I realized a while ago that there is no such thing as being rich enough not to have to worry about money. Now I’m just working on being laid-back enough not to worry too much about it.
Same with me.
I have had other conventional aspirations, for instance I wanted to blow the collective minds of my entire society and have them all going “wow ya know, what AHunter3 said”, to the point of changing the world in some substantial way. Or having my music or my writing wow people in an artistic / entertainment sense, “wow, did you read/listen to AHunter3’s latest, I mean holy shit that’s good”…
But rich only ever entered the picture as a means to an end, if at all, and usually only after being frustrated that my ideas, music, or writing weren’t lighting the world on fire. Glare, scowl, mutter. Gee if I had a freaking half-billion dollars I’d do this and I’d do that and by god then the world would take notice of what I did!!
Rich in and of itself? Naaah, not if it requires any effort on my part.
A character in a Robert Heinlein story once said, “You and I will never be rich. We will work just hard enough to support our vices.”
The main thing I’ve always wondered about having bunches of money is what it would be like to shop and not care what something cost - I don’t know if I could do that. I know part would be from years of having to live within a budget without a lot to spare, but part would also be not wanting to over pay or waste money. So even if I could afford to buy something for $100K but I knew it to be worth only half that much, I’m not sure I could do it. I’d like to think being rich doesn’t mean being stupid with money.
On the other hand, I don’t think I’d have a problem with flying first class, even tho the economy seats get you to the same place at the same time for lots less. Or booking a luxury suite when all I’d need is a place to sleep for a few nights.
Not that it’ll ever be an issue…
When I daydream about being rich, one thing I think of is the ability to be generous with my wealth. Funding a personal foundation a la the Gateses. Or when I see a less famous but talented musician, just handing them $10k or so after the show. Supporting local musical and environmental organizations. Being able to buy and preserve open land/at risk architecture. Or even just tipping outrageously.
A few years ago during a tolerance break
Summary
(a few weeks during which I go without cannabis in an attempt to “reset” my tolerance. I, like many, experience vivid dreams during this time)
I had a dream in which I’d won billions in the lottery. In the dream I was really enjoying my riches. I bought friends cars and homes. I bought an airplane and hired a pilot. If a restaurant didn’t have a table for us, I’d buy the restaurant and make room for us. All sorts of crazy largess.
When I woke up I could remember the dream in exquisite detail. And I was so sad that it was only a dream. I was seriously depressed that day and the sadness persisted for days.
I’ve often fantasized about using a giant wad of money to make something that would benefit the whole community. Current ones include: Fund more open hours at the town library. Create a septic system for the town center that would allow more businesses. Repair all the trails in the state forest behind my house. And any number of others.
I’ve always had all the money I needed, mostly because nothing expensively tragic I couldn’t afford has not happened to me, and because I am innately thrifty with abnormal tastes – what I enjoy doing happens to be mostly free (this changed with the advent of the horse in my life, but now I can afford her).
But $3.8 million is not rich, is it? It is just mid-level well off. The bank will treat you nicely, you will always find a good lawyer if you need one and never have to worry about medical expenses, but that is not rich.
If I were rich I would build a factory to make me a custom designed zeppelin, and then some more in case people would want one too. My back of the envelope calculations say that would cost between $500 million and $2 billion. As I will never get that much money (I am not even trying, so I really won’t, don’t worry) I am glad as it is now.
If I was ambitious I could do it even now: just assume risk, take on a lot of debt, work long hours and convince, motivate and get on board good, competent people. Alas, no. I don’t have the passion to overcome my lazyness. But there were times I dreamt of how my zeppelin would exactly be. I even wrote a book about it, quite detailed. Turns out that was almost as good as the real thing. I still have it in my mind (the zeppelin, not the book. That is on my hard disk - and today I could write it better).
When I think of being “rich” that means:
- I can retire whenever I feel like it, starting now.
- I will never worry about paying for food, shelter, or medical care.
- Money is no object to having or doing things that can be bought.
Covering basic needs and funding retirement (with basically nothing left over) is such a goddamn grind. Even if you enjoy your work, the enjoyment is diminished by the fact that you must work. You can never be tired or disabled. Time off must be negotiated and approved by others. You can’t just get tired of it and want something else.
A sufficient amount of money would remove the need to grind for the basics, and I have a hard time believing any working person who says they don’t dream of getting out of that grind.
I go to London every few years to visit, but I have to do it with AirB&Bs and lots of planning in advance to get deals. I remember one year I was walking back to where I was staying though some neighborhood where the flats must be worth millions and I was struck by the casual wealth on display, much more than I ever had been when I worked in Beverly Hills a zillion years ago. Also realized I would never life in such a luxurious residence. At that moment, to me what wealth meant was: while traveling, not sleeping in a converted bedroom where I need to lug a heavy suitcase myself via the public transit, down a narrow flight of stairs; actually being able to afford trips around the city in their famous black cabs; going to a west end show and not having to take the nosebleed seats. Like many people above, I don’t wish I were a billionaire, I just wish I had the money to make things just more convenient and easy, without worry about how I was going to cover it all.
Cite? Not challenging you, just don’t remember this one from his work and would like to find it. Googling even parts of it just finds this thread!
I don’t remember. It was one of the Future History stories. Two characters (one of them one of his Wise Old Men) were talking about a third character, who was a zillionaire, and went into a side discussion about economics.
There was a time in my life when the thought of being Capital-R Rich appealed to me. I thought a nice yacht, a beachfront mansion, properties in Manhattan and Vail and Tuscany, would be just what I needed. Those days are long gone. Now I just dream of having the money to not worry about bills, to be able to travel and indulge in my hobbies, and to help out my family. If I won the lottery tomorrow, I doubt I’d even move out of my current house. Sure, I’d fix it up quite a bit, but I don’t need the headache of anything bigger (or worse, more properties).
Up through my 30s, I dreamed of being Super Rich. Now that I’m 70 and financially set so I don’t have to worry about money for the rest of my days, I no longer harbor that dream.
Until I travel. Being whisked about the globe in my private jet and being chauffeured about town in a limo and staying in fancy hotels still has a great deal of appeal to me.
I think, just based on observation, that rich people always care what something costs. That helps them stay rich. My husband’s grandparents took thirty of their relatives on a Mediterranean cruise for their 50th wedding anniversary. They not only paid for airfare and accommodations, they gave everyone spending money. We were staying in some ancient fancy hotel in Barcelona and met for breakfast at the hotel the next morning. Grandma looked at the menu, said, “These prices are outrageous,” disappeared and came back 20 minutes later with McDonald’s for 30 people.
I don’t think I’ve ever given any real thought to what we might all recognize as the stereotypical trappings of phenomenal wealth (multiple houses, cars, private jets, yachts, etc.).
As I get older, though, I have thought about things like …
My sleep isn’t good. I wonder if the uber-wealthy have on-staff (maybe live-in, three shifts) massage therapists who help them fall asleep.
Having a private chef to make me delicious, nutritious meals at any time would be pretty nice.
I wondered if their linens are changed daily and replaced weekly. I wonder if there are some categories of garment – maybe underclothes – that are never worn twice.
I generally don’t give the bigger stuff much thought because I think Americans – in aggregate – already consume a disproportionately large share of the world’s finite natural resources. Most of the highly visible stuff is that on steroids.
But I have given more thought lately to the little things – things we probably never hear about.
Lastly – and I’ve said this since I was an adolescent – I do dream of the good I could do in this world with significant resources.
Rather than move myself or others from 10 to 11, I think about bringing untold millions of people from 0 to 1.
That … I have long dreamed about.
I came within one transverse number from winning $170 million back in 2018. I had 4 of the 5 regular numbers plus the power ball. Won $50,000. The number I did not have was 25. I had 52. To this day I still think about how my life would be different if I had won the jackpot.
Yeah, that’s a common take. People have trouble with defining “rich.” To be in the top 10% of wealth in the US takes $2.7M, one less than the guy in NH. The top 1% of wealth starts at just under $11M. The media focuses on billionaires, so people forget the “millionaire next door types.”
In my 20s I worked for two rich morons in a row, leading to two job changes, leading to me focusing on getting rich (rather than super-rich). There’s a viral video about quiet quitting where a 20-something says she’s not looking for a “dream job” because she doesn’t dream about labor. I’d say something similar about getting rich - when I dreamt of getting rich, I didn’t dream about spending a bunch of money, just the freedom of not worrying about money. That’s what I think the guy in NH and other “next door” types were going for, rather than the image Alux promotes. 
If I were rich rich, I would buy a condo in the Barbican, because I also would not want to live in extremely ostentatious wealth, and I like the architecture, and I would like to stay in the City.
Condos in the Barbican aren’t actually that expensive for their location (although expensive for their small size.) If I were a merely rich banker who worked in the City I would get one in a heartbeat. But being an American, I would need to be quite rich to make buying one make sense.
It would be larger than a hotel room (where I usually stay at), but too small for me if I had a family, which explains why it has a merely huge price rather than an outrageously high price.
I very often have daydreams about projects I could only do if I were rich. Being worth 2,000,000 in ca puts you in solid middle class. The vast amount of that will be in property or investments. If I had 10,000,000 I could afford a good start on some projects I would like to pursue.