I’m concerned about very rich people, and you should be as well. Sure they know how to retire rich and live rich. But Forbes magazine recently reported that the 400 richest people in America lost $300 billion dollars over the last 12 months. Here’s why this is important for you and me.
Even though these losses are stupefying, most of us couldn’t care less and it’s not difficult to understand why: these rich people still have a heck of a lot more money than we do even after their losses. Why should we be upset? Sure Bill Gates lost $7 billion…he’s still worth $50 billion. You’d love to have his financial problems…wouldn’t you?
I don’t know if these people are complaining or not. I’m sure (at least) a few are. If so, I don’t have a great deal of sympathy for them – and I bet you don’t either. These folks have very little to complain about even though they’ve lost a ton. Don’t you agree?
In fact, if you’re like me, you probably don’t like seeing anyone complain – especially when they still have so much and they refuse to see it. You don’t have to lose a billion to be a whiner, and whiners are annoying…right? So here’s my question: when we are the ones who suffer financial setbacks, why do we act like it’s the end of the world?
When people we care about take a financial hit – we are concerned. But it’s really easy for us to see how they’ll survive. They might have to downsize. They might have to change their lifestyle. Learn how to find a second job. But we tell ourselves that they’ll survive…and they usually do.
When it happens to us, it’s as if we are instantly blinded. We become terrified. The options we know to be so doable for others become impossible feats when it comes to number 1. Eventually, we come to terms with our new realities, but not before we run ourselves through the ringer first.
Completely unnecessary. Right? Why is that? It makes no sense to me. I need your help to understand this.
W Long says
Isn’t more a matter of objectivity? I mean when you look at a friend you can step back without much emotion and say, although my friend has suffered a loss, with cut backs and careful planning, this person will survive and maybe even prosper.
When the financial downfall is squarely on your own shoulders, the focus tends to lean more towards, what I will lose; what I will have to give up; what I have to change. Change makes even the most hardened hearted person a little nervous, even when the change might be positive in some regards (which is probably really difficult to objectively see while accepting the reality of a setback).
Daniel Packer says
I guess we just don’t think about the smaller things until it gets to us. With the billionaires, we say, “They have so much money, it doesn’t matter.” When it’s our friends we say, “That’s terrible, but they’ll adjust.” When it’s us, that’s when we see that we’re going to have to cut back and make serious changes. And when it gets real, that’s when we get scared.