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Does a lot of money make you very happy?

BY: CHRISTOPHER FERNANDEZ
In an exclusive story to a leading British newspaper some years ago, a lucky punter who enjoyed gambling very much struck a jackpot with winnings of nearly 6 million pounds sterling at a London casino that was to change his life forever.
A happy-go-lucky bachelor in his early forties, he was surprisingly very cool, calm and collected in accepting his winnings and decided to resign from his day job and retire as, after all, he had ample funds to last him for a lifetime.
He spent the money buying expensive properties, luxury cars, designer brands of furniture and clothing, lived it up by clubbing all over the world and to his dismay found only after a few years of winning the jackpot that his new found wealth was diminishing.
He attracted the wrong crowd, insincere gold diggers who fleeced him and helped fritter away his wealth and soon he only had a few hundred thousand pounds sterling to his name and this was when the stark reality hit him that “easy come, easy go.”
The ensuing saga
But the gentleman in him took all this in his stride and felt it was time to get rid of his ‘friends’ who were actually nothing more than parasites and reposition himself by buying a compact flat and a modest car and going back to work.
He told the newspaper editors who interviewed him that he now had fewer friends but they were a sincere and genuine lot and though he missed the high and lavish living he had invariably learnt the truth about unexpected windfalls.
While not pointing fingers or blaming anyone for losing most of his fortune, he now felt happier and more at ease with himself and his small circle of friends and realised that a person does not really need a lot of money to be happy.
In wrapping up the story for the tabloid, the reborn individual stated that he now had a new perspective of life and valued very much the experience which had invested him with a new maturity on being wealthy.
Wealth obtained by vanity
Most of us who have not had the privilege of striking it rich in lotteries and jackpots or in the professions or businesses clamour and long for wealth obtained by vanity thinking it is likely to change our life for the better and makes us very happy.
While this could possibly be true, a better approach to creating wealth for ourselves, and a more meaningful and valued way, is through hard work and industry and due diligence in whatever occupation engaged in our life.
Wealth, materialism and money are transient, fleeting, temporal elements of life and if it chooses to flee from us and not stick to us and multiply, this is to be expected, as nothing is permanent in this world, no not even our problems.
It is therefore the prudent and wise, those initiated and well versed with handling wealth who are constantly not putting their trust in their largess but believing in themselves and their abilities who end up successful and happy in life.
Putting the creation of wealth in perspective
There is absolutely nothing wrong if a person endeavors to create wealth for himself and others and it is actually a satisfying objective in life but there must also be in perspective the folly of thinking it should be the ultimate goal of every person.
By all means work hard, work wise and work well to create wealth but realise also that money isn’t everything in a person’s life though there are those who counter that “everything else is a poor second.”
Other facets of life may be equally or more important such as loving all that you do in life apart from building your fortune and family, trust of people and the now growingly great awareness that “health is the real wealth.”
In the final analysis, it is important to accept our fate in life and this self acceptance of ourselves and our capabilities and limitations will go a long way in truly making life healthy, happy, wise and well for us.
-THE MALAYSIA VOICE
** The views expressed on this opinion is of the writer and not the publisher