The rich and the miserly

And just like that, brethren, August ended. If you were born in September, did you know that more than 50 per cent of the world’s HNWI (High Net Worth Individuals) were born in this month? If you did not know, then that is because I just made up that statistic.

Ha ha! The truth is, many of us reading this belong to that generation that witnessed poverty first-hand and are now writing their life story called I Kissed Poverty Goodbye. I am just wondering if, in our pursuit to keep running from the poverty we can almost see nipping at out heels, some of us have abandoned good sense and become borderline misers.

“But I am not a miser, I’m just careful with my money!” I can hear you protest. Really? Let us test that with a few scenarios. 

Scenario one: What do you do when you have a bad cough that will not go away? 
A) Seek herbal remediessuch as ginger-honey tea or inhaling the steam of neem leaves. 
B) Nothing. My body will heal itself. 
C) Buy over-the-counter medication that will do the trick.

Scenario 2: What is your natural response when asked to contribute to a social function such as a wedding, burial or party?
A) You grumble about it but send something anyway.
B) You declare “Let the dead bury their dead” and do not think about it again.
C) You give over and above what has been requested.

Scenario 3: Your bath soap is now so tiny it will not even lather. Do you:
A) Throw it away and get a new bar of soap.
B) Add it to the other tiny slivers you have been saving, then boil them and hand-shape some soap from it.
C) Take the opportunity to buy that fancy shower gel you’ve had your eye on for a while.
If you have answered B) more than twice then you, my friend, you are a certified miser. 

Like the Pharaohs of old, you are now on the path to being buried with your wealth, as useless in death as it was in life.

Loosen up and spend some of that wealth— after all, you only live once!