Imagine you are running a race. A marathon, if you
like. It’s a multi-day marathon.
You get a couple of hours to prepare everyday and then you start running.
Running as hard as you can. And then you take a breather for the night. Only to
start all over again the next day. I got to admit here that I have lied here a
little dear readers. It’s not a multi-day marathon. It could last years. Actually,
it WILL last years. It could quite possibly last your lifetime. Actually, it’s quite
possible that you don’t know where the finish line is. You just got to keep
running as hard as you can. I know what you are thinking…..this is f***ing
crazy right? Who in their right mind would willingly do this? Well, this is you
dear readers. This is me. And we do it every single day of our lives.
The title should have given it away. This is us in
our endless pursuit of money. Our endless tireless pursuit of money. Maybe it’s
not money per se. Call it quality of life or standard of living or keeping up
with the Jones, if you will. But make no mistake about it. It all comes down to
money. How much time do you spend in your
pursuit of money everyday? Probably stuck in a job you would quit today if
you only could (As a side note, if you have a job that you love, I just hope
you appreciate how lucky you are!). And in calculating this time, don’t forget
to add the time that you spend in commute to and from work. Also, add the time
you spend at home preparing for work. This is all time that you could be
spending with your family and/or spent doing something you love. Now, make no
mistake dear readers, I have nothing against money. In fact, if anything, I
love money. Heck, this is a financial blog for crying out loud! Let me tell you
what I DO have a problem with.
I have a problem in running a race without knowing
where the finish line is. Without knowing where the finish line is, the race
looks something like this.
So, if you don’t draw the finish line, life will
draw it for you. Pretty simple, isn’t it?
Hence, the question. How much money is enough? The problem is that this is a highly
subjective question. A man
who has a lot of money and poor health, will gladly exchange all his wealth for
health and a man who has no money and good health, will gladly exchange his
health for wealth. Hence, you can’t have one-size fits all approach. But
luckily, this is also the easy part. Just grab a retirement calculator and see
where it takes you.
The problem is that the question is also a philosophical one and
not just a quantitative one. How much money is enough? But luckily, we have our
in house resident philosopher, Seneca (4 BC - AD 65), whom we have been
studying in this blog for the past few weeks, to help us answer this question.
Luckily for us dear readers, Mr. Seneca did ponder over this conundrum and this
is what he has for an answer.
"Do you ask what is the
proper limit to wealth? It is, first, to have what is necessary, and, second,
to have what is enough."
Now,
this answer just blew me away. The beauty of this statement lies in its
simplicity. Read it again dear readers. It’s delightfully simple yet utterly
profound!! William of Ockham would be proud of it.
Now,
you may very well ask, if the answer is so simple, then why don’t more people
practice it. I asked myself this question too and found that the answer to this
also lies in that line itself. Let’s have a look at it again.
The first extreme or the bare minimum is “what is
necessary”. The way I see it, this part consists of our basic physical needs,
for example food, shelter, clothing etc. Of course, the definition of necessity
will itself be subjective, but since this is the starting point, let’s take
this to be the bare minimum. Coming from a country where majority of the
population still struggles to live above the poverty line, you get a pretty
good appreciation of what bare minimum is. But I am not going to argue with
someone who says that a decent internet connection is also a basic necessity as
I certainly agree with him! But the point I am trying to make here is that the
“what is necessary” part is mainly determined by our physical needs and is
generally pretty common to all.
Let’s go to the other extreme now – “what is enough”.
In contrast to the previous extreme, which depended on the physical needs, this
one is purely mental in nature i.e. it totally depends on one’s state of mind.
And that’s what makes it so difficult to implement!! Fulfilling the basic
physical needs is the easy part, but
putting a limit to what all we think we need is difficult indeed!
The end point being a mental one is hard to
quantify. And that’s what makes winning this race so difficult. But the moment you quantify this goal and
mark the finish line, you will notice a change in your attitude towards money
and you will begin treating money as what it really is – as means to an end rather
than as the end itself.
Also in this series:
Take care and good luck!
