Jasmine Birtles
Your money-making expert. Financial journalist, TV and radio personality.
The quickest way I know to get rich…
Jasmine Birtles
28th Nov 2015
The quickest way I know to get rich… is to hang around with poor people.
That way you feel rich instantly without actually doing anything.
There – aren’t you pleased you started to read this?!
No, but really…
Bear with me… this really is about being rich.
If you think about it, there’s no objective measurement of richness – it’s entirely subjective. Like, being a millionaire in London doesn’t mean a lot now. It won’t even buy you a house in Kensington. In Kensington, if you said: “I’m a millionaire, you know!” people would go: “Humph, loser!”
But loads of us – most of us – feel poor much of the time. Even those of us who have a decent income.
The problem is that we spend SO much time comparing ourselves to others – our friends, family, neighbours, celebs – that we’re constantly feeling like we’re on the back foot, not quite good enough, not rich enough, needing more than we have. It doesn’t matter how much money or how many assets you actually have.
There’s a Chinese proverb that goes ‘poverty is needing more’. You can have any amount of money but if you think you need something more, you’re poor.
The very best way to be rich without really trying at all is to realise – and be grateful for – the fact that we genuinely all are much richer than we realise already.
Real Thanksgiving
We don’t have Thanksgiving in this country. The closest we get to it is Harvest Festival (mostly about bringing tins of beans to school in my memory). And it’s a shame, really, as we could do with at least one day out of 365 to stop and think and thank.
When you stop for a moment, with an open mind, and make an effort to list even a few of the things you have, it’s amazing how quickly it adds up.
For a start, if you earn on or around the average wage (about £24,000) your earnings are in the top 6% of the world. Are you on £36,000 or more? You’re in the top 1% of the world. So you are genuinely rich in global terms already. There you are, you really didn’t have to try to be rich did you!
Admittedly those figures are based on pure earnings and they don’t take into account the purchasing power of your money in different countries. But it is a serious point. We take so much for granted in the West and spend our time whinging about what we don’t have, trying to have the same things celebs have because we think it’ll make us happy… but they don’t (just watch TOWIE or Made in Chelsea to have that demonstrated).
You’re already rich
So go on. Do it. Do a list of things you have right now including friends (list them), love from family (list them), pets, clean air and water, fresh food, free healthcare, free education, democracy (thanks to the sacrifice of so many in two World Wars) and on and on.
And let us know in the comments below what you’re most grateful/thankful for in your life. We would love to know 🙂
P.S. I’ve just picked this up from a Twitter friend – @Henryfraser0 – and it adds to my point:
- If you have food in your fridge, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of the world.
- If you have money in the bank, your wallet and some spare change, you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy
- If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the agony of imprisonment or torture, or the horrible pangs of starvation, you are luckier than 500 million people alive and suffering.
Makes you think huh?…
I am grateful that I live in a country that celebrates gratitude ( thanksgiving ), but I’ve always
felt we should acknowledge it daily and act accordingly.