How Much Money is Too Much Money?
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Yesterday, some of us had a good chat about how we would spend a million. Which raises a whole new question. How much money is too much money?
Billionaires for sure, so many people have more money than they could possibly spend in a lifetime - or many lifetimes even. How does it make sense that some can have that when millions/billions of people live in poverty
lornaae That's a good point. I wonder how much money is the maximum someone could spend in a lifetime. Any thoughts?
kfe202 there's an interesting read on it here with some good responses https://www.quora.com/What-amount-of-wealth-is-considered-more-than-one-person-can-spend-in-a-lifetime
There's one that says if you had £1 billion, you would essentially have £40 million to live on each year, which is more than enough even for a very extravagant lifestyle. Begs the question as to why there is a need for people to hoard billions.
lornaae What an interesting idea to have a cap on the total amount of money someone could have! The main problem with this might be that people would just find a way around the cap. Kind of similar to how some people duck out of paying taxes. One solution could be to require everyone with more than a certain amount of money to give 10% of their income to good causes. Yes, some people would still probably dodge giving 10%. However, that would be a lot more money going to good causes from the people who did follow the rule. And the rich people would still have a free choice about which charity to choose. Could something like this work do you think?
kfe202 I think on multiple levels, in school definitely to get that message across from an early age. But also in society, stop judging people on how much money they make and how expensive of a house/car they have. Teach businesses/company owners that they could spend their money better rather than hoarding it.
I think people with money would say you can never have enough
I think I would have to say if you think it's ok to spend more on something you don't need than the average family spend on groceries in a month for example hair cuts costing hundreds
No one has yet come up with one of the main reasons that people hoard money and it is not merely freedom and competition. It is POWER.
When you have excessive amounts of money it doesn't just buy material possessions and services, it buys you superiority over other human beings.
It doesn't take long for a newly rich person to become arrogant, rude and authoritative. Other less influential people are deemed to be there only to serve your every need. You can buy love, buy your way out of difficult situations, buy freedom, buy a shield that can shelter you from anything the world can throw at you, even good health to a certain extent.
It is then not long before the need for more and more becomes an obsession as you cannot bear anyone to have more power than you.
You have only to look at history to see how siblings killed each other and their parents in order to seize power, plus every dictator that ever lived, power is like an addictive drug.
You make some interesting points. Do the rich people really have power, though? Because if the little people stop obeying the orders, the big people at the top fall down. I wonder if the power lies with the little people and the little people just don't realise it?
kfe202 very occasionally there are rebels in war situations. But have you ever known the little people to disobey, their livelihoods depend on obeying and kowtowing to the 'mighty ones'. I have never heard of a minion sticking two fingers up at those in power over them. The likes of divas like Mariah Carey keeping someone waiting for 8 hours just because they can and regard their time as more important than yours or mine. Very few rich people are caring and altruistic.
Power is also in the form of simple things like showing up at a posh restaurant and getting the best table even when it is full, we haven't the power to do that.
Not sure,in the olden days you got interest on money maybe a million would be plenty ,no idea now, it's crazy the price of property etc...soon gone
Lynibis yes good maths that would be excellent and see me out nicely with a fair bit for charity
Sarahvwomble well if it started now it wouldn't be much in 40 years after inflation, but for those mid life or older it should see them out along with pensions etc.
Lynibis no pension etc but could enjoy self on that money as long as house doesn't fall down...which it might...
There’s no such thing as too much. Usually when you’re rich, you just get richer as you have all sorts going on that makes you money. It’s the people who squander it all that baffles me - how much can go wrong in life for it all to disappear, like those who win the lottery and waste it all away
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