Being RICH vs Being POOR - a video essay

[Music] burgers for breakfast burgers for breakfast burger for back to 32 pac-10 burgers burgers for breakfast will be in a lot you know the man the myth yeah look at this production hey guys how much am I allowed to talk about what we're doing here in my own video yeah nothing we're doing here is a big secret okay okay great yeah burgers for breakfast all right okay so what I'm doing here is you know hot ones from first we feast will they have another so called the burger show that's hosted by Alvin here Alvin's like pretty much a big or the biggest deal chef there is oh my started a restaurant called eggslut yeah excellent Venice la Vegas you name it when did this come out when does this episodes about April April tune in on April 9th online first we feast YouTube channel gaming are you gonna finish that I don't think so I never took Mike [Music] so on Sunday or something like that I found this fantastic article in The New York Times and the headline reads wealthy successful and miserable the upper echelon is hoarding money and privileged to a degree not seen in decades but that doesn't make them happy at work it is a very very interesting story article it's about it's about a lot of things but that they focus on like this one character that the journalist met at a reunion and this guy is miserable he he is like a Harvard Business School type who works in a hedge fund or something and this guy makes this is the subject of this story this guy makes 1.2 million dollars a year but the story is about how he is miserable at work it was insanely stressful work done among people he didn't particularly like he earned about 1.2 million dollars a year and he hated going into the office I feel like I'm wasting my life away he told me when I die is anyone gonna care that I earned an extra percentage point of return my work feels totally meaningless and the story goes on there's one partner I really like where they talk about these janitor like someone who mops floors and cleans out like bedpans that people pee in janitor in a hospital and how that janitor did find fulfillment and happiness in their job because they felt like they had a purpose like there was a greater good I thought that I think that's a very interesting ok so I tweeted this article and there was kind of a lot of feedback in my Twitter thread I think it's from people who just read the headline but a lot of like really valid feedback that was like Oh boohoo poor millionaire is not happy that was the sentiment and I appreciate that and I was thinking a lot about that I was thinking about like that that platitude money won't solve your problems and money won't solve all your problems what a crawfish and I think I do have like a unique perspective on this because you know I spent a good part of my life being very very poor I qualified very poor as like zero in my bank account zero savings zero safety net no one I could turn to for money and you know there was definitely a time in my life when my my son Owen was very small where if I didn't get free diapers and milk and money from the government I'm not sure I could have made made ends meet as a as a parent or as an individual so when I say there was a time in my life when I was poor that's what it meant that's kind of that was me then that's what my life looked like then this is an apartment that I was very lucky to have this is an apartment that I lived in with my kiddo and rent was 400 bucks a month lucky to have it no complaints but that was any of it and for the last decade I've had a lot of means like I make you know I make good money now you guys see the absurd life that I get to live I'm very lucky so why does that ID that money won't solve your problems why does that idea why did that bother me so much when I was when I was struggling in life why did so many people on Twitter get so upset by misinterpreting this headline and the answer is that for most people who are broke money will literally solve every one of your problems money will solve your problems this idea that money won't solve problems is bullsh when I was dirt poor money would have solved every one of my problems I was lucky not to have health issues or other you get the idea money would've solve all my problems and I think that's why people respond to just this headline with such emotion is because it's like it feels so tone-deaf when you have nothing to hear this idea that money won't solve your problems I thought about it further okay ready rich or poor we all face these problems problems that all call life problems life problems are things like finding happiness and finding love and a sense of fulfillment in your life and a sense of purpose maybe in your career etc these are life problems these are problems we all rich or poor encounter money won't solve these problems but when you're broke on top of and I mean that literally and figuratively on top of these problems you've got money problems and money problems or things like how am I gonna pay rent how am I gonna pay for food I'm sick in can't afford go to the doctor I can't get a job so I can't drive to work I'm have any nice clothes to wear that job interview it things like that and I think the hardest part of money problems is that when you have money problems they can drown out these other issues like if you're feeling down in life it's hard to work on your happiness when you literally might not know where you're gonna sleep it's hard to like dwell too much on a relationship when you literally don't know where your next meal might come from and you're not exactly worried about fulfillment at your job when you have no way to get there and you got no clothes to wear and you get the idea I go even further with this and say that these life problems rich or poor we all kind of try to solve them the same way and they're very hard to solve what's the answer to finding happiness in life I don't know it takes a lot of work takes a lifetime to find happiness or love or a sense of fulfillment but when you're facing these problems the solutions right in front of you money money solves all of these problems and I think that makes these kinds of problems much harder to face because and the solution is just out of reach like in Indiana Jones when he's trying to last crusade and trying to reach for the cuff like [Music] so with that if you are struggling financially and someone tells you money won't solve all of your problems chances are the person saying that is someone who's never actually been broke and then the story itself ends and this is this is written from the perspective of the journalist because a journalist knew this guy who made the 1.2 million dollars finding meaning whether it's as a banker or a janitor is difficult work usually life rather than a business school classroom is the place to learn how to do it that really hit home for me I think the conclusion that this journalist made is not far off from what Tony Hawk said when he was on Kodama is doing what you love and it's not the most financially successful thing it doesn't matter because you'll love going to work every day and the ultimate the ultimat is when you find a job that does pay you enough to cover your bills a job that a job that does satiate all of these all of these kind of basic needs so you can spend your life actually focusing on things like being happy and finding love and making sure you're getting that fulfillment and sense of purpose sense of purpose at work okay give the article read it's it's wonderful [Music] I'm happy to share with you that well one I'm sorry I haven't been posting but I'm happy to share with you that the reason why I haven't been posting is that I'm working on something I'm working something I wanted to do for a while which is like a really long form probably an hour maybe even longer movie for this YouTube channel it's not like a branded thing I'm not doing it for anybody but myself but it is something I've been thinking about for a while and two weeks ago I was like screw it let's do it and I've devoted all of my energy and focus to making something that I think I hope would be really meaningful for my channel so if my schedule is even more irregular than usual it's because I am trying to do something I'm trying to do something new and big if you don't follow me on Twitter you probably missed that I got a $275 ticket last week for running a red light on my boosted board so I now stop at red lights and I'm much more cautious again NYPD I apologize and I have since paid the fine [Music]

Channel: CaseyNeistat

Views: 3,327,681

Rating: 4.9187846 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: ROfBLx6bLZI

Length: 10min 13sec (613 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 26 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

So here's what I got:

Money really can't buy happiness. But being happy is the least of your problems if you are struggling to eat, pay bills, afford rent, and get out of crippling debt. And all those things can absolutely, 100% be solved by money...

​

So basically, when a millionaire whines about not being happy, it's only because he can afford to worry about his own happiness.

[u/TheNeonApple]

Even though he talks about him being rich now and his life NOW, it still feels like one of his older videos. I mean like the golden era of his vlogging career.

Not an AD, just him and the camera

[u/RealJesus2018]

His 1000th upload.

As reported by Socialblade. .

[u/DChenEX1]

Maslow's Hierachy of Needs.

In which in modern times, the bottom two can mostly be bought with money.

[u/HumpertyNumperty]

Money can't buy you happiness but it can buy you a very comfortable form of misery.

[u/kingofcrob]

something his wanted to do for a while, something new n big... so moving to LA

[u/fortheinfo]

At the end ... $275 ticket for running a red light? Ouch. I wonder how much the ticket is for going the wrong way on a one way street?

[u/nvoei]

Not much of a video essay, to be quite honest.

[u/adamaoc]

Money can only buy happiness if you live in a material mindset. Yes it helps solve problems in your life but having money doesn’t solve all your problems, it just adds some zeros to the end of your money problems. Now instead of having a $100 problem you have a $1,000 or $1,000,000 problem.