Someone who obsessively collects things and refuses to part with them is dubbed a hoarder and said to be mentally ill, yet someone who obsessively amasses money and doesn’t part with it is defended and dubbed sane.

r/

Someone who obsessively collects things and refuses to part with them is dubbed a hoarder and said to be mentally ill, yet someone who obsessively amasses money and doesn’t part with it is defended and dubbed sane.

Comments

  1. Showerthoughts_Mod Avatar

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  2. IchBinSLAYER Avatar

    The list of double standards goes on

  3. tiktock34 Avatar

    Money doest pile up in huge heaps in your house. If you had infinite space in your house like a bank account does, it wouldnt matter how much you collected

  4. nerd_inthecorner Avatar

    Both are forms of OCD, hoarding material objects is just well known, but financial OCD is a thing. So in the mental health field, not necessarily: in society, I’d say you’re right.

  5. willanaya Avatar

    Used pizza boxes are not currency

  6. WolfWomb Avatar

    If the hoarder amassed money as well, they’d be better respected 

  7. c0nstantcr1s1s Avatar

    Some hoarders keep literally trash and are usually very messy and gross. Money is considered valuable and doesn’t take up space nor get moldy and gross.

  8. JigglymoobsMWO Avatar

    Hoarding stuff is irrational because each piece of material good has a very limited purpose and takes up very limited living space.  Hoarding money is very rational because money has nearly infinite uses and virtually no downsides, at least when it comes to storage.  

  9. Lower-Detective4002 Avatar

    The inability to tell the difference between these two things is, well, dense.

  10. AbhilashHP Avatar

    Well hoarders mostly own useless stuff most of which is trash. Money on the other hand can be used to buy anything.

  11. ElJanitorFrank Avatar

    Do we need to have a conversation about how net worth =/= money for the 10 millionth time on the internet? Or the hilarious idea that people who obsessively amass money are defended and dubbed sane when you can close your eyes and hit "I’m feeling lucky" on reddit to find a post about how much billionaires suck?

  12. drtapp39 Avatar

    Keeping an extra amount of money in case of an emergency or family trouble is not insane.

  13. Drink15 Avatar

    You are missing a very important difference between them. One keeps trash, the other saves money.

  14. PointToTheDamage Avatar

    No one thinks they’re sane

    Faux edgy teenage logic

  15. Pie_am_Error Avatar

    Sometime in the future, massive wealth horders will likely be studied and be retro-diagnosed with a mental illness. The power and wealth does something to these crazies. 

    Dragon’s Greed Personality Disorder or something.

  16. Mithricor Avatar

    Besides what everyone else has contributed here as to why this is not an apt comparison.

    I’ll point out that people who do things like horde expensive rare bottles of wine, valuable antiquity collections, fine art, expensive jewelry, etc. are also not judged by society.

    It’s not the hoarding part that’s inconsistent it’s societies views that individuals should collect things of extrinsic value be they money or otherwise and not horde things that are functionally worthless or gambling on future value (e.g. beanie babies or Pokémon cards)

  17. headius Avatar

    Hoarding is not collecting to excess. Hoarding is the inability to throw out anything, whether it has value or not, and to obsessively acquire more of the same things. My late wife was a hoarder and we lived with wall to wall boxes of junk for decades. It wasn’t about collecting, it was about never throwing anything away, even boxes that were full of trash.

  18. AnonymousFriend80 Avatar

    If a rich person kept their home filled with stacks and stacks of cash, they would be considered a hoarder as well.

  19. Norpone Avatar

    there is no disincentive to hold money, in fact holding money makes you money when you have enough.

  20. BarAgent Avatar

    A “miser” isn’t exactly respected either. It’s all in the words you use.

  21. danathome Avatar

    I think the word you’re looking for is "eccentric" which isn’t "totally sane"

  22. JustBrowsing49 Avatar

    Collecting USELESS things makes you a hoarder. “Useless” is subjective, but we can all agree money isn’t useless.

  23. ah_no_wah Avatar

    This won’t go over well. Money is a religion to most people. The ultra rich are idolized.

  24. 3ogus Avatar

    Not just "sane" but successful, right? It’s funny how society’s definition of success gets tied to accumulating wealth, while anything else… no matter how meaningful or personal… gets labeled as hoarding. It’s all about perspective and what we’re taught to value.

  25. latouchefinale Avatar

    Please, the polite term is "financial obesity"

  26. maxxspeed57 Avatar

    I assume he is storing his money in a bank or stock markets.
    What he isn’t doing is stacking it up all over his house.

  27. Zorothegallade Avatar

    People who live day by day can be happy every day when they manage to not go to sleep hungry.

    People who live paycheck by paycheck can be happy every month when they manage to not go into red.

    People who make five years plan can be happy every year when they see they’re still set for the foreseeable future.

    People who have everything, who never have to worry about their needs? You almost never see them happy. Instead you see them want more and more, because they have no meaningful goal in their life. The fleeting accomplishment of owning more becomes their only way of filling the void.

  28. SF_Bubbles_90 Avatar

    I say hoarders just need more space, then they become collectors

  29. Psynaut Avatar

    Yes, because things, and the power to buy things, are two different things. If they weren’t, then I would own all the Bugattis I have ever fantasized about.

  30. One_Psychology_3431 Avatar

    Lots of money doesn’t make houses uninhabitable, hoarding does.

  31. UnknownYetSavory Avatar

    If you hoarded money, everyone would call you insane. Is this a joke? When have you ever seen someone with a massive pile of cash in their house? No one hoards money except drug dealers and Scrooge McDuck.

  32. Caseker Avatar

    Since the Dawn of time, the rich have been handed what the poor work for. They have always been worshipped and obeyed. And they’ve always been defended.

    That’s where Kings came from. It’ll be the end of us, too

  33. Clockwork_Kitsune Avatar

    When you’re rich enough, they call you eccentric instead of mentally ill.

  34. johnrhopkins Avatar

    Those that have hoarded the most money are looking less and less sane by the day, lol.

  35. spaztick1 Avatar

    And then everyone wants to take it away from them.

  36. freethechimpanzees Avatar

    Your shower thought is based on a misunderstanding of what hoarding is. Two points:

    1. The term hoarder is hugely overused. It’s actually a rather rare condition. Not everyone who has a lot of stuff is automatically a hoarder.

    2. By the definition of hoarding they must keep things that have no value. So people who collect valuables or hoard money don’t meet that definition and thus aren’t hoarders.
  37. AnOkayTime5230 Avatar

    Money will be used and spent by the person or their estate or benefactors or the government.

    Hoarding items has no value outside of the hoarder or some special interests.

  38. writerVII Avatar

    I really like your thought. We should actually start labeling it as hoarding. I think people are social creatures and are in fact very susceptible to perceptions as dictated by social norms. I think we need to change this social norm – it is indeed just money hoarding after a certain point.

  39. StarChild413 Avatar

    if we had the kind of power to change that we wouldn’t need to to get rid of the implied problem, also ten metaphorical bucks says a lot of the people sharing this sentiment would want the super-rich treated by the mental health care system in ways we would deem too cruel to do to hoarders of stuff

  40. Proud-Increase-6402 Avatar

    This post sounds very right but counterintuitively belong in r/unpopularopinion

  41. cpsbstmf Avatar

    bc money is useful, not junk

  42. dance_rattle_shake Avatar

    Disagree. Wealth accumulation is absolutely a mental and spiritual disease. The purpose of these people’s lives has been perverted. I feel sorry for them. I live a simple life and yet think I’ll probably be happier than most of them will be.

  43. Anagoth9 Avatar

    If you kept a pile of cash or gold ingots under your bed then people would think you were mentally unwell all the same.

    When you’re talking about billionaires (as I assume you’re alluding to) there’s a difference between cash and wealth. The majority of a billionaire’s wealth doesn’t come from collecting or hoarding anything; it comes from the steadily rising value of something they already have. 

    It’s like if your parents bought a house decade ago for $100k and now it’s worth $1 million. It’s the same house; they didn’t collect or hoard or even really do anything except make their mortgage payments and keep it moderately well maintained (which is a whole other rabbit hole, but I digress). All they did was sit on it and over time it’s appreciated in value due to market forces. Are they evil for it? Are they mentally unwell? Not really. They’re just lucky enough to have bought property at what turned out to be the right place at the right time. 

    Lots of people start companies. Lots of people work really hard at them. Billionaires just happened to be in the right place at the right time. 

  44. NumberlessUsername2 Avatar

    You hoard a lot of water in your body. Does that count?

    I think OP is not realizing that the term doesn’t just mean "accumulate a lot." It’s a negative word because it’s accumulating a lot of junk. Lots of different definitions of what junk is, but absolutely none of them include money.

  45. Hopeful_Part_9427 Avatar

    Someone who hoards money is dubbed delicious and should be eaten

  46. Katty-kattt Avatar

    A hoarder is a hoarder is a hoarder no matter how anyone tries to defend it. The basic fundamentals are the same whether it takes up space or has value. No one is saying you have to go spewing your inheritance to strangers but the very least you could do is YOUR part which is what the majority of us do whether we can afford it or not. If you know of people suffering and are aware of some small way you can alleviate it but refuse not to you must either be evil, insane or both.

  47. artic_fox-wolf1984 Avatar

    We need money to survive, and the more you have, the safer you are in a lot of aspects. Horsing wealth is still horsing but horsing trinkets/junk/trash is dangerous to your health or can. Especially if you can’t get around the things you hoard to properly clean your home.

  48. creatyvechaos Avatar

    You never know when you’re going to need a hundred thousand bottle caps!

  49. DaveVdE Avatar

    Your mental state is only considered an illness if it causes problems.

  50. DoubleTax7920 Avatar

    Money has value random items typically don’t

  51. gjon89 Avatar

    It’s called greed, and definitely a mental illness.

  52. Alienhaslanded Avatar

    The comments made me realize everybody has the same disease that is obsession with money. The difference is they don’t have enough of it.

    This world has really gone to shit and there’s no recovering from it.

  53. Zondartul Avatar

    I think actual rich people don’t have billions of dollar bills at home, or have much useable cash at all. Their riches are mostly in the form of property, shares, etc. Actual money is a bit inconvenient to have around.

  54. tootwotootwotoo Avatar

    If you hoard with intention, then it’s a collection. That’s how museums were started.

  55. Terrariola Avatar

    There’s a big difference between hoarding millions of coins like you’re Scrooge McDuck and having a ton of money in a savings account or tied up in securities. Importantly, the latter is still fundamentally beneficial for society, as that wealth isn’t actually sitting in one place – it’s invested, creating economic growth and therefore enabling price reductions, the creation of new jobs, and technological advancement.

  56. GrynaiTaip Avatar

    "Collecting trash is bad, yet somehow collecting cash is good."

    How are you so wise, this is beyond my comprehension. Divine knowledge, you possess.

  57. Garry-Love Avatar

    This is super weird to me because I have "anxiety money" everywhere. I’m terrified I’d suddenly lose my job and get kicked out and need to rent somewhere and I keep this anxiety money to grab and go immediately. I’m very financially secure. Good job, lots of savings. I need to store this money in arms reach or I don’t feel safe.

  58. HeroBrine0907 Avatar

    This is literally ‘I offer Jimmy some paper cups, he doesn’t give me any shoes and calls me insane. But LARRY gives him mOnEY and Jimmy gives him three pairs! Stupid hypocrites.’

  59. alidan Avatar

    people who hoard hoard useless shit and refuse to get rid of it. my family calls me a hoarder, not because I amass shit I refuse to get rid of but because but because I get 1 room to put everything I own and if anything isn’t in my room they throw it away, take in point a drumkit, it has to stay in my room, they refuse to let me use it when they are home (its an ekit, the kick transfers a bit of noise throughout the house) and they get pissy because the kit is in my room and they never hear me using it. I amass clutter on my desks, my family gets pissed at me when they offer to help clean, they will throw everything away even in a few cases money, because I must not want it if its there…

    I have fully cleaned my room before, and all they said is what did I even clean… I can live with a mess, my room isn’t the one with ant problems.

    they treat me not wanting to throw away a 1hp electric duster that was 80$ when I got it the same as someone who refuses to throw away uses paper towels that are covered in filth.

    people who call others hoarders because of a collection they have are pieces of shit who water down what a horader is.

    on the other side I have to deal with people who throw money away and likely will leave themselves destitute before they die.

    its annoying both ways.

  60. acline104 Avatar

    The two things are not exactly directly comparable to each other. You can use money to buy other things or services you need right away. In contrast, items that you hoarded are usually just taking up space and you can’t exchange them for other things as easily, if at all.

  61. halucionagen-0-Matik Avatar

    Money is useful. Garbage is not

  62. hacksoncode Avatar

    Most people that obsessively collect books aren’t "dubbed hoarders" or considered "mentally ill".

    It’s about what they refuse to get rid of that dubs someone a hoarder. Hoarding is when you refuse to dispose of refuse.

  63. TheStaffmaster Avatar

    One is a person obsessed with trash, the other is a trash person, obsessed.

  64. h4ttiemuffin Avatar

    We’re talking about money here.

  65. Chance_Data_7349 Avatar

    The money doesn’t just disappear when they die. You are just mad that you are broke and you want other peoples stuff. The entire point of life is to leave your kids as much as possible, which is relative, while of course enjoying your life to some degree. All these evil “rich people” you loathe probably will give away more money when they die than your descendants will see for 50 generations.

  66. Snotmyrealname Avatar

    I think hoarder status comes not from the amassing of materials, but from the lack of order imposed upon it. As for amassing wealth, I think that can be more closely described as a form of kleptomania.

  67. Furry_Wall Avatar

    Your Funko Pop isn’t a currency and not many people will accept them in exchange for a good or service

  68. theangelok Avatar

    Not everyone who obsessively collects things is a hoarder. Collectors aren’t hoarders. People who obsessively collect garbage are hoarders.

  69. Thatsayesfirsir Avatar

    Collecting money or collecting trash?!? Hmmm. If there was only a way to place a value …..

  70. numbersthen0987431 Avatar

    I would argue that all Billionaires unethical, and are so far detached from reality and are mentally unstable.

    I mean…that one guy that owns tesla walked into twitter with a kitchen sink. The effort needed to pull off that joke was way beyond necessary, and was a waste of everyone’s time.

  71. dinosaurinchinastore Avatar

    Well it doesn’t impact your physical lifestyle if you have $100 or $100,000,000 in the checking account … try putting $100,000,000 worth of crap you don’t need in your garage.

  72. AHailofDrams Avatar

    It should be tbh. We could call it Wealth Accumulation Disorder or something

  73. Wandervenn Avatar

    No they’re looked at as stingy and called a mizer or a penny pincher 

  74. Zealousideal_Bit3184 Avatar

    It does also depend on what the person is collecting. There are normal things like Pokemon cards, sports memorabilia, action figures, and stamps which would be considered collecting. However keeping things like takeout boxes, cans, used tissues, and toenail clipping is considered hoarding

  75. Reveries25 Avatar

    Well one has more utility than the other. 

  76. deckard1980 Avatar

    If that money was all over their house, blocking the doorways and creating a fire hazard then yeah they’d be called insane

  77. sffunfun Avatar

    What kind of communist shit is this? Comrade, do you even own a shower to have shower thoughts?

  78. RetardsBeLike Avatar

    There is a word for it: miser

  79. JHVS123 Avatar

    OK Aunt Nancy. Now, go buy us some dinner with your used McDonalds bag collection.

  80. andreasdagen Avatar

    The metric is how much it hurts the person (and people they care about), not how much it hurts others. 

    Mentally ill is when the person’s behavior clashes with the culture. A viking who won’t murder is mentally ill. 

  81. thesweed Avatar

    And a person who collects valuable things, like art or valuables are dubbed collectors. What’s your point? They’re not even close to comparable

  82. BeccasBump Avatar

    Someone who obsessively amasses money and doesn’t part with it is called a miser, and they’ve been lambasted in literature as far back as Aesop.

  83. lossload Avatar

    How much inconvenience does keeping your money do you

  84. VadeRetroLupa Avatar

    Are they though? People don’t seem too impressed by billionaires and greedy people.

  85. Temperateflora Avatar

    The number people defending the hoarding of money in the comments is pretty disappointing. No one, not a one, needs billions of dollars. It’s a sickness to horde such a quantity of wealth.

  86. SageofTurtles Avatar

    Probably my own biases talking here, but I disagree. Money is a tool, nothing more. Having it does you no good, the whole purpose of money is to part with it in exchange for goods and services. Someone who hoards money out of a reluctance to part with it (as opposed to setting it aside for a specific purpose) is rendering their own money worthless.

  87. -imagenotfound Avatar

    This is a decent point because hoarding money hurts people, but if rich people didn’t have that much money, other people would not have their money instead. It would just be gone.