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  • More money, more problems is referring to an excess of money. As in having too much causes problems, which is on the other end of the spectrum from having too little money.

    When you have an excessive amount of money it draws attention and malicious behavior. Getting wealthy suddenly often means family coming out of the woodwork to try and get some of it, sales people will want to sell things, etc.

    It is a saying that leaves out the important part, just like "money is the root of all evil" leaves out the "love of money" aka greed part.

    So the real saying should be "love of money is the root of all evil" and "an excess of money leads to more problems". They went with more money because it flows better.

    • Interesting take. I’ve always interpreted this phrase as a folksy way of saying a cascade of causality or a progression of responsibilities.

      I think this phrase also has origins in extreme poverty, not from extreme wealth. Greed has a lot to do with why the world is shitty but I don’t think that’s the “wisdom” this phrase is trying to express.

  • More money, more problems is just a lie.

    The only problem you can have with money that wouldn't be replaced or superceded by other problems is having bills. If you don't have money, it's very easy to not have bills. But then you'd also not have a home or probably anything else, which is a bigger problem than having bills.

  • It’s all in the wording. Everybody has problems (even those with no money). The saying is merely suggesting that having more money doesn’t fix all of your problems, but adds to them.

    If you want fewer problems, live below your means (easier said than done these days).

    Rich people tend to buy rich people things (e.g., Mercedes Benz, million $$$ houses, Gucci-level clothing, etc), so they also have rich people bills. They are buying things that are at or above their means.

    There’s a saying that I live by: an elephant for a nickel is only a good deal if you need an elephant and have a nickel. It helps remind me to not impulse buy stuff that I don’t need, merely because I can afford it and it’s novel.

  • I would argue that the relationship isn’t at all linear. Just take a look at the dunning-kruger curve or the hype cycle curve to get an idea how wildly these things can fluctuate.

    • You have it. You could also say that the graph is linear, but with different zero values ("problems" has a bottom of N > 0), but if we're judging from IRL, it's more like a parabola.

      • I like to think of it this way.

        As your debt grows, your problems increase very gradually, maybe even asymptotically. As your wealth grows, your problems increase roughly linearly, but the slope is steeper than with debt. In between the two, there’s the sweet spot with the least amount of problems.

  • People with no money have one big problem, people with money have many small problems.

  • I do not see the “more problems” part on “more money”, you can always repurpose it or get rid of it until you are fine, doubt how that option would be problematic…

  • No money no problems means we have moved past a currency based economy and have achieved true enlightenment as a species.

    Maybe next life...

66 comments