No, this is a very honest question which has been lurking my mind for a while. Sorry, if I had worded it badly. Its not like money is my only motivation. I definitely do want to things I enjoy (coding/math/statistics/entrepreneurship) or at least as close to it as possible. I would never compromise that. But to answer your question "what can you do with $250k that you can't do with $115k?" -- I have thought about this for a long time. In fact I use this argument to suppress my dissatisfaction of not making enough money. I guess I'm not a content person when it comes to money and I guess I feel it is a measure of career progress and that I'm moving forward rather than being stagnant. Of course I would be kidding myself, if I say its the only measure of progress, there is always the value produced for obtaining that money.