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Still Growing · 12-29-2006, 04:47 PM

[QUOTE=This is a conflict I'm having. Sure, it would be nice to make millions of dollars for an easy life, but if I do it not following my passion, then it will be pointless. But even if I do make millions following my passion, it will feel like I really don't need a lot of the money, so I'll most likely end up giving it away to the point where I survive and I guess it is a good thing to give money away. But even if I don't make all that money and I do follow my passion, I'll still be successful in my mind and I will not let materialism warp my sense of success. If I make a good living doing it, enough to support myself and eventually my family, then I've done what I need to do. Just some thoughts I thought I'd get out there.[/QUOTE]

Andrew,
As you said there are various forms of wealth such as health, family and freedom to do what you love which would be time. You asked "But if you really want to become a millionaire just to do it, how much money will you make before you stop being greedy, always wanting more?

I agree that people should not judge your success by your wealth but you should not condem greed so quickly.

Financial wealth is really a storing of time. You could grow your own food if you had the time but you exchange your money (stored time) for this food for example.

I commend you following your passion but if you are happy about not creating wealth you probably wouldn't feel the need to post about it. I suspect you secretly would like to have both. And you can if you first educate yourself on how to build wealth.

Most people think that financial wealth is something that happens to you. People think of "Finding" the right product instead of "Creating" it. They think of the lottery, etc. But when they speak of family then understand that you have to work on your relationships. When we speak of health you can't possibly be in the best health without learning what to eat and what exercises to do and then put your energy towards it.

But why is it about "making millions". To become financially wealthy you do not usually jump to millions, you start with thousands and build up. You also mentioned that you are concerned about materialism if you built financial wealth but materialism is not equal to financial independence. This mentality that you must be greedy to be wealthy is false. You also do not need to be materialistic to be wealthy.

What is financial indepence????????? My measurement is how long you can live with your current lifestyle without having to work. Think about it. If you were able to live reasonably and secure your basics then you would be able to dedicate your life to whatever you choose.

Lets not forget that most flashy people are not very wealthy. Many of them are but even more are not.

Many of my friends are very financially wealthy but you would never know it by the cars they drove.

Being financially wealthy does not mean that you would become a better or worse person. It really does not have anything to do with you as an individual and your character.

Aside from people who inherit, win the lotter or come up with something like Google, there are a lot of people out there who are just fianancially savvy. They live below their means, they read a lot about self improvement and they generally try to just be the best at what they do. They therefore, store time (money) for some future use or leverage.

If you do what you love you may not make much money but if you are the best at what you do you will most likely make money. But even if you make good money it does not mean you will be financially wealthy.

Most financially wealthy people, I have found, tend to study gaining wealth as a hobby. They read about investments, talk to friends about ideas, go into businesses with new products or people and are continuously growing their financial muscles. This isn't for everyone.

If you had the knowledge of a financial genious and acted upon that knowledge you would become wealthy. The same with emotional knowledge. or health knowledge. If you know a lot about fitness, talk to others about fitness and act upon it you will most likely become pretty fit.

I would say 90% of people reading this are not financially fit. The majority of people are not interested in how financial wealth works they are more interested in the things it can buy. This would be like wanting a great body so you could attract more dates but not really having any interest in learning about training. Makes no since right?

I would suggest that you learn to be content with less money and do not care how others judge you. Or you make a decision that you will learn to build wealth while doing what you love. You may not explode with millions in one to five years but you'll set yourself on a path of financial independence when you retire. If you chose the prior don't let those judging you get you down. Money is not the judge of a good or happy person and most people who will look down on you are just faking. Most are in debt up to their eyeballs and are just keeping up a front to make themselves look wealthier than they are.

12-29-2006, 04:47 PM	#30 (permalink)
Still Growing Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Posts: 909	Lets talk about money [QUOTE=This is a conflict I'm having. Sure, it would be nice to make millions of dollars for an easy life, but if I do it not following my passion, then it will be pointless. But even if I do make millions following my passion, it will feel like I really don't need a lot of the money, so I'll most likely end up giving it away to the point where I survive and I guess it is a good thing to give money away. But even if I don't make all that money and I do follow my passion, I'll still be successful in my mind and I will not let materialism warp my sense of success. If I make a good living doing it, enough to support myself and eventually my family, then I've done what I need to do. Just some thoughts I thought I'd get out there.[/QUOTE] Andrew, As you said there are various forms of wealth such as health, family and freedom to do what you love which would be time. You asked "But if you really want to become a millionaire just to do it, how much money will you make before you stop being greedy, always wanting more? I agree that people should not judge your success by your wealth but you should not condem greed so quickly. Financial wealth is really a storing of time. You could grow your own food if you had the time but you exchange your money (stored time) for this food for example. I commend you following your passion but if you are happy about not creating wealth you probably wouldn't feel the need to post about it. I suspect you secretly would like to have both. And you can if you first educate yourself on how to build wealth. Most people think that financial wealth is something that happens to you. People think of "Finding" the right product instead of "Creating" it. They think of the lottery, etc. But when they speak of family then understand that you have to work on your relationships. When we speak of health you can't possibly be in the best health without learning what to eat and what exercises to do and then put your energy towards it. But why is it about "making millions". To become financially wealthy you do not usually jump to millions, you start with thousands and build up. You also mentioned that you are concerned about materialism if you built financial wealth but materialism is not equal to financial independence. This mentality that you must be greedy to be wealthy is false. You also do not need to be materialistic to be wealthy. What is financial indepence????????? My measurement is how long you can live with your current lifestyle without having to work. Think about it. If you were able to live reasonably and secure your basics then you would be able to dedicate your life to whatever you choose. Lets not forget that most flashy people are not very wealthy. Many of them are but even more are not. Many of my friends are very financially wealthy but you would never know it by the cars they drove. Being financially wealthy does not mean that you would become a better or worse person. It really does not have anything to do with you as an individual and your character. Aside from people who inherit, win the lotter or come up with something like Google, there are a lot of people out there who are just fianancially savvy. They live below their means, they read a lot about self improvement and they generally try to just be the best at what they do. They therefore, store time (money) for some future use or leverage. If you do what you love you may not make much money but if you are the best at what you do you will most likely make money. But even if you make good money it does not mean you will be financially wealthy. Most financially wealthy people, I have found, tend to study gaining wealth as a hobby. They read about investments, talk to friends about ideas, go into businesses with new products or people and are continuously growing their financial muscles. This isn't for everyone. If you had the knowledge of a financial genious and acted upon that knowledge you would become wealthy. The same with emotional knowledge. or health knowledge. If you know a lot about fitness, talk to others about fitness and act upon it you will most likely become pretty fit. I would say 90% of people reading this are not financially fit. The majority of people are not interested in how financial wealth works they are more interested in the things it can buy. This would be like wanting a great body so you could attract more dates but not really having any interest in learning about training. Makes no since right? I would suggest that you learn to be content with less money and do not care how others judge you. Or you make a decision that you will learn to build wealth while doing what you love. You may not explode with millions in one to five years but you'll set yourself on a path of financial independence when you retire. If you chose the prior don't let those judging you get you down. Money is not the judge of a good or happy person and most people who will look down on you are just faking. Most are in debt up to their eyeballs and are just keeping up a front to make themselves look wealthier than they are.