Woo, life has been busy! Mindy and I are going to take a break from home construction after the girls get out of school for spring break. We have one week to go!
In the meantime, we’re tying up loose ends. One of the final projects is tiling our entryway. I like to make things difficult on myself, so I:
- bought natural stone which requires the use of a wet saw
- set them in a challenging pattern
- fought the uneven floor almost every step
But with the help of the dinosaurs, the job is almost done.
But, I’m not writing today to tell you about Tilesaurs. I’d like you to ponder the $50,000,000 question…
What Would You Do?
A couple of weekends ago, I was hanging out with my good friend Jake. As often happens when I’m around, the conversation turned to money. At one point, I asked this:
What would you do with $50,000,000?
I thought Jake had a great answer, but before I get to that, let’s discuss the question a little more.
I ask this question frequently and the answer is usually fascinating because it gives a little window into the other human’s soul. Most humans would buy what they think would make them happy. Whether or not that thing actually provides happiness is another question. I’ve experienced this firsthand. I thought an Acura NSX would I thought would make me happy. It’s now gone and I’m happier for it.
Happiness is a tough nut to crack. Family, TV, culture, billboards, neighbors, and magazines will readily tell you about happiness. But, most of it is bullshit.
Fortunately, the answer is simple. This article explains is all and if you don’t want to click over to it, you only really need to read the title:
Hey, that’s not hard! Also, it’s free and easy. Here are some tips:
- Be confident, but don’t be an asshole
- Smile
- Listen
- Remember names
- Be engaging
- Give more than you get
Jake’s Answer
Jake’s response to the $50,000,000 question was this:
I’d buy an apartment complex and move all of my family to Colorado.
The older I get, the more I realize that a simple life surrounded by good humans is pretty great. Jake hit the nail on the head.
I’ll tweak Jake’s answer a little bit for my response:
I’d buy a swanky place in the mountains. It would have room to host large groups. Then, I’d invite friends, family, and other interesting humans to come hang out. It would always be free.
The only rule, provided to me by Freddy Smidlap, would be this:
Don’t be boring.
That’s it! BOOM!
Who knows. Mindy and I have unexpectedly reached a place of FatFIRE. This mountain hangout dream may actually come true…
See you there?
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Just tell me when and where! Part of the reason I’m buying such a big house is to have room for people to come visit. You and the fam are welcome anytime in St Louis!
Can you imagine if we’d had this awesome mountain hideaway during the pandemic – we could have been one big safe bubble!
We’ll be ready for the next pandemic! I’m not sure how we’ll smuggle you across the border, but we’ll figure something out!
Totally would love to hang out once we can safely travel again. 🙂
Do it sir!
I’m working on doing the same in Hawaii. Also the benefit of FatFIRE. All the tightening of STR rules means there will be some sweet houses with an Ohana for guests.
Robert – Stop Ironing Shirts recently posted…Retirement Portfolio and Risk Management – Year Two
Haha, sign us up to the Dino retreat! I love that idea for $50M. Building community.
Glad y’all are making progress on the housing plans. Awesome work! And here we are still with a roof leak! 😉 Estimator finally comes tomorrow.
Chris@TTL recently posted…How FIRE Let’s Me Volunteer to Vaccinate You
Ok as a self identified boring person, I’d like to say we’re helpful people to have around! 😉
I could easily spend more than $50M in a few projects; support the existing initiatives for the Oglala Sioux / Lakota reservation to become self sustaining and create jobs for the residents there, deliver free reliable internet to all rural communities, set up funding grants for small libraries that need it.
Oh probably also pay off my mortgage and top up retirement funds.
Then I’d be a little sad I spent all the money already ?
revanche @ a gai shan life recently posted…Living in the time of pandemic: COVID-19 (40)
A mountain hangout, that would be sweet indeed. Great place to meet, hike, have a beer!
Mr CF recently posted…How not to DGI
hey man, thanks for the mention. we have a similar discussion around the smidlap chateau regularly. for enough money not only would we be retired but a bunch of close friends would be retired too. for us the secret sauce in life is to spend time around the people you like best. it’s hard to do that if you’re retired but they are all still working. sure, a person could get filthy rich and make all new rich friends who also have free time. but there’s nothing like the old tried and true humble friends who have run the marathon with you through good times and bad. and we already know they are not boring.
freddy smidlap recently posted…Dog Poop Fiasco – Stop Making it Worse!
I have wanted to get a lake house for a long time. With $50M, that would be totally doable, and the idea of setting up a community with the people you like to be around? Also sounds like a good use of that money.
I like the Midwest! When are you going to pull the trigger? 🙂
Not soon enough, but the wife and I are in talks about finding some land in the not to distant future. Then we can build later
I think for me, I would love to start a business for $48 mil. Spend a couple mil to take care of the people I love the most then try to grow it so that I can make an even bigger impact by the time I retire.
Probably not the answer that most personal finance bloggers would say ? but I can’t help it!
David @ Filled With Money recently posted…Focus on One Thing at a Time For Better Productivity
I have this discussion with friends all the time…. find a chunk of land, build a central cooking/entertaining building, gardens, firepit, trails through the woods, some concrete pads for the van friends, small cottages for everyone else…
Community and shared space for when you want it and your own cozy nest for when you need alone time
Invest it for the yield, get a nice place where all the family and friends can stay, use the free time to hang out with these other cool humans. Sounds great! So basically the same as what we’re all doing now =)
Charlie @ doginvestor.com recently posted…Evaluating investments using IRR and calculating returns
Your post reminded me about this article on Tony Hsieh (former CEO of Zappos). I think he did exactly what you suggested (even hiring the people he wanted to be around) thinking that would give him the happiness he sought but alas even that didn’t work for him. Humans are such complicated creatures. 🙁
https://www.forbes.com/sites/angelauyeung/2020/12/04/tony-hsiehs-american-tragedy-the-self-destructive-last-months-of-the-zappos-visionary/?sh=42c4c1894f22
Tony sounded like a really interesting and good human. It’s terrible the way his story ended. Complicated indeed.
I am obsessed with this story. It is such a tragedy and an extreme lesson in how money doesn’t buy happiness. It seems like he actually tried to buy friends (while at the same time not listening to his true friends who tried to help him).
Wow just finished this great post from a fellow FIRE blogger. It just reconfirms that you are right. Money doesn’t bring happiness but human connection and sense of purpose does.
https://livingafi.com/2021/03/17/the-2021-early-retirement-update/#more-15998
I’m not sure I agree with Jake’s idea. Moving them all in might be a little too much for me, haha! But I love your idea of having a big enough place so that they can all stay whenever you invite them up. The key is that they will eventually leave!!