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Comment by ryandrake | Hacker News Reader

Yet Person A, who just sold his startup and is sitting on $10M is objectively better off than Person B, who is making $200K a year at a normal job in tech. All other intangible things being equal, Person A's wealth will earn him $2-400K a year just sitting there doing nothing, giving him the choice to go get a normal job if desired, or not, or do anything he wants to do for fun, or not. That startup sale bought him the option to do whatever "makes him tick, makes him feel alive, and ultimately makes him happy" Whereas Person B has no option--if he wants to keep his $200K lifestyle he needs to keep grinding.

I'd trade places with Person A any time!

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You assume you can buy happiness. Person A is not objectively better off, they're financially better off. Happiness isn't determined solely by bank balance.

If what made him tick was a sense of purpose, of seeing the company he founded continue to grow there aren't many options apart from go back to the company, found a new one, or ??? Maybe option 2 is too much work, and without the carrot of a big payoff he'd lack the drive.

You'd happily trade places because you believe money buys happiness. This person has learnt it does not.

Money buys you the option to opt out of the things that don't bring you happiness and to go do whatever it is that does bring you happiness. For this guy, maybe it's "do another startup." Great! With $10M in the bank, he can just go do that! For me, I could quit my job (which does not bring me happiness) and maybe build a sailboat... or travel... or raise a family... Or whatever makes me happy. That's the option that money buys.

The phrase "Mo money, mo problems" didn't come out nowhere. Sure, you can leverage the money to do things that could bring you happiness but you have no idea the long term effects (potentially subliminal) of having more.

> For this guy, maybe it's "do another startup." Great! With $10M in the bank, he can just go do that!

He touches on this in the article, he was interested in starting new projects but they went nowhere. So I am reading this as "no, he cannot just go do that", he is worried he only was able to do it the one time.

Or maybe it's none of those things and when you're busy working at least you have the dream that one day it'll be over and you can somehow be happy. If you actually live the dream you might actually find what you thought would make you happy doesn't cut it, and then you don't even have the dream.

Money doesn't buy you happiness, but it _does_ eliminate a set of problems that can impede one's happiness.

Which is not to say that the person with money can't then find additional problems, or use the money such that they reintroduce a class of problems.

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