The age old question: Is money important in life?

"Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver."
- Ayn Rand
 
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Money is important in life. Same with Bechcraft, Cesna, Cirus, Belanca and Gruman.
 
Depends who you ask. The poor guy says not important. :rofl:

Money can buy happiness if the other parts of your life as doing well. If you have difficulty in life, there are some problems that no amount of money can solve.
 
There is a You Tube video re: the song "If God Was (s/b were) One of Us" c/o Joan Osborne. It's really a song about life priorities and if you watch the video, you'll see a whole bunch of people who are in a far more miserable condition than those of us in the US of A. There is also a great book called "What On Earth Am I Here For?" which comes close to answering that question. Money, power, prestige, etc. are just temporary "fixes" that you can't take with you. Seven deadly sins and all that stuff. Money CAN be an addiction if you allow it to get to that point.

I was a SVP for an international bank HQ'd in Amsterdam and made over $300,0000 annually (salary, bonuses, car allowance, 3% discount on food in the cafeteria, etc.) Then, the US division was bought by B of A and I lost my position, never to regain it (or the Cirrus timeshare that I was part of) again. I tried to start my own business, ran up debt to the stars and depleted my 401k money. Then, Ch 7 BK and a divorce. All for the love of the money, the power and the prestige. All my own fault in trying to pursue to Golden Calf of sorts.

Now, having said all of that......I'd rather have more money than less as the money allows me to fly. I gave up some of my flying activities to take care of a sick daughter. I live much more modesty, fly a C172SP/G1000, go to OSH, etc. Would I rather fly a Cirrus -- yes. Would I rather have a more healthy daughter than flying or flying a Cirrus -- you bet.

It's just a balancing act. A saying is "do what you love, the money will follow." I'm now doing what I love (personal) and am happy and making 1/4 of what I did before. The main turing point, at least in my opinion about myself, is the giving up of the obsession of making more and more and more money.

Just my own personal story and musings. Others will disagree with my musings, but then again, they are MY OWN musings.
 
Money is only important if you need it. (Figured that sounds enough like Yogi Berra to be a tribute. RIP Yogi.)
 
Old Geek said:
I don't worry about money. I have a wife that does that for me...
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Another way to look at it: Why worry about money, your creditors will worry enough for you.
 
N918KT said:
Hey guys. I recently thought about this question after seeing my friends and family make more money than me. I start to compare my life to their life. Sometimes I start to get jealous.

So do you think money is important in life? For me I just want to make enough money to live independently (and hopefully get a pilot certificate someday). I don't expect to make like say a $100 grand a year.
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It's impossible not to compare our lives to friends and family. I'm sure we all do it. I don't look at it in a monetary way though but more about achievement. If the people you're comparing yourself to are accomplished and content with where they are in life (self actualization), then good for them. If you haven't reached that level then they could be a motivator for you to succeed. If you're content with where you are and proud of your accomplishments, then don't worry about who's making more money than you.

To me, it's about looking back and saying you lived on your own terms. While I have a few regrets, career wise I wouldn't have changed a thing. The best memories in my life have nothing to do with money.
 
Velocity173 said:
It's impossible not to compare our lives to friends and family.
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That's just societal indoctrination and training talking. It's not impossible at all.

I've seen people buy crap because they wanted to look a certain way to the neighbors. That shows the level of how powerful the marketers are to the weak-minded.

But it doesn't make ignoring their Bravo Sierra, "impossible". Just an exercise in self-discipline to replace their image of what your wants should be, with your own.

The happiest folks I know, choose for themselves what their wants are, and aren't much swayed by what others wants are. They also know exactly what their needs are and where the line belongs between a true need and a want.
 
My wife is my key to happiness. I've been motivated to earn in order to provide her with "things". Truth be told, she doesn't care much about "things". Everyone finds their own balance between worth and value for reasons that make sense to them.
 
I think it is all about freedom; some people money adds to their freedom level and other less money does it for them. So anything that increases your freedom increases your happiness whether it's money, health or even a decent passport (like our country's) that doesn't require visas
 
Debating on taking a job that pays 40k a year but isn't aviation related (auto claims adjuster) or a job that's along my career path (aviation/airport operations/management).

On one hand, it would be nice to do what I enjoy...but on the other, 10-20k/yr more right now would be fantastic. Even for a job that I wouldn't necessarily enjoy. All I need for those well paying airport ops jobs is more experience though. Wait to get a job for a 139 airport, do that for a few years, work up the chain. TBH airport ops is enjoyable and there are airports everywhere. :dunno:

It would be nice to be able to afford to jump in a plane once in a while though. A majority of the jobs are 'entry level' - '1-3-5 years experience required'. There's a high paying one in Welliston, North Dakota but the area is expensive to boot.
 
denverpilot said:
That's just societal indoctrination and training talking. It's not impossible at all.

I've seen people buy crap because they wanted to look a certain way to the neighbors. That shows the level of how powerful the marketers are to the weak-minded.

But it doesn't make ignoring their Bravo Sierra, "impossible". Just an exercise in self-discipline to replace their image of what your wants should be, with your own.

The happiest folks I know, choose for themselves what their wants are, and aren't much swayed by what others wants are. They also know exactly what their needs are and where the line belongs between a true need and a want.
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Comparing, not competition. Although I'm sure there are those that compete with friends and family as well.

Looking at others and examining the choices they made that got them to where they are can be educational. Learning thru other's triumphs and failures can help one make better choices in their own lives.

Example, I have a nephew who is struggling with as he says "attaining success." For some reason he thought I might be of help in guiding him in that department. :rofl: I suppose he looked at where he was at in life, saw where I was at, and needed a little nudge in the right direction. I gave him my best motivational "Rudy" speech with emphasis on 1) make a plan 2) be realistic and 3) be patient. So, in this case he's not trying to out do me but he's looking to a relative as a motivator to succeed. Of course my definition of success might mean something completely different than his.
 
Velocity173 said:
Comparing, not competition. Although I'm sure there are those that compete with friends and family as well.



Looking at others and examining the choices they made that got them to where they are can be educational. Learning thru other's triumphs and failures can help one make better choices in their own lives.



Example, I have a nephew who is struggling with as he says "attaining success." For some reason he thought I might be of help in guiding him in that department. :rofl: I suppose he looked at where he was at in life, saw where I was at, and needed a little nudge in the right direction. I gave him my best motivational "Rudy" speech with emphasis on 1) make a plan 2) be realistic and 3) be patient. So, in this case he's not trying to out do me but he's looking to a relative as a motivator to succeed. Of course my definition of success might mean something completely different than his.
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Ah I see.

One does need to determine for themselves what they consider "triumphs and failures" long before they get too hung up on comparisons, however.

Most of what our society considers a "triumph", really isn't worth much. And much of what our society considers "failure", really isn't.
 
White Bird said:
I think it is all about freedom; some people money adds to their freedom level and other less money does it for them. So anything that increases your freedom increases your happiness whether it's money, health or even a decent passport (like our country's) that doesn't require visas
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See what joan didion says. I think she has it exactly right.
 
Brings convenience and never happiness. Though you can be plenty happy with plenty of money. Work harder, earn more.
 
Stumbled across a good quote that seemed timely:

"Money can't bring happiness, but neither will being broke." :)
 
KeithASanford said:
"Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver."
- Ayn Rand
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As my English prof. In college stated " if you take Ayn Rand seriously after your freshman year , we have failed you. She should have remained in Hollywood as an assistant script writer" unquote. I agree.( A close companion of hers, Allan Greenspan took her seriously and got us into big big trouble. ) of course money is important as it provides privacy, security and freedom!
 
Jimmy cooper said:
As my English prof. In college stated " if you take Ayn Rand seriously after your freshman year , we have failed you. She should have remained in Hollywood as an assistant script writer" unquote. I agree.( A close companion of hers, Allan Greenspan took her seriously and got us into big big trouble. ) of course money is important as it provides privacy, security and freedom!
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All well and good for a lot of things Rand wrote, but what was inaccurate about this quote?
 
Jimmy cooper said:
As my English prof. In college stated " if you take Ayn Rand seriously after your freshman year , we have failed you. She should have remained in Hollywood as an assistant script writer" unquote. I agree.( A close companion of hers, Allan Greenspan took her seriously and got us into big big trouble. ) of course money is important as it provides privacy, security and freedom!
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Any Rand, like a lot of other writers, used analogy and extreme examples to illustrate her point of view. One of the goals of any philosophical writing, even a novel, is to stimulate critical thinking in the reader. As an ex college professor myself, I question your English prof's implied assertion that if you "take Ayn Rand seriously" you are somehow failing as a student. To me, that smacks of telling you what to think, which is the last thing a teacher should be doing.

I won't even get into the whole Greenspan/Ayn Rand/responsible for economic crash scenario... :)
 
zwaustin said:
Brings convenience and never happiness. Though you can be plenty happy with plenty of money. Work harder, earn more.
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Working harder may or may not get you more earnings, depends on your situation. If you're an employee, your employer may choose to increase your compensation or he may choose not to.
 
FormerHangie said:
Working harder may or may not get you more earnings, depends on your situation. If you're an employee, your employer may choose to increase your compensation or he may choose not to.
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Agree. I see public sector employees doing the least. No incentive.
 
N918KT said:
Hey guys. I recently thought about this question after seeing my friends and family make more money than me. I start to compare my life to their life. Sometimes I start to get jealous.

So do you think money is important in life? For me I just want to make enough money to live independently (and hopefully get a pilot certificate someday). I don't expect to make like say a $100 grand a year.
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Money is not important, but freedom is. Define freedom FOR YOU and if it takes money to obtain your definition of freedom, then yes, it is important.
 
I keep hearing a line from some song that said

"if you think money's not important, try living without it."
 
"What do you desire? What makes you itch?
...
what would you like to do if money were no object?" ~Alan Watts

Warning, there is aviation content in this video of one philosophy on life that claims to answer the op's question:
 
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