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Comment by rokhayakebe | Hacker News Reader

Some call is poverty. Others call it something else. Maybe there is more to life than money.

No doubt Perelman feels it is a matter of principle. He felt unduly neglected by the mathematical establishment when he contacted prominent mathematicians to discuss with them his approach.

I can only hope his mother fully shares his viewpoints if he still lives with her...

+1 for "I hope his mother fully shares his viewpoints".

That being said, it appears he also declined several great job offers. Some people just don't live for material things. Most people say they don't, but their actions (including mine) say differently.

This guy doesn't talk his philosophy, he acts it.

Even if there really is more to life than X, that does not imply that X is not a useful part of life. (I guess I take issue with both the saying in general and this particular application of it.)

Depends. If he can now spend all his time doing what he likes to do, why he would want an additional burden of managing all those money? And even if sometimes in the future he will be in a serious need of money, many math institutions or universities will be more than happy to employ him. So even without accepting that money, he can still do what he loves to do all his time. Happy man :)

He could choose a way of managing the money that was optimized for simplicity. For example putting it all in a one low risk low return income generating instrument. It's hard for me to believe that the stress involved in picking up a decent cheque every month for the rest of his life wouldn't be outweighed by the benefits.

To me his actions are those of a "difficult" person. Very hard for a more relaxed (dare I say "normal") person to understand and rationalize. So I wouldn't bother. As others say, maybe that's part of what makes him different and special.

Where can I find a low risk investment that yields a decent monthly return on 1 million?

By decent I mean "worthwhile" or "significant". I specifically didn't say "enough to replace the income of a comfortably placed person in a first world country". 2% pa yields what, $1600 per month ? Don't you think that would be worthwhile to someone living in poverty in Russia ?

There are lots of useful things in life, but you do not have to accept a thing just because everyone says it is useful. If you asks me, this guy thinks for himself.

Poverty means not being able to afford basic necessities. By that definition, I don't see how poverty can be seen as admirable or good in any way.

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