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Money allows you a lot wider range of choices in life but it doesn't necessarily make you happy. So the
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parable is there are these uh two boys who grew up together. They're childhood
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friends. As frequently happens, they go their different directions in life as they become adults. And one becomes a
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very successful, powerful minister to the king. And the other becomes a humble monk in tattered robes with a begging
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bowl and what have you. And years later, they run into each other on the road. And they're getting reacquainted.
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And as they are, the minister of the king takes pity on on his povertystricken friend in his tattered
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robes. And he says, "You know, if you could learn to cater to the king, you
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wouldn't have to live on rice and beans." To which the monk replies, "If
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you could learn to live on rice and beans, you wouldn't have to cater to the king."
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For me, I've always been a little bit more towards the monk side. I'm not a
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very materialistic person and I'm comfortable and able to get along on on very little and I think there's
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something beautiful about needing less. I think it's safe to say that the richest people I know are amongst the
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least happy people I know. I think whatever's taken them there is still haunting them while they're there. So,
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it could be the chip on the shoulder, the insecurity. whatever happened to them that made them so driven and
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obsessed with validation and climbing is still haunting them now. But I do also I
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do know people like I say that are very very rich and that live remarkably content lives. And I think part of it is
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their relationship with the stuff. It's the journey that's really satisfying.
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>> The destination tends to be less so. And I think that's one of the problems with
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being very materialistic because if your definition of happiness is if I only owned this watch then I would be happy.
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Well, I mean maybe but probably not. You're probably going to have that watch. You're going to look at it and
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say that's really nice. Wow, that's and then well what's next? But if you enjoy
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the journey or if you reset your expectations and say, you know, I'm going to have this nice house or this
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nice watch, but I don't expect it to make me happy. As somebody once said much wiser than me, you know, money
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doesn't change who you are. It it can magnify who you are. So if you're an
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unhappy person and you're have lots of money, you will probably still be an unhappy person. There's other things
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besides money that makes you happy. Money gives you options. Right.