Money - or 'Te' - Does Anyone Else Identify?

[jason_m]

No, I don't really identify with those things at all.

I don't gamble, I don't bet on sports games, I don't like to play poker, and I never wanted to be a millionaire.

I did want to win the lottery, but that is kind of a fairy tale.

I enjoy money to the extent that it makes my life easier in some ways. For example, I can usually pay my bills without sweating and I can hire people to do work that I don't want to do. I can also buy toys if I want, but I almost never want.

I don't really like accounting beyond seeing the bottom line, which tells me how I'm doing and if I have any extra cash that month. If I do have extra, I usually just reinvest it because I don't buy very much stuff. I live in a small house in a quiet neighborhood and drive a three-year old Honda. It was the first car I bought that was less than ten years old. I don't have a TV and don't listen to the radio. I get movies from the library and I don't buy much food, because I eat almost every meal in restaurants because I travel a lot and I suck at cooking.

The entrepreneurial side of things is interesting, not for the purpose of making money, but rather for the purpose of doing something new and interesting.

When I had no money and no easy way to get more of it, I would do a lot of things myself, like rewire my house or repair the engine in my car. However, I'm now in a position where I'm making more than electricians and mechanics and it has made me very aware of the time value of money. Now I almost always prefer to pay a professional to do stuff that I could do if I had to, but that I might not want to.

Let me make it clear: for me, having money is not simply about getting all kinds of 'stuff.' (However, I can understand why some people would want that.) For me, it would be about having that kind of 'luck', 'success' or 'fortune' that being a millionaire or even successful investor would have. I need a modicum of comfort, but it can be overdone. However, to be that fortunate or that successful is something to be really proud of. It doesn't require a mansion or butler to be satisfied with it...

Also, business logic can be interesting when: it involves some quantitative element. I love economics. I find business analytics really useful and interesting. Quantitative finance intrigues me. Even investing in the stock market is interesting. I guess it's just the element of bookkeeping/clerical work that I've been exposed to recently that has gotten me down...

EDIT: I just realized: it's not the comfort or practical centres of my brain that are activated by getting money but the reward centres. Right? Like when you ace a test in school, you feel some 'bliss' because of a dopamine release... Winning/making money is the same exact thing... And I'm sorry to tell you, accounting work doesn't give me some big dopamine hit, all right?