Suddenly wealthy and unmotivated

[bjl584]

Here is an interesting story that I found about a young man who found himself suddenly wealthy and unable to find motivation and purpose.
What would your advise be to him?





First off, I want to acknowledge that I’m in a very fortunate position, and I’m posting in good faith for genuine advice and perspectives.

I was working in tech in non-technical roles for the entirety of my 20s, and really found my work menial and unfulfilling, with no ambition to have "career progression." I struggled a lot with depression and lack of purpose/goals despite being a relatively high achiever in my younger years, likely due to my ambivalence towards my work. I saw a number of psychiatrists and therapists to no avail.

In the last few years I got very lucky and managed to find myself with a $6M net worth due to inheritance + luck in the stock market, and decided to quit my job and take a short sabbatical to reevaluate my life.

I briefly found myself enjoying life a lot more without having to sit at the office 8 hours a day, but then came back to reality as I felt like I lost some of my identity and social structure that my work provided.

One of the few long-term goals I do have is to raise a family someday, and I’ve been worried that not having a “respectable” job might make dating harder for me. Because of that, I spent the last year applying for new roles, even though I knew I probably wouldn’t find them fulfilling. But the tech job market has been rough, and after a lot of unsuccessful interviews, I’ve been wondering if I’m wasting my time, since salary isn’t really a financial necessity for me anymore.

Aside from wanting to raise a family, I don't have any big passions or goals that I want to pursue, so it's been a little difficult to figure out my path going forward. I'm a little interested in the idea of developing my own game (I currently have no coding ability), but I am worried that if I waste too much time, I won't have the option of getting back into my old industry that I spent my entire career + college years working for. And of course I'm concerned about the dating optics of it all, especially since I feel like my time is ticking.

I realize all of this is an extremely privileged problem set, but I’m genuinely struggling with direction and purpose, and would appreciate your suggestions and thoughts.

[GoodLiving]

Sounds like lack of purpose has been a issue for years. At that networth point, they obviously don't need to work so I would focus on finding that purpose because I imagine that when interviewing, their apathy shows. I also believe that finding the right one wouldn't matter about optics. just my humble opinion.

[pacerob]

Sudden wealth removes pressure but also structure, so build purpose intentionally: explore skills like game dev, volunteer, or create routines that replace work identity.

[Fishindude77]

Sounds like this individual needs a legit life coach or mental health counselor.

[Tabs]

Hmm. I'm of the opinion that perhaps you are giving yourself too much of a hard time over this? Presumably, it's not like you are doing anything reckless like betting it all on red at the roulette table, or selling Fentanyl to street gangs, or worse, making donation to unworthy politicians.

I think I am preaching to the choir when I say that, one of the more interesting observations about financial savvy is learning not just what to say and what to do in life, but also what not to say and what not to do in life. Does that make sense? For example, it's not like most people notice when we choose to save money. Because, you know, literally nothing happens. Even if someone somehow notices, it's not like they get excited about it either. Oooh, through your literal inaction, you saved your money by... not buying that thing. So, is it fair for me to say that financially savvy people... don't actually do a whole lot in general? Researching and learning aside, I think many of us ultimately just kind of set-it-and-forget-it, and spend the rest of our years focusing on other pressing matters, while we patiently wait for our portfolio to compound and grow over time.

Ok, my point to this rambling is simply that you shouldn't have to feel pressured about taking on some kind of job just to appease other people's expectations or some such. You can still grow and become a great net-positive to both your life and society as a whole. The only difference now is you can financially afford to choose your own path on how to go about it.

Speaking of which, with financial worries no longer being a burden on your shoulders, I would recommend to focus much more on how to invest in your time. Time is the one hard currency that we are all limited by. The entire purpose of my financial journey is to "buy" my own time and freedom back. Of course, I still have to worry about money on my end, but my real focus these days is on how to spend my time wisely.

If you still want something more concrete, I don't think you can go wrong putting efforts into growing more plants and flowers around you, and consider fostering pets and animals.