I Read a Reddit Post… and It Broke My Ego
The Real Cost of Chasing More
The other day I read a post on Reddit that made me stop and think.
It said something like: after the first two or three million, a paid-off home, and a decent car, the quality of life between you and Jeff Bezos isn’t that different.
And even though it sounds exaggerated, it’s true.
It also said that a cheeseburger is just a cheeseburger, whether a billionaire eats it or you do. That money, in the end, is nothing more than a number on a screen. That real life happens outside, not inside the bank.
And it stirred something inside me. Because, to be completely honest, I’ve been trying to understand what truly drives me.
Today I want to be fully transparent with you, I always try to be, but this time on a more personal level.
I’ve had a fast career. Very fast. I work at one of the biggest multinational companies in the world. And honestly, I’m three or four years ahead of where someone my age would normally be.
I’ve moved up faster than I ever imagined. I manage teams with people who have fifteen years more experience than I do. And that sounds impressive, until you realize it can also be a trap.
Financially, things have gone well. I made smart choices early on. I saved, I invested, I built.
I own a few houses, some Bitcoin, gold, equity funds. Nothing extraordinary, but enough to feel (very) calm. That kind of financial peace that lets you sleep well. Choose. Decide.
And yet, sometimes I ask myself: if I quit my job tomorrow, what would I do?
The answer isn’t that clear. I think about what Naval says: the first thing would be to take care of myself, work out, sleep well, eat well.
But I already do all of that. I worked out almost every day this summer. I love running. I love training outdoors, no machines, no complications.
And I don’t need a thirty-thousand-euro bike or a luxury gym. So, what else do I really need?
Good food. Sun. Movement. Silence.
And time. Above all, time.
Time to think, to do nothing, to enjoy my future wife. Because if I think about it carefully, everything that gives me real wellbeing is within almost anyone’s reach.
It’s not expensive to eat well. It’s not expensive to run through the woods. It’s not expensive to put your phone away on a Sunday.
And yet we spend years chasing more. More money. More titles. More recognition.
As if the next step would somehow fill that emptiness, which, in reality, has nothing to do with any of it.
The truth is, money does help. It would be hypocritical to say otherwise. It helps remove the noise. It brings peace. It lets you choose who you work with, who you share life with, where you live.
But it doesn’t fill you up.
Because money, past a certain point, stops being freedom and starts becoming an excuse.
And I say that because I’ve been there. I’ve played that game. I’ve won a few rounds. And still, I keep searching for meaning.
Not because I lack anything material, but because I want to understand what would make me wake up every day excited, even if there were no paycheck, no recognition, no external goal.
And to be honest, one of the things that excites me most lately is writing this newsletter. Sharing what I’ve learned about finance, about decision-making, about freedom.
But not from the “how to get rich” angle, from the place of someone who’s learned that being rich isn’t the goal, it’s the tool.
A tool that gives you space to think. And when you finally have that space, you realize the real question isn’t “how do I make more money?”, but “what do I want to do with the time I have left?”.
Because time, not money, is the true currency of life.
And the irony is, most of us spend our best years trying to buy something we already have, freedom. The freedom to choose how we live each day.
I don’t want to sound like someone enlightened or like I’ve got it all figured out. I’m still in the process. I learn every day. In fact, that’s probably what I’m most passionate about, knowing that tomorrow I’ll be a little better than today, and that tomorrow’s Carlos will be a better version than today’s.
Some days I wake up full of energy, and others I feel lost. But maybe that’s the point.
Learning to live with that discomfort. To not always need to be chasing something.
Maybe happiness is just that: finding peace in routine.
In the small things. A meal with friends. A call with your parents. A walk with the love of your life. A full night’s sleep.
All those simple things that seem basic, but we forget when we get caught in the race for “more.”
That’s why this Reddit post hit me. Because it reminds you that, past a certain point, the game changes.
It’s no longer about earning more. It’s about not losing yourself.
About not letting your time, the most valuable thing you have, slip away between meetings, emails, and goals you don’t really care about.
So today, I just wanted to share this reflection with you.
Not as a lesson. But as an open conversation.
Because sometimes, simply stopping to think is already a form of freedom.
And if there’s one thing I’d like you to take away from all this, it’s that you don’t need to have it all to feel rich.
You just need ENOUGH.
Enough money to stop worrying.
Enough health to move.
Enough time to live.
As Naval Ravikant once said, “When you have health, you want a thousand things, but when you don’t have health, you only want one.”
The rest, honestly, is just noise.
Ahh, yes, here is the Reddit article :)
NOW OUR PORTFOLIO… Our hedge is performing better than ever. While everything else is falling, we’re holding strong.
