“Frugality may be termed the daughter of prudence, the sister of temperance and the parent of liberty.” - Samuel Johnson
Saving is the predecessor of investments and building wealth. The minimum you spend, i.e. the maximum you save, i.e. the maximum you invest and grow. To be wealthy, we have to spend wisely. There are millionaires and billionaires, who are wise men, and they follow the lifestyles of a commoner, not because they are stingy, rather because of their morals, on the foundations of which they have built an empire worth billions.
Warren Buffet, the man behind Berkshire Hathaway, is always amongst top five richest people in the World list, he also tops the list of modest billionaires. He is often referred to as the “world's best investor”. He has also quoted various mantras on investing, which are followed worldwide. Buffet still lives in the house which he bought for $31,500 in 1958. Buffet does not spend on electronics, he does not carry a cellphone, nor does he have a computer on his desk. He keeps his maintenance expense to the minimum and is always looking for a better deal, Coke and Cheetos are a part of his daily diet.
Wipro's founder, Mr Azim Premji, one of the richest man of India, is famous for his frugal lifestyle. There are various anecdotes on Mr Premji's life, which narrates his ideologies. He is known to drive a Toyota Corolla for over a decade, and on his senior executives' advice, he upgraded to a pre-owned Mercedes Benz E Class, which he purchased from a Wipro employee. He prefers to fly in economy class, he has also been spotted in autorickshaws, public buses, and is seen walking on the roads. He would always prefer company guesthouses over 5 star hotels. And this is just one face of the coin. Mr Premji has given away half of his wealth for charity, he founded an NGO, Azim Premji Foundation, through which he contributes for spreading education and upliftment of the society.
Apart from the above, there are many big names, who believe in humility. Some of them are Mark Zuckerberg, the Jeans and T shirt CEO of Facebook, who drives a Wolkswagen Golf GTI to office; Carlos Slim, the owner of Telmex and America Movil; the owner of Zara, Amancio Ortega and many more.
On the contrary, we have our Indian tycoon, Mr Vijay Mallya, who is known for his exorbitant lifestyle, fancy cars and flamboyant parties. Mr Mallya owns a private megayacht, the Indian Empress, where he throws his VIP parties, he travels in private jets. He believes in 'Living life king size'. He accumulated a lot of wealth over the last 3 decades, only to lose it all. His destroyed business now provides a lesson to the entrepreneurs, 'Things that they should not be doing in their business'.
Everybody can't be like these great mean, it is because of their extreme beliefs and practices, they are great. But we can at least imbibe a small degree of their basic values into our lives. We buy a lot of stuff which we can't afford, we buy expensive clothes, eat at fancy restaurants. There are people whose value in terms of their assets is Rs 50 Lacs and they buy cars worth Rs 15 Lacs. This is absurdity which is not letting us grow.
This is an overheard a conversation of two young salesgirls in a Levis store in Mumbai, Girl one, “I am saving because I want to buy that designer handbag worth Rs 20,000”, Girl two,, “Are you out of your mind, why do you want to spend so much on a bag, you would get a good bag within Rs 1,000 in that store on the third floor” Girl one, “But I am in love with that piece, I'll buy it anyway.” Clearly, she can't afford to buy it, and there would not be any tangible difference between the designer's bag and the one at the third floor, but her inclination towards the former is only on account of the brand value. We often make such mistakes, where we compare the brand and not the quality, or we buy something, not because we need it, but because our friends have it. We can save a lot of money if we bring some thrift and sense into our thought process, we can direct the money that we save today to our future and for the country's future.
There are great men and if they can do it, you can do it too. It is for you to decide whether you want to be the Warren Buffet or the Vijay Mallya. If you want to be big and maintain the enormity, you must not waste what you have.
“If you don't value money today, a day will come when money will no longer value you.”
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