Money, Money, Money... (2)

Misunderstanding or Misbehaving

Jun 10, 2024

There are two subjects that affect everyone, whether you’re interested in them or not — health & money.

Broadly speaking, progress in health care has led to rising life expectancy across the world — until a few years ago. You & I live longer, healthier lives because of this.1

But it could be argued that we haven’t collectively become better at managing our personal finances. Or have realistic views about what money does or doesn’t do in our lives. Why?

You don’t need (much) money to be happy…

…. but we don’t recognize this.

Paulo Coelho wrote this lovely story:

Picture an idyllic fishing village. Every day the fishermen go out to sea in their boats to catch fish. Selling the catch provides a decent living, none of the fishermen are rich.
Over time this charming & peaceful village starts to attract tourists, including Jack, a banker, who spends a long weekend there. One morning, Jack sees a fisherman rowing a small boat towards the shore with a good catch of fish. Jack was impressed & asks the fisherman how long it took to catch the fish. The fisherman responds, ‘Oh, just a short while.’
‘Then why don’t you stay longer at sea & catch more?’ asks Jack. Without hesitating the fisherman replies: ‘This is enough to feed my family & satisfy my needs.’ Jack was puzzled & asks: ‘So, what do you do for the rest of the day?’
‘I relax & play with my kids. In the afternoon, I take a nap. When evening comes, I meet my friends — we have a drink, sing and dance.’
Jack finds it difficult to understand this & weighs in. ‘I’m a banker, I can help you become more successful. You should spend more time at sea & catch more fish. When you have saved enough money, you can buy a bigger boat & catch even more fish. Soon, you will be able to buy a fleet of boats, build your own factory for canned fish & sell nationally. You can then move out of this village to the big city & run your business from there.’ The fisherman listened carefully & asks: ‘And after that?’
‘After that, you can go public & list your shares on the stock market — you will be rich & famous.’
The fisherman asks again: ‘And after that?’
Jack gets excited: ‘Oh, that’s the best part. After that, you can retire & move to a small fishing village, catch fish in the morning, return home to play with your kids, have a nice afternoon nap, join your friends for a drink in the evening, sing & dance.’
The fisherman went silent thinking to himself: ‘Isn’t that what I am doing right now?’

Alan Watts, the British philospher famously said: Modern man confuses symbol with reality, his ways of describing & measuring the world with the world itself puts himself in the absurd situation of preferring money to wealth & eating the menu intead of the dinner.

Just a little more (money) is a useful way to motivate oneself, until… it isn’t.

A little more… pushes us to win every race, every argument, every competition. Sometimes this is simply a way to challenge oneself, not designed to hurt others, but the problem with never being satisfied is that the loser is also going to be you.

Enough is often attainable & always useful.

Because he has a very active imagination, many of Calvin’s fantasies are enormous, involving city-sized monsters or adventures in outer space. Hobbes, however, has simple desires. He enjoys the small things & appreciates what he already has. Most of us, it appears, are conditioned to behave like Calvin.

Money is like gas during a road trip. You don't want to run out of gas on an empty road, but you're not doing a tour of the gas stations.
 
Tim O'Reilly

Society inundates us with messages suggesting that money & status are the paths to contentment. But a deeper examination reveals a paradox: the relentless pursuit of status & money inevitably leads to a perpetual state of discontentment.

It appears to me that we default to wanting more (status or) money when we don’t have strong convictions about what constitutes a good life. Substituting money for success seems like an easy cop out. That answer doesn’t require you to do the inner digging to figure out your values, priorities, & what you want from life.

Real fulfillment exists not in the external trappings of success, but in the cultivation of a disciplined internal space not requiring comparison to anyone but yourself, refining your craft for intrinsic reasons & the nurturing of genuine connections.

If you want to be free, live simply. Of course, the world is full of novelty & adventures. So what?

Just Enough

7 months ago2 I had noted that rich people have money, the wealthy have time.

Use money to gain control over your time, because not having control of your time is such a powerful & universal drag on happiness. The ability to do what you want, when you want, with who you want, for as long as you want to, pays the highest dividend that exists in finance.
Morgan Housel, The Psychology of Money

I’m re-reading this book — a rare fusion of intelligence, insight & inspiration.

There are many many lessons in the book but the key message is simply ... Enough.

At a party given by a billionaire on Shelter Island, Kurt Vonnegut informs his pal, Joseph Heller, that their host, a hedge fund manager, had made more money in a single day than Heller had earned from his wildly popular novel Catch-22 over its entire history. Heller responds, 'Yes, but I have something he will never have … enough.' 

Enough. 

I was stunned by the simple eloquence of that word - stunned for two reasons: first, because I have been given so much in my own life and, second, because Joseph Heller couldn’t have been more accurate. In our society, including many of the wealthiest & most powerful among us, there seems to be no limit today on what enough entails.

Unconvinced?

Ok you’re not sold & you prefer some more … cold (hard) cash?

Located in Antarctica, Mount Erebus releases tiny pieces of crystallized gold among the gas, steam & rock it spews into the air daily. Some gold specks have been discovered more than 600 miles away from the volcano. One of Earth's most active volcanoes spews $6,000 in gold dust every day.

Become rich (-er) by taking a deep breath :)

Final Thought: