You would think everyone would want to be rich, if they could be. After talking to quite a lot of people, I’ve found that there are a significant number who do not want to be rich. Why?
Here are my ten reasons why I think people are not interested in being rich.
- They are contented. This is probably the best reason to not want to be rich. They are happy where they are. They have enough for their needs and feel that they are living fulfilling lives. For these people, there truely is more to life than money. There was this story about how a very rich man retired to a village and watched a poor fisherman catching his meal for the day. He advised him to get a net, invest in a bigger boat, hire some people to help him to catch more fish, so that he could export the fish to people around the world, make lots of money, and be like him. Why would I want to do that ? The poor fisherman asked. Then when you are rich, you can retire to a little village and do nothing but fish all day, came the reply.
- They have a higher calling beyond the need to feel secure with money. There are those who are perfectly prepared to give up riches in order to accomplish a higher purpose.
- They actually like their jobs and find that it gives them meaning in life. I once came across an advertisement for a get-rich product that warned that this product was not for those who liked travelling to work and working long hours when they could be permanently on holiday. I assumed that obviously people would then select to buy the product ! But then I have found that many people actually like their jobs and have no idea what to do with themselves if they had so much money they were permanently on vacation !
- They are simply too busy either with their jobs or family to have time to think about how to get rich. They have enough on their plates just trying to find enough hours in a day to make ends meet and have no interest in taking away anymore of their meagre rest time.
- They are too lazy to take action. Most would rather they suddenly won the lottery tomorrow and expect it to solve their financial problems instead of taking the time and effort to learn more about how to manage their money wisely, so that they can be financially free.
- They are too cynical to believe that everyone can become rich, if they learnt how. They think the stock market will crash tomorrow if they buy today. They figure maybe an earthquake would flatten the investment property they just bought. They think businessmen are crooks. The list just goes on and on.
- They are afraid of losing. They are so paralysed with the fear of taking any potential risk, even though it is calculated, that they would not even consider parting with their money to allow it to work harder for them.
- They are too greedy. They get into the action when it is too late. They see how others have made a lot of money and greed sets in as they jump in. They always want that little bit more and never learn when to cut losses or take profits.
- They are simply ignorant. They have never been taught that anyone has the potential to be rich, that there are ways many ways (legal, if I may add) of getting rich. They just need to be educated.
- They are overly dependent. They would much rather their spouses, company or government takes over the job of their financial planning and look after them for the rest of their lives.
These are the ten reasons I have come across !
