I’m not sure what they thought we were supposed to “feel” for them in this NY Times piece. But all I felt after reading this was…
What a bunch of rich unhappy losers.
As you can probably tell, I don’t value money as my life’s goal as many other do. Perhaps this is why I’m not filthy rich. But perhaps this is also why I can honestly say that I truly believe that having money makes things easier… but in no way makes you happy. Me at least.
Mr. Steger, 51, a self-described geek, has banked more than $2 million. The $1.3 million house he and his wife own on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean is paid off. The couple’s net worth of roughly $3.5 million places them in the top 2 percent of families in the United States.
Yet each day Mr. Steger continues to toil in what a colleague calls “the Silicon Valley salt mines,†working as a marketing executive for a technology start-up company, still striving for his big strike. Most mornings, he can be found at his desk by 7. He typically works 12 hours a day and logs an extra 10 hours over the weekend.
“I know people looking in from the outside will ask why someone like me keeps working so hard,†Mr. Steger says. “But a few million doesn’t go as far as it used to. Maybe in the ’70s, a few million bucks meant ‘Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,’ or Richie Rich living in a big house with a butler. But not anymore.â€
12-hour days and working weekends is ridiculous, I don’t care how much money you’re making. More at livedigitally.
Final thought. Do you think maybe the NY times piece was too one-sided and really made these people look bad? I’m wondering if that is the case.
Watch the video here.
they got no sympathy from me in my post this morning ..
I can’t even begin to imagine how unhappy I would be if I worked 12 hours a day :(
Yep – instead of net worth as the barometer for how successful a person is, how about just asking them – are you happy? Once all one’s basic needs of food, shelter, clothing, and not living paycheck to paycheck are taken care of, I think more money offers diminishing returns.
It’s almost like they’re exactly like the drug dealers I work with every day.
I had a guy the other day who was showing me all these pictures of himself that his family had sent to him. He was bragging, “Oh, I gots me a Tahoe, all this jewelry, look at me showering in money.”
And I look at this guy and say, “If you’ve got all this money, why are you in jail? Why didn’t you get out and invest in some kind of honest business, maybe help your neighborhood out a little?”
As expected, there was no real answer.
Seriously, folks, make your money and get out. Go live somewhere less expensive and enjoy life, instead of frittering it away for someone making a hundred times what you are.
lol i'd jump off a cliff