“There are people in the industry who, when you get right down to it, have no real interest in money. People who couldn’t give a flying fuck in a rolling donut whether they make $3 million, or $10 million, or $100 million a year, as long as they make more than the next guy. People who look at income, and bonuses, and aggregate net worth as a scorecard in the great game of life. People who want to make the most.”

Also, I think it’s worth noting that many of the legendary bankers (yes, there are some of those) did not take all the money off the table at all in their personal lives–Felix Rohatyn of Lazard and Sidney Weinberg of Goldman Sachs, while quite well-compensated, both took much smaller percentages as partners than they were entitled to on the basis of their contributions to the firm’s earnings.

When money becomes points in a competition rather than a medium of exchange for goods and services, it no longer has a declining marginal utility. If every extra dollar simply buys me another vacation home I don’t have time to visit, I don’t care about it so much. But if every extra dollar is like a point in a video game, every point has equal utility if it makes me win. Wanting a high score isn’t the same as wanting to be rich.