Wealth: all in the mind?

[john kane]

thanks a lot for your thoughts.

firstly i must add i have had an incredible last 5 years (gap year going to oz with a couple of school friends, then 4 years at uni which were so much fun).

the last 3 years i have basically done 3 things:

a) gone out with friends, primarily to the pub. play playstation, watch tv etc.
b) play poker
c) pass exams to get my degree

that's pretty much it. playing poker was to make money, which meant i could go out as often as i wanted to do whatever i wanted, was a great setup. exams required 3 weeks of cramming, missed lectures all the rest of the time. everything was sorted.

but now for a) most of my friends now have jobs (as do i now) so that only leaves the weekend. ill go out either friday or saturday becuase i dont want to spend my entire weekend hungover.

so i guess my reason for making a lot of money, so that i could be financially comfortable (i.e. enough not to worry about spending small amounts of money) so i could go out and party, go to a strip joint and stay in a hotel etc and not worry about money has now gone.

so why am i still bothering? now i have no real reason to make $$ i guess it's become a sense of just making $$ for the sake of it. and it's very hard to shake off, becuase what i've spent 80% of my sober free time the last few years has been playing poker. but now it's gone from an hourly rate of $100/hr or so, enough to pay off my student loan, to now $250/hr, which is a pretty decent amount. and given i am concerned the future of online poker won't always be so profitable (in msnl terms) part of me thinks i really should spend my time still playing to make $$ as i may regret it later.

ill stop rambling now, but it's hard for me to go from 3 years of making money during some of my days so i could pay off debts, go out and never worry about money, to now have a much higher hourly rate, and no longer need to make money in terms of having enough not to worry about spending.

[john kane]

[ QUOTE ]
Can you elaborate on this? You mean you went from 12,500 to 100k in 11 months from holding gold?

[/ QUOTE ]

all poker, mainly 8 tabling 2-4nl.

[ QUOTE ]
If you are just going to keep spending money like someone who is average then why accumulate wealth?

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yeah this is my problem now, it used to make a difference, in that being a student (i.e. supposed to be poor) instead i could go out and spend $300 on drinks on a day long bender, $800 on strippers etc. that made me feel like it was all worth playing poker.

now i don't have that. i feel like i should be spending more, becuase this amount of money will mean a lot more to me now than it will (hopefully) when im in my 30s or later down the line, but there is nothing i really want to spend my money on, becuase i generally get enjoyment from going out, playing golf, going to watch my footy team, schooling opponents at poker. none of these require a lot of $$. so why do i still care about $$$? - becuase i will always have the desire of being minted, i guess it's what keeps me going. also i do have a sense of pride in a weird way how well poker has gone (obv a lot have done a lot better) - the only way to really rate yourself at poker is how much you've made, so i guess i've been used to comparing how things are going by how much im making.

[captZEEbo]

wealth is just nice so you don't have to answer to any authority. Wealth gets lots of freedom, but can easily turn into boredom. Don't let money take control of your mind or you will be greatly unhappy imo. Wealth is a great way to be able to spend time with your family/love of your life imo.

Don't waste money on material things as much as possible, but use it as a way to not have to work as often and do the things you really love doing.

This is all probably obvious, but when you are going through the cycle of making money, it's easy to miss out on life.

[Mook]

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The only real commodity you have is TIME. Get the money so you can be the master of your TIME. Thats the only thing that money is good for.

[/ QUOTE ]
Can't agree with this sentiment enough. Fantastic post by spex all around.

I'm different in that I love to travel (as does my wife) and that's where I find I most enjoy spending my time and $$$, so that's where I spend it. To me it's worth taking two weeks off and dropping a month's salary on a good vacation; no one savors the memory of buying their last TV, but I can remember scuba-diving the Great Barrier Reef 5 years ago as though it was yesterday.

But that's me. The point is, find something that you love spending time on (other than what makes you money) and go spend your time on it. If it's something you also need to spend a significant amount of money on (e.g. woodworking, skydiving, restoring classic cars), consider yourself lucky that you can afford it at 23. 95% of people can't, and as a result they always resolve to do it "later" ... and never do.

Best of luck.

Mook

[CrushinFelt]

I wrote out a long reply then realized it didn't get the point out as well as just saying:

stfu.

[Henry17]

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becuase i will always have the desire of being minted, i guess it's what keeps me going.

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Understandable. I mean increasing your net worth 8 fold in a year is simply amazing but you a still a long way from being set so fully expect you to still have a lot of drive. I'm also not suggesting you become irresponsible just treat yourself. When you travel stay at the nicer hotel, buy nicer clothing etc Small stuff at first but slowly increase it as wealth increases. I find it keeps me motivated so not wasted money.

[Tien]

The money doesn't mean anything to me.


Whenever I make money I just reinvest it to make more until I make more and more and then just throw it into the bank.


The thing that excites me is the thrill of the chase and trying to do the impossible and getting paid to do it. that's why I have 3 businesses I am running simultaneously and going to add 1-2 more in the next couple of months.


To me, that is what I call fun. Money is just there as a measuring tool to see how good I am at creating my businesses.


Do something that you enjoy first. Because if you do it only for the sake of money, it get's old real fast.

[captZEEbo]

[ QUOTE ]
I wrote out a long reply then realized it didn't get the point out as well as just saying:

stfu.

[/ QUOTE ]oh sorry, I was mistaken. Spending all your time in money making endeavors IS the path to happiness!

[CrushinFelt]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I wrote out a long reply then realized it didn't get the point out as well as just saying:

stfu.

[/ QUOTE ]oh sorry, I was mistaken. Spending all your time in money making endeavors IS the path to happiness!

[/ QUOTE ]

wasn't meant towards you zeebo if that's what you thought... basically, this whole thread is pretty stupid because clearly the more money you can make early in life is >>>>> than money made later in life. Also it's not like his life is going to stay the exact same (I assume family + kids eventually?) so expenses arent going to stay flat.

[Taylor Caby]

John,
Completely understand where you are coming from. I always find myself wishing I had more and more money, but it's not like I really even spend nearly close to the amount of money I'm pulling in. It doesn't make any sense, but it seems like the more I make the more I want, even though I'm not even spending much of it.

Some of the things I'm realizing is that there are times I'm probably better off just not worrying about it, spending some money, and enjoying the ride. Things like vacations, nice dinners, clothes, are some things that I spend some money on now that I never would have even 2 years ago. I still don't spend a crazy amount, but it sure as hell makes me enjoy working towards making more money when I can actually ee the fruits of my labor.

Also, completely agree. It's the journey towards achieving your goal that is the fun part, not actually getting there. Just enjoy the ride, I have a feeling we are all going to look back to posts like these 5 or 10 years down the road and smile about "the way it was."

tc