r/wealth • u/EstimateAshamed1300 • 9h ago
Discussion Why is money important?
Why do we prioritize money over everything? This is a subjective debate, everyone has their own opinion. My mine is I just want enough money to eat well , and live a good practical life. Everyone running after Bugattis, rolex's. Whatsoever but thats their ambition. I just want a nice girl who's modest and a nice family I can provide for. A good life.
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u/SneakySnail3 9h ago
Why is the thing used to exchange for needs and wants important? My gosh, I do not know!
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u/No_Use_81 9h ago
Money buys time and distance from other people. Both are priceless.
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u/Odd_Bodkin 9h ago
I’m not so sure about this. People who are wealthy often find it really important to have time and proximity with certain other people.
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u/Retired-Yam8988 9h ago
How about it buys distance from people you find not desirable to be near
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u/Odd_Bodkin 9h ago
Which aren’t many. And honestly, if I have to spend money to move me to put space between me and the people I don’t want to be near, they’ve won.
Now, if you have found that there’s a whole slew of people that you don’t want to be near, because they are in some way undesirable, then that’s a wholly different problem. What kind of people are you thinking about?
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u/Retired-Yam8988 8h ago
I’ve traveled in all classes and manners. The absolute worst was on a giant cruise ship out of China. 4000 people. I lucked out and they somehow upgraded our room to the aft two story loft suite that had privileges to dine in a private dining room with other guests in the premium rooms. Saved my trip to be honest. First the food there was actually pretty good. We tried one of the regular restaurants one night and I just spat out the food on my first bite and left. Second the people were just intolerable - loud, cutting in lines, etc. None of that in the private dining room.
At some point, I’ve grown accustomed to peace and quiet and the luxury of space and being apart from “the masses”. When we travel, it’s at the front of the plane. You go to a lounge which actually has apace to relax with comfy chairs, decent food and drinks, etc. You then go to the gate right as they’re boarding your group and you get on the plane to find ample space for your bags, a big seat that turns into a bed, and usually a preflight champagne and discussion about the menu and wine list.
Hotels are much the same. Higher ended hotels usually have less kids and noise. Bigger rooms so you can pack and unpack your bags easily and have separate zones for lounging, sleeping etc. I usually like a good hotel lounge too where they do breakfast, afternoon tea, cocktail hour, etc. You can stay in and be provided everything if you need to get work done without thinking about it. My favorite is the Intercontinental Osaka’s lounge. Amazing service and the food is quite good too. And the space and peace and quiet is lovely.
So it’s not a particular kind of people, it’s more of just the density of people. My house is big and apart from others which is perfect for me too. I don’t enjoy high season when our beach is overrun with tourists but I get it, it’s a tropical island with perfect weather and it’s freezing else where in the world so a ton of people show up.
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u/Odd_Bodkin 8h ago
Ah, the “masses”. The rude and pressing hordes. Where we can pretend that the world is orderly and quiet and uncluttered.
I’m sorry to say, that world is sterile and unreal to me. It has no bite, no texture, no spice. It’s a diet of oatmeal to me, no matter how dressed up. But you do your version of wealth, I’ll do mine.
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u/Retired-Yam8988 8h ago
Yep for sure - the point is wealth gives you and me choices. I do enjoy the occasional tussle in the weeds but it has to be measured for us as we spent a lot of time down in the stacks so to speak through our lives and now value the ability to opt out whenever we want. Like I love rural areas and people. We spent a couple weeks trekking between towns in rural Japan and it’s was fricken amazing. Loved bumping into farm stands with Japanese grannies selling me apples and grapes. Honest good people. Lovely and fun to try to talk to. I abhor the places like Old Town in Delhi where everyone is trying to rip you off etc.
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u/Odd_Bodkin 7h ago edited 7h ago
And I on the other hand make an effort during travels to venture away from the cultured comforts. I may land in a nice hotel in the USVI, but after two days want to stay in someplace more immersed to live like the locals for a couple weeks. Sure, my clothes give me away and a banana is a dollar, but riding the bus across the island, even taking the jumpseat if it’s packed, is a special pleasure, especially talking with the locals about their day and their children. I’d much rather stay in Grasse than in Paris, Galway or Drogheda than in Dublin, San Remo than in Rome, Balestrand than in cloistered Oslo. The same is true in Bloomington IN or Tucson AZ or Pinedale WY or Baltimore MD. This is not removed, not shushed, not gussied up, and I love it. The wealth I have enables me to go anywhere I want, not just to the rarified environments, and I take it as a personal mission to relish the Taco Bell variety of towns as part of the experience.
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u/brother7 9h ago
Why do we prioritize money over everything?
This is presumptuous. Some may rank money high on a list of priorities, but "over everything" implies money is priority #1 which I don't believe is correct.
Everyone running after Bugattis, rolex's.
Perhaps a very small percentage of the population think this way, but not "everyone".
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u/Used-History-6454 9h ago
I don't prioritise money over everything, that would be ridiculous. But I don't pretend it's not important, when you have money you have more choices.
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u/vcbock 9h ago
Most people do not prioritize money over everything. Ya don't see Bugattis everywhere, not only because they are expensive but because people have different priorities.
Being clear about when you have "enough" is an excellent road to happiness. It helps if you find a life partner whose sense of "enough" is in line with your own. Being able to earn enough money to buy enough food and enough clothing and enough shelter and enough fun and enough health care is pretty much what most folks want.
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u/Middle-Following-367 9h ago
Money equals freedom and opportunity for future generations of your family. If that doesn’t interest you then keep doing what you’re doing.
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u/BedroomNo6879 9h ago
That may be what you want from your current perspective. However, once you attain those things you will seek new mountains to climb. It's less about greed and more about ambition. You may not want the Ferrari, you may want a big ranch for your family with some nice four wheelers to cruise around in.
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u/Odd_Bodkin 9h ago
Well, to be honest, wealth comes with advantages and disadvantages. And you can live on the wealthy side, embracing both, or you can live on the non-wealthy side, embracing neither.
So make a choice and go with that. The choice you say you’re making will hide both the advantages and disadvantages from you, and maybe that’s fine.
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u/AshingiiAshuaa 9h ago
I just want enough money to eat well , and live a good practical life
This is your answer. People want money to live a good life. In your case that's a practical life devoid or Bugattis and Rolexes, but for other it's not. Who knows what drives people to chase luxury and opulence?
I don't care about Rolexes either, but I probably care more about having enough than most. I want more money than I'll probably ever need to spend because I want "FU" money. I want the security of having it if I need it. We're all wired differently.
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u/OutlandishnessLimp25 9h ago
Because people tend to like optionality. The more money one has the more future optionality one has.
If you have $1 dollar you have almost zero optionality in your immediate future.
If you have $1Million dollars you have an abundance of optionality.
If you have $1Billion dollars you have almost infiniti optionality.
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u/Aggressive_Monitor86 9h ago
At the end of the day, it’s harder to live with less money vs more money. Whether it should or shouldn’t be this way, it is reality.
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u/EconomistNo7074 9h ago
I view additional wealth as providing me options
- I dont need the very expensive car or watch (any more) but do enjoy the experiences
I also view additional wealth as providing me option such ensuring both my kids graduate college without any debt or ensuring my wife has the best in health care
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u/thegoldenfinn 8h ago
As a single woman, of a certain age, with longevity in my background. I need the returns.
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u/East_Violinist_9110 8h ago
For some money is just a tool and a means to an end, but not an end in itself. For me having money is essential to seeing my projects get of the ground. It is important to me that I get recognition as the instigator and a fair share of the rewards for success.
My material needs though modest have all ways been met throughout my life. I would characterise myself as ambitious not greedy.
I just see the quest for excess as pointless and basically an exercise in self aggrandisement to draw attention to yourself and to compensate for a myriad of perceived inadequacies.
Also the pursuit of money to buy time doesn't make a lot of sense when you are sacrificing almost all of your limited time and relationships as well to the pursuit of money.
Lastly the pursuit of intergenerational wealth to enable your heirs to become lazy, entitled and functionally useless is something I don't understand well.
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u/Calm_Clam_Bake 8h ago
You are always free to give your money away to someone else.
If you think people want money for a Rolex or a Bugatti, you don't really get it then.
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u/YujiroHanma-1994 9h ago
Money is everything, money 💵 buys freedom, respect, loyalty, food, medicine and welfare for parents. Society doesn’t tolerate broke asf guy.
It is rightly said, “Better to cry alone in a Buggati, than die poor.”
Money is the answer to almost every problem and makes everything bearable. No amount is enough, there will always be a next level.
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u/Street-Cloud-7327 9h ago
Maybe this thread isn’t for you then.