Advice from a Billionaire

I was interested to read of a 95-year old billionaire offering advice on how to be happy. Charlie Munger, worth $1,700,000,000, is Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. So what wisdom did this ancient oligarch offer?

Don’t envy.

Don’t be resentful.

Don’t overspend your income.

Stay cheerful in spite of your troubles.

Only deal with reliable people.

Do what you’re supposed to do.

Not the most profound stuff I’ve ever read. I suspect it’s good counsel, but I’m glad I never paid for a conference ticket to hear it. The cynical part of me suggested it’s all very well and good for a billionaire to tell the rest of us not to be envious or to live within our means. For some, it's barely possible. Yet it’s now easier than ever to be a millionaire: as property prices continue to boom and inflation-busting pay rises weaken the pound’s value, having a million quid in cash and assets is not as unusual as it used to be. What of billionaires, though, the people who have at least a thousand millions in pounds? There are 2,208 such people. Millionaires, billionaires, squillionaires- aren’t they all the same? No. One million seconds is 11 days, but one billion seconds is nearly 32 years. That’s a huge difference. Those 2,208 people are extremely wealthy, and we in the West with our capitalistic, greedy culture, have been brought up to jealously admire these plutocrats. Should such great ones ever notice me, they would give me their pity: a little guy in his northern, terraced house. Yet for these people, I feel pity:

“And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” -Matthew 19:24

If only hell lasted 32 years. Jesus Christ is the only true source of happiness and joy, yet He failed to make the rich man's list. The Lord Jesus will be delighting His people long after Munger's money is all spent and gone.

Image by 3D Animation Production Company from Pixabay