"F*ck You" Money

The reality isn't filled with straight lines that we can extrapolate forever. Reality is messy, full of nuance. 

The reality of "f*ck you" money isn't a singular point to cross, but a range to stay between. A dollar too much, and you descend back below that threshold. The formula is reversed, and additional wealth comes at the expense of additional freedom. Sure, you might be "rich" financially, but you don't have "f*ck you" money.

• A small increase in wealth leads to a massive increase in happiness when you have little, and massive increases in wealth hardly move the bar as net worth increases.
• Poverty puts your destiny in the hand of circumstances that you often have no control over because poverty doesn't allow you any financial flexibility.
• Poverty keeps individuals trapped in dead-end jobs because they can't afford to leave and look for something new. Poverty turns medical emergencies into financial catastrophes. 

 As your income grows, outside circumstances lose their grip on your life. If you have $50,000 saved up, you can weather seven months of unemployment, afford to repair your truck's transmission, and cover emergency medical expenses.

If you have $50,000 saved up, you can quit your job and take a leap of faith to try something new.

If you have $50,000 saved up, you have options.

Did billions of dollars make Elon Musk miserable? Did Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and Jeff Bezos suffer failed marriages because of their $100B net worths? Not necessarily. However, the traits that made them so successful both financially and professionally have also made the other aspects of their lives a living hell.

No one is superman, and we are all limited by time and energy. If you invest maximum effort into your career, your personal life has no choice but to suffer.

Life is defined by opportunity costs. The opportunity cost of reaching the pinnacle of professional success is often a lacklustre family life. It's not necessarily that money destroys relationships, but the dedicated effort needed to achieve this success comes at the expense of other (often family) aspects of one's life.

A singular drive to succeed professionally often yields a life where one's only success is in their profession.

But it's not just the opportunity costs associated with the success that plague the ultra-rich, it's the magnification of every aspect of their lives.

Past a certain point, freedom of speech is a casualty of personal success.

Money affects the dynamics of one's interpersonal relationships as well:

• When you are rich, new "friends" that seem genuine pitch you investment ideas four months into the "friendship".
• Your dating life is compromised by bad actors that are more concerned with your wallet than your personality.
• Family members come out of the woodwork asking for financial help.
• Your private life quickly becomes a public life as your wealth and fame balloon.

If you are "publicly rich" (think athletes, authors, movie stars, politicians, etc.), you no longer have a private life. Everyone wants a piece of the public figure, for better or worse.

If you are "privately rich", you still run the risk of sacrificing other areas of your life for the sake of success. You could have all the money in the world and be a prisoner to your ambitions. What good is $100B if all of your relationships are in shambles? Money can't buy true friendship, camaraderie, love, or desire.

After a certain point, your inflating financial assets become toxic liabilities.

The ultra-rich, like the impoverished, find that their decision-making processes are largely dictated by circumstances outside of their control.

A lack of money makes you a slave to your wages. Too much money makes you a slave to your net worth.

F*ck you" money is pure, unadulterated freedom with no strings attached.

• "f*ck you" money means you can do whatever you want. 
• "f*ck you" money allows you to travel wherever you want, whenever you want. 
• It means not having to check your bank account before buying something that you want.
• It means that you make enough money through activities that you enjoy to cover all of your expenses without having to go to an office.
• It will mean that you can't be "employed", because you won't need to work for someone else.
• It will mean that you, and only you, will dictate the terms of your labour.