I'm not trying to get ahead

In general, it seems like people are always trying to "get ahead". What or who are we trying to get ahead of? Probably most people would say that they want more money, so that they will be ahead of their peers or someone else. I don't really want to get ahead, I want to have "enough". Of course, the big question is "what is enough?". Probably the best answer is to have enough to be able to do what you want to do. Right now, I don't have "enough" because Mary Ann and I want to be able to live in Marin and raise kids there, with Mary Ann staying home with them when they're young. By my estimates, in order to have reasonable access to jobs and pay to raise kids in decent schools, one needs an annualized income of around $250K. That could go up after Obama takes office since he'll raise taxes on those "rich" people.

Back on point, I feel like my peers who are "ahead" of me financially, on the average, aren't necessarily ahead of me in terms of happiness or generally enjoying their lives. Working hard can definitely let you earn more money, but at some point, there are seriously diminishing returns - you end up working all the time and not enjoying your life, sort of like the redhead in the Sex and the City TV show. I love working at home, making cool stuff, learning things and working with smart people all around the world. I hope that I never have to retire from doing that. Now, if I can just get it to pay at least $250K/yr, then personally, I'll feel like I'm WAY ahead!