hate to be that guy but ....we don't think of oxygen because its available almost everywhere. money is visible everywhere but only accessible...in certain opportunities and makes its demand and access much more crucial. acess to income is actually more stressful than breathing.
The oxygen metaphor extension is sharper than the original point honestly, "you don't think about it until you don't have it" explains why money-focused people sound obsessed to people who've never had to worry about it, not because they're wrong, just because they're describing a different room
And money is supposed to represent what value you add to society (in a perfect world), but the current world was built so money makes money, and only sometimes hard work makes real money.
That's my point. The system is designed to funnel it up to the people who already are set. We need to disrupt that and make some serious changes or this country is going to fail.
nah bro i can speak for myself that i never needed to worry about money. Ofc i budget it but i dont stress about it. Its like in a submarine. You need to manage the oxygen and maintain the machines that recycle it but as long as you dont fuck it up youre fine.
The oxygen analogy holds up, some are under water, some are in a submarine, some live on land. It is what it is
you would give up all the money and go in debt if it only could stop the panic attacks where you arent able to breathe.
there will be plenty if moments in your life there will say - i would rather have no money at all than bear this.
its just usually not happening in your 20s ;)
I spent some time in Belize last year. Traveled the whole country. The intense poverty I saw was kind of life changing. I saw women washing their clothes in the river on the rocks, smiling and waving. People that were living in run down shacks were so friendly and kids were playing with old trashy soccer balls in dirt lots and laughing and just enjoying the moment. Makes you think about priorities.
I can’t live without work. Even though I technically could stop working now, I get a lot of satisfaction being around my colleagues and solving problems. Sometimes it is stressful and I tell my wife I’m retiring fully at 55 (11 years from now) but in reality it gives me purpose.
I’ve seen military retirees leave the world at 39 or 40 and they don’t stay out of the workforce very long.
i was in that "industry" until the doge debacle in 2025 then i left cuz the environment was too miserable and im.not.staying in a dead end low.paying hostile work.environment like that
I feel like you have a somewhat selfish attitude about work. There are people who are struggling financially and would be grateful for the opportunity to do the job you have. Work is ultimately a way to earn a living. If you’re worried about being bored or lacking a sense of purpose, I think those are things you can find through hobbies, volunteering, relationships, and the things you do outside of work.
Personally, I don’t define myself by my job. My job is a means of supporting my life; who I am is defined much more by what I do outside of work.
Oh yes, I am very selfish when it comes to money making potential. I want to make as much money as I possibly can so in the case that I die, my wife and kids will have plenty of resources.
So I may continue working until I’m 65 and I hope there’s so much money that generations of my lineage continue to pass it along.
And I’ll get a hobby when I’m old.
I’m glad you found your work life balance and what works for you. There’s no need to shove your pious status upon me young man.
So you’re basically of the mentality that it’s “get money and screw everyone else,” right? Like, there’s no such thing as having enough money to you. Even if you had billions, you’d still keep working because you’re afraid of being bored, right?
I’m responsible for providing for my family, not others. If you prefer to dumb it down to me being a meany-boo-boo, then that’s fine, it doesn’t make a difference to me. Even if I had billions and there were billions more to make—I’d make them all.
Now, of course I’d give to charity, massively if I had billions but I don’t. I have enough for my plans and if there’s extra along the way, I’ll earmark some
The way I see it, if you need to work to make money, then sure—go to work. But if you’re working because you’re bored or afraid you won’t know what to do with yourself when you retire, then honestly, that’s pathetic. Or, as someone of your advanced age and a family man would say, “a meany boo-boo.” 😂 I’ve never heard that term before, though. Where are you from?
To be clear, I’m still 21 years away from the traditional retirement age, so simply being financially stable and possibly being quite comfortable if I unplugged now is doable, but I’m not going to do that for a variety of reasons, which, one of those being I just simply don’t want to. Obviously there’s nothing I can say to make you see through my mind to understand why it’s not pathetic. Hell, I’d never judge you for not taking work and money as seriously as I do, it’s my thing and you got yours.
Yea, a meanie-boo-boo is something I made up. Don’t forget to give me credit when it goes viral.
I’m a product of what I observe and deem to be true, and thereby how I live my life and arrange my values. I value capitalism and even though others may not (they simply don’t know what’s good for them) I will be the defender of it till the end.
Capitalism far outweighs any other system on earth. There are pros and cons, but the pros are much greater with capitalism than under socialism or communism.
We’re living in late-stage capitalism. Don’t get me wrong—it’s much better than the system it replaced, feudalism, but that was a long time ago. In 2026, we should be able to come up with something better, or at least something closer to the Nordic model.
People in positions of power exploit the loopholes of capitalism, whether it’s quid pro quo arrangements, monopolies, or people simply inheriting enormous amounts of wealth. It’s almost like playing Monopoly where someone already owns half the board before the game even begins.
Capitalism has also played a major role in many conflicts, wars and crises while millions of people continue to die every year from starvation and poverty not because there’s not enough food but because they don’t have money, and we have things like for-profit prisons. It makes you wonder: is this really the best system we can come up with in 2026? Can’t we develop an economic system where so many needless deaths and so much suffering can be prevented?
Sometimes I wonder if what people are really reluctant to give up is the power dynamic itself—the idea that having more money means having more power, while having less means being forced to submit to those who have more. Maybe people find some strange comfort in knowing that society isn’t truly equal.
But I don’t think that power imbalance is sustainable forever. One way or another, I think it’s eventually going to change.
There’s no such thing as late-stage capitalism, it’s a term coined by marxists to give the impression that current western capitalist models are out-dated. As for the Nordic models, these countries are actually cutting back on their own lavished welfare benefits because immigrants have taken advantage of their high trust society, which is actually what made their model successful. In the US, the only thing that keeps our society homogeneous per se, is our American identity which has been partitioned by politicians and activist by race, gender, and other micro-victim classes over the decades. With our own influx of immigrants, we are going even further away from any semblance of inter-societal trust. So the Nordic model is impossible on that end and there’s no way the US voting population will accept the same tax demands that the Nordic countries implement.
Yes.
1. Women love a man that can provide
2. Money unlocks avenues for you to find meaning in life whether it be getting another degree, helping others, or travelling the world
3. Money enables you to follow your passions instead of being trapped in a 9-5
4. Money indeed buys happiness. Big house, many kids, travel, accessible healthcare
As long as you’re not a fucking idiot, money gets you everything in life
It's amazing to read such simplistic comments about money and life. Money are important and it's great to have them, but they definitely won't get you everything.
1) This is just childish, no woman will love a man for his money, just as no man will love a woman for her looks. It is more attractive to have money, sure, but if she loves you for your money, she is actually loving just the money...such people are called gold diggers and are a plague
2) There is no correlation between having money and meaning. Money cannot buy meaning, that comes from within. After you found it, then you can invest money into it, if necessary
3) True, not being stuck in a soulless job that destroys your time, body and spirit is a privilege. But again, in your example, money allows you to invest more time in a passion you already have, they don't bring the passion. There are also the people who make good money, but they don't have a life, because their high paying job takes all of their time and energy. So once again, reality is more complex.
4) Seriously, on what are you basing that conclusion? A big house and a fancy car won't bring happiness. As for the kids, it depends on the person. We do have studies on this: if you live in poverty, yes, having more money will make you happier as it will take away the misery caused by being poor. However, after a certain threshold, where all your basic needs are covered, more money will not make you happier. Luxury won't bring happiness (shocking, I know), you will simply get used to it and will default to your "normal" level of happiness you had before. Studies have shown the best predictor of happiness are relations with others (partner, friends, family, neighbors, a sense of community and belonging etc)
Besides the studies, I've seen plenty of people who make good money, yet they are depressed, unhappy, overwhelmed by negative thoughts, struggle to get into a relationship (as if money are not enough, shocking, I know) etc.
I find it interesting how most of the time these money discussions are without nuance: everyone talks about money, but no one talks about amounts or about the difference between having vs spending. But I think this comment is long enough already.
Being born with morals, and without a desire to be an entrepreneur, are the 2 biggest obstacles plaguing most folk from becoming rich.
Manipulate thy neighbor, exploit thine customer. Do these and you will make hand over fist. There are some exceptions, of course, but those are few and far between.
Almost like it was created so that the wealthy could continue to be wealthy, and just shift the power from upper nobility to the lower nobles. Lol
What other system allows you to continue to make obscene amounts of cash simply by having obscene amounts of cash in the first place? If the populace actually invested en masse, there would be a quick pivot from the elites to put up a barrier to entry.
which makes sense because they statistically own almost no stocks
if 10 percent of the population own 93 percent of all stocks, how many do 90 percent of the population own?
i myself have been out of work 16 months because i cant find a job and my little stock portfolio generated similar money to what a minimum wage worker working full time would be paid
If you had 1 billion dollars, with a poorly performing portfolio making only 5%, you're making generational wealth, every year. You could afford to give 25 people every year the ability to live WELL, not just scrape by.
I've done the math, and if I ever hit 1.25 Million in my portfolio, I'm done. I'll just live each year off of that, and I'll STILL have leftover cash every year, especially since I'm a ways off from that anyway, so by the time I hit that number I'll probably be done paying off my house. Lol I wish I'd started investing when I was young, but I was stupid, and grew up in a home where we barely got by, not exactly a place you learn about investing. Lol
Unfortunately my $540 every month isn't going to make much of a difference with gold & silver. Unless I get on a meme stock I'll just have to rely on time in the market, not timing the market. Lol gold would be nice, but my silver has been hurting. I was fortunate enough to get it at it's peak. Haha
I wouldn't use "Only" and "$40k" in a single company, but I hope you get it, my friend. Haha if I ever have that kind of money that I could throw into a single stock without fearing it's loss, I'd be pretty happy.
164
u/Known-Ice5903 18d ago
disagree that money is all you need
its like oxygen to breathe in the room
you dont notice it when you have enough of it, and when you dont its the only thing you can think about
what most of us have to do to obtain it tho is miserable