That question was asked by Farmer Georg, one of the readers of this blog, about yesterday’s post. I will admit instantly to him that it is a strange quest to try to quantify any of those big four goals as stated long ago by Benjamin Franklin since it appeared in his Poor Richard’s Almanack, and yet by doing so it became apparent to me that it pointed in a direction that people might pursue that would lead to a better life for them. I googled “happy healthy wise and wealthy” and it claimed 45 million results on that phrase. Therefore, there must be some interest in those subjects.
There are many posts and YouTube videos on these subjects, and yet if those things were easily accomplished those millions of people who follow those authors would simply take their advice and be happy, healthy, wise and wealthy. What becomes apparent is that there is a cloud of confusion surrounding those seemingly simple quests.
It is generally thought that within a given society having more money is a good thing, but it has been discovered that having a lot more money than your acquaintances isolates you from having meaningful relationships. Having more money than one can use in a meaningful way to do something worthwhile leads to distress.
I chose a million dollars in yesterday’s example as enough money to be free of money worries because if used with wisdom it eliminates many problems. However, among Wall Street millionaires I’ve heard that they have a term, fuck-you-money, which means enough money so that you can do anything you want. When I heard that term used about twenty years ago, it was said that 30 million dollars in the bank gave you the status among them of having fuck-you-money. You don’t have to take any guff from anyone.
Having that much money may give you leverage to do many things that most people can’t do, like having a private jet plane. However, that plane doesn’t make you any happier, because it isolates you from your friends because they are scattered all over the world. I would expect that people whose friends are scattered become lonely because their relationships are infrequent and thus shallow. Also, when you have vast amounts of money there are few people you can count as equal friends. Also, everyone, even other rich people, might take your money if given the chance.
This is a long and convoluted subject, but yesterday I concluded that – We need a high level balance of happy, healthy, wise, and wealthy to attain the ideal life.
I think a person can be what I think of as wealthy even with very little cash because what it means is that in your life situation you have enough so that you never have to even consider borrowing. If you have a perfectly stable small income it is possible to rent your home, and not worry about making your rent, but it is much easier to not worry about your home, or short-term payments, if you are a mortgage-free owner. To own your home free and clear makes it much easier to be happy.
If in addition to ownership of your home you have perfect health, wisdom and happiness it makes it much easier to maintain the ownership of your home. All of those qualities work together and affect one another. If you are in perfect health it is easier to become wealthy. It is more difficult to become wealthy if you are sick. If you are wise it is easier to become wealthy, and healthy, and happy. They all are synergistic qualities. That is why I think a key to a good life is a balance of all of those qualities.
Some obvious guidelines follow from the above discussion. Never risk your health even in tiny ways unless there is a huge counterbalancing reason for doing so. That eliminates such things as fast driving, skiing, base-jumping, or hanging out with drunks. Never risk your money or your home without a huge counterbalancing reason for doing so.
The key to wisdom is to not be stupid. The key to health is to avoid dangerous activities. The key to wealth is to not owe anyone money. The key to happiness is to stay back from unhappy people.
Probaway - Life Hacks 