The Nothingness of Money

But of course, what’s great in theory breaks down in practice.

While this is undoubtedly a powerful moment, I find this reality to be deeply saddening.

Theoretically, this is the dream curve. You work on the right things early, make a lot of money, then implement a lifestyle that a face with many wrinkles would usually have. Your attention is freed from the burden of money, all while your vitality is preserved by the spirit of youth.

While this sounds bleak, the reality is that this is the nature of the human condition. We are aware of our mortality, but are unaware of where the finish line will be. We make assumptions using average lifespans and worldwide life expectancies, but this is primarily an exercise in quelling our uncertainties.

They devised a tool that helped elongate the Nothingness of Money, and its invention ushered in a new way of thinking about financial freedom.

That steep descent to zero is what I call The Nothingness of Money. It’s when the pointlessness of money is no longer theoretical; it’s truly understood . This delineation is important.It is only when the finiteness of life is glaringly obvious that things change.

If you spend 15+ years logging your expenses every night, checking your portfolio twenty times a day, and making decisions based on their fiscal impact, how plausible is it that you will stop thinking about money after you’ve reached your goalpost? If you’ve been treating money like the ultimate collectors’ item for decades, can you stop identifyin... See more

For example, if a friend told you that he wanted “I outperformed the S&P 500” on his tombstone, your immediate reaction would be to laugh. There is no way you’d take it as anything other than a joke.

Money is a required pursuit for life, but a pointless pursuit upon death.