There is nothing wrong with wanting to be rich. My father passed away when I was in secondary school because of a rare but curable cancer, and if we had $250,000 when he was diagnosed, he probably would not have died. He worked in construction and my mom worked at a nail salon. I have 3 siblings and we all lived in a one-bedder. I know a lot of people will disagree with me vehemently, but poverty is no fun.
I am now one year out of medical school and my goal is to give my family a better life.
Believe me when I say I understand fully that money will be less than useless in death. To me, making money has never been about what I can spend it on. Money will enable me to be a safety net for my loved ones.
Buying unnecessary things, traveling, paying over the top for a meal, I have never quite understood the appeal of such things. Not that I ever could afford them in the first place.
My best friend with whom I went to Hwa Chong grew up not too far from where Goh Chok Tong lives in Bukit Timah. He never spends more than $5 on a meal. It puzzled me in the beginning but then he revealed to me that he’s not being intentionally frugal he just found it difficult to justify how a $20 plate of chicken rice is 4x better than one he can get for $5. Today he is a Ivy League graduate who is in line to take over his father’s business, but he is still the same guy who wears washed out t shirts, takes the bus, and eats $3 cai fan whenever we do meet.
When I was in medical school, I met friends from upper-middle class families who were as frugal as I am. It was only surprising how common they are, people whose parents are specialists, lawyers, businessmen who are more humble than a blade of grass.
I’m not saying it’s wrong to live your life to the fullest. How anyone wants to live their life should be their prerogative. But I think if you want to mitigate the regret you will feel if you died prematurely by ignoring the fact that the vast majority of us will probably live as long as the life expectancy seems to suggest (84 years), then I think it would be a mistake not to make preparations for those ages that you will no longer be productive.
Lastly I just want to say this, seeing the world can be a great experience, but the same critique that you can’t bring money to the grave can also be said about your memories. You bring nothing away because you simply cease to exist. People who obsess over money aren’t all shallow and materialistic. Some of us need it to pay for a better life for the people we care about.
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