[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.