by Ryan Russell as "Bob Knuth"
How much money would you need for the rest of your life? How much would you need in a lump sum so that you never had to work again, never had to worry about bills or taxes or a house payment. How much to live like a king? Your mind immediately
jumps to Bill Gates or Ingvar Kamprad with their billions. You think that is what you would need
Ah, but what if you wanted to live in obscurity, or at least were forced to? It s not possible with that much money. You might actually
need
a billion dollars to live like royalty in the United States. It can be done; a few people live that way, but their lives are reality TV. If that kind of attention means the end of your life, either by a charge of treason or a mob hit, then the US isn t an option. The US has a culture of being
People in other
With enough money in a place like that, you can be your own de facto mini dictatorship. As long as you re not a monster, the people you
The money. Most Americans would be surprised how comparatively little money it takes to live like a
Oh, only $180 million, hmm? Yes, that s more than about five nines of the people in the world will ever have. Still, in some circles, that s not very much. Most venture capital firms easily have that much. Some of the largest companies have that much in the bank. International banks move trillions of dollars every day.
No, I don t have a way to earn that much money, legitimately. I m by no means poor. After
It was not without its costs; several
After taxes, I ve got enough money for a little startup of my own. There s no better investment than one s self. A human being can accomplish amazing things. The reason that most don t is lack of mastery of the self. People lack self-control, they have distractions, they have demands on their time, they have others to answer to.
People are weak. They lack the will to deny
You need very little to survive. You need water, food, and shelter. You need a way to maintain those essentials, to make sure they are not taken away from you. You don t need entertainment. You don t need to create. You don t need other people. You will survive without those. In the modern world, you need some kind of resource that will maintain your shelter, and supply you with water and food. You can trade time or money. You can survive on very little money.
If you have enough money, you can eliminate demands on your time. You could buy property in the middle of nowhere, build shelter, and arrange your finances such that you never had to worry about expenses on it. You could set aside a little money so that you could feed yourself off the interest alone. Aside from possible forced civic duty, medical
No one wants to live that way, of course. But what if by doing so, you could become wealthy? What if forcing complete control on yourself would allow you to accomplish anything? What if you had no distractions and could convert your time and effort into as much money as you could use? Many people could easily acquire the knowledge they would need to perform such a task; they just can t bring themselves to do it.
My goal is not simply to survive, but also to accomplish a task. The task is simple to identify; acquire enough cash to live how I like until I die. A small amount of planning provides me with a place and a needed dollar amount to end up with when it is over. While I accomplish my goal, I need shelter, water, and food. Each day, I need about 9 hours to eat, sleep, and maintain my health. There will be an average of 1
Nutrition can be taken care of with a simple menu, supplements, and bottled water. No need for any variety. All planned ahead of time. A standing order with the grocery store will supply the basics, and
With a task like this to accomplish, the shelter must no longer just enable survival, but must also suit the task.