Quote:
Originally Posted by WereBeer
If you can afford the variance and you are decently +EV, it's completely sensible and reasonable to make the bet. Just because you add some extra zeros, maths doesn't suddenly become not maths.
Relative utility of wealth is a real thing. Let's say her total net worth were $2.5M, then her five-hundred-thousandth dollar through her five-hundred-and-ten-thousandth dollars are worth much much more to her than her two-point-five-millionth dollar through ... you know this is getting tiring to type out and I think you get the idea.
That applies to a much smaller degree if her net worth is $20M+ obviously, but the same concept still applies.
So the bet needs to be +EV by a very comfy margin for it to be worth adding $10k of wealth.
I agree, though, that just saying all those extra zeros makes the small gain irrelevant. The opposite is the case when you're buying Powerball tickets, btw (your money is worth much more dollar-for-dollar when you just have $10k in your savings than all those extra hundreds of millions of dollars are worth to your newly minted billionaire ass. So when people are saying "Yeah, but it's just $10 which is like nothing, whereas I could win a billion," they have it backwards).