It seems everyone just wants more and more money. I don't have anything against it. However, I myself get very confused as to what my reasons are towards killing myself for it. While I do make a decent living as of now, I don't know if I should aim for more. My aim in life is to live a simple, healthy life and close to family and friends. If your aim is to have 4-5 international vacations a year in lavish place, buy a house on the hills, well then more power to you. Amongst people that seem to have similar goals as me and approximately similar income (200-400k) some common reasons behind chasing money and the fallacies that I find in them are (FYI, I am an immigrant, 27 and unmarried): Happier family : money does help with happiness to a certain extent. However, it feels that if you have an understanding spouse, one can be happy amongst themselves with the decent living that most of us make. Some people might have expensive spouses. Kids and education: It feels like if your kids turn out okay, you wouldn't have needed to save a lot of money. If your kids don't turn out okay, it doesn't matter how much you save, it will always be less (unless you literally have > 10M or so to throw your money wherever). Is this situation is what people are betting against ? Housing: well this is tricky. Housing is definitely important, but the more everyone chases it, the more it gets out of everyone's hand. Moreover, my belief is owning a house is a dream sold to people by corporate world in order to keep the wheels moving. Health: if you are reading this, you probably have an health insurance. Recession/Apocalypse: is the idea to make hay while the sun shines ? I feel this was applicable literally in the world where you had to make hay to live, not in modern world. And if it's Apocalypse, well then, everyone will die. Money is a reflection that you have created value : Yes, but people who actually believe in that don't chase money and not worry about whether they can make 20k more by switching jobs.
It's not what u make. It's what you keep, (and how you grow the savings). I try to focus on the latter and just enjoy what I do have.
Granted. But if you keep a lot of what you make, what drives you to keep making (and thus keeping) more. Do you have an exit condition to the make/keep loop?
Good q. I have very specific numbers for specific major expenses - kids edu, kids wedding, retirement general expenses, health care in old age and taking care of parents/family. Of course, traveling the world before and during retirement. Numbers may change depending on how the situation changes, but atleast I have written down goals for each category
Because you never know what can happen tomorrow. Ones salary is just one stream of income one should have. Limiting spending and becoming more valuable and diversifying income streams makes the most sense. So maximize the earning you can do and join the firm that pays you the most AND you believe in.
Because I’m bored and don’t have anything interesting to do. I use money as a scoreboard to create an artificial game that doesn’t mean anything to anyone but me.
By making more money I can buy other investments. As the only one in my family that "made it" I am everyone's retirement plan or they are going to have a rough life. If they were in the same position as me they'd do the same thing. My plan is to buy houses and have them refurbish and manage them. These are Midwest houses and they are real cheap so we can get a lot of them. My personal goal is to be a Principal Engineer and be able to impact what amounts to huge swaths of the internet. I am very goal oriented, if I don't have a direction to point the ship in, I'll start feeling useless and stagnated. Also all this money gives me incredible freedom. Feeling stressed out? I'll take a week or two and go to Europe or the Caribbean. Feeling bored? I'll sign up for scuba classes. It's all about flexibility.
Your goal of doing things for your family is noble. Also, a follow up question: Why does flexibility for you equate to doing things that require a lot of money ? There are other options that are much fulfilling that require much less money, like meeting old friends and family, going out in nature somewhere, swimming in a lake somewhere close. I guess I am trying to point out a tendency - what I think is a fallacy - amongst people of trying to make money in order to spend it on things that need money.
Maybe I'm a materialistic douche? (I am not trying to be accusatory here) Dunno I just like a lot of activities that most people would consider expensive. It could have something to do with my upbringing, we had no money and I always wanted things. Now I don't want anything. I budget roughly, but I don't really need to. If I want to go to Europe, I do. I often fly business/first class. These things give me pleasure. Perhaps with more time that mentality will change.
Early retirement is the goal
'Kids turn out ok', what does that mean? But let's pick on the kid thing for a second... 4yr college w room & board @ decent (not great) school in about 5 years from now, will run about 60-75k/year... if you're making 300k/yr ur kid wont get any need based assistance... so, you'll need 250-300k in cash to put 1 kid through school... if u have 2 kids, double that... so, u still need to ask why 300k/year may not be enough to thrive for? Also, not everyone want to drive a corolla all their life, especially if the spend 2-3 hrs/day driving...
There are many great schools where you don't need to pay that much. California residents in Berkeley only need to pay around 15k/yr. Many good schools are also need blind. While my knowledge about all US schools is limited, I think it's fallacy to assume that your kids need to study at Stanford.
Also school is only the first step, not the only step in the evolution of a person. A good kid can make the most of a reasonable situation. While a good education is definitely important, it doesn't necessarily mean top and expensive school in many cases.
FIRE, do what I want.
Any advice on getting Facebook interview? Should I reach out to recruiters on LinkedIn?
Meh on recruiters. You can, better luck reaching out to eng and getting a referral. There has been several posts on blind people offering up referring people in as well. Maybe start a post.
I grew up poor, and while that doesn't directly make you unhappy, it takes away your choices. Being rich comes with other problems, but if you want to quit your job, or move, or get medical treatment, or go meditate in nepal, it enables you to try these things where you might otherwise be trapped in a prison of your life. For most I think the goal is to have enough that you have that freedom for the rest of your life.
Could you not do those activities with the money you make now ? Would 50k extra next year make a lot of difference to that ?
I could today, or next year, but I, at least don't have the equity/savings to do that forever, and I don't assume that I'll make this much guaranteed for life. Once you have a decent amount built up coasting in comfort is perfectly reasonable.
I am simply looking to achieve true financial freedom. Money is not the end goal per say. It will however enable me to work on whatever I want, whenever I want. To be able to know exactly what I truly want to do in life, I need enough money to stop worrying or thinking about said money, to be able to just stop working anytime, try some new things and learn some new skills or follow some other passions that could be expensive or simply not bringing in any cash. Coding is not a passion for me, solving problems is, but I believe I have to go through a few years of coding before finding other ways to solve problems at a higher level rather than sitting in front of a black screen 11 hours a day.
Thanks, money as an enabler is a good point. However would you agree that after a certain point, it stops adding much value to the aim ? And that point isn't too hard to achieve for most of us in Tech ?
Certainly achievable here but the idea is to reach it as fast as possible.
Because my life is empty and lacks any semblance of value. Equating my worth to a dollar sign and seeing that number increase is the only thing that makes me feel worthwhile.
This is the most profound statement I have seen till date on blind. Thanks for making my day.
I agree with Darius 100%.