“Money can’t buy you happiness, but it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery.” -Spike Milligan
Being broke sucks, especially when you see your peers having a lot more money than you and turning that into a lot more fun. Even worse is when you are looking at what you would do with additional capital, be it investing in high growth areas for your business (like hiring or marketing or time saving technology), or how it could help those you love (pay for education, get those braces for the teen, time off for the caregiver). Not having money is a constraint that leads to shorter term survival thinking, creating additional stress and demonstrably shortening lifespans.
Having money is no picnic either. My super successful friends have every charity around with a hand out, every would-be entrepreneur trying to pitch them, and people coming out of the woodwork asking for favors. In addition to the crushing demands of continuing to run their business with all of the responsibilities to employees and shareholders while trying to balance family and other personal obligations. Health is too often relegated to the backburner because the needs of the many outnumber the needs of the few or the one. And the more wealthy the greater the problems because of the visibility, the safety concerns for the family, the obligations and demands. Uneasy rests the head that wears the crown declared Shakespeare, and the Bard would have had a quip about the ultrawealthy and their crushing responsibilities to millions.
Still, it’s better to be rich. Having a masseuse can release a lot of the built up tensions, and having someone else prepare healthy food that you didn’t have to shop for saves a lot of time. Being able to outsource the stupid things like driving or laundry is an acceptable tradeoff for having to deal with attorneys and the press.
Even if you don’t consider yourself wealthy, the roof over your head that needs repair is better than being homeless. The worries of success are always better than the misery of an empty belly and uncertainty of your safety. Appreciate your First World Problems, because most of the world would kill for them.