[oz]

Finally, a kindred spirit!

You said it best: "at the end of the day, money equals freedom." My previous sentiments: [0]

>At the end of the day no one can argue that someone that lives on $20,000 a month doesn't have a better quality of life than someone living on $5000 a month.

Oh, you'd be surprised. TONS of people will disagree; I know several of them :). They'll create strawmen, saying things like "Oh, yeah, he spends $20,000 / month, but he {had to sell his soul to get it | isn't happy | has a bad relationship with his family"}. Personally, I think it's just jealously, and bitterness.

Me? I'm a 1st year CS student. I have a math final on Thursday, but I owe about USD380 on my tuition, so I'm gonna be barred from sitting the exam, which means an automatic fail. The course is a pre-requisite for semester 2 courses. Which means my degree plans just got pushedback. Being in this situation, when I hear people talk like money ain't a thing, it kinda makes me shake my head. No beef with @carsongross, but to me, money is really, really important. For want of 0.4BTC, my kingdom is lost ;(.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2025537

My 'Ode to Wealth': https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2026680

[conjecTech]

Really? You can't find a way to scrounge up $400? I've found your first obstacle to being rich. Go talk to people. That is a problem you should easily be able to solve. Try to find the money. Can't find the money? Go talk to people at the school until it gets taken care of. You are effectively giving up a semester of your life for $400. Be persistent. There are things of enough importance that you should not simply resign yourself to the fate someone else has dictated. I'd also suggest buying a copy of How to Win Friends and Influence People if you can scrounge up another $10. The lessons in that book were the main reason I had enough to eat my first 3 years of college.

[carsongross]

When (Money In From People Who Aren't Assholes) / (Money Out) > 1... bam, freedom.

While you work on the numerator, there's also a denominator there you can work on without actually hurting your happiness too much, it turns out.