[–] SocratesOP ago
I can see where you're coming from, but the only reason you can't see the difference is because you don't regularly deal with large sums of cash. It's the same scale as someone asking if you'd want a dollar or a 50% chance of a hundred bucks. Whatever you want to do with a mil you could do 10000% more with the 100mil.
[–] oedipusaurus_rex ago
The dollar and 100 dollars doesn't work as an example though. Both 1 mil and 100 mil are significant amounts of money. 1 dollar isn't significant so it doesn't matter whether you receive it or lose it. 100 dollars isn't really all that significant either, but it will buy my groceries for a month. If I have 1 mil in hand and lose it then I am going to feel it a lot more than losing 1 dollar. I sometimes give a dollar to a bum to shut them up and leave me alone. It is literally nothing to me to do that. 100 dollars on the other hand has utility.
The thing about the 10000% more that I could do with 100 mil, is that it's the same thing I would do if I were given 1 mil, which is basically go out, buy a steak, and then invest. It makes no difference to me whether its 1 mil or 100 mil. I will do the same thing regardless. If I get a dollar, the whoop-dee-do. What do I do with that? If I get 100 dollars then I can pay my water bill and electric bill.
Now if I were offered this twice, the first time I would take the million, and the second time I would take the 50/50 shot at 100 million.