For me, I care far less about the money than the freedom it buys me. I like solving problems, and learning new things, and ending up with something tangible that I can point to and say "I made that."

In a 'job', I don't necessarily have the freedom I want to play around all day. If a new language comes out and I want to play with it, but can't because I'm coding a login form for 'the employer', that sucks.

If I were financially independent, I could do what I wanted, more or less. I also hate doing dishes, and laundry. But I also really hate it when there aren't any clean dishes or clean laundry. Money buys me clean dishes and clean laundry.

Beyond that, I'll freely admit that I never had a huge desire for more money than I needed to live the life I wanted until I entered the wonderful realm of parenthood. Now I'm dumping tons of money into her education, into savings. She's going to need (hopefully) college, a new car, the ability to fail without too much pressure that the world is going to end. I'd also really like to leave an inheritance. I don't need my daughter to grow up like Paris Hilton, but I don't want her to grow up in poverty either.

While it's true that money doesn't buy happiness, lack of money is a pretty direct road into depression for many. Having money that you don't have anything to do with is just responsible, in the same way you have dental, medical and life insurance. The same way you buckle your seat belt.

Someone (who was it? PG or DHH or someone) referred to this 'initial money' as 'fuck you money', i.e. enough to provide for your family and give you the freedom to then work on what you want.

Money is important, when you don't have 'enough' you typically have to work on fulfilling other people's dreams and you're not truly free.

But this is just one man's opinion, and that's all it is. If you get pleasure from other things, then kudos to you! Not everybody can be mega rich, and if you're content doing what you're doing without millions I think you're doing swell as it is.

You're not earning money for material possesions. That's a never ending unfulfilling pursuit. Your earning money to give yourself a secure future, to be able to spend more time with people you enjoy being around, to be free to go wherever you want, do anything you want at any time without money being an issue. You're earning money for freedom and independence. Do you have the hunger now?

> Your earning money to give yourself a secure future,

I have been doing that during my college years and few years after that but then the future came and it was secure regardless of money I had. Money got spent or lost on stupid investments. I feel bit insecure now but only a bit. Is scaring yourself about your unknown future the way to get the money hunger?

> to be able to spend more time with people you enjoy being around,

I spend 24 hours of at least 95% of my days with the woman I love. I think I can't improve that area by making more money.

> to be free to go wherever you want,

I'm exactly where I want to be. And I really don't like travelling.

> do anything you want at any time without money being an issue.

I'd like to have that, but to get more money I'd have to crawl out of my local optimum by doing the things I don't want to for a lot longer than I do now. Also success of 100% passive income would not be ensured.

> You're earning money for freedom and independence.

I don't feel like I'm lacking either of them now.

> Do you have the hunger now?

No, but thank you. Idea of making myself feel insecure about my future might be a way to go.

Why would you want it?

I'd suggest if having more money doesn't motivate you then the difference between your life now and this hypothetical life you might have isn't that great.

Lots of people are motivated to make money for different reasons, some good, some bad but if you're not one of them you're better off focusing on the things that do make you happy.

I have no idea how my life would look if I had this hunger. Maybe it would be better? I just feel I'm missing on something. I have high iq, about 10 years of commercial experience in coding, nearly 20 years of personal experience in coding so I feel I'm fairly well prepared to make some money. What I lack is constant motivator. Money works as such for a lot of people. Hence my question: How do you get hunger for money? Is that something you have to be born with? Is that something you have to be raised to feel? Do you have to hit the rock bottom and feel actual hunger to get this money hunger?

Most people I know who have it have it because at some point in their lives they were without money. If you're smart and you've been working in IT for 10 years then I'm guessing you're financially doing fine. Maybe not super rich but well above national average and you probably don't want for much. I'm sure you could live somewhere nicer and have nicer stuff but would that really make you happier.

Your problem is summarise by five words "maybe it would be better".

We're motivated to do things that we believe will improve our lives in some way. Why would you expect to be motivated by something you're unclear on.

If anything it sounds to me as if you're a little bit aimless and if there's any dissatisfaction in your life it's probably that. Better to work out what you want than just pick something and go "lots of people seem to want this, maybe that's what I want".

Think about the specifics. If more money really would make your life easier, bear the details of this in mind as you're earning it - even to the level of thinking "this hour got me the xyz", if you like.

Thanks for the idea. Keeping firm grip on income and expenses could help. I noticed that my motivation declined when each piece of income added to the pile that was shrinking at the same time due to unspecified expenses.

I don't know. I for one enjoy many material things that I'm not yet able to afford on a consistent basis, and that keeps me pretty motivated.

For a moment I wanted to make this: http://www.robotis.com/xe/bioloid_en into a dangling carrot for myself, since I love robots and recent achievements in robot bipedal movement.

But it failed. Goal was too far from me at my current hourly rate and instead of stubbornly inching my way towards it I just started to want it less and less.

Money == Freedom

Don't you want freedom?

Exactly. I never want to work on someone else's terms. I want to be able to travel on a whim. I want to be able to stay up all night and sleep all day. I want to enjoy things that require sunlight more than just two days a week.

I just hope I can buy my freedom while I'm still young.

I like this story a lot. But which of these men has more true freedom?

Sure we may all want to "sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siestas with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos". But life isn't always this kind.

Eventually most people will get sick, or have a sick kid or family member. Or be victims of crime. Or need to make repairs or suffer a natural disaster. Or be involved in a dispute with neighbors or the local government.

Money isn't important for the easy times in your life - it's important for the difficult times.

> Eventually most people will get sick, or have a sick kid or family member.

Thanks to cheap state health insurance I don't have to pay most of such expenses out of my pocket.

> Or be victims of crime.

This is actually much worse when you are rich. At least in my country. Rich seal themselves in closed enclaves out of fear for their property.

> Or need to make repairs

If you own thing that you can't afford to repair or replace and can't manage without, you are doing it wrong.

> suffer a natural disaster

I'm not sure about this one. It's easier to get away from some natural disasters when you can buy your place on any mode of transportation but you have to leave so much more behind you. It could make you more hesitant to leave.

> Or be involved in a dispute with neighbors or the local government.

It might be easier to buy your way out but having money makes you a target for your neighbours and for the government.

But we went from "money == freedom" to "future will bite you so better stack up a pile"

It sounds like you're trying to convince yourself that you don't want money, rather than the opposite.

Is the only thing you want to do with your life to sit by the seaside, squeeze out a couple of kids, and die peaceful and unknown? If so, fine, no need for money. If you have any speck of ambition in you, though, chances are you want to make some sort of positive difference to the world out there.

Money is a tool that you can use to do that.

What the fisherman parable fails to convey is that through his enterprise, the guy who did buy a bigger boat, expand, etc, ended up feeding millions of people. If no one did that, we'd all still be living in small fishing villages and dying of colds and flus. You owe all your modern conveniences to people who got off their asses and built empires (for whatever motivations it is they had).

I have nothing against millionaires. Especially those that improve environment around them as a side effect of their efforts to get rich and stay rich.

The way I feel is much closer to the fisherman but I don't have his confidence to make an argument that his lifestyle is good.

want to travel? that requires money want a house? you need money Want to have kids? more money

Almost every hobby also requires money. Money buys you freedom. I have a hunger for freedom, which requires money.

I also don't want some asshole boss making decisions for me.

I hate inconveniences of travelling and after I have travelled I quickly forget almost all of the things I've seen or experienced. Nearly same amount of memories remain in my head regardless of whether I've been into 3 or 30 places.

I don't want a house. I prefer flats. While living in a flat you just have to bother with what's inside. House is much greater burden.

You don't buy kids. Kids happen. If I had kids then probably I'd need more money than I do now, but kids didn't happen to me yet.

Every hobby also requires time. And time is neatly eaten up by all my hobbies that don't require money and by some work I do. If I wanted to take up some new hobby I'd have to reduce time I devote to my current hobbies so that wouldn't be a huge gain. Especially because to fund the new hobby I'd have to increase time devoted to work and reduce time devoted to current hobbies further.

My freedom does not require a lot of money. I'm 33 and I never had a boss.

I could travel much more than I like. I could get a house. I could replace my hobbies with new paid ones. I could have kids. But isn't this a bit much to just get "money hunger"? I want to increase my motivation but not at the cost of doing things that would tire me to tears.

Let me respectfully suggest you do not need a hunger for money as it looks to me you have a type of wealth which mere money cannot buy. There is a saying (which I cannot find) to the effect that real wealth is about not being needy. I would also suggest that there are downsides to being rich a la the song line "I've got dozens of friends and the fun never ends, that is as long as I'm buying." I tend to have a yawning disinterest in money. I am currently homeless and deeply in debt...etc...and thus resolving my financial problems is currently a very high priority. Yes, it is okay to want to make money. But I see no reason to think a hunger for wealth is pure virtue. All things have both good points and bad points.

Peace and best of luck.

"I hate inconveniences of travelling and after I have travelled I quickly forget almost all of the things I've seen or experienced. Nearly same amount of memories remain in my head regardless of whether I've been into 3 or 30 places."

Not me. Are you traveling to the same areas? I can certainly say traveling through China gave me many new and interesting memories.

"You don't buy kids. Kids happen. If I had kids then probably I'd need more money than I do now, but kids didn't happen to me yet."

yeah, well, that's not a good way to think. The people that I know that just let kids 'happen' now have very little options because they have an extra mouth to feed without thinking about the extra income that this requires. It's also not a good thing to bring a kid into the world only to live at or below the poverty line. Another consequence of letting kids "happen".

"Every hobby also requires time. And time is neatly eaten up by all my hobbies that don't require money and by some work I do."

So you your work is your hobby. This is fine. But it's not the case for a lot of other people. Work has also been my hobby for 15 years, but there are so many other things that I've found in the last couple of years that require money.

Aside from programming and exercising, most hobbies require money.

"Especially because to fund the new hobby I'd have to increase time devoted to work and reduce time devoted to current hobbies further."

This is why I only get into businesses where my time is not directly proportional to the money I make. It's a losing battle.

"My freedom does not require a lot of money. I'm 33 and I never had a boss."

It's because you're living like a 21 year-old. It's fun, but loses it's appeal after awhile.

"I could travel much more than I like. I could get a house. I could replace my hobbies with new paid ones. I could have kids. But isn't this a bit much to just get "money hunger"? I want to increase my motivation but not at the cost of doing things that would tire me to tears."

I feel like this is like trying to describe an emotion to someone that has never felt one.

In addition to the freedom that money provides, I also want to help out people in my family that are less fortunate/don't have as many opportunities.

> "I hate inconveniences of travelling and after I have travelled I quickly forget almost all of the things I've seen or experienced. Nearly same amount of memories remain in my head regardless of whether I've been into 3 or 30 places."

> Not me.

Not most people. All the people I know love to travel. Some even consider it to be the best use of their money. I tend to forget a lot of what I've seen and remember a little and mostly bad things.

> Are you traveling to the same areas?

Hungary, Florence, Amsterdam various places in Poland. Surely there are vastly different places than those I've been but I remember feeling that I gather new experiences during my travels. But after few years almost nothing remains.

> It's also not a good thing to bring a kid into the world only to live at or below the poverty line.

I don't think having a kid would push us below poverty line. I can triple my income just by getting a job. I experimented last year and had no trouble getting hired by pretty big international corporation.

> So you your work is your hobby.

Unfortunately it is not. My hobbies are mostly learning stuff, reading news, playing games, experimenting with software and small, cheap DYI and reading books. My work is building websites and helping people with maintenance of their web applications.

> It's because you're living like a 21 year-old. It's fun, but loses it's appeal after awhile.

Since I was getting master degree in my home town I lived like 16 year-old when I was 21. Maybe that's it. Maybe I'll just have to wait till I'm, 40 and live like 30 year-old and the the money hunger will come along with that lifestyle. :-)