> have a one man SaaS that nets me $100k/yr in revenue.

That 100k/yr, though, is tangible and pricing it is straightforward. That's a very different situation that doesn't require making numbers up.

> Thus, the difference in asset value vs. what you paid is just called "goodwill" - perhaps the name hangs people up a lot.

The name absolutely doesn't help, but I don't think that's what I'm hung up on. I'm hung up on the idea of making up a monetary figure out of whole cloth and pretending it's real in some way.

This disconnect confuses me greatly, and the only way I can make it make sense in my head is in the sense of "creative accounting". Which just explains why I didn't choose a career in finance, and highlights why I view the financial world generally with tremendous skepticism.