djfourmoney wrote:Actually I was making a point. The point that some people have so much money they can actually burn up a couple of million and they wouldn't notice it missing.
Climbing the highest peak is human goal not so much about money, though most of the people that have attempted it, have to be rich or well funded to afford the logistics of it.
Racing in the American Le Mans Series can cost you easily $5-6 Million a season for largely no cash return. At least in NASCAR you can turn a profit if you're successful, not so much in Sports Cars and only in F1 if you win and often.
You can do ALOT on $100,000. Sure it doesn't go as far as it did in 1970, 1980, 1990 or even 2000. But its still more than twice the average income in America and given our high standard of living if you can avoid keeping up with the Jones and forsake opulence for more realistic selections for fixtures in your house and what's in your driveway, it goes much further. Also if you can avoid the pitfall of private schooling for your kids and spend the 3-4 years before they enter public school lobbying and protesting for long needed changes in our school system, then as I said, you can raise a family of four on a single income of $100,000.
If money is freedom, you can only have so much freedom in real terms, having a billion dollars doesn't increase that. It does however give you the immoral ability to change laws and regulations to benefit you directly or indirectly and that's why I generally frown on people that desire to have enough money to burn.
From my pov, living efficiently at $100K is exactly that, living efficiently. And being a practical person, I'm all for it.
But having flown the globe, with various clients posting the bills, I've come up with a slighter higher number, since 4(+) star hotel rooms (booked w/o extensively planning ahead) start at $180/night and flying business class, comes to $2K to $6K per flight. And then, not knowing the lay of the land, it's better to have regular taxi service (or a driver) than always renting a car.
So I've done it both ways, the frugal traveler vs the jet setting young executive. My preference is the latter, as I've seldom experienced the pain of being in the slop lounges at London/Heathrow but instead, have had showers/excellent meals in their business/executive lounges. Thus, in opposition to many travelers, I actually have some positive memories of Heathrow whereas everyone else I know, hates the place.
Also, I've been able to get certain classes at schools like Columbia, MIT, Stanford, paid for by companies. Well, say what you want, but I have no complaints about those units either, all of them starting at $4K per section. You can say that I could have brought the notes for a lot less or even done the free online stuff, and sure, I concur, but here, I've actually had the chance to correspond with experienced instructors in their areas of knowledge. And if I later want a masters degree, I have transferable credits to top tier schools.
As for the throw away experiences like flying in a Soviet MiG or the America's Cup, well, that's Larry Ellison's business and not mine. If he's happy, wasting gobs of money on being an adult teenager, well, that's his prerogative.
; they expect to be compensated for their efforts 