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Re:If You’re So Successful, Why Are You Still Working 70 Hou... by Teknoman117 on Wednesday September 08, 2021 @01:47PM (#28460596)
Exactly. If society were to fall apart, the number in your bank account will matter very little, if it even exists anymore...
Re:If You’re So Successful, Why Are You Still Working 70 Hou... by yupper32 on Wednesday September 08, 2021 @02:51PM (#28461476)
There are a massive amount of things between "society collapsing" and "nothing bad ever happens" where the number in your bank account matters greatly.

You have unexpected huge medical expenses. You are no longer able to work. You're fired and can't find a job. Tech salaries collapse. Your town in burned down/destroyed in a hurricane/etc.

etc etc etc

Re:If You’re So Successful, Why Are You Still Working 70 Hou... by PeterisP on Wednesday September 08, 2021 @04:19PM (#28462505)
If I look at various social collapses that people around me have seen in the last century and a half (and there have been many!), then it's clear that while the number in your bank account was not always useful, it did often provide options to protect you from the worst of society falling apart. Other things being equal (of course, often they were not equal) having resources during collapse did matter - sure, it might turn out that some class of your resources became worthless overnight, but generally it wasn't all resources at once; in collapses where land was confiscated by a invading nation, having some gold watches to trade for a way out on a ship were life-saving; in economic collapses where money and stock became near-worthless, having a spare farmhouse was a great benefit, etc.

You do need to diversify to something more than a number at a single institution, but in general, I'd say that it's the other way around - when everything is fine in society, then life is okay even if you're a bit lacking, but when things become hard and not everyone is going to make it, then the have-nots will suffer even more due to lack of options caused by lack of resources. For a crude example, think about the difference between 1930s European Jews who could or could not afford to travel overseas (which was a much more serious expense than now) when things started to become threatening.

Re:If You’re So Successful, Why Are You Still Working 70 Hou... by munk-a on Wednesday September 08, 2021 @01:52PM (#28460660)
That is highly unlikely - thankfully there is a much more reasonable way to read how important it is to live for today. Nobody intends to be hit by a bus but some people are - make sure you're getting what you want out of life before you get hit by a bus.
Re:If You’re So Successful, Why Are You Still Working 70 Hou... by jltsiren on Wednesday September 08, 2021 @02:41PM (#28461354)
Unlikely but not highly unlikely. If you expect to live for another 50 years, there is a nontrivial chance that you will face a crisis that happens once every 500 or 1000 years on the average. Dying prematurely is one kind of risk, outliving your society is another.
Re:If You’re So Successful, Why Are You Still Working 70 Hou... by Teknoman117 on Wednesday September 08, 2021 @02:16PM (#28461035)
Definitely. Planning and saving for the future also has to be weighed against the risk of (you) not making it to that future.
Re:If You’re So Successful, Why Are You Still Working 70 Hou... by tick_tock_tick on Wednesday September 08, 2021 @03:10PM (#28461698)
If money doesn't matter anymore then it's beans, bullets, and bandages.
Re:If You’re So Successful, Why Are You Still Working 70 Hou... by Applejinx on Wednesday September 08, 2021 @02:22PM (#28461097)
Indeed. Money is a bit of a lie in its own right.

Me, I go for functionality. The catch there is, if I've acquired plenty of functionality for something I consider desirable but then I don't DO that thing, does it still exist?

Re:If You’re So Successful, Why Are You Still Working 70 Hou... by yreg on Thursday September 09, 2021 @03:55AM (#28467362)
Functionality typically decreases in value over time while money (in various forms) increase in value.

Properties are the exception, being both functional and an investment.

Re:If You’re So Successful, Why Are You Still Working 70 Hou... by Applejinx on Thursday September 09, 2021 @07:52AM (#28468649)
Thing is, you can say that is the lie. That, over sufficient time, any form of money will collapse to worthlessness. Then it's just a question of when you bought in and when you cashed out. It's rather arbitrary. That it increases in value, is the lie. Nothing says it does… but repeating the lie.

It's a very popular lie.

Now tell me about how crypto is money :)

Re:If You’re So Successful, Why Are You Still Working 70 Hou... by jimbokun on Wednesday September 08, 2021 @03:03PM (#28461603)
If society doesn't fall apart, that number could mean an awful lot.