[DougWebb]

Sure, but I think the transition through my stages is a sharp S-curve, and then going through your stages is a more gradual increase. And based on how many wealthy people behave, it seems like the happiness curve peaks at some point and then starts dropping again for many of them.

[Hermitian909]

There's a cofounder with how visible your wealth is, most people's exposure to wealthy people falls into three categories.

1. People whose source of revenue forces them to be in the public eye

2. Are so fabulously wealthy that it forces them into the public eye

3. People who display their wealth in a garish and opulent manner

The sweet spot for happiness appears to be ~$50- 100mil without any profile while living in a way that is not (surface level) opulent.

At this point your money buys you a few things:

1. You can take care of the people you care about, not just your nuclear family

2. You can free yourself from most daily chores

3. You have freedom to do what you want, most experiences you want are affordable

4. You can finance some causes you care about at a local or societal level (the latter tends to be more rewarding)

5. You can still make friends with regular folks because it's not obvious just how much money you have

6. You are free of most long term financial worries.

[pcthrowaway]

I feel like getting to that level of wealth while remaining in that sweet spot must be pretty difficult though (moreso than just accumulating that wealth in the first place). I imagine there are a few (legal) paths:

- Start a business that's successful, generates significant profit, but doesn't become public

- Make a series of amazing investment decisions (in other words, take high risk and get lucky)

- Exit a startup for an undisclosed sum (lots of acquisitions never disclose the price)

Even then, I'd imagine your closest friends will learn of your wealth at some point. Still seems like the best possible option though.

A lot of people might choose to legally incorporate as an individual, and pay themselves a salary, if their company has reserves to pay them the salary indefinitely they are essentially set for life while technically never wealthy enough to suffer some of the consequences of people knowing you're that wealthy