Stop Feeling Bad for Wanting Money
By: Niklas Göke
Tags: Money, Life Lessons, Happiness, Work, Career Advice

Casey Neistat is a balanced guy. He knows an out-of-context quip and an article in a tweet won’t yield thoughtful conversation. He knows most people overreacted based on just the headline, and yet, he also remembers what it was like to be poor — and admits he would have reacted the same way.

“Why did so many people on Twitter get so upset by misinterpreting this headline? The answer is that for most people who are broke money will literally solve every one of your problems. Money will solve your problems.”

“It feels so tone-deaf, when you have nothing, to hear this idea that money won’t solve your problems,” Casey adds. “This idea that money won’t solve problems is bullshit. When I was dirt poor, money would have solved every one of my problems.”

Casey has a theory. He says there are two kinds of problems: life problems and money problems.

Life problems are complex, intangible, and basically take your whole life to solve. They’re about finding happiness, love, fulfillment, and purpose.

Money problems are specific, tangible, and more money will solve them almost immediately. A functional, comfortable place to live, enough food, proper healthcare, getting around, clothes and everyday necessities — money gives you access to all of these.

Casey says that, while we all encounter life problems and money won’t solve them, “When you’re broke, on top of life problems — and I mean that literally and figuratively — you’ve got money problems.”

Image via Casey Neistat on Youtube

As long as you’ve got money problems, you don’t have any time or energy to spend on your life problems. They’re louder, more painful and immediate than the other — and that’s a problem in and of itself, Casey says:

“It’s hard to work on your happiness when you don’t know where you’re gonna sleep. It’s hard to dwell too much on a relationship when you don’t know where your next meal will come from, and you’re not exactly worried about fulfillment at your job when you have no way to get there, and you’ve got no clothes to wear.”

This distinction splits the world in two camps: You’re either busy getting out of poverty or working on higher-level issues. You’re at the bottom of Maslow’s hierarchy or at the top.

Sure, it’s a gradual ascension, but few people are at the point where they are equally plagued by money and life problems. Various studies on the topic exist, but many put the barrier at around $75,000 per year, depending on where you live. If you make $40,000 in a place like LA, you’re probably struggling to make ends meet. If you make $100,000, you can live comfortably almost anywhere in the US except SF and New York.

That’s why Duhigg’s article might feel tone-deaf to some and relatable to others: There are two groups of people trying to solve two different sets of problems — and whichever one you’re in, the other will feel far away and hard to understand.

Casey says: “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.”

Duhigg’s friend says: “It’s just numbers on a screen to me. I’ve never met a retiree who enjoyed a vacation because of what I do. It’s so theoretical it hardly seems real.”

Which of these two camps are you in? Think about it. Beyond understanding our own situation, we also need to acknowledge the other as a real set of problems for a large group of people. Otherwise, all we’ll do is shout at each other when, actually, we should all be focused on the same, two-step solution:

Learn to make enough money. Find purpose in what we do.

This, Casey and Duhigg agree on: It’ll be a long, winding road to get there — but it’s a road worth traveling.