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I don't mean to single out that user, but suffice it to say the signature grabbed my attention.
Obviously there are varying levels of money, and varying levels of freedom. Someone who is very poor could benefit from having some extra money, and it would give them freedom to do things they could not do otherwise.
But if we look at just the average middle class family that is say in the 40's or 50's perhaps, someone who has a least a small amount of money in savings, not a huge amount of debt perhaps, and might classify themselves as simply "comfortable" --- I really disagree with "money buys freedom".
Perhaps I am interchanging the word freedom with happiness.
Freedom, to me, means being able to do what you want, when and where you want to do it. Unless one is in prison or otherwise incapacitated, we are all free do to just that, within our means. And we all have the freedom to change our means: lower our debt and increase our disposable income. More disposable income means more options and that is all.
Money buys necessities. Beyond that it buys things, experiences. Psychology brings freedom.
In Africa, I sat in the dung and stick hut of a Masai chief, so dark the video camera could catch nothing but the conversation, and the smell of goat urine was so strong my eyes nearly watered. His shoes were sandals made out of a tire he found on the side of the road. That was his life. He smiled the whole time, treated us to one of his goats; suffocated, then bled, then cooked over a fire they started with sticks. He was free. My next stop was Amsterdam for a week, and then back to the US to make more money. I was not.
And yet, you must push. Because men like you have the drive and the opportunity (something he will never have) to earn and create a better life for people around you. Including, possibly, that man in Africa. It is the alpha in us that drives us, some are driven by lust for more....others by more profound reasons.
Be THAT alpha.
I just remembered this post and this thread........from nearly 2years ago.
"........I have thick skin, I can take abuse, failure, doubt, criticism. I do not need to retaliate, I just push harder, harder than the other guy. Look at yourself as a creator, a provider, a protector. Screw the new age, egalitarian BS. Be an alpha......."
Yes, but there is a difference. Today I trade more because of the experience, and less for the money. I spend days sometimes in thoughts that were trading generated, but bring me into a place of self-understanding that I might not have seen otherwise.
I started studying flamenco guitar recently. I am well trained in music, but not in that style, and what I know offers very little advantage in an entirely different approach. I watched a few videos today on YouTube of guys who just owned it. And I would bet none of them made a lot of money doing it. That was not their incentive. They were just passionate about it, and from that they became incredible.
I get that. What I am suggesting is that getting to trade in this day and age, the way we do, is an opportunity in itself, given to us.
What we do with that opportunity is that we make money to provide a better life for people around us, our families, our friends , our charities etc etc. Opportunity begets opportunity. People equate money as a root of something negative, it doesn't have to be. It allows choice. Money buys a lot of things...including the ability to do good.
Not everyone gets that opportunity.
You can tell I come from the unapologetic Ayn Rand camp