I’ve read recently that there are millionaires and billionaires who have scarcity mindset. Even though they have millions it’s not enough. Billionaires who have 150 billion are upset that they may be taxed for 100 billion. So the question is how much is enough?
In the recent past, there was a maximum wage. Anything above a certain amount was taxed at 90% to 100%. CEOs were also paid at most 20 times the lowest paid worker. Now CEOs are paid up to 400 times as much.
In other countries around the world, someone doing a CEO job are given a the same salary or slightly more than their co-worker. Or at most 8–12 times the lowest paid worker.
There’s a phenomenon where when people who have too much too do or too much to pay for they sometimes lose 16 points on their IQ. Some people have coined this Scarcity Mindset. But every minimum wage working person simply calls this being overwhelmed.
What is Scarcity Mindset? Rutger Bregman describes it here:
What is fascinating is that millionaires and billionaires have this too. No matter how much they have it’s not enough.
Contentment comes at all different places.
I remember making $60k a year. I was making double what my bills were at the time. I didn’t spend any money for 3–4 months as an experiment. There were issues but I was somewhat content.
Towards the end I grew discontent. I realized there were some lifestyle choices that affected my contentment some related to money, some related to work. Some of those problems more money would have solved.
There’s the famous, never work again amount of money. The amount that you can tell your boss off and be rude to everyone.
So what causes people to feel they don’t have enough money and what would solve that? This is not related to purpose or meaning.
After looking into it, I’ve determined that it may come down to a few things:
- Being able to survival until the end of your life or you and your families lives
- Being able to go places or obtain things you want through out your life
- Having a world around you at peace or abundance for as far as you can see
I’ve made a few milestones of having enough.
This starts at a worker or person receiving an income who is solvent and goes up from there.
Milestones of having enough:
- It’s enough when you have pleasant or satisfying work or income that covers food and shelter for the rest of your life. You’re surviving and you’re content with the work or income you have.
- You have work or income that covers food and shelter for the rest of your life and you can buy a few things a month, go out 4–8 times a month
- You have food and shelter taken care of for the rest of your life and you don’t have to work. You can buy a few things a month and can go out as much as you want.
- You have food, a few shelters until EOL, you don’t have to work, buy multiple vehicles per year, go on multiple vacations per year.
- Same as above plus can buy luxury items, yachts, exotic cars, travel year round, and still have twice as much as you spent.
- Above plus can run one or two companies, can buy a jet
- Above plus can buy one or two competitors per year
- Above plus can buy your own island
- Above plus you can buy your way into elections positions of power
- Above plus you can buy politicians, sway governments, persuade governments to invade and murder other countries native people or starve them via siege and impose your “pay to live” way of life on them while lying to your own people about how you are bringing them freedom.
- Above plus be the leader of a nation or state
- Above plus be the leader of the world
- Above plus be the leader in space
There are billionaires with scarcity mindset. They have so much money they have no way to spend it while billions who are food and housing insecure are working 8–12 hour days for $.25 an hour living paycheck to paycheck.
The list above is meant as an exercise to help someone reach a point in their mind where they can realize they have enough. Where they can see there is an abundance.
The French have a word, Ennui, described below:
Ennui is a condition characterized by perception of one’s environment as dull, tedious, and lacking in stimulation.
This can result from leisure and a lack of aesthetic interests. Labor and art may be alienated and passive, or immersed in tedium.
There is an inherent anxiety in boredom; people will expend considerable effort to prevent or remedy it.
I would suggest that having enough is related to avoiding boredom. This signal can be misinterpreted as not having enough money.
Another reason people may not have enough is because of lack of community and seeing scarcity in the world.
Studies have shown that when everyone has enough those feelings of not having enough go away.
When a village received a basic income of $1 a day the amount of envy in the community went down (16:03).
So how much is enough?
The billionaires and millionaires don’t know.
No billionaire has ever said, “Yeah I have enough wealth. I’m going to give this to others.”
So are billionaires stupid?
Please list how much is enough in the comments.
