Being Rich vs Being Immensely Rich

What i wanted to talk about today is something that motivates all of us but sadly I've seen a trend of motivation that i find to be unhealthy.

Throughout those golden years at high school, all i would hear from people is that they wanted to be immensely rich.

That or they wanted such and such career because it made good money...

I thought in college maybe this perception might have changed slightly by now, but I still see it as i go by, as if my generation is infatuated with being immensely rich.

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Why do i define it as immensely rich, when they usually just say rich?
Because what i define as rich and what they define as rich are two different things.

If i were given a one time gift of 200,000 dollars, I could take advantage of that, to the degree where i would become rich.

I would live my life with little worries, and struggle at a minimal level.

Actually, if i made 70,000 dollars a year, I'd consider myself rich, where as the vast majority of Americans wouldn't.

Why would i be rich, because i hardly have to struggle with anything in life at that income bracket.

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So i say immensely rich, because these are the people who want to be MULTI millionaires, or sometimes billionaires....

Yes... some people have said they want to become billionaires...
I just shake my head and wonder why...

Do they understand a billionaire can make 1,000 millionaires?
Think of 1,000 people in your head (if you can even do that).
Now imagine you just gave them all a million dollars.....

That's a billionaire....

Why anyone would want to have that much money boggles my mind, why not aim for something lower?

Why a billion? Is life hard at 100 million dollars? or 10 million?

Or god.... don't say it... 1 million (gasp :O )!!!

Life must be miserable with only a million dollars!!

These people do not want to be rich, they want to be immensely rich, and that's what they're striving for.

So as a consequence of their aim for lavish amounts of money I'll label their ambition as being 'immensely' rich.

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Anyways, I wanted to delve into the reason why so many people want to be immensely rich, or even sacrifice happiness at their jobs to be immensely rich.

I want to first take you to an event that happened in my college bio class, that pertains to this subject.

Basically my professor was going around the class asking people what they wanted to do with their lives and what profession they might want to go into.

I listened to one person's answer in particular, he mentioned he wanted to own real estate all around the world, and be able to travel between them. After being asked what his profession might be, he mentioned again, probably selling real estate and getting a big cut from each property he sold.

Bear in mind, he mentioned he didn't know much about real estate, and had no idea how he was going to make this dream a reality.

After being criticized a bit more about his ambitions, he finally mentioned that he just wanted to be rich to do as he wanted. That he wasn't sure how he was going to get there.

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I think his answer reflects the answers of a lot of people in my generation.
His answer seemed to provide the main motivation behind him becoming immensely rich.


It seemed as if he wanted to become immensely rich because he wanted the freedom to do whatever he wanted without sacrifice.


Sacrifice:

In nearly every decision in this world, by the majority of people, we see sacrifice. One thing given up for another, consistently, because nothing is free.

A person who is immensely rich on the other hand, who has immense quantities of money at his disposal, doesn't have to sacrifice.

The amount of money he has is seemingly limitless, so if he needs something, he gets it, and he has seemingly not lost anything.

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So it seems that people want to be immensely rich because they want the freedom to do whatever they want WITHOUT sacrifice.

They want the easiest job with the highest amount of income, so they can sacrifice less of their time and energy.

But after talking to these people, you find they don't really want to work, they just want the freedom to do whatever they want, however they want, without giving anything up.

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Laziness:

So to me it seems like we've just bred the laziest generation to ever come into existence.

• A generation that wants the ability to do whatever they want, without sacrifice.
• A generation that is willing to give up their happiness at a job, for another job that pays twice as much but is twice as dull.
• A generation that sadly it seems I'm a part of, because i first noticed this trend among my peers.

Laziness seems to create this need for immense wealth.

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In the past you could be rich and be considered as someone not having to worry about money (without an infinitely large checkbook).

Now it seems, greed and laziness, have taken us to the point where we want to BUY anything we want and not sacrifice anything.

What's wrong with working hard 5 days a week, at a job you love, making 70-80,000 dollars a year?

Seriously, our perspective of rich has dramatically changed, to the point where your not considered rich unless you can throw money around like it's nothing, or burn it....

It wasn't like that in the past, so why is it like that now?

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An interesting article that addresses my point:

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/HomeMortgageSavings/IsMoneyAnAphrodisiac.aspx

A 2006 study done through the University of Chicago shows that men who post online profiles indicating income of $250,000 a year generate significantly more contacts (up to 151% more) than those who make under $50,000…

250,000 dollars a year or more... really, you need that much money?

For what?.... right... really?... that much huh?... that expensive!... wow...

Give me a break, you don't need that!
You don't need shiny objects to make yourself happy in life, or a mansion of a home.

You need that like you need a golden toilet!! You bought one of those too!! wow...

Another similar study done in the same article:

An oft-quoted study by John Marshall Townsend of Syracuse University and Gary Levy from the University of Toledo showed just how strongly women are still attracted to money. They presented a group of women with three groups of photos and asked them which men they would like to date. The first group showed men in suits and expensive watches who the women were told were doctors. The men in the second group wore plain shirts and Swatch watches and were described as teachers. The third group wore Burger King uniforms. The women overwhelmingly picked the doctors, even when they weren't as good-looking as the men in the third group.

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So where are we at now:

• 1) People want to be immensely rich nowadays, not just rich
• 2) They want the freedom to do whatever they want, without sacrifice
• 3) They are willing to give up a job they enjoy, for another that makes twice as much and is twice as dull
• 4) Woman seem to find men attractive, if they are immensely rich (Also read this post: "Compromise marriage": http://theephoenix.blogspot.com/2008/07/compromise-marriage.html )
  

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I don't understand what changed in our culture to bring such a change in the latest generation.

Something seemed to promote:

1. Happiness with immense wealth
2. Attractiveness with immense wealth
3. Freedom with immense wealth

Not just regular wealth too, immense wealth....

There is affluence, and then there is a seemingly endless supply of money, we seemed to have blurred the line between the two.