In the end, is it all about trying to be rich?
 

I think we all have heard the phrase "money can't buy you happiness". Sure I can believe that... Any person, no matter what wealthe will have problems, of some kind.

But lots of money...seriously... won't it just make life easier?


I am trying to decide, what route I want to take my life in. As far as education and stuff... Should I go with my heart and just fool around and have fun, or should I be ambitious and try to get as much money as I possible can?



My dad, is a person who prioritized money above everything. Even above his own family. To him, money is what matters. He seems to think that people won't like him, if he does not have money...

Hes a old fashioned guy who can't say thank you, or say "I love you". Instead he has to give away tons of stuff and show off...

Maybe thats why I am thinking this way, but my big brother, who is 12 years older than me, thinks the same. He became a real estate agent, only because of the money.


In the end... how important is it, having a big house, a nice car and all that? Does it really matter in the end?

Probably not. After all, death is the unltimate equalizer. But maybe that's just me.

Money is important. Personally, I'd be happy enough living a minimalist lifestyle. But when I start to think about things like raising a family, yes, money matters. Because I wouldn't want my children or my wife to have to live the same lifestyle that I would, just because I wasn't ambitious enough or didn't try hard enough. And if for nothing else, I'd want my children to be able to attend the college of their choice, so that they'd be able to pursue what ever path they wanted in life.

If you don't plan on having children, that's fine. But just keep it in mind that things change with time. We all feel and do things now, and feel differently later - it's inevitable. Don't be hesitant about making decisions, but don't make a decision that you may come to regret later.

I also don't think that having money or a job that you enjoy has to be an either-or scenario, either. Just because you're not making millions a year doesn't mean your job isn't high-paying. And ultimately, what it comes down to is your lifestyle and your job. Just because you make a lot at work doesn't mean you really make a lot; living in an extremely expensive place and wasting money will cut down on your earnings.

I think it's better to pursue happiness. Just don't be childish about it - and by that I mean you're shirking all work and responsibility.

Even if you come to the conclusion, that money doesnt matter to you that much, you should not set your goals too low. If you do that, it might feel, you wasted something afterwards.
If you have the chance (and skills) to get good education, you should go for it and not let go of it only because you want to have some fun for the moment.

The question is - does it matter to you, not some one else ;) Sure - having lots of money is not going to hurt you, but do you want to do something that you don't like just for that?

I know i don't want. I'd much rather do something i like more or less, than something that might give me more profits but generally annoys/does not interest me. It will just exhaust you mentally.

This is exactly my situation - one of my relatives is an owner of a hotel that is in the Best Western hotel chain. Needless to say - i could get a quite good position in that place. So i went ahead an enrolled in to a Faculty of International Tourism, and spent 1.5 years studying, and worked at that hotel during the summer.

Guess what i realized - working with people to that extent is not for me. Not that i hated it, but it was simply not what i would want to do for any prolonged period of time. So, despite having an opportunity to get in to a good-paying position after a few years of studying, i decided not to. Few months ago i dropped the studies (much to my family's dismay:heh: ) , and will start studying something i like, instead of something that would be a much easier way to good paycheck, but feels un-enjoyable to me.

Bottom line - i am not going to do something that i can not enjoy to some extent for the rest of my life (or at least for a good part of it). Money helps to a certain extent, but if i will come home from just having spent the whole day doing something i don't like, i doubt that having few more $$ is going to help me improve my mood.

As for having the need to show off - i find it stupid. Who cares ? If it makes you feel better to have better stuff than the guy next to you - work towards it, there is no wrong in that itself i guess...

Though i can tell you - the more money you have, the more you will spend, and chances are you won't be spending it on anything useful ;) My income right now is almost 25% lower than it used to be... yet i manage just as well as before. Why ? Now that i think about it - when i had an excess of money i ended up spending it on a lot of useless stuff that i couldn't even name right now - all sorts of stupid little things without an actual need:heh:

In my opinion - having an excess of money won't hurt you, but it won't help you much either, if you don't have an actual need for that money, and more spare cash is not worth doing something you don't like for the most part of your life ;)

But of course - do not set your goals too low. What i am saying is not that you should dump education or anything only for what you like - it is possible to have a good paying job in the field you like (Something i am working towards now that i dropped my Tourism studies) and be happy about it - as long as you have enough money to support a decent lifestyle and any family in the future you are planning to have - you are all set.

Just don't drop happiness for an extra bundle of cash. Ledgem explained it in a more serious manner than i did, and i pretty much agree with him ;)

All in my humble opinion.

I guess you could say I'm in a similar situation, in choosing a profession for my future. Should I go with what is natural for me, what I enjoy doing, what I would enjoy learning, but what ultimately would not make me a heavy earner in terms of cash? Or should I study something which will basically feel like work, get a nice shiny B.Sc or B.Eng and make good money?

People tell me I have to balance enjoyment along with study and work, but for me it's more like I either choose one path in the future or the other path. Is it important to have money? Well of course it is, but it is not necessary to be rich and have five cars. I would actually prefer to have an average life rather then to be in a mansion with two swimming pools. I guess I'm not cut out for that kind of high life. But even then, I would prefer to have a reasonably good income.

And then you start thinking about the future - family, etc. It almost persuades me towards pursuing a high paying field because I want to be able to provide security, a reasonable good life. I haven't had much money during my childhood, and in fact it has affected me and what I want to do very much, so I want to be able to provide well in the future for whatever family I may have. But you only have one life to live. If one chooses the cash-path, I know that 20 years down the road, they will wish they would've chosen the path of what they enjoy. In comparison, the people who do what they enjoy may wish they had more money once in a while, but I doubt that they ever wish they had chosen the money path. They are far too busy enjoying themselves :heh:

The problem I see sometimes is how much naviete is going around when people think they can go down the easy road and follow get-rich-quick schemes... Earning a lot of money is not only a matter of willpower, there are many things involved, including a LOT of chance (even top-notch financial groups are essentially gambling when investing money, although I'll agree that there are several levels of 'gambling' :P). Capitalism is the world of the few, the less room there is for newcomers, the better. This means that, on your path of earning a lot of money you'll find a lot of competition, most of times from people that are initially better placed than you are (which is the joke of capitalism after all).

That's why I chose to lean towards what I'm good at. Even when you feel you're not going to earn a lot of money in the process, the good thing about this capitalist world is that, if you're really good at something, you'll get better chances of earning good enough money down the path you took. And, of course, the more you like something, the better you can get at it.

That being said, life is one hysterical little miss. You may think whatever you want about your future, plan it out in any way you want, and BANG! Next thing you know, you're there, heading down a completely different path from the one you planned out.

When thinking about raising a family, think about this: would you rather have money to offer or love? Is it better for a child (or spouse) to have a lot of stuff, or to have a loving family? If you kill your spirit, and end up bitter and unenthusiastic about life, it won't matter that you are providing a nice house, and a college fund.

I think it is best to pursue a career that you can enjoy, because then you will be a happier person, and that means you will be in a position to share your happiness with the other people in your life.

If I were a child who was able to pick my parents, I would rather grow up in a happy loving family, rather than one which provided me with lots of material wealth.

I guess it is best to be somewhere in the middle.
Not too rich and not too poor.

In the end, I think it's all about doing something with your life that you find enjoyable. If you're lucky, you'll land in a job/career that you enjoy and that interests you. I think doing something that you enjoy (and is challenging as well), having a good hobby(s) and surrounding yourself with people you have fun with, but who are also willing to support you in hard times is more important than having lots and lots of money... but also you do want to make enough to be comfortable, so it's never a huge worry.

Yeah, while praying for not to get Alzheimer.

[/lame joke]

This is actually a point I left out of my post, and it's a very important one. In truth, I'd rather live a poor life where I offered my children love and excellent life lessons, than to live a life where my children were spoiled and thoughtless consumers who could not contribute to society except for by spending money. Again, it doesn't have to be an either-or scenario - I think it's possible to make a fair bit, being able to provide for your children, while also providing a loving and nurturing background.

The main reason I brought up a family was partially in response to the guy who said that money doesn't matter in the end - we all die. That may be true, and I think many of us are rather cavalier about the idea of giving up our lives, or living a certain way. I'm no different. But when someone special enters your life, things change. Suddenly, even if you don't care what happens to you, you care what happens to them. You want to provide nice things for them. You want them to be happy, perhaps more than you care for yourself to be happy. It's no longer a matter of having money to buy things for yourself, but to be able to buy nice things for them; to give them access to events and experiences that they might otherwise not have been able to.

I know that the age demographic of this board is relatively young. People aren't considering that far into the future. Or, if they are, their views are going to change drastically within the next few years. I'm only 21 as of my writing of this post; my views probably will change, too. But this is just the little bit of wisdom I offer. Do what you think is right, and push forward with everything you've got. Just don't burn bridges, and don't lock yourself into something you might regret later, for reasons that you couldn't foresee now.

Money is required to live a regular life. Not having enough of it is a very hard thing.

However, having MORE money rarely helps most people, because they increase their standard of living to match their income, putting them in the same position of financial security as they were before (or, more often, the LACK of financial security), merely with nicer things.

So long as you live below your means, money is rarely an issue beyond desiring further material goods, even at modest salaries.

That said, there is a lot of good that can be done with money, and I'm seeking wealth. There are far more important things, though.

I agree with Ledgem. Once you find someone special, you'll want to make them happy, and you'll need to be able to afford that. That doesn't mean you have to be on the top of the richness scale, just that being on top of the poorness scale will not help you at all. And even when you ... err... let's say you will not be that enthusiastic as you were in the beginning... you'll still want to provide for the ones you care and for yourself. Maybe your father's show'off with tons of stuff is his way of trying to make others feel good ? ^^;

As for what people want in life, that's easy and is proven even in studies: they want to be happy. ^^

What's not so easy is that happiness is not a place you stay at, but a place you visit from time to time. You plan things that you believe will make you happy and once you reach there you may find you're not. Or even if you don't reach that place you planned, you might discover telling yourself "oh good I didn't end up like that ! What was I thinking ? Did I really thought that would make me happy ?" ^^

What you like and what makes you happy will constantly change during your life. That's beacuse you will experience new things which will change the way you feel about things, the way you remember past experiences, the way you imagine your future will be.

But don't use this as an excuse to run away from education or from taking on a job that will earn you a revenue. I guarantee you will feel extremely unhappy for not having followed your studies. And during college/university (if your field of interset requires you to follow them) you'll like a lot being with other people you'll consider friends.

Now, although I don't know if it will be of any use, it will surely make for a funny read though:

this article from the Harvard Magazine

and this book, Stumbling on Happiness (I bought it as an ebook from Powells)

Those two have real academics in psychology behind, they're not from illusion sellers that teach you "five steps to happiness" or other similar "guaranteed" recipes. They are full of observations and experiments on people and what those people say or the experiment shows that it makes them feel happy. A tv show of sorts that doesn't really offer you answers but enriches your knowledge about this subject.

Well I guess I think in different terms. I could never see myself having a family. I am a lone wolf. Kid and stuff... I am certain that I will never go down that route. I am probably steril too...(too much damn Diet Coke)!

Anyway...

I was thinking more about it in later terms. What if I suddenly become a 30 year old, who want to see the entire world, but have a low paying job, and could not possible do that? What If I get a job where I will not be rich enough to really go forward with my dreams?

Like traveling?

Let's just face it people,when you have tons(billions) of money, it makes you happy in some sorta way...But if you're one of those lame billionaires who don't know how to live life to the fullest, you'll certainly end up being sad.

"money doesnt make life happy...but it makes life a hell of a lot easier to live with"

in terms of choosing the right job ~ why cant you pick one that you enjoy but will also get you some money? i would like to enjoy doing what im doing instead of feeling that i have to do it in order to survive (or be rich so i can gloat) ~ im sure if you work hard enough even starting out with low pay you can rise to the top ~ its all about mentality towards working...if you are willing to do something with enthusiasm (and i mean real enthusiasm) somebody out there will certainly stop a shining star...but then again gaining a high payed job means that you will be exposed to more pressure so in that can is money really worth it if that pressure is gonna knock 10 years of your life expectancy?

i aim to take things easy, enjoy what im doing and get payed a good amount...but that is just the short run as i can see myself wanting to do better but inorder to do so sacrafices must be made ~ (im gonna dread the day when ill be working full time and the word "anime" has to be pushed of my list of priorities >.<)

Wait a few years when you meet someone you'll want to spend the rest of your life with... Like I said, life is a hysterical little missy.

Define "rich"

working 72-90 hours a week, getting called during vacations/days off for 200k a year
doesn't sound like "the easy life" to me

"trying to be rich" isn't worth it, "being rich" is
and there are only 2 kinds of people that qualify for that:
-those that won the lottery
-those that were born in families that have such vast financial resources, they never need to work

I still just don't see it...

This world is cold and dark and cruel.

Only the strong survive...


It's like... It's all for the taking, and the rest of the world will just suffer. No room for good things in life anymore:(

Ain't that why, entire continents like Africa are going up in flames from sheer starvation, while in the west, our biggest threat is eating to much.