I don’t work in finance because I’m currently in university, but I may work in finance after I graduate. I might get a CFA charter and work at a hedge fund. One draw of working in finance is the earning potential.
For me, the appeal of a lot of money seems to be three things: I want enough money so that (1) I never have to worry about my own personal financials, (2) I can do a lot of optimal philanthropy, and (3) can fund my intellectual goals, like writing and publishing a book.
Those are the top three that come to mind. Given all we know about introspection, it’s very unlikely those three are the whole story. But I think it’s at least somewhat accurate.
Also, as thomblake points out, I can certainly find uses from arbitrarily large amounts of wealth. I suppose there’s a theoretical limit at which the marginal utility of an extra dollar is less than the marginal utility of the time I give up to earn it. But I certainly haven’t reach it yet. If your friends have, I want to know where they work so I can apply.
I suppose there’s a theoretical limit at which the marginal utility of an extra dollar is less than the marginal utility of the time I give up to earn it. But I certainly haven’t reach it yet. If your friends have, I want to know where they work so I can apply.
This depends on one’s utility function… and all the cognitive mistakes they make evaluating it.
For someone who feels their free time is very important (even if they later waste it procrastinating online) and who has covered their basic expenses and can’t imagine an attractive enough use of a marginally more money, it is rather easy to get to this point.
And by the way, the ability to fund your goals, such as writing and publishing a book, is pointless if you don’t have time to actually write the book. I assume your strategy is to make money now and write the book later. This is a valid strategy, just don’t forget to stop making money and start writing the book, when the right moment comes.
I don’t work in finance because I’m currently in university, but I may work in finance after I graduate. I might get a CFA charter and work at a hedge fund. One draw of working in finance is the earning potential.
For me, the appeal of a lot of money seems to be three things: I want enough money so that (1) I never have to worry about my own personal financials, (2) I can do a lot of optimal philanthropy, and (3) can fund my intellectual goals, like writing and publishing a book.
Those are the top three that come to mind. Given all we know about introspection, it’s very unlikely those three are the whole story. But I think it’s at least somewhat accurate.
Also, as thomblake points out, I can certainly find uses from arbitrarily large amounts of wealth. I suppose there’s a theoretical limit at which the marginal utility of an extra dollar is less than the marginal utility of the time I give up to earn it. But I certainly haven’t reach it yet. If your friends have, I want to know where they work so I can apply.
This depends on one’s utility function… and all the cognitive mistakes they make evaluating it.
For someone who feels their free time is very important (even if they later waste it procrastinating online) and who has covered their basic expenses and can’t imagine an attractive enough use of a marginally more money, it is rather easy to get to this point.
And by the way, the ability to fund your goals, such as writing and publishing a book, is pointless if you don’t have time to actually write the book. I assume your strategy is to make money now and write the book later. This is a valid strategy, just don’t forget to stop making money and start writing the book, when the right moment comes.
nods
I agree.