hoppinghippo
Senior Member
hhmm upon rereading my post, I realised its very mathematical, heh... do pardon me, I"m engineer trained so maybe that's why!
berryhappy said:.....My peers already have family and kids and one step further up on the career ladder. I probably had already lost in the rat race, and am being viewed as a "bummer". I am not sure how easy/tough it will be to get a job. Money-wise, no house, no car etc. only richer for the experience.
To answer your question: courage I had, but I'm not sure if it was foolhardiness.
Jia Wang said:Just to quote what John (aka Biscuit) of Ally McBeal said in the last episode of the 1st season of the show: "If you look back in the year, and it doesn't bring back a tear or two, consider it wasted."
hoppinghippo said:since personal time = life, ie the only time you have for yourself to enjoy life, to pursue what you like, time with loved ones etc, its quite meaningful that you loose 50% of it every month. so I guess one has to balance the extra $$$ in a good job vs time lost. kinda like selling your soul to your employer.
bonfire said:Can't wait 4 Shrek 2 this May!
:gbounce:
hoppinghippo said:I have lawyer frens who work horrendous hours, sometimes till midnite (considered normal). but they do earn good money. I guess there's always always a trade off btwn pay and having a life. I figured out a long time ago that while its great to earn lots of $$$$ but there will be a limit where an extra $$$ means a huge loss in personal time.
berryhappy said:when you have time, you have no money.
when you have money, you have no time.
that's why time = money. :bsmilie:
Getting wealthier spawns other complaints. One is the "time squeeze"the sense that we're more harried than ever. We all know this is true; we're tugged by jobs, family, PTA and soccer. Actually, it's not true. People go to work later in life and retire earlier. Housework has declined. One survey found that in 1999 only 14 percent of wives did more than four hours of daily housework; the figure was 43 percent in 1977 and 87 percent in 1924. Even when jobs and housework are combined, total work hours for women and men have dropped.
Still, people gripeand griping rises with income, report economists Daniel Hamermesh of the University of Texas and Jungmin Lee of the University of Arkansas. They studied the United States, Germany, Australia, Canada and South Korea. People who were otherwise statistically similar (same age, working hours, number of children) complained more about the "time squeeze" as their incomes rose. Hamermesh and Lee's explanation: the more money people have, the more things they can do with their time; time becomes more valuable, and people increasingly resent that they can't create more of it.
Psychologist Barry Schwartz of Swarthmore College makes the broader point in his new book, "The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less." Our individual culture worships choice, but too much of it leads to choice congestion. Consumer Reports now "offers comparisons among 220 new car models, 250 breakfast cereals, 400 VCRs, 40 household soaps, 500 health insurance policies, 350 mutual funds, and even 35 showerheads," Schwartz writes. People feel overwhelmed by the time it takes to make the "best" choiceand may later regret having made the wrong choice. Purchasing blunders may irritate, but bigger mistakes of choice (in careers, work vs. family) can be profoundly depressing, Schwartz argues.
As material wants are satisfied, psychological desires ascend. But these defy easy economic balm. "Most of what people really want in lifelove, friendship, respect, family, standing, fun ... does not pass through the market," writes Gregg Easterbrook in his book "The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse." (Note how paradox pops up in these titles.) Indeed, affluence may make matters worse. In 1957, 3 percent of Americans felt "lonely," according to a survey cited by Easterbrook; now 13 percent do. Although more people can afford to exist apart, it may not be good for them.
None of this discredits the value of economic growth, which, as Easterbrook shows, has made life better for countless millions and can continue to do so. These problems are less serious than those of poverty and unemployment. Nor are they always intractable. To check obesity, we can eat better and exercise more. To control ordinary anxiety, we can recognize that some choices just don't matter that much. Still, affluence's afflictions endure and remind us of an eternal truth: it matters, as individuals and as a society, not just how much wealth we have but how well we use it.
StreetShooter said:Ask a rich old man which is more important - money or time?
We spend our youth chasing money,StreetShooter said:Ask a rich old man which is more important - money or time?
Switzerland has a higher suicide rate than most other countries."The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse."
berryhappy said:We spend our youth chasing money,
and then our money chasing youth.
Switzerland has a higher suicide rate than most other countries.
rueyloon said:before my decision to turn pro, I held in to his philosophy... of my own creation.
Most people work hard to get money and spend it on things to make themselves happy, BUT if you're already doing something that makes you happy, you don't need as much money to stay happy.
Ansel said:Do you know where I can find these statistics? Would like to see a comparison between, Swiss, Japanese, American, Chinese and Singaporean suicide rates, especially those involving young people.