[MicroBob]

[ QUOTE ]
If you're fully content with the $25,000 a year you make doing something that you already enjoy

[/ QUOTE ]



This is mostly what I'm getting at.

I'm pretty damn content even with the meager amount I make.


If I had a zillion dollars what would I be doing right now?
There's a pretty decent chance I would be doing what I'm doing now....which is watching the baseball playoffs on TV (albeit I would be watching them on a BIGGER TV).


The ideas that turning this down because the negatives regarding death are too high (re: 'going to hell') are not as much of a factor to me as the positives I get right now from life IN GENERAL would only be partly enhanced if my money suddenly increased 1,000-fold.

I would still enjoy playing on my rec-league soccer teams, I would still enjoy watching the baseball playoffs, I would still enjoy music.

You can't tell me that if I had a ton of money I would suddenly despise playing poker or that I would hate watching the ball-game on TV or that I would immediately start hating music.


FWIW - My Dad is something of a rags-to-riches story having grown-up in the backwoods if West Virgina...and having worked hard through college, etc was able to retire early to Florida.
While he would certainly be a different person if he had not been able to be financially successful, I suspect that he would MOSTLY be the same person that he is today...and would probably be doing the exact same thing that I would guess he is doing right now.
He is drinking a beer and watching the game on TV (either at home or at a bar with his buddies).

Obviously he earned his money gradually which is different than somehow suddenly having $5-million thrown at you all at once.


but I don't think it's THAT much of a stretch to say that I really have been enjoying life too much to mess with that...and that it generally goes against my moral principles (I am an athiest for what that's worth).


If it was $1-billion with a 1-in-1000 chance of dying I would not take that bet (assuming I am who I am today...34 years-old and in good health).
I wouldn't want to.
Those who are close to me wouldn't want me to either...nor would I want them to.


That isn't to say that I don't take risks everyday in life.
I could slip on a wet-floor in the shower and crack my head...but I'm still going to take a shower when I get up. And I'm not going to be all terrified and clinging to the sides just praying that I don't slip and kill myself.

I'm not paranoid in that way.
I embrace life...but do not live in a way that would indicate that I'm completely terrified of death either.

Yes, I drive a car...or get on an airplane.
These aren't 1-in-1000 odds of death though...
nor even 1-in-10,000 chances of death (if it was 1-in-10,000 chances then anyone who drives 20 miles to work everyday would have a 50/50 chance of being killed in a car-wreck within 30 years...which isn't correct).


I live life and enjoy it.
I do understand that I take risks everyday on the things I do for enjoyment OR survival.
This is not the same as taking a 1-in-100 or 1-in-1000 bet for a billion dollars that I mostly don't need.


The chances of me EARNING just $1-million and being quite content with that amount WITHOUT having to take such an unnecessary risk as this hypothetical bet are still reasonably strong.