The other day, Will asked me how my life would be different if I had millions of dollars.
“Imagine you’re super-wealthy,” he said. “What would you do?”
That wasn’t the first time I’d been asked that question. I’ve given this question a lot of thought. And here’s my answer:
Nothing would change. I’d do the same things I’m doing now: buy rental properties, run a website, write articles. I’d just do it on a bigger scale.
I’d still be a writer, but I’d hire a research assistant. I’d still run a website, but I’d have more administrative and technical support.
Instead of buying duplexes and triplexes, I’d buy entire apartment complexes. I’d love to own a 100+-unit expanse of gated “luxury” apartments with swimming pools and fitness centers.
(I spotted one in a foreclosure auction listing. The starting bid was $5 million. Cash only. I went home and said to Will: “Do you think we can find a group of investors that would let us be a 0.01 percent partner?”)
I guess that’s a sign that I’m on the right track. As the movie Office Space says: Choose your career by imagining what you’d do if money wasn’t a factor. (Yes, I get career tips from movies. I’m Gen Y.)
A quick glance at people who have created immense wealth shows the same reaction: They kept doing what they were doing, even after they became huge. Kanye West still makes music. Jack Dorsey still launches tech startups. Donald still builds his Trump brand.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not comparing myself to these people. My point is that love for your work (passion, purpose, commitment) precedes everything. If you don’t like what you’re doing, you don’t stand a chance. But if you’re fully invested in your work, a higher net worth won’t cause you to quit. If anything, it’ll motivate you to grow faster and work harder.
So … what would you do if you had tens of millions? How would your life change? How would your work change?
I think it your case it will be “How will your life change when you have millions.”
Of course, paying $5,000,000 in cash is a step up from just “being a millionaire”, heh.
@PK — Aww, thanks PK! Many of those apartment complexes are purchased by groups of investors pooling their money together — $100K here, $100K there, and soon you’ve raised $5 mil. So, who knows – maybe I can get my 0.01 percent cut sooner than I think
I started with nothing and am having to work my way up to wealth/comfort. I have a plan for what I will do with my money, whether I earn every penny or hit the jackpot (which isn’t likely, since I never play the lotto and don’t have any relatives with money). That plan isn’t changing. My only concern with coming into a large sum of money would be that that I would get lazy and sleep in every day, missing out on a big part of life, because I didn’t HAVE to get up and work that day (which would turn into every day).
@AmyLou – Congrats on having a solid plan, which is one of the most important components of advancing your station in life. You’re on the right track.
I don’t know you, but somehow, I have the confidence that when you make it big, you won’t let yourself sleep late everyday and miss out on life.
You’ll have a new plan to guide you towards maximizing your opportunities.
Good answers Paula!
I’d like to think I’d still be the same. Just traveling more and not worry about educational costs for kids at all.
I would probably go to more fundraisers that I believed in since it’s good to giveback and fun to have fun with interesting people as well as I highlighted in a recent post. Partying w/ Marissa Mayer and MC Hammer was fun! And you realize everybody is down to earth and the same.
Sam
Loved this part! “Yes, I get career tips from movies. I’m Gen Y.” Too funny! I think this was a great article! I’m the same way. I would still work but I’d have a personal assistant and someone to clean my house. Right now I don’t feel I can afford those luxuries but someday those extra hands to help would be great!
Any time there’s an Office Space reference, I’m totally down!
I would do many things differently if I had more money, simply because having money creates opportunities that currently do not exist. What was Will’s answer?
@Kathleen – Will said he’d become a stay-at-home dad. (I assume he’s referring to our hypothetical future kids. Unless there’s something he’s not telling me …
j/k )
I am with you, I would change very little! I think the biggest change would b in my attitude. I think I would be smiling all the time.
I am not sure what I’d do so I’d probably start by not changing anything until I figured it out. I’d then likely invest in some rental properties, continue my blogging adventures and travel to some places I’ve wanted to visit.
Oh ya… good job on the 2G&YM podcast the other week. Cool to hear the voice behind the blog!
@Lance — Haha, thanks! I’m always a little taken aback to hear the sound of my own voice. “Wha?? I sound like that?”
I think I would do quite a few things differently.
- I’d quit my engineering job for sure. And before someone tells me I should just quit it now, well, no I shouldn’t. The time spend vs. salary paid is worth it right now. This would correspond with reducing my work week to ~10 hours.
- I’d change my trading activities to be less leveraged and more sensitive to risk. This is an obvious response to the declining marginal utility of yet more money.
- I’d build or buy a custom house on a largish “country house” type location and floor plan. That sort of livig appeals to my wife and I, but fiscal constraints make it sensible to live where we do.
- I’d spend a lot of time on the beach (Hawaii probably) and possibly buy property there. Most other vacationing/travel does nothing for me, but the beach in moderate doses is great.
W – That’s one of the best-laid plans I’ve ever heard. I, too, would rely less on leverage for my real estate investments, in order to curb risk.
What would you do with your extra time once you’re not working as an engineer?
I’d definitely spend more time on recreation. Rock climbing, reading, probably some video games.
The other possibility is creating a proprietary trading firm and/or hedge fund. I don’t think I’m going to know how I really feel about that until I’m in a position to realistically do it (which I would say would be when I’ve got about 2-5M in risk capital). On the one hand, it might be a lot of fun. On the other hand it would require more or less a full work schedule (at least 3/4 days probably)and could be an administrative pain in the ass. Not sure how I feel about it yet, and I won’t have to worry about the question for a few years at least.
@W — ooh, rock climbing. I like it!
Similar to you I don’t think I’d change my life that much. I’d definitely invest in property though, and travel more, but otherwise, I like my life just as it is
“I’d definitely invest in property” — so you’re saying that if you had mo’ money, you’d buy … mo’ houses!!
I’ve been watching the show “Shark Tank” lately, and I thought of the same question. My answer was, “if I had millions, I’d try to make billions.” If you haven’t seen that show it’s actually pretty entertaining. Anyways, I would probably travel a little more (a lot more) and become a VC or something. I read a book that had a character that was a venture capatilist, and I feel like that is my perfect job.
All of the tutorials I create at work for distribution ends with a picture of the guys from Office Space laying into a computer with a baseball bat.
@Chris – I’ve heard great things about that show! I have a friend who read Barbara Concoran’s book, Shark Tales, and highly recommended it.
If I had millions, I would become a master of all things creative: seamstress, pianist, knitter, blogger, painter–you name it. I have tons of creative passions, but since I work full time, and I’ve got 3 young boys, my creative time consists of painting furniture and whatever else I can shove between 9pm and 1am before having to wake for the 9-to-5!
Serena
Thrift Diving
Oh, and add photography on to that creative list. Lol
::Stands up, leads slow clap::
Like you, I will still be the same if I have millions, though in a bigger scale. I will have more savings, investments, and blogs. I will travel around the country, and maybe all over the world, and turn my dream travel blog into reality.
It’s interesting that several people are mentioning real estate, especially the non-commercial management heavy end of it. It seems like one of the least pleasant investments to have to deal with.
My husband have talked about this too. I think we would stay in our same house, just do some upgrades. And I would definitely hire an assistant too!
f I had millions, I would become a master of all things creative: seamstress, pianist, knitter, blogger, painter–you name it. I have tons of creative passions, but since I work full time, and I’ve got 3 young boys, my creative time consists of painting furniture and whatever else I can shove between 9pm and 1am before having to wake for the 9-to-5!
Ten’s of millions i like the sound of that.. would have at least 2 apartment rental buildings with 400 units or more total..
)
Which would give me the freedom to travel spontaneously.. donate to causes i believe in.. have a garage full of my dream cars/bikes.. Try out different restaurants.. Enjoy sporting events all over the world live.. Expand knowledge and skills on various hobbies and interests.. (I could go on and on.. i have an excel file with it all layed out
The difference between getting a pay raise and becoming a millionaire is quite large – a small pay jump can easily be spent, but it’s hard to scale to millions of dollars unless you’re trying to go broke.
Counterpoint: lottery winners.
Before I spent a penny of those millions, I would make a few promises to myself.
-I would make a plan for investing a majority of that money.
-I would hire professionals who I know and trust to advise on the legal and financial possibilities available to me.
-I would not start partying just because I can.
-I would spend my time where my priorities are like family and creating stuff rather than shopping and mindless travel.
-I would make sure our travel is meaningful and share it with people I love.
-I would have a plan for spending my time so that I am not waking up at noon and wandering around all day with no plan.
-I would pay off my remaining $26000 in debt and never incur any more consumer debt (but reasonable mortgages and SBA loans would be fine).
Basically, I would be careful not to let money get to my head and make me feel immortal and powerful, but I would also want to take advantage of all of the new opportunities I will have because of it!