
Life lessons from the very wealthy - tortilla
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/7-life-lessons-from-the-very-wealthy/2011/06/15/AGxw6aaH_story.html
======
nl
I'm not from the US, and so I only follow this from a distance, but:

 _Taxes for the top 2 percent are very likely to go higher_

Is this actually true? Obama couldn't get support to rollback tax cuts on the
rich - is he really going to be able to increase them now? I believe
Republican policy is to cut taxes on the rich (?)

 _In the United States, the very rich hold most of that wealth in dollars,
which are worth increasingly less._

This isn't true either is it? Firstly, don't most of the rich hold their
wealth in investments (eg, shares), which might be denominated in US Dollars
but are relatively immune to long term changes in value of the dollar?
Secondly, (despite all the talk) actually hasn't been any significant
inflation in the US. (I'll happily concede that the US dollar has deprecated
against other currencies, but that shouldn't effect the _domestic_ purchasing
power of the rich _that_ much - even allowing for outsized impact due to
imported luxury goods)

~~~
krohrbaugh
Yeah; I almost stopped reading the article because the introductory paragraphs
(which you are citing) were rubbish.

Now is a great time to be rich in the US.

~~~
cheez
Not to spoil your fun but it's always great to be rich.

~~~
nl
_it's always great to be rich._

To be pedantic - the French and Russian (and many other) revolutions didn't
work out great for the rich.

~~~
WalterBright
They didn't work out so well for the poor, either.

~~~
atlantic
Let's not conflate the French and Russian revolutions - they have absolutely
nothing in common. And yes, the French revolution did work out very well for
the poor, eventually. It was at the root of the development of modern
democracy in the Western world.

~~~
nl
_Let's not conflate the French and Russian revolutions - they have absolutely
nothing in common._

I have issues with the word "absolutely". They had quite a lot of common -
both were about overthrowing a system of government based on birthright, and
the participants in the Russian revolution certainly tried to learn from the
French revolution.

(One could argue that the Russian revolution was actually better for the poor
in the short term than the French. Serfdom was immediately abolished, and it
got them out of WW1. War had the biggest impact on the poor)

------
mattmorgan
Money provides a different scale of experience, but doesn't actually have an
effect in the intensity of happiness. True happiness is about managing your
progression so you don't become adjusted to a lifestyle, no matter the scale.
Humans adjust to almost anything, as a survival mechanism. The act of
experiencing the present infinite moment can always offer enough richness for
a human. This is why you can live a satisfying life whether you have
everything or nothing. In the end, you must have power over your
consciousness. You must be prepared for any situation, so you must learn to
manage what you have at a small scale in order to manage what you have at a
large scale. Just like in business, flexibiity and adaptability are most
important.

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ww520
"4. Watch your lifestyle leverage, especially early in your career."

This is so true. Living way below your mean is so important as that's a great
way to gain financial independence to have the freedom to pursue what you love
to do.

------
cheez
"Being smart is good but being lucky is better."

This article is actually good.

~~~
obtino
"Luck is where preparation meets opportunity."

~~~
michaelcampbell
I was in music school for a while; a guy asked if it was better to be lucky,
or talented. He answered, "the more talented you are, the luckier you get. The
more you practice, the more talented you get."

------
WalterSear
Misses several important ones:

\- It's good to be the king

\- Money doesn't buy happiness, but carefully spent, it can buy several
happiness factories.

\- Little people don't understand me.

~~~
taphangum
What do you mean by little people. Curious. Literally little or small minded?

~~~
arethuza
Presumably the same sense as meant by Leona Helmsley:

"We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes"

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leona_Helmsley#Tax_evasion_conv...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leona_Helmsley#Tax_evasion_conviction)

~~~
cheez
I find that most people who make their wealth through their own work don't
have this kind of attitude.

Of course, I don't know any people worth a few billion, only paltry millions.

------
pspeter3
Does anyone know if Tech companies do similar things to what banks and law
firms do in terms of golden handcuffs?

~~~
ahoyhere
Absolutely, only it's more subtle. When you work at a company that feeds you
gourmet lunches, does your oil changes and laundry for you, arranges shuttles
from your apartment to the office, etc., you begin to feel like you couldn't
possibly live any other way.

That is the dark side of perks.

Another way to keep people stuck is to pay them too much, much more than they
could ever earn elsewhere. They will then rationalize that they are doing it
just for the money, which leads them to hate their job, even tho they will not
leave (because of the money). Then you see worsening politicking, squabbling,
dark humor about "at least it pays well" and general "acting out."

I saw both of these in action at my last real job, at a tech co. you've heard
of. The wild parties, the liquor cabinet, the gourmet kitchen, the rooftop
deck in TriBeCa, and more importantly, the excessively huge amounts of profit-
sharing... it was like geek summer camp, until it turned into a teen drama
because of the "poor little rich boys."

I knew I could never work at another place after that, because (in most ways)
it was just so great. We were all spoiled rotten.

~~~
pacemkr
You seem to be talking about different things.

I read "golden handcuffs" as extending a line of credit to employees to
support and _encourage_ living beyond their actual means. This is very very
different from being pampered and spoiled as you describe.

~~~
gaius
A line of credit? Never heard of that. Golden handcuffs are generally in the
form of deferred bonuses, vesting periods, etc.

~~~
DavidAdams
This is much more common in finance and legal firms, where much of the upside
accrues to partners in the firm, and the junior people work long hours for
much more modest compensation. But they're loaned money in order to get a jump
start on the lifestyle that their more senior colleagues enjoy, putting them
in hock to the firm. If they were to leave to join a startup, for example,
they'd have to pay it back in a lump sum.

------
gmkoliver
From what I've found with a quick search it seems like most held wealth is
earned rather than inherited. Does anyone know if this is accurate, and what
the typical 'pre-earnings' demographic background of the very wealthy is in
the U.S.?

~~~
hugh3
Anecdotally, it seems that practically every billionaire in the US comes from
an upbringing in the comfortable middle class.

This is basically what we'd expect, given that:

a) Folks who become rich are generally pretty darn smart.

b) People who are smart generally have smart parents.

c) The vast majority of smart people are in the comfortable middle class. (Not
the poor, since they're smart enough not to be poor, but not the very rich,
because statistically there ain't that many of 'em)

Therefore, if you're rich you probably had comfortably middle class parents.

~~~
sukuriant
Careful with the "smart enough not to be poor" claims, especially among the
lower socioeconomic classes.

------
andymoe
I know some wealthy people and the first three points seem pretty spot on. I
wonder what the last four points were. I think I'll flag articles behind pay-
walls from now on.

~~~
wmat
I just clicked the Print link and went straight to the full article:

<http://goo.gl/E5FyA>

~~~
andymoe
Thanks, I know how to get around them but I just don't think I will bother
anymore. There is so much information out there that is just as interesting
and freely available.

~~~
wvanwazer
There's no paywall at the Washington Post...

~~~
jamesbritt
No, but you need to create an account to keep reading. Annoying, at any rate.

~~~
StavrosK
That's odd, I just clicked "next page" to read the rest and I don't have an
account there.

------
6ren
money can't buy accomplishments

------
nachteilig
This really shouldn't be on HN, guys.

~~~
trafficlight
If you don't think something belongs, flag it.

------
rahulvohra
"Work is the process of exchanging your time for money."

I never want to "work" in an organisation where this is true.

~~~
therandomguy
Then start your own business because that is true for 100% of the business.
But they do spend a lot of money to make employees feel that they are very
valuable and their work is worth a lot and they are adding a lot of value etc.
Watch the move Matrix to understand the philosophy.

~~~
adestefan
You spend even more time in exchange for money when you start your own
business. The real fix is to do what you love because then work never feels
like work.

