[rachofsunshine]

It's odd to me that people think the value in excess wealth is just living on a beach somewhere.

The value in excess wealth is what you can do with it. You can find a person in need and hand them a thousand dollars for fun. You can fund some program your town needs. You can build a "third space" for your community. There's so much you can do with wealth that isn't just hoarding it!

Personally, my goal is to have enough money to buy a giant mansion on the edge of some town and be the weird rich lady you can go to with your problems. If I get richer than that, great! It'll be a bigger mansion and a bigger town. But if you gave me a billion dollars tomorrow, I'd just use it to be a bigger weird rich lady you can go to with your problems.

[insane_dreamer]

You're not considering the opportunity cost to get that wealth. Sometimes you may be lucky enough that there is very little opportunity cost. But most of the time it's considerable.

> be the weird rich lady you can go to with your problems

that's great; but unfortunately in society at large, the people with wealth and the people who you can approach with your problems make a Venn diagram with little overlap

I've found that in most cases, people tend to become more selfish as they get more money, not less selfish. (Not talking about you, just commenting on society.)

[rachofsunshine]

I agree completely. But I feel like saying "if I ever get any wealth or power I'll just be as bad as the people who already have it" is just throwing in the towel. You might as well try!

[hnthrowaway6543]

As with every other person who has wealth, you'd quickly find that the people who go to you with their problems are the ones whose problems would be magically solved if you only gave them a small investment of $10k, maybe $100k if they're bold and daring, but don't worry, they'll pay you back with interest after their business takes off.

Outside of people who crave the fame and/or flaunt their wealth to promote themselves (e.g. Michael Bloomberg), wealthy people do not advertise that they are wealthy, because doing so invites a lot of unwanted attention.

[thanksgiving]

> The value in excess wealth is what you can do with it. You can find a person in need and hand them a thousand dollars for fun. You can fund some program your town needs. You can build a "third space" for your community. There's so much you can do with wealth that isn't just hoarding it!

Thank you for your kindness. However, you can't become and definitely won't stay a billionaire if you give away your money.

In practical terms, you don't want strangers in your home. There are some bad people in this world. https://old.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/24vo34/whats_the...

[lazyasciiart]

Yea. The world is full of people who have spare money and bedrooms and won’t use it to help others. Those are the bad people.

[toomuchtodo]

Wealth is a tool. To stay wealthy is an inefficient use of capital considering time value. The only people who want to stay billionaires are those who crave the power and status it brings.

See: MacKenzie Scott

https://www.library.hbs.edu/working-knowledge/mackenzie-scot...

[insane_dreamer]

Mackenzie Scott is a wonderful, but extremely rare, example.

[fragmede]

Who wants to stay a billionaire? You can't take it with you, and that's an unfathomable amount of money for a single person to have. At a flat 5 percent interest per year, that's $50 million a year, or just under a million per week, or $137k/day. per day! You could fund a third space for quite a while on that and still never run out of money after your ordinary life expenses were paid. Ballooning life costs can still add up as jets and yachts get expensive, but that's still an insane amount of money.

On 50 million a year, you could give out 49,000 homeless people to give $1,000 to every year, and still have a million dollars to spend, without touching your principle. Could you even find 134 homeless people every day to give $1,000 to?

The goal is to Die with Zero, as written by Bill Perkins, and while you may not want to literally do that, it's still a good book to read to get you thinking about how to spend your money.

[rachofsunshine]

> However, you can't become and definitely won't stay a billionaire if you give away your money.

It's very possible that I won't, no. But I also don't think I'm naive.

I run a company. I founded it without funding from venture capitalists, so that no one will ever be able to tell me to sell anyone out. One of the first things I wrote down was that I would never lie, mislead, or otherwise tell anything less than the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And right now, my company is functioning and profitable, while doing - at least as far as I can tell - no harm to anyone.

Yeah, being a horrible human being means you're free to do everything to your game-theoretic advantage. But you can choose not to do that. You can win without choosing to do that. You just have to know, crystal clear, from day one, that you'd rather make one million dollars ethically than two million dollars unethically.

Similarly, will people sometimes abuse your kindness? Yeah, sure. But you can give your kindness knowing that that's part of the cost of doing business - especially if you're successful enough that you can afford the loss.

You ever read Les Miserables? There's a scene where Jean Valjean, who has been taken in briefly by a kindly bishop, steals some of his valuables out of desperation. He's caught by the police, who arrest him and bring him back:

  “Ah! here you are!” [the Bishop] exclaimed, looking at Jean Valjean. “I am glad
  to see you. Well, but how is this? I gave you the candlesticks too,
  which are of silver like the rest, and for which you can certainly get
  two hundred francs. Why did you not carry them away with your forks and
  spoons?”

  Jean Valjean opened his eyes wide, and stared at the venerable Bishop
  with an expression which no human tongue can render any account of.

  “Monseigneur,” said the brigadier of gendarmes, “so what this man said
  is true, then? We came across him. He was walking like a man who is
  running away. We stopped him to look into the matter. He had this
  silver—”

  “And he told you,” interposed the Bishop with a smile, “that it had
  been given to him by a kind old fellow of a priest with whom he had
  passed the night? I see how the matter stands. And you have brought him
  back here? It is a mistake.”

  “In that case,” replied the brigadier, “we can let him go?”

  “Certainly,” replied the Bishop.

  The gendarmes released Jean Valjean, who recoiled.

  “Is it true that I am to be released?” he said, in an almost
  inarticulate voice, and as though he were talking in his sleep.

  “Yes, thou art released; dost thou not understand?” said one of the
  gendarmes.

  “My friend,” resumed the Bishop, “before you go, here are your
  candlesticks. Take them.”

  He stepped to the chimney-piece, took the two silver candlesticks, and
  brought them to Jean Valjean. The two women looked on without uttering
  a word, without a gesture, without a look which could disconcert the
  Bishop.

  Jean Valjean was trembling in every limb. He took the two candlesticks
  mechanically, and with a bewildered air.

  “Now,” said the Bishop, “go in peace. By the way, when you return, my
  friend, it is not necessary to pass through the garden. You can always
  enter and depart through the street door. It is never fastened with
  anything but a latch, either by day or by night.”

  Then, turning to the gendarmes:—

  “You may retire, gentlemen.”

  The gendarmes retired.

  Jean Valjean was like a man on the point of fainting.

  The Bishop drew near to him, and said in a low voice:—

  “Do not forget, never forget, that you have promised to use this money
  in becoming an honest man.”

  Jean Valjean, who had no recollection of ever having promised anything,
  remained speechless. The Bishop had emphasized the words when he
  uttered them. He resumed with solemnity:—

  “Jean Valjean, my brother, you no longer belong to evil, but to good.
  It is your soul that I buy from you; I withdraw it from black thoughts
  and the spirit of perdition, and I give it to God.”

[insane_dreamer]

One of my favorite passages in one of my all time favorite books