Great philosophy! The goal of getting lots of money and know what to do next is ok, but to stay not working after having lots of money is not ok as Cutten mentioned.
One rule among many for a man is to always have compassion. You must have compassion toward your wife. But if she have this kind of attitude then you must have compassion to yourself for having that kind of wife. Then kick her out. Don't tell me you stay with her because of the children benefit. Your children won't get any better benefit if you're sinking. I knew some man who had decided to stay but the end result was disastrous, he lost his health and therefore his children didn't get any much benefit. If he have left her early then he could save his future and can still help his children remotely much more effective.
First off, what Cutten said. Now, to the heart of the matter: Most people, I have found out through a long and eventful life, are 100% self-interested. We're talking 99.44% of the population (the older people will know where that percentage comes from). The remaining .56% are what's left. I am speaking to you from deep, very deep, inside the heart of the financial world where all of this exploded. I have a front-row seat to the behavior of the people at the very top of this mess. I am not at the very top, just close enough to it to see all of it unfolding, first of all, and second of all, close enough to earn - let me rephrase that - pocket enough to feel it if the bill to take back 90% of the bonus money gets passed. I'm not at AIG, but at a firm that has received that bailout money and thus would be affected by the terms of that bill. At my job, a lot of people follow me, and rate what I say very highly. This is because I've always known that if I get fired tomorrow, I could sit down at my laptop, fire off some trades, and make enough to replace my income and more. As a result, I deal with my superiors at work with confidence and respect: confidence, because I know that my financial security is in what I know, not what I make at my job; and respect, because I respect the hard work that goes into getting the promotions that go with the increased responsibilities my superiors have. But that respect for their work does not extend to their character in areas other than work. I was on vacation for the past week, and the first thing someone said to me today was about that bonus bill, disparaging it. Having read about the whole controversy over the weekend after having returned from my vacation, I knew it was more than likely unconstitutional, so I replied in that vein to the scum who lobbed the remark at me. I say scum, because it has become obvious to me, over the course of the day, that virtually everyone I work with is precisely that. I am stunned at the complete lack of perspective on this issue from the people directly affected by it. I can't say that this is true at AIG, but I can say that it's true where I work, and since where I work is not as much in the news on this as AIG is, it's probably correct to say that it's the same perspective you'll find at just about any other globally important financial firm with significant numbers of people making large incomes within the borders of the US, regardless of whether that firm owes its very existence, at this point, to a bailout by either the USG or some other "G" somewhere in the Western world. Which is to say, the attitude isn't "Thank God I still have a nice job." No, the attitude is still, even after this extraordinary debacle, "I earned every penny, and to hell with anyone who thinks I haven't." This despite the rather glaring evidence that most of the "work" done in the financial services "industry" had no value whatsoever to anyone, anywhere, for at least the past decade, and probably longer than that. Allow me to tell you something else: ALL of us were in this for the money, nothing else. As traders, all of you are in what you do for the money as well, but the difference is that your mistakes don't adversely affect anyone else, whereas these people's mistakes do, and as officers and directors of large companies playing with OPM, they had a duty to make double and triple sure they weren't making a mistake before they put on a trade or made a loan. They didn't, not because the incentives were skewed, but because they're scum. No amount of incentives would make an honest man take another person's money and give it to someone who you know isn't going to pay it back, either because of lack of character, lack of financial capability or, far more likely, both. But for that 99.44% of the population that only cares about their own self-interest? They'd make that trade/loan in a split-second, if they knew it would earn them a higher bonus at the end of the year. I'm laying the foundation right now for getting out of where I am, looking into where and how to get health insurance, pay for my own retirement when the time comes, and so on. After more than 20 years married to the same woman, I already know I have found one of the .56% of the population who isn't driven solely by self-interest. I am unconcerned, therefore, with whether anyone, including anyone reading this, is also part of that .56%. I'm assuming you are. If so, I'm letting you know that yes, these people really are as evil as you think. And yes, finding an honest man is as hard as Diogenes thought, way back when. Finding an honest woman is, it goes without saying, just as hard.