Millionaires

  I have been assailed, of late, by people making remarks about other people who they regard as being ‘filthy rich’.

What is it that makes them ‘filthy’? Is there a belief that people with ample cash reserves do not take showers or bathe? Is it only poor people who care about personal hygiene?

Perhaps the reference is not about personal cleanliness; perhaps they are talking about the means whereby they came by this largesse.

Is there a suspicion that those who have a lot of money are, somehow, dishonest?

Can it really be that wealth equates to dishonesty?

Really?

There are a lot of people out there who have acquired money by the simple expedient of inheriting it from their forebears. Providing the tax is paid this is perfectly legal and entirely honest.

Just maybe there is the thought that those who have inherited money do not do wisely with it; that the wealth is squandered on things that, for the general population, would be regarded as ‘unhealthy’.

The example comes to mind that the Beckhams spent a considerable fortune on the first birthday party of their boy, Brooklyn.

Think what you may of the boy’s name and the reason for it being in place, the fact remains that the Beckhams are entitled to pay whatever they like for whatever they like whenever they like. It is their money—they can choose what to do with it.

Nobody tells you what to do with your spare cash should you actually have any. It is yours; the options of choice are yours.

On the other side of the coin there are many local traders who benefited from that party; it was, as they say, a fortuitous injection of cash into the local economy.

More power to their elbow, then.

It may come as a gentle surprise to you that I am apt to rub elbows with several people who are distinctly well off in financial terms.

I can count on the fingers of three hands those people who have a generously large bank account; those who do not fear the arrival of the monthly bills. One of them now has eighteen cars; another has nine and was warned by his wife that another car would necessitate the purchase of a house with larger grounds—he promptly went out and bought a ‘Bentley’ because, he said, he fell in love with the colour. Another friend has bought a ‘Bentley’, too. The salesman asked how ‘Sir will pay for it?’ with that somewhat condescending air that some salesmen have. My friend wrote a cheque for the full amount.

(Surprising how fast a salesman can go from ‘condescending’ to ‘fawning’!)

Why do I mention this? Because all those people that I know who have wealth all started with nothing. One of them, who has the eighteen cars, had nothing eight years ago.

Nothing.

Several of them had negative bank accounts. One of them lived in a squat in a ‘kong-si’ (a ramshackle hut for poverty stricken workers) on the edge of the jungle. One was a teller in a bank but had the good fortune to meet someone who was being ignored by the other bank workers—but that is another story for another time.

Many of them have received the comment, “Oh, it’s all right for you—you’ve got money!”

But they did not to start with.

Everyone has the same chances.

One of my friends has no qualifications. He abandoned school in his early teens to help his father out doing odd jobs for a few dollars here and there. Now he has an import-export company and a string of successful restaurants. He is an authority on ancient Chinese history, myth and legend. An engrossing man to listen to.

Apart from starting with nothing they all have something else in common.

Every single one of them is kind, warm-hearted and generous. They will help anyone out who wants to start a business. They will advise and mentor any person that has a serious desire to become rich.

Several of them are in a group called ‘Peopleology’ [http://www.peoplelogy.com/index.html] that are dedicated to assisting those who wish to start a business and do not know how to go about it. They have made so many people successful with little thought of reward other than the satisfaction of helping others.

Self-made people who had a vision for their own future and followed a dream until the dream became a reality.

These are not nasty, mean, corrupt people. They are all genuinely good souls—every single one of them.

Of course there are those out there who are selfish and greedy. There are corporate people who will skim off the wages of workers to increase their own net worth.

Those are a minority

Before you curl your lip up and sneer at someone in a ‘Bentley’ or a ‘Range Rover’ you might just want to think for a moment that that person deserves it. It is the reward for hard work and taking risks.

Perhaps you deserve it. There is nothing stopping you but yourself.

Nothing.