Enough

Calvin Ling
Jul 28, 2017 · 1 min read

Deals.

Negotiating.

For any deal in life, there has to be a number. This I’m sure of. There’s always a number. More specifically, a price. A price that tips the scale one way or another: a price that convinces the most illogical, irrational person to switch sides. There’s always a number.

Since we’re on the subject of money, let’s dive deeper and talk only about money. Let’s talk about fulfillment. Let’s ask the question.

The question is, how much is enough?

Sure, you can be fulfilled in ways unrelated to money. Friends, family, Amazon resellers: fulfillment exists in many forms. But money is distinct. Money is cold. Money is a man-made construct. When we think about money, often we cloud our vision with emotions. We apply a qualitative feeling to a quantitative subject. It doesn’t work, but we try.

You can be completely fulfilled in all other categories in life and be quite poor. And you can be completely unfulfilled in all other categories in life and be quite rich. Money is not the key to happiness.

But money can help get you there.

There’s no endgame dollar amount. You either continue wanting more until you physically can’t (oh hmm, that sounds kinda wrong, doesn’t it) or you settle. And when you settle, you’re calling a local maximum. You’re happy on your hill, even though there might be a bigger hill just down the path.

The answer is, the question doesn’t matter.

Calvin Ling

Written by

Stanford MS&E '16. Associate at 415.