Future expectations of Happiness

[vkh]

If the award for 5/6 was $10mm or more, I would feel some embarrasment and chastise myself for being careless. But I wouldn't be very upset because the marginal utility of the second $10mm is nowhere near the value of the first $10mm to me.

If the prize for 5/6 was $100k or less, I would be in shock. It would indeed be a horrible day.

HOWEVER, in choosing a fate ahead of time, I am ok with sacrificing happiness for the days(s) after realizing my goof, in order to have more purchasing power in the future (after I get over my mistake).

So the real question is, what is the value of the loss of happiness for those few days (as you pointed out in your title!).

For me I'm going to estimate that if the prize for 5/6 is $10.5k or more, I would choose Option 2. In other words, my grief for a few days is worth about $500. I may also be better at getting over things like this than other people, who may need more of a bonus in the prize money to endure the disappointment.

[tshort]

Assuming I didn't spend $50,000 at the Spearmint Rhino knowing I was getting 20 Mil... I would go with option 2.

[tshort]

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ah ok. so if you had a $20,000,000 ticket in your hands (perfectly legit), and someone walked up to you, tore it into 50 pieces, then handed you a briefcase with $100,000 in it, you would feel EXACTLY the same right?

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This is drastically different from your original scenario. In this case... someone dies.

[psy]

Good question. The answer for me is easily option 2 because $10,000 only pays a few debts but $100,000 is enough to increase my lifestyle quite significantly. This would offset the obvious disappointment of losing the $20M.

The tipping point is hard to measure - say $36,000?

I think a lot of people are underestimating how [censored] it would be to find out you haven't won the $20M after thinking you had for a whole week.

[PokerAmateur4]

I choose B unless 1 > 96k. Assuming I don't make any irreparable life choices, i.e. dropping out of school/blowing off boss type of decisions. I would get over it pretty quick, I'm pretty reasonable and humble with money. I would still be very appreciative the day I collect 100k, far happier than most days, at least I think.

[ill rich]

to me, it wouldn't matter much.

i'de probably feel bad i misread the ticket, but at least i'de have 100K.

it's just money, i'm sure i could come up with a couple million elsewhere.

[eviljeff]

posed this question to 3 friends at dinner last night. all of them chose 100K pretty quickly. I guess I just have a low threshold for emotional trauma.

[drunkencowboy]

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ugh, this is so harsh. I'm trying to think of what kind of money it would take to make me go through that kind of let down. I think I'd be scared that I'd really spiral into a mini-depression. I'm going to say > 100K.

[/ QUOTE ]this is the first logical response i've seen.

"how would you feel if you lost 99% of your net worth?"
"embarrassed and a little sad"

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hey pal. my calling the question retarded was quite logical. you didnt lose 99% of your worth. you were an idiot who read his ticket wrong. until you got the 20 million you would have to expect that you are still a long way from getting it into your bank account (even if you had the right ticket). if you discovered that you were not getting the money because you misread the ticket - if i did that lets say - i would probably laugh at myself and say "Oh well, 100,000 is good. God im an idiot."... i would most certainly not go into a state of depression over money that was never mine...

i think that whoever actually humored you with an answer was illogical, but most likely it was just you signed in on a different account.

[/ QUOTE ]ah ok. so if you had a $20,000,000 ticket in your hands (perfectly legit), and someone walked up to you, tore it into 50 pieces, then handed you a briefcase with $100,000 in it, you would feel EXACTLY the same right? just a little sad, right? because "until you got the 20 million you would have to expect that you are still a long way from getting it into your bank account" right?

don't back up on your words now. the only way for you to not contradict yourself is to claim that you would still only feel a little disappointed if this would happen. so are you going to lie or retrace your steps?

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maybe you should have made that the original question instead of the "misreading the ticket" scenario

[jlkrusty]

I can get over my sad feelings usually within an hour. No way would I continue to feel bad for more than two or three days.

I'll handles some sadness for $100 per day. So, I choose option "B" unless it was less than $300 more than option "A".

[HighStakesPro]

I was chip leader in the Sunday Million once, with two tables left, and I didn't make the final table. That $5500 prize pissed me off to no end.