Of course, I’d do all the obvious things, such as getting a bigger house, a newer car, and quitting work, but beyond that, I have no interest in an extravagant lifestyle—or at least that’s what I tell myself.
By a bigger house, I mean one typical of upper-middle-class living. I’ve watched plenty of videos of people touring million-dollar mansions, and they all look too big, open, and sterile to me. I’ve seen cozier tiny homes than those. And by a newer car, I mean a 2017 model or so instead of the 2007 one I drive now.
Really, give me a nice cottage by the lake with some land and a big garage for all my tools and toys, and I’m all set. I much prefer the idea of “hidden wealth” over showing it off. I’m just kind of worried that I wouldn’t be able to live up to my own expectations if push comes to shove, and there’s really no way of testing that. Am I just kidding myself here?
I feel the same way about fame. Many people aspire to become successful YouTubers or such, but the idea of people recognizing me on the street sounds awful.
Where do you start from? You’re on lemmy, most likely work in tech but are too leftist to get promoted, to the drive a Tesla and get stock option paygrade
If you enjoy your job, and get enough income struggle to fulfill your basic needs, more money is just some extra comfort. Sure you could spend you holiday in a hotel rather than a camping and get designer furnitures rather than IKEA one. You could finally have the free room in you house to set up a lab.
So compared to people who don’t even reach the (full time) minimal wage, you are way in advance.
Most rich people don’t have such an extravagant lifestyle. And many people who show off areren’t that rich( they could become if they stop getting debt and showing off)
I’m self-employed contractor. I make enough to buy whatever I want, and I have plenty of savings. However, I often find that my anxieties boil down to finances. Even though things are good now, I’m always worried something bad might happen in the future. With enough money to retire, I wouldn’t need to worry about that anymore and could move on to worrying about other things, like my health and such.
Not sure if you’ve ever come across FIRE (financially independent, retire early)? Mr Money Moustache is a pretty interesting blog to read about his journey.
https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/blog/
Yeah I’ve listened to him, Dave Ramsey and others as well. It’s what originally got me into investing around 6 years ago. I should’ve started way sooner…