[hoaw]

I expected a better article to be honest. Some of the ideas are correct, but I think the perspective is overall wrong. For one he is probably ten times richer than the average tech worker.

But you don't want to be rich as much as you want to be wealthy. And that isn't just about money. My friends in other industries didn't make as much in their twenties, but the are relatively wealthy in their thirties. Their career, prospects and family life is generally better than my friends in the tech industry.

The whole article is basically all the other things you should do and manage to try to become successful. Most of it unrelated to technology. That isn't wealth in my book, nor is it happiness.

[IneffablePigeon]

I agree. I respect Troy enormously on the subject of security (and making that subject more accessible) but I saw one of his "Hack your career" talks last year and found it to be much too focused on money, along with a big dollop of survivorship bias.

[dustinmoris]

You need to remember this is an old school guy (late 40s, early 50s?), coming from a time where driving a loud car is seen as a "cool" thing to do and a way of measuring your dick size. Troy is a great speaker and he certainly makes a good career out of it (and selling stolen passwords to companies), but he also loves to show off his wealth which is a bit old school and weird nowadays.

From my experience, the happiest people I know never show off their wealth or put a lot of value on materialistic things, because they just see them as a way of means, not the end goal itself. Troy has a more traditional/conservative/old school outlook on life where the wealth is the end goal itself and the definition of happiness (to him).

[aswanson]

I'm not too far from his age range. The "blatant brag" kind of plays out by your late 20s. At least it should, IMO. It's mostly just signalling to females, anyway.

[dagw]

At least it should, IMO.

It obviously should, but a casual observation of the world around me seems to indicate that it doesn't.

[tcbawo]

I'm not sure if this plays a major part in his psyche, but having dependents changes the game considerably. Suddenly, you're worried about providing for someone else's future (kids, potential grandkids) even after you're gone. But, then again, that makes flashy purchases look selfish and wasteful.

[geomark]

Yes. Being wealthy is a feeling, the feeling of abundance. That feeling can be achieved at many income levels. It depends on the person's character.

A person with modest material desires can feel very wealthy with only a modest amount of money. It is more than they ever need to be happy. They may be inspired to donate the excess to help others.

Another person can be making silly amounts of money but it is never enough, never feels like an abundance to them. They grasp for more, become ever greedier, needier. Despite having vast amounts of material things they are actually the opposite of weathy.

[dustinmoris]

Wealth is only a feeling if you don't spend more than you earn. A lot of people who makes millions per year feel poor because with an increased income they exhibit an overly expensive life style. They are still in the same rat race as everyone else and that's why people with a lot of income still take drugs, feel lonely, get divorced and have partners cheating on them and all the other problems that every human being has.

The only thing money can really do is buying opportunity, and it is extremely subjective which opportunity makes one happy. An old person coming from a different time finds the opportunity to drive a loud car which makes a lot of noise and burns a lot of fuel to accelerate quickly from 0 to 100 a "pleasure", whilst other people find the opportunity to drink a Colombian coffee and eating an avocado sandwich a pleasure and someone else finds the opportunity to spend an evening playing board games with their family extremely enjoyable. You only need as much money in life as it requires to get the opportunities which make you happy. Beyond that you are wasting time and energy chasing something which doesn't buy you much. That is the advice we should give young people.

[kranner]

Great advice.

Also, it would make sense to cultivate hobbies and things to be happy with that don't need a lot of money.

Earlier in life is also a great time to experiment with lots of such things, as a parallel with Hunt's article. You can seek out new experiences at any age, but it's just easier when you're young and don't have a lot of responsibilities.

[ck425]

Out of curiosity, how do your define wealth and in what forms do your 30s non-tech friends have it and your tech friends don't?

[charlesdm]

Time. You can be a hot shot lawyer making $500k a year and working 12 hours a day, or a software developer making $200k a year with a SaaS product working a few hours a day.

Who is really richer here?

[dagw]

Time.

Also security. Imagine something happened and you got no income for the next 6 month. How big a deal would that be to you financially? is it "I would definitely default on my mortgage and lose my house" or "It would eat up a bit of my savings and perhaps I'll have to skip that one vacation I was planning"

[hoaw]

Wealth is ultimately about outcome. On average more of my non-tech friends had to invest in education, work, housing and family because they didn't have a choice. Those things compounds just like money does. So now my non-tech friends, on average, have more going for them.

Don't get me wrong, I do absolutely have friend in tech that are doing exceedingly well both financially and personally. But mostly because they did something else that wasn't part of "the deal".

[geomark]

I mentioned my personal definition in a sibling comment. I say that being wealthy is a feeling, the feeling of abundance. You choose which things an abundance of makes you feel wealthy.