it makes it more complicated.

My family owned 4 supermarkets (Merpisa)(http://www.perublogs.com/tags/merpisa) in my country (Peru, visit http://www.peru.info) which we recently sold for $7,000,000.00, also my parents just divorced so I´m in charge of my mom´s money (nearly $3,000,000.00), by the way, I´m 24 years old.

The thing is, when you start managing such a large sum at first you think: “ok, lets just leave it on a high yield account, so it can pay me 6% a year (when you go to a bank with a lot money to deposit you can negotiate your interest annual rate) , that would make $180,000 a year tax free (here in Peru, interests earned on deposits are tax free)… the proble is that when you adjust that amount due to inflation you´ll notice you can´t live on it for the rest of your life (my mom is 45 years old, so she´s expected to live 30 years more AT LEAST).

So you start thinking: what should I do with the money? stocks? too risky, although a percentage of the money can be invested on them…

a business? that´s the answer, actually starting a few of them… that way you can live by keeping some money working for you (deposits and stocks) and working some money…

so, instead of stop working when we became millonaries we now work more… ironic uh?

(actually the improving thing is that we don´t worry if the business go bad because we have a big $1.5 million emergency fund)

Thanks for the correction. I didn’t realize that she used the wrong word.

But money and things are both subject to the Law of Diminishing Returns. Once you reach a certain level, it isn’t money you want, it’s peach of mind, relationships, health, worthy goals, and personal fulfillment.

Too many people think that success is wrapped up in things, but the truth is, success is wrapped up in how you see yourself and how you are able to enjoy your life. Money helps, but it isn’t the “be all and end all” of what makes you happy.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/

per·pe·trates
To be responsible for; commit: perpetrate a crime; perpetrate a practical joke.

per·pet·u·ates
1. To cause to continue indefinitely; make perpetual.
2. To prolong the existence of; cause to be remembered: The new library will perpetuate its founder’s great love of learning.

That makes perfect sense. Getting out of poverty would bring much happiness. But getting above average wouldn’t being nearly the amount that it did rising from poverty.

I can say personally that as my family has prospered I’ve become happier as its allowed me more time. I still have the same small house and nice used cars, but now I can afford more time (less work) to spend time with family. I’ve learned that being able to buy items doesn’t make me happy at all, it’s being able to afford time off work that makes me most happy. I’ve got my basic needs met, now give me the luxury of time.

Personally, I’ve liked the take that Clason’s Richest Man I Babylon has. If you are not saving a fraction of your income, and you are living from paycheck to paycheck, you are a slave to financial worries.

On the other hand, if you are putting a sum away for yourself you are building up a kind of security. With that comes freedom, including the freedom to be charitable in ways you couldn’t before. To my mind, that reads as a kind of happy.

I’ll grant though, that it isn’t about the money per se.

You have some but believe more will make you happier. But once you have more, then the “more” becomes “some,” and you are back to where you started, wanting more.