[jpttsn]

A bunch of other rich people don’t know how to enjoy their stuff but you don’t have to fall in that trap.

There is a “mindfulness” angle. Instead of taking it always for granted, pay attention and make time enjoy your stuff.

Thoigh if you keep realizing the things you have worked hard for don’t end up making you happy, that might be hopeless.

[keymon-o]

> There is a “mindfulness” angle. Instead of taking it always for granted, pay attention and make time enjoy your stuff.

Being satisfied with what you have is what “poor” people (people who can’t have everything) do in order to be happy. What’s the benefit of being rich then?

[pdimitar]

> What’s the benefit of being rich then?

Freedom.

Owning better material items is only meant to facilitate freedom. I'm not a collector and never will be, even if I inherit two billion bucks tomorrow.

Examples:

- I'll get an expensive bike so me and my wife can go on an impulsive picnic in the outskirts of the city.

- I'll get an extra house in rural France so we're free to go there if we need the scenery for a few weeks (but will otherwise allow a local family to take care of it).

- I'll just invent stuff in my shed -- or compose the programs I always wanted to write on my computers -- if I'm never worried about money in the future.

---

Rich people getting bored and even unhappy is just lack of imagination, intellectual and physical laziness.

Being rich and unhappy is entirely on them. It can be much better in every way but they're too busy complaining about non-issues to see it.

[subpixel]

It is on them, but they are legion. That matters, because they influence the direction of our society on many levels. It’s not inaccurate to say American culture is a product of a rich and unhappy worldview.

[zdragnar]

You need to define American culture, which is no trivial thing. It's like saying "European culture"- just vague generalizations that fit whatever lazy stereotype you prefer

[subpixel]

Let’s not split hairs.

[keymon-o]

You took the question out of the context. Parent expressed that rich people would be happier by enjoying their wealth and changing and controlling what they want and how they enjoy it. That's the same thing 'poor' people can do - be happy by controlling their urges. For all your examples, as a poor guy:

- I can control to enjoy a scenery or a picnic from local park or nearby forest and

- I can control of being worried about the money and doing exactly what I feel like doing (considering it makes me trully happy)

As a rich guy:

- I'd not be sure why I should pedal and sit on a muddy grass instead of renting Hummer and going to some fine dining restaurant

- I'd not be sure should I be wasting my time having all this money when I could be treating myself with X and Y

Once again, what's the benefit if I need to take a mental and physical effort in order to be happy? Your last two paragraphs are the exact thing I am talking about, and can be applied to non-rich people as well.

[pdimitar]

I am not sure we disagree on anything, more like we look at it from different angles.

(There's a social and financial line below which you can't enjoy anything btw, and I don't wish even my worst enemies experiencing that -- because I did go through it).

RE: your expressed preferences: of course, they are your prerogatives. I'd go sit on a muddy grass every now and then, and travel with taxi to a fancy restaurant other times. One does not exclude the other.

> Once again, what's the benefit if I need to take a mental and physical effort in order to be happy?

You don't. It's quite the opposite: you drop the idea of status or belonging to special club or whatever, and you feel truly free. You don't have to prove anything to anyone. That's how I would be if I make it to the other side.

You could probably argue it's still effort as we have to learn to let go of certain toxic ego traits but that would be arguing semantics IMO. To me, letting go of stuff that's dragging you down is freedom even if you have to work for it a bit.

[coldtea]

>Being satisfied with what you have is what “poor” people (people who can’t have everything) do in order to be happy. What’s the benefit of being rich then?

It's the ability to do what you want with your time, and to (increasingly with more wealth) say fuck you to people who try to force you into this or that.

It's also the increased ability to change things (for you, others, your city, or even your whole country) towards what you want to happen, aka power and influence.

"Being able to buy nice stuff" is the benefit of being rich that poor (or well-offish but still mostly aspiring to greater wealth) people think being rich is about...

[AlbertCory]

A phrase there that needs amplifying: here's an un-original quote

What the point of having fuck-you money, if you never say 'fuck you'?

[keymon-o]

This is your take on being rich and not at all related to what the article was about, what parent said and the point I was trying to make.

[coldtea]

This is rich people's take on being rich. It's not about buying expensive stuff - it can be about that for a while when you're newly rich, but it's a novelty that wears off really fast...

[hef19898]

More freedom by virtue of having more money? Above a certain level of "enough" money, money becomes less and less important. Or it becomes an obsession, in which case more money takes away freedom. Falling into this trap is tragic if you ask me.

And there will always be sometjing you want but cannot have, regardless how much money have. E.g. art, the Mona Lisa will never be up for sale. Or some other unique piece of art. Accepting that fact makes you a happier person, or at least doesn't hurt.

[xtiansimon]

“Being satisfied…” is what you do to not go bananas—-to consume for the sake of consuming in a society structured around consumption for the sake of society…

[nicbou]

There is virtue in economy.

- Consuming is usually bad for the environment, even if you're rich. Being satisfied conserves resources.

- The work you devote to something gives it its value. I appreciate good food, good art, good engineering and good woodworking because I have repeatedly attempted them. If you just buy stuff without consideration, you rob yourself of a finer experience.

[jpttsn]

It's much simpler:

The point of being rich is to have all the good stuff.

To get there, it helps if you're not too easily satisfied.

Alas, many rich people go overboard on not being satisfied. When they get all the good stuff, the have forgotten how to enjoy it.

But if you're smart about it you can make sure you enjoy stuff, and also get more stuff.

You are allowed to (gasp) enjoy your previous victories, without getting complacent. You can be happy about your yacht and also work hard to get a jet.

Unless, you know, you can't. But that's just a (common) mindset problem and I don't think you're doomed to fall in that trap.

I bet this "rich but unhappy" trope is appealing as a cope for the less fortunate. Thus it gets overplayed as a trope and people wrongly think it's universal truth rather than a cliché.