Life – a user's manual Part II - Boksidan

Why become rich
A friend of mine who is very well-traveled, usually ask people he meets around the world, about what they
would do if they won six million SEK (or the equivalent in local currency). His experience is that people in
developing countries, like the Philippines and Cambodia, says that they would start a business that they can
live on. While people in rich countries, such as Sweden, usually respond that they would save money
without further plans, in addition to various savings options such as to pay off loans or to buy shares. A
reasonable explanation for the difference, given that it is true, is that in poor countries people does yearn for
security. Something that we in Sweden have had a long time and therefore take for granted.
Yet we continue to try to get rich by playing on the racetrack and the like, why Probably, at least one of the
reasons, is that we dream about things we would like to have or do: a cool sports car, a bigger house or to do
exciting trips. Many times, such dreams, however, are quite possible to achieve even without much money.
A larger home isn’t necessarlly more expensive to live buy, if it is situated in a less requested area. New
status cars are very expensive, but after a few years, they are often only worth a fraction of the former price
and thus perfectly possible to buy even for ordinary people. Exciting and complex trips to exotic countries is
perhaps difficult and expensive to implement for families, but eventually the children become adults and
after retirement is probably time to make trips during times of year when they are cheaper. In addition,
perhaps it is no longer necessary to have such a large home when the kids have moved out and a shift to
smaller and cheaper ditto would release money for such trips, even if the pension is lower than the previous
salary. A dream that sometime in mid-life to be free from the usual paid work, can for a period be realized
through resigning from work, cut costs and live on unemployment benefits.
These simple "solutions" to reach the targets are, however, rarely attractive. Instead, it appears as most
people prefer to remain in the same rut and dream of becoming rich without actually doing any particular
approach to get there. And it is probably because for the majority of us, the only discernible path to riches is
to cut down on all costs and to work more, in any form. But I believe that most, for good reasons, concider
that to be a too great sacrifice in the present for a future that may never come. Many of them, that make
these sacrifices are, or are at the outset, so used to save and work, the day when the sweet life will appear is
constantly postponed. With the effect that life, despite the achieved wealth, is poorer than for those who did
not choose this path. This scenario I have encountered especially among many older people, brought up in a
time when saving was the main guiding principle, but also among younger people, like myself. In addition,
there are probably many who allow themselves to enjoy the wealth they have built up, but finds that the
difference between a luxury car and a cheap ditto after all is not so great. Even the freedom to do what you
want, without being bound to the duties that paid jobs entails, has its downsides. Suddenly there is a huge
amount of time that should be filled with someting. Things, which should be more rewarding than work,
because otherwise you could just as well continued to work. It is perhaps not a problem for all, but among
those who are so dedicated and hardworking that they over time gather a fortune, the problem is probably
relatively common. There are many successful people who, oddly enough, continues to work far more than
people in general, even though they have everything needed to live the rest of their lives in opulence.
206