaded_images/101029_11_93450111.jpg[/img]
they look happy to me
[QUOTE=Second-gear-of-mgear;33014475]No, I'm pretty sure having loads of money would make me happy. All the things that get me sad/angry are caused by lack of money. Literally all of the things. Being homeless, money. Not able to have my brothers tumor removed, Money (or no national healthcare).[/QUOTE]
You missed my point so hard I can't believe it.
[B]Point is[/B] doing what you love while having just enough money so you don't have to worry about anything.
Don't go overkill like the [I]400 elite[/I] in the US
Comprende?
[QUOTE=Shiftyze;33007540]Money isn't happiness. Just look at all the happy children in Africa. They are the happiest people in the world.[/QUOTE]
Once you pass a certain threshold to accomplish your individual basic need to survive and live withing reasonably comfortable levels, it really doesn't.
My Co-workers don't understand how I am complacent with making "only" $1k-1.2k a month when I pay about 430 in rent+bills, and 250 or so in gas+groceries (I can go way lower, but my regular grocery shopping spending habits are within "comfortable living" range). So every month I have about $300-$600 in unspent money floating about.
Honestly, life is good. The $600-$700 I spend per month 100% covers all living expenses to live comfortably. So what is left over, is more than enough to save up half of it for when I need it, and spend the rest on whatever tickles my fancy. From nice coffee to a lunch to pizza to a TV or some electronics, etc. Mind you I don't buy all of those things at once, but that's okay. If I want to pay for a $500 road trip to nevada/arizona for a week, I just cut that "bonus cash" spending for two months, and viola: I've saved up enough to do something like that (which I am doing, this winter during the first week of december). If I ever get in a situation where my living costs get high, I have plenty of options to cut them down (buy cheaper groceries, move into a place with cheaper rent, etc).
Peoples expectations are way too high, and consumer culture dictactes that you must have things to be happy, and that money is your most valuble resource. This is completely wrong. Time is your most valuble resource. Why? Because if you lose $50 to a parking ticket, misplaced cash, or a bad investment, you can always regain that money later. Money is a valuble resource, no doubt, but it is renewable, and it is simply a tool.
Time on the otherhand, is a wholly different matter. You can replace lost money, but you can't replace lost time. If you lose 50 hours of your life to bullshit like working unnessicarily large amounts of hours, waiting in a giant line on Black Friday to get a TV for $100 cheaper, stressing about money, or not being true to yourself, you will NEVER get that time back. You'll notice when you start valuing your time more than your money, that it'll seem like you'll always have enough money for whatever you actually need. Because when money becomes a tool instead of something you need to have as much as you possibly can, you'll find yourself having more of it for things that actually matter to you.
Note that I am assuming that you make at least enough to live comfortably within your means, bills, etc. Obviously money becomes exponetually more valuble to you if you are so poverty stricken that you can't afford to live in much more than a shack. But even then, the above still applies, even if its at a much lower scale.
[QUOTE=Moose;33014963][img]http://www.foreignpolicy.com/files/fp_uploaded_images/101029_11_93450111.jpg[/img]
they look happy to me[/QUOTE]
Is that a picture of that kids quiz where the winners were rewarded assault rifles and hand grenades. It looks like the guy is handing that gun to the kids and they're like OH WOW MY FIRST RIFLE NOW I CAN SHOW THE NEIGHBOURHOOD BOYS WHOS THE BOSS
Billionaires are always so boring, maybe to them it seems like it's overrated, but they do fuck all with their money, so of course to them it seems like it's too much.
Why don't billionaires start investing shitloads of money into amazing medical advances, space flight, moon colonies, maybe build themselves something huge and exotic, or just give all their billions away until they only have the few million that they themselves have said is the limit to how much money you really need.
The only limit to how much money you need is your own imagination, and for some reason everyone who gets rich seems to have the imagination of the cardboard box's that I'm sure to get for this post.
[QUOTE=The Baconator;33010969]But everyone wants to talk to you if you're rich, it's just human nature that we want to deny.[/QUOTE]
Except then you know that almost everyone who wants to be your friend does so only because of your money. That, to me, doesn't sound particularly fulfilling, or like it would lead to happiness.
[editline]29th October 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=Wam;33020852][b]Billionaires are always so boring, maybe to them it seems like it's overrated, but they do fuck all with their money, so of course to them it seems like it's too much.[/b]
[b]Why don't billionaires start investing shitloads of money into[/b] amazing medical advances, space flight, moon colonies, maybe build themselves something huge and exotic, [b]or just give all their billions away[/b] until they only have the few million that they themselves have said is the limit to how much money you really need.[/QUOTE]
lol do you know anything about Bill Gates? He's very well-known for giving most of his money away to charity. He's one of the good guys.
Having enough money to feed yourself and family and pay bills is ok, having money to be able to buy a second car is cool, having so much money you can't even spend it all is AWESOME.
If I was as rich as Bill, I'd invest some in my hobbies and things I love, like open a game studio for the sake of making games, since I was a rich fuck I wouldn't care about losses.
Then donate and support various causes to get positive rep and be known as "the kindest rich man on earth".
Doing all that is a motivation for me to get rich. Sadly chances of becoming one are low, but there's no reason to drop this goal since it doesn't interfere with anything.
[QUOTE=AceOfDivine;33021025]Having enough money to feed yourself and family and pay bills is ok, having money to be able to buy a second car is cool, having so much money you can't even spend it all is AWESOME.
If I was as rich as Bill, I'd invest some in my hobbies and things I love, like open a game studio for the sake of making games, since I was a rich fuck I wouldn't care about losses.
Then donate and support various causes to get positive rep and be known as "the kindest rich man on earth".
Doing all that is a motivation for me to get rich. Sadly chances of becoming one are low, but there's no reason to drop this goal since it doesn't interfere with anything.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE]You want to make enemies, try to change something.[/QUOTE]
[I]Someone[/I] would try and kill you, y'know. And that's just terrible.
[QUOTE=Cone;33021116][I]Someone[/I] would try and kill you, y'know. And that's just terrible.[/QUOTE]
If you go into a business world someone will want to kill you. That's nothing new. If they killed me, they wouldn't get my riches anyway.
And if I was known to be a kind millionaire, I could die happy.
[QUOTE=Falchion;33020785]Is that a picture of that kids quiz where the winners were rewarded assault rifles and hand grenades. It looks like the guy is handing that gun to the kids and they're like OH WOW MY FIRST RIFLE NOW I CAN SHOW THE NEIGHBOURHOOD BOYS WHOS THE BOSS[/QUOTE]
I think it is, but to me it looks like he's just showing them how to use it
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