How much money does a person actually need? Changpeng Zhao, the crypto billionaire better known as CZ, has a number in mind, and it is a lot smaller than his own fortune. In a May 9 interview
How much money does a person actually need? Changpeng Zhao, the crypto billionaire better known as CZ, has a number in mind, and it is a lot smaller than his own fortune.
In a May 9 interview on the show Crypto Banter with host Ran Neuner, Zhao argued that wealth stops buying happiness far earlier than most people assume.
"You don't need that much money to have a decent life," he said, "and also having luxury watches doesn't make you happy."
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Pressed on where "enough" begins, Zhao put a figure on it.
"I think USD 10 million is enough for financial freedom if you live a normal life," he said. Above that, he argued, the benefits fade fast: a jump from $10 million to $20 million might still make a small difference, but "beyond 50 million? Zero difference."
He set $100 million as the ceiling where money stops mattering entirely.
"If you have 100 million dollars and you say, 'oh, I am not happy, 200 million dollars would make me happier,' that is just craziness," he said.
Zhao's larger point was that treating money as the source of happiness is a trap.
"I don't think you should make it your goal to enjoy your money," he told Neuner, "and then you're working for the money. And then your money controls you."
The billionaire offered himself as proof. Asked what his wealth actually buys him that he enjoys, Zhao pointed to a collection of camera gadgets he rarely touches.
Changpeng Zhao, famously known as CZ, attends the 'CZ meets Italy' at Palazzo Brancaccio on May 10, 2022, in Rome, Italy."I use them once, I put them away, but it doesn't make me happy," he said, adding that once someone has enough, "you shouldn't rely on having more money to make you happy. That doesn't work."
Antonio Masiello/Getty Images
His personal style backs up the philosophy. Despite his fortune, Zhao is known for dressing simply, usually in Binance-branded hoodies and T-shirts rather than the luxury trappings his wealth could easily afford.
What matters more, he said, is family and health.
The advice is striking coming from its source. Zhao founded Binance in 2017 and built it into the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, and Forbes pegs his real-time net worth at $109.7 billion as of August 10, the 17th-largest fortune in the world, and by his own math, more than 1,000 times what a person needs.
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