Here's the AMA: https://old.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/mpasyl/i_started_lic...

And the answer in question: https://old.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/mpasyl/i_started_lic...

"That's my salary before income taxes. I think it's about right.

Could I make more by selling my skills to the highest bidder? Probably.

Would I be happier? Hell no.

The way I see it, that's a lot money for a job I can do at my own rhythm from the comfort of my home. And instead of bosses or clients, I work for an awesome community."

Thanks!

I think the founder should have "fuck you" money, not just a reasonable salary.

You are projecting your own desires onto the founder (which is fine, but worth thinking about why they don't want the same thing as you). It seems clear that they are happy with their salary/work. For some people, more money beyond this is not a good thing.

I'm not. It's not about having more money to spend, but having enough to be permanently secure.

The founder could have FU money, still draw a ~50k/yr salary and keep their spending at the same level. The only difference is that if circumstances change the founder is still secure instead.

If I could wave a wand and give you enough money to quit tomorrow, what would you do with yourself?

What if your best friend were already doing his thing? Would you feel the urge to send me to talk to him, or is he good?

I don't know what you second line means, but I would continue working. Possibly reduced hours, but still working.

If you’re already doing the thing you would do if you could do anything, do you still feel the need for “enough money” to walk out and go do it. I think, and some other posters seem to agree, that the answer is a qualified no.

If you gave me enough money I would quit. Can you include some seed money for my new startup?

I would argue he already does. The entire point of "fuck you" money is that you are no longer beholden to someone else - it is not so much defined by the overall amount, but by the freedom it can buy you. He gets to work on what he loves doing every day doing it exactly the way he wants.

My definition of FU money is that you have enough money to be secure no matter what.

I think he would still rely on the month to month or year to year income rather than being completely secure.

The joy of FU money https://thedeepdish.org/fuck-you-money/

Nobody is completely secure.

I’m currently trying to figure out if I wanted to work 20 hours a month post-retirement, what sort of work that would look like.

There are a handful of nature and nurture reasons that tell me that full retirement would likely be very bad for my health. And of course partial retirement I could start a little sooner.

Well it seems like the founder doesn't want more money. Not everyone needs or wants "fuck you" money, and with that kind of salary you can afford a decent life in (most of) France.

This is assuming that this stream of income doesn't ever dry up.

I personally think that the founder should have enough money to never worry about money, or at least have a big buffer.

If at some point in the future for whatever reason Lichess gets less donations, he could be screwed.

On the other hand if he had a bit of a warchest he either has runway to increase revenue or to find another source of income.

>If at some point in the future for whatever reason Lichess gets less donations, he could be screwed.

No doubt they would get a job like the rest of us.

The problem with your proposition is it can never be satisfied, you will never have enough.

> No doubt they would get a job like the rest of us

"I personally think that the founder should have enough money to never worry about money, or at least have a big buffer"

> The problem with your proposition is it can never be satisfied, you will never have enough

Where did you get this idea from? If you control your expenses (Like it sounds like the founder does) then the "never having enough" problem doesn't exist. At that point more money just means a larger buffer.

Then really Lichess should have FU money. This both secures his income as long as he continues working on it, then lets him hire a replacement whenever he decides to retire.

Sure, it's up the founder of course. I think the they've created enough value to deserve that money for themselves and to use in any way they see fit though.

Maybe that would be putting it back into Lichess when they retire or maybe after 10 years they decide they want to work on something else and they live off that money to do so.

The man describes himself as a pastafarian antifascist and lichess as a hippie communist chess server. I don't think he has the same opinion on money as you do.