Good Rich vs. Bad Rich

People envy rich people. This never made sense to me. I always envy people who seem to be happy, and their happiness usually involves being poor. For instance, I envy surf bums. I would love to drive around in an old VW beetle with a rack on the top and spend my days doing what they do. But I like other things these people do without. So, I keep my job and keep working.

I want to be rich. I'm not terribly interested in being a billionaire but being a millionaire would be nice. The nice thing about money is that it brings a certain feeling of security. You worry less about being fired and focus more on doing the best job you can. You don't spend time managing cash flow to make sure you don't run out of month before you run out of money. Money brings freedom which is the most important thing you can have in the pursuit of happiness.

There are two kinds of rich, and I call one "good rich" and the other "bad rich."

Good rich involves living with a limit in mind. There is only so much you need or should even want in life. For instance, we think it proper to have one wife. We think it indulgent to have three wives. The same thing can be applied to houses, cars, planes, boats, etc.

I will never begrudge a rich man owning a Mercedes. I do think it is stupid to own a fleet of these cars. This is bad rich. The difference between good rich and bad rich is the difference between quality and quantity. For instance, a good rich person will buy a nice house in a nice neighborhood. That house will be well maintained and look elegant and beautiful. A bad rich person would buy that same house, tear it down, and build the gaudiest McMansion he could put on the lot incorporating every architecture style from ancient Greece to the Renaissance to modernism.

Bad rich people are also big on conspicuous consumption. For instance, I know a millionaire who owns a large boat and employs a captain on this boat. But this guy doesn't even go out on the boat because it makes him seasick. How dumb is that? He just owns the boat to impress people. I just find this incredibly stupid.

From rappers to movie stars to lottery winners to a whole slew of other folks, you have people who simply elevate their consumption to match their income. There really is no limit to what they want to buy. They just keep finding the means to buy it until they end up in bankruptcy like MC Hammer.

Don't get me wrong. I like nice things. I like good food, and I want to drive a good car and live in a comfortable home. But that is about it. The reality is that I don't have the time to enjoy all the good things I have now. My life runs over with abundance. Why would I want to buy more?

I think what separates me from other people on this issue is I don't bring a social dimension to bear on the matter of money. I don't give a fuck what other people think about me. Bad rich people seem consumed with other people's appraisal of them while good rich people focus on themselves. It is the difference between selfishness and narcissism. I am selfish, but I am not vain. I want good things, but I want them for ME. I don't want them for the sake of other people.

I keep a wish list of things, and if I won the lottery or something, I would buy those things on the list. But that would be the end of my list. I don't know if my desires would change as a consequence of the money, but I believe they would not. The reason I say that is because I can afford to live a higher lifestyle than I do now, but I choose not to. Having money does more for me than spending it.

Now, don't misunderstand me on this. I'm not into modesty. I think a millionaire who chooses to live in a trailer park is a fool. To have money and not enjoy it is just as stupid as having money and blowing it on shit you do not need. You can see that good rich occupies that position that I have referred to as the "mean."

I believe in enjoying the fruits of your labor without guilt or vanity. As you can see, both the extremes are concerned with what others think of them. To be good rich is to enjoy an elegant but simple lifestyle. It is to have taste and restraint. This is very difficult for some people to master or even grasp. Not for me. I get it.

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