What does having money mean?

[brandon184]

What exactly does having a lot of money mean? I don't mean give me a defintion.. What does it make of you in the world today, that it wouldn't make with someone with no/little money?

Someone please explain.

[SysOpt]

Scott's view when he was broke:
money is the answer, it will solve all problems and while it won't bring happiness, it will bring some

Scott's view while not broke:
money lets you help others if you are so inclined (it's a good feeling IMO), but it doesn't solve your problems. It solves your old ones, and gives you as many (or more) new ones. Making one's life more complex leads to stress - even if you fill your life with extravagent toys, you have to keep track of those toys, insure them, worry about them, care for them.

All in all, money isn't a bad thing or a good thing inherently, but it has to be respected and can be easily abused. It also means not having to worry about the little things like eating out, buying groceries, etc. - but again, it takes away those small worrries and replaces them with bigger ones like making wise investments, taxes, lawyers, etc. etc. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif


[This message has been edited by SysOpt (edited 06-22-2000).]

[brandon184]

Hmmm.. Good point of view. Any others? Are there any mega, mega rich people here?

- Brandon

[codybear]

I would fit that description

I have a 7 yr old daughter and to hear her laughter and see her smile and hear the words.."Daddy I love you"

I am the richest man on the planet and all the money in the world will not buy you what I feel and experience everyday of my life http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

hey Scott...I know a 7 yr old that would be a guaranteed investment...J/K

[This message has been edited by codybear (edited 06-22-2000).]

[brandon184]

hmmm.. Codybear.. Cool Perspective. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

I don't really know what my parents think about... At any given time, you can take a look in our driveway and see 3 or 4 different cars. Each at LEAST $78,000. I don't know what having an expensive car proves. They have the money to buy these things, but do they actually need them? There are only 4 people in the entire family that currently drive.. Yet the family owns 6 cars.. 7 soon.

By the end of the month, my family will own nearly $700,000 worth of cars! My parents think that this is perfectly normal. Its not like my dad collects cars for a living or anything.. We just got 'em.. They feel they have to prove something, or let people know that they have a pile of money. Which.. Why!!?!? Why should they know?

There are 6 people who live in our house. The house we own would be fit for 20 people. They felt they had to go out one day (I LOVED where we used to live.) and make a statement by moving to an even richer community and building an unnecessarily large home with unnecessary things in it.

I don't ask them about it, or even attempt to have a discussion about it, because they assume that each one is desprately needed or something. I just don't get it.

- Brandon


[This message has been edited by brandon184 (edited 06-22-2000).]

[Mntsnow]

Ahemn to that Codybear! Money to me is just monititary. I aspire to have good friends, a good life and the love of those around me. I will admit that if I all of a sudden came into some money I would probably "go hog wild" and move to a bigger home with a bigger yard. Not to "prove" anything but just to provide more comfort to my family and my dogs. ...but I'm babbling now so I'll shut up http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

Mntsnow

[brandon184]

Thats also a great perspective Mntsnow.. But my parents DID move here to prove something..

We HAD a big house and a big yard in the city.

I think they feel that if you don't keep upgrading your image gets worn out..

- Brandon

[wyvrn]

I never have had a lot of money, but I am still happy. As long as I have enough saved to get me through the lean times, buy what we need, and give us a sense of security. Any more than that might be a waste. Of course I like to travel and that is expensive, but good ole home and my family brings me the most happiness.

[brandon184]

Cool.. I'm happy travelling as long as I'm with either family or friends.. Otherwise I miss home. Unless I'm having a really good time at my destination..

[tantone]

I have nothing against money. I agree that it can cause as many problems as it cures.

I have a problem with people who inherited their money, especially if they have attitudes. I respect people who made their money for themselves. Which is why, when we retire, we will spend what we saved (after ensuring that our children had the money to go to college and try to make something of themselves). I feel that I have no responsibility to my children if they continually need help throughout life (self-inflicted problems--we're not talking about illnesses). I will have provided them the chace to choose whatever avenue they want, and what they do with that opportunity is up to them.

I'm WAY off topic, aren't I? Anyway, having money means the ability to live comfortably, have a home that suits my needs, a car that gets me where I'm going yet is enjoyable to drive, having money to take a wonderful vacation each year (maybe two smaller ones instead), and enough invested to enjoy retirement in whatever manner we choose (probably travel).

[brandon184]

Yes.. I agree.

People who inherited their money tend to have the real bad attitudes.

My parents both started out from not much at all..

[bhess]

I'm rich as heck!! see what I got?
http://home.tampabay.rr.com/brians/merry-go-round.jpg

[brandon184]

hehe.. Yes. That is considered rich in my definition. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[SysOpt]

Yeah, buying things to gain status just sucks. Buying things that you've always wanted, without going way overboard, and to have fun with them is ok I think. Ultimately, it's family, friends, and what you do with your time that's most important.. Not what you drive or where you live.

[brandon184]

Good points. I'm just glad my parents aren't snobs, like some of the people I know.

Of course they have a little bit of a different attitude, from years back when they didn't have nearly as much.. But thats the way it goes.

[SysOpt]

Awesome, bhess, that's what it's all about http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif.

[SysOpt]

Yeah.. I can't imagine what it would be like growing up with money.. I'm glad I grew up living month to month on a tight budget - I had pretty much all I wanted and would even say I was spoiled, but my family wasn't rich.

[Warthog]

Oh yeah...you're the guy who is getting the good car. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

I think bhess has the right idea. True love is the real wealth. Something money can't buy.

When I am out of college - well...first there's high school (ha!) - I hope to have a decent job and easily make it by. But if I have to choose between having a more enjoyable job with less pay and a job that sucks with much more pay, I'd definately choose the lower paying job - as long as it paid the bills http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif.

Warthog

[seti]

Ok, I'll embark on a cheesy metaphor, but bear with me. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

Money is to life, what sprinkles are to an ice cream cone.

Now, you can already let your own minds loose on that simplistic statement...so I really don't need to say much more.


[This message has been edited by seti (edited 06-23-2000).]

[chipbgt]

I just wanted to say...this is a great thread http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif and its inspired me to start another after I reply to this one.

"What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?"

I think the majority of people strive for more and more money, thinking that it will solve there problems. But at what cost? Is it worth it? I dont think so. I really hope that I am not wealthy when I grow older. I dont want my life to be focused on money, I want my faith to be in another Thing. Its not like we can take any of it with us when we die.

[Glynn R Harris]

I have been blessed in my life.

Not with money, really, but to have been born in a place where I could CHOOSE, more or less, what I wanted to do and be, where living hand-to-mouth is not a certain fate, where my future is, while not completely in my control, NOT absolutely in the control of others.

You must begin where you are put, rich or poor. But the journey just begins at that station, for those of us who live in a democracy or democratic-republic. For those who live in some other countries, the journey maybe has all been pre-planned, and may not even seem worth taking.

I am blessed to have been raised in a time in this world when there were people I could look to for guidance. People who did right because it was the right thing. My father's generation who went to war and matured at 18 to a point I think I am just beginning to reach at 40.

I actually experienced, for a while, a time when locked doors and cars were still rare, and we played outdoors until sundown and never got abducted.

When I ran away at age seven, five blocks away, a man I didn't know asked me what I was doing with a suitcase, then brought me to my home and my mother in his car. I'm glad he took charge over my life in that one moment. I felt safe all my early life, an almost charmed feeling I would hope someday a child of mine could feel.

Too much like Wally and the Beav? Maybe, but once it WAS this way-- I worry over the changes I've seen over the last many years and wonder if we didn't belittle values we knew too little about keeping.

I am blessed to have grown up surrounded by family-- I have warred with each member of this family over the years, and given each one of them reason, if they wanted any, to hate me. Instead, they Still love me; and I am closer now to my parents than I have ever been.

I am blessed with healthy parents... my best friend lost his dad when he was away at college, at 19. No, he has not been impaired by the loss, but I think of how lucky I am! I know someday I shall lose my parents, too, and hope that I shall be able to look back and say, God, thank you for giving me all that time to appreciate this special gift.

I am blessed to have my health, too. No, I am not without ailments, some I was born into, some I got along the way... let's say I'll never be an astronaut.

But what about the thinking mind? What about the ability to live independently and walk and make plans for tomorrows and talk and experience those things I can? My older sister is blind, lost her sight completely at the age I am now. She had a hard adjustment to make, and has made it... I have a 7-year-old neice to prove it. I myself admire my sister's ability not to "cope", but to Adapt.

Now, to money: in my dad's prime earning years, he made about 35K a year. My mom had to go to work when I was twelve; my parent's total income in those years was about 45K. Adjust for thirty years inflation and I'd guess that amounted to a lifestyle equivalent of 75-80K now. They raised my two sisters and I-- five people on that money. We were comfortable, mostly: had two cars always, a house we didn't grow out of, color television, phones, lots of record albums, us kids had the things kids need and some of the stuff we wanted. None of it was fancy. None of it impressed anyone, but it didn't need to.

My dad sold construction equipment. Cost him his hearing and some of his sight; he worked his tail off at a company where the blow-and-go management of the seventies came in and put all the employee's pension fund in land speculation-- and lost. They folded in my dad's nineteenth year with them: two months until he would be drawing on the pension that never materialized from a bankruptcy court.

My dad has Social Security now. He still works to supplement it now that he is old enough not to be penalized for working. My mom still works, too, at a day-care, where she loves being around the children.

Money is not nothing. It's not everything. It is, at the start, a tool to meet real needs. It has to be made, for your very survival.

Only after that, it can allow you "security": the ability to be sure today's needs will be met AND tomorrow's questions have at least a few answers, so it's less like a True/False and more like a multiple-choice.

In a little more abundance, it is comfort: things you value and the ability to meet needs beyond your own, maybe for the sake of people you come to value.

More money than that, offers choices: to go where you want, when you can. Scott and others here will tell you: when you have the money, you don't often get the TIME to pursue your inclinations or curiosities. (Conversely, when you have the time, where is the money?? http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif )

Lots of money means Power. The ability to use your money and Control your own time and create opportunities: maybe for more wealth, or to do something you know SOMEBODY should do, or give birth to an idea that requires others doing in concert with you from the start.

But notice always: Money never gives you power over people, unless they consent to allow you that power, usually in trade for some of your money, or the chance to get some of their own.

It never gives you real respect; only people who earn their money get the respect and admiration of others, and that is from a recognition of all the work it takes to get and keep money. Affluent kids can put on the trappings of those who earned their wealth, but what they actually DO in their life largely sums out to zero, or worse, and the old saying "From shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations" is largely borne out. For a instant example of what wealth can do to pervert the value-sense of those who have not truly earned it, look to the entertainment industry, where lots of success stories have turned to excess stories and then tragedies.

Much of what we take as a respect and admiration of those who have money is actually a covetous respect and admiration for the MONEY. "Gosh, but he is Rich! What I could do in his place!"

Money is NOT an measuring stick of value in real terms. YOUR money can be a measure of what YOU value, but that is often not what people TRY to use it for. In a society, or a marketplace, it is more often a measure of scarcity or demand-- very different from what is WORTHWHILE or GOOD. A rockstar who eats fake feces off his drummer's snare-kit will get mega-bucks; the best teacher at your school (the one that really made you think) will possibly eat cat-food in his/her retirement years.

Why? Because the demand for the shock-rocker is way beyond his good to society, way beyond the effort he took to get there, but we as consumers demanded him or something Like him, and he was the One who could or would meet that demand. Nobody forces us to buy his stuff, and nobody forces him to provide it.

The teacher, however, does not get paid any more to be a good teacher, he/she is a good teacher because of a felt inner need. But all the many so-so and also-ran and even bad teachers get the same money, same perks for time spent on the job-- so "star" teachers are not monetarily any better off. Further, since the money for teachers is collected from all at the point of a gun (ahem, I just defined Government), no one in society feels an urge to spend MORE for "these" teachers than for "those". We don't even pay attention to them. We don't have "Rolling Apple", just Rolling Stone.

So money in society is a measure in gallons, and money as a personal measure is a measure of lightyears or parsecs. Don't try to convert one to the other.

For each of us, once we have done enough to feel we've made the best we could of our 25,000 days, we will have been and will be judged by others who know us as "rich".

[bdunn]

I keep having this recurring dream of having enough money to afford a divorce. Finances are such currently that we are stuck.

[brandon184]

A lot of people assume that just because my parents are wealthy - I am also.

That is just not the case!

Sure, I get a few more things than I've wanted, and sure I'm spoiled.. In a different sense..

To me, spoiled is not only having belongings.. No no.. Thats only a small part of it. I consider being spoiled if I have great, loving parents who I can look up to and come to and talk to and be loved by. WHICH I DO.

Unfourtunately, some people do not have that. They feel uncomfortable, or do not have much contact with a parent. Or someone may not have a parent do to an unfourtunate death. I could not even imagine to imagine what it would be like to lose one of my parents. The sheer thought is just heartbreaking..

That is kind of what I was going for with this subject. Not only to get some opinions, but to have an intelligent discussion on a decent topic.

- Brandon

[This message has been edited by brandon184 (edited 06-23-2000).]

[This message has been edited by brandon184 (edited 06-23-2000).]

[BBA]

Bhess...I would feel so great if I were you!

Besides not yet having the family, I never really had any money either. I grew up very poor..my mother basically scraped to get by...boyfriend to boyfriend, etc...while my dad refused to pay child support. I had neighbors buying me school clothes because they knew we couldn't afford it!

That was a long time ago, I can definitely tell you all...Money is very nice to have, and life really sucks when theres not enough to go around!

Thats part of the reason I don't have what Bhess has...I refused to try to have a family until the time I could afford to raise one! Now...I'm doing 'ok' with money...so I'll be joining the 'Bhess' status one day I hope!

To all those with money handed to them, I'm glad you were not as unlucky as I was! You should consider yourselves lucky too ( whether you know it or not )



[This message has been edited by BBA (edited 06-23-2000).]

[Ghost Rider]

Well, I guess having money is better that the alternative......... I've had both extremes in my life. Nearly more than I could spend (though wife helped me with this problem!) and not enough to pay electric bill. I prefer the former, I must admit!

Maybe I'm too "helpful" with my money when it's possible, maybe that's why I have less now than once. But all in all, money is cool, as long as you don't crave it for itself, just to have it.

[brandon184]

I'm glad to see some good points that say being rich doesn't necessarily mean you have a lot of money.

http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[bhess]

BBA, don't worry your time will come. I always joke about how nice it was when I was single.
Enjoy being single now, then enjoy being married then.
Then when the kids come, you won't have any time. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/biggrin.gif

[alondra]

bhess
you sir, are a wealthy man.
Al

[stylin19]

From a pure economical standpoint, I suppose "WHEN" you have the money is important.

I was poor and I learned how to to live poor. Now I am a little better off. If I LOSE the money, I still know how to live poor.

If I ALWAYS had money, and I lose it, I wouldn't have a clue how to live poor.

Otherwise ? just a way to keep score