I have often been asked whether there is really a point when you know you have made enough money and can finally relax.
This is what I have come to understand, after years
of working in this field. Having money on or with you is never the
solution to anything, and will never be the source of personal
fulfilment.
Say your magic number (the amount of money that you
currently imagine will solve all your difficulties) today is Sh1
million. If you do get it, you will want Sh5 million more, and so on.
So that ‘feeling’ of fulfilment will never come;
there will always be a new target in front of you and you will
consistently find yourself falling short, no matter how much money you
have.
Fostering change
We therefore need to stop looking at money as a
solution, and see it as a tool that can be used to grow us and challenge
us to change certain aspects of our character.
Most people want to get the Sh1 million without
changing anything about themselves, which is really where the hard work
is. Circumstances do not make a person; they reveal them, and what they
need to work on.
For example, to make this Sh1 million, you need to
foster discipline, and that may be the lesson your current situation is
teaching you.
If you can’t consistently put aside Sh5 000 a month, bother
to reconcile your bank statements or cut back on your 30 hours in front
of the TV every week, don’t expect to make that million.
Finding fulfilment
Without the discipline, even if you did get that
money, you would squander it. This is the reason why most people who get
money overnight lose it very quickly.
Having the money does not resolve the core problems with their character.
Another thing to consider is that wealth is not a
feeling. Euphoric feelings are flighty and temporary, and unfortunately,
most of us are ruled by feelings.
You may not feel like cutting expenses, or you may
not feel like getting up on Saturday to go to your investment group
meeting.
What feels good is not always right. In the quest
to chase what feels good and feel rich, we have got ourselves into major
problems with our spending, debt, priorities and so on.
Since the ‘feel good’ factor only lasts a few
seconds, we then need to look for something else, like new clothes or a
bigger car.
Without understanding that feelings should not
dictate your actions, you can get your Sh1 million only to spend it on a
temporary ‘feel good’ item and find yourself with the same problems.
Let your goals and everyday actions be underpinned by values,
not just making money for the sake of it. You could work towards
building investments that generate income so that you can spend time
with family.
Your fulfilment will come not so much from the
investments but from being able to spend time with family. You will find
you are not being driven by what you feel but by that value.
Then the decision to cut down on expenses or spending time to create extra income is not seen as a sacrifice, but a choice.
