George S. Chua l August 3, 2023 l Manila Bulletin
I enjoy watching this TV series Yellowstone and in one of the scenes, it was mentioned that there were 4 ways to get money: 1. You can inherit it; 2. Work hard for it; 3. Engage in the world’s oldest profession and 4. Steal it. This got me into thinking that perhaps there are more ways than that, such as winning it in the lottery, gambling and lawsuits just to name a few.
There are also many things that are constantly said about money such as money is the root of all evil, it takes money to make money, never spend your money before you have earned it, money has never made man happy and so many others. I would like to share with you my thoughts of some of these sayings.
In the King James Version of the Bible 1 Timothy 6:10 “For the love of money is the root of all evil…” Without a doubt, money can drive many people to do evil things such as stealing, murder, lying and all sorts of depravity. However, this should not be understood that money is evil per se, since many good people and philanthropist have money. Money has also been used for good things such as the building of churches, orphanages and other charity work. It also does not mean that money is the only root of evil, there could be many other things such greed, envy, desire, hate, misunderstanding and revenge.
A playright named Titus Maccius Plautus from the 200s – 100s BC is credited with saying “You have to spend money to make money”, which not quite the same as it takes money to make money. It makes more sense in the original form since your need to make an investment first before you can expect a return. In the later form, many people understand it to be that you need to be wealthy to make money which is certainly not true. We have many rich people that had to start from literally nothing and with no money was able to make a little money by working at jobs no one else wanted then moving into micro enterprises that grew over time and hard work.
“Never spend your money before you have earned it” is from Thomas Jefferson and is certainly practical advice. What he had meant by spending is for personal consumption and not in the case of making an investment or capital expenditure where you sometimes need to borrow money to start the business before the cash inflow starts coming in. We see many cases of wage earners who end up borrowing money they have not yet earned by counting on their next months salary, often resulting into a debt hole that many cannot get out of.
Benjamin Franklin has been quoted saying “Money has never made man happy,” may seem a bit odd or untrue. I think what was meant here is that money itself is not what makes you happy but what it can do for you that can make you happy. Money is like a tool or enabler that allows you to buy things that will give you what you want to make you happy. For example being healthy and spending quality time with your family will make many people happy, and money allows this to happen by allowing you to have a good home, proper nutrition, money to spend on recreational activities and going to nice restaurants.
On thing is for sure, it is better to have money than not to have it. After all you could always easily give it away if you no longer wanted it. The only reason not to have money is when you have to steal it or sell your soul to have it, after all, there is another saying you should remember, “karma is a bitch”.
*** (The views and comments of the author are his own and not of the newspaper or FINEX. Dr. George S. Chua was FINEX President in 2016, FPI President from 2010 to 2020, a regular member of the National Press Club, an entrepreneur with investments in Broadcast, Media, Telecommunications, Fintech and Properties. He is also a Professorial Lecturer at the University of the Philippines. Comments may be sent to georgechuaph@yahoo.com)