Why the Rich Look Poor

When I was still young and working in an office job I know of a businesswoman who was a millionaire but you would not guess that she was. I am not exaggerating but she always dresses in well worn short sleeved shirts and jeans. She owns several successful businesses but never drives a car. She also does not ride taxis but take ordinary transport.

She also has several full-time employees. Comparing her to me I began to think I am doing something wrong with my life. Here I am just an employee in a company yet I drive a car that I spend a lot of money on. I also have to dress in nice looking office clothes and accessories otherwise I would look different to my colleagues who dresses the part.

One time she saw me arriving at home in my car back from my office work. She teased me that I looked like a big shot of which I replied back that she was the real big shot and I am just a lowly employee who dresses smart because it is the informal dress code of our office. Nevertheless I saw the irony of my situation. It was costing me a lot of money to look like a well paid employee of which I was not.

Then she showed me her brand new car which I believe was the latest model. It was not the most expensive car brand in the market but it was known for being cheap but dependable. It was not even a car but a 4X4 semi-truck . When I inquired about the semi-truck she said that she purchased it to be used in her new business delivering her goods to her clients.

At one time she overheard me talking about paying people to arrange for my travel documents of which she angrily asked me if I was a rich person. She said that only rich people pay for such services because their time was more expensive than the task they are outsourcing and I was a person who need to save as much money as I can by doing things by myself if I can.

There was also a story I overheard about her in that she never offered refreshments to people when they visit her. She only offered water and some biscuits. Contrast these to normal people who would go aboveboard to offer the best refreshments they can afford to their visitors. I do not know if she does the same thing to her clients.

Another story I heard about her is that she attended a birthday party for a kid still dressed in her well worn clothes she wears everyday. She did not notice that her clothes was so worn out or in need of mending that it ripped apart at one side. But she has so much money that she was able to buy one immediately and gave a generous birthday gift to the kid.

She might skimp on buying what normal people call as Luxury Essentials but she does not skimp on opportunities to make even more money. She gave a lot of money to some prospectors whose business venture failed. She did not ask for her money back or complained to the prospectors. She understood that in business you can earn or lose money.

She told me that in her younger days as an employee she was just like me poorly paid but her desire to succeed went past becoming just a highly paid employee. She saved as much money as she can by not following the wasteful spending habits of her colleagues. She learned as much of the business her company was involved with and collected contacts.

Eventually she went on her own way and started her own business. At first she was alone but eventually she became successful enough to hire her own people. Her main business office was also her house. She dedicated a portion of her house to her business. She was able to save on office rental and even when she became a millionaire she never rented an office.

Trying to look rich according to her could land you in trouble. You would attract criminals who would want to rob you. You would also attract people who would only like you because of your money and nothing else. There will also be jealous people who would resent you. If you are the owner of a business your employees would think that you could always afford to raise their salaries.

According to her one must always think of purchases as investments and not as a way to show off. Just like her not purchasing a car but a 4X4 semi-truck so she can earn money from it delivering goods. Her house is also old looking but she has apartments that are beautiful but being rented by people who cannot afford to own a house.

She was right. When I did not have a car I was able to save a lot of money by commuting and mostly staying in the house for weekends doing productive things such as studying. When I bought the car a lot of my savings was lost and other costs added in my life. These are costs associated with parking, repairs, maintenance, registration and so on. I was barely saving money after I bought a car.

I also tended to spend more. Instead of staying home during weekends I would go out to shopping malls now that I can go and drive to as many as I can now. Since I can carry more things with my car I tended to buy more. In contrast to her whom I heard owns a farm and relaxes on weekends tending to her farm outside the city.

I stopped working for a company and is trying to establish my own digital business. I may not want to do this but after checking the old companies I worked for of which most have closed down I eventually realised that working hard to be successful is different to acting successful. It means that success cannot be measured by owning nice things.

There are many highly paid employees who work to the bone trying to finance their expensive lifestyles. Their entire livelihood and even life is tied down to a single job and company that when it is gone their life is also ruined. I was one of these people and there are billions of people like me in the planet.

I can still remember the irony of the situation when I got sick and lost my job. I had a nice and still new car that was sitting idly by the garage most of the time but still costing me a lot of money in monthly fees while my savings was fast dwindling because I have no job. Meanwhile I have a neighbour who drives an old car but has a reliable job.

Conclusion

The true successful people do not bother trying to impress people with their looks because they do not need to. People will eventually find out for themselves. You may get the impression that they are showing off when they buy expensive things but in truth they can easily afford more than 10, 20 or even a hundred times the price they paid for the said luxury.