

Ask HN: What Would You Do If You Were Suddenly Wealthy? - vdfs

There are a few articles floating around today about comments from Markus Persson, aka &quot;Notch,&quot; the creator of Minecraft. He sold his game studio to Microsoft last year for $2.5 billion, but he seems to be having a hard time adjusting to his newfound fame and wealth[0]. He wrote, &quot;The problem with getting everything is you run out of reasons to keep trying, and human interaction becomes impossible due to imbalance. ... Found a great girl, but she&#x27;s afraid of me and my life style and went with a normal person instead. I would Musk and try to save the world, but that just exposes me to the same type of a$#@%&amp;*s that made me sell minecraft again.&quot; While he later suggests he was just having a bad day, he does seem to be dealing with some isolation issues. Granted, it can be hard to feel sorry for a billionaire, but I&#x27;ve wondered at times how I&#x27;d handle sudden wealth like that, and I long ago decided it would make the human relationships I&#x27;m accustomed to rather difficult. So, how would you deal with Notch&#x27;s problem? It seems like one the tech industry should at least be aware of, given the focus on startup culture.<p>[0] http:&#x2F;&#x2F;bgr.com&#x2F;2015&#x2F;08&#x2F;30&#x2F;minecraft-creator-markus-persson-microsoft-lonely&#x2F;
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lsiunsuex
1: clear all debts across the board - mine, family, maybe even close friends
and employees (if it was that much) - credit cards, mortgages, car loans /
leases, etc...

2: invest a portion in stocks, funds, etc... - although I would work on
something, I would never want to have to work again.

3: as a backup to the investments, save a portion (cash in some sort of
savings account) incase the investments fail - be it the fault of mine or my
investor

4: now pick something(s) that could use an influx of research to help it move
along, be it battery technology, water desalination, medical, etc... and
either donate to it if there are well established groups or setup my own.

5: found a new development firm and start all over. I couldn't sit on a beach
for to long or in a hotel - i'll get bored. gatta get back to work and work on
something.

I read a few of the articles on what he posted to twitter and I have a hard
time understanding his problem. You've been given an amazing gift. To never
(assuming you dont blow it all) have to worry about money again. EVER.

You can do whatever you want. Work towards curing cancer. Invest in research.
Build something (anything). Sit on your ass and do absolutely nothing for
decades (or EOL). You are absolutely, 100% in control of your future now -
your not restricted to someone else's vision of what they want to build; your
not limited in what you can do financially.

For sure, finding a wife that understands all that; friends that understand
all that, might be difficult or frustrating - but like someone told him - this
will pass - people will accept the new you and if they dont... f'em - theres
all kinds of people out there. Go get bottle service at a Las Vegas club -
make some new friends and move on.

------
Udo
_> Found a great girl, but she's afraid of me and my life style_

Remembering the Mojang documentary, it makes me a bit sad that his
relationship at the time apparently didn't work out - she seemed to really get
him. :(

But to address your more general question, I guess it's a bit like solitude in
general: some people are better (or even thrive) at it, and some struggle.

 _> So, how would you deal with Notch's problem?_

If I was to become suddenly rich, I would finally have time to do all my goofy
projects that are commercially unviable and take up a lot of time. I would
probably found some open source projects and take a somewhat active role in
them. With the main chunk of my time I would be making indie games without
caring if they sold a single copy. I would fund some friends who were less
fortunate in life, too, giving them a basic income and the opportunity to
pursue whatever they want.

Some people go crazy, buy a lot of things, and party hard. I can understand
that, especially if you never got to do these things before - so why not
indulge a little. But although those activities can feel good and can be
liberating, they should not be confused for having any meaning beyond
momentary enjoyment. They are not a source of meaning in the larger sense.

The most dangerous aspect of getting rich might be analogous to the most
dangerous aspect of retirement in general: the idea that you're "done". You're
not done, you're getting started on a new chapter. You're now more free than
ever, and it's a _huge_ opportunity that almost nobody else gets.

To Notch specifically, I would say this: continue to do things for enjoyment,
but be mindful (and realistic) of what you are expecting to get out of them.
Slowly but surely, work on getting back into a mindset where you want to
create things. It doesn't have to be for an audience, just for yourself.
Creating things can heal you. Take care of friends and families, morally and
financially. Support causes and people you like. Stop obsessing about pairing
up with someone, it's unproductive and makes you unhappy. Changing your
overall lifestyle is optional. You have a choice to live in a normal apartment
with normal possessions. Whenever you buy something extraordinary, make a
conscious decision to do so instead of doing it by default. Strive for
minimalism and simplicity in all things, it's one of the many freedoms you now
have.

------
meesterdude
I'd spend it on other people.

this guy helped 20,000 people with about $4 million
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvtLC7L2YLo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvtLC7L2YLo)

------
T-A
People seem to forget, but Notch was miserable well before he sold Mojang. In
2012, it was a breakup [0] followed by the sad story of a father with a
history of substance abuse and depression killing himself [1]. Given the ~50%
genetic component of depression [2] and the well known fact that large
monetary windfalls do not affect baseline mood [3] I think it's fair to say
that the only surprise here is that anyone is surprised.

What I would do? I would stash the money away in low risk vehicles while I
take all the time I need to study things I find interesting and/or potentially
important, and assemble a prioritized list of topics and relevant people.
Then, probably many years later, I would finalize a long-range plan to pursue
the 1-3 top priorities I've identified, and maybe support a few more further
down the list.

Yes, this is "to Musk [4]" (behold, Notch gave us a new verb!) and yes, it
brings the risk of exposure to assholes. That's inevitable if you don't want
to feel isolated [5], but having a few billion $ at your disposal does bring
advantages like the ability to hire a personal assistant or ten to manage
those assholes for you.

It would also help to stop trolling the interwebs with asshole-bait depicting
you as a miserable, hence exploitable, walking wallet.

[0]
[https://twitter.com/notch/status/235746965823033345](https://twitter.com/notch/status/235746965823033345)

[1] [http://notch.tumblr.com/post/37823268132/i-love-you-
dad](http://notch.tumblr.com/post/37823268132/i-love-you-dad)

[2]
[http://depressiongenetics.stanford.edu/mddandgenes.html](http://depressiongenetics.stanford.edu/mddandgenes.html)

[3]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedonic_treadmill#Major_empiri...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedonic_treadmill#Major_empirical_findings)

[4]
[https://twitter.com/notch/status/637565210266570752](https://twitter.com/notch/status/637565210266570752)

[5]
[https://twitter.com/notch/status/637563038258868224](https://twitter.com/notch/status/637563038258868224)

------
monort
Do not tell friends how much wealth you have and use a nickname if you are
famous.

------
tired_man
Convert everything to precious metals and gems and emigrate with it to
somewhere warm and free from US bs.

Being wealthy doesn't mean you need to live ostentatiously or even need share
any of your financial information with your neighbourhood.

