Say… You Manage to Make Millions of Dollars — Then What?
I’m currently reading “The 4-Hour Workweek” by Timothy Ferris (as a matter of fact, I had just finished it: it only took me two days). I gotta tell you, it’s a fascinating book: it really changes one’s perception on life.
Reflect on the following (basically sums up the message of the book):
An American businessman took a vacation to a small coastal Mexican village on doctor’s orders. Unable to sleep after an urgent phone call from the office the first morning, he walked out to the pier to clear his head. A small boat with just one fisherman had docked, and inside the boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish.
“How long did it take you to catch them?” the American asked.
“Only a little while,” the Mexican replied in surprisingly good English.
“Why don’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?” the American then asked.
“I have enough to support my family and give a few to friends,” the Mexican said as he unloaded them into a basket.
“But… What do you do with the rest of your time?”
The Mexican looked up and smiled. “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, Julia, and stroll into the village each evening, where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life, senor.”
The American laughed and stood tall. “Sir, I’m a Harvard M.B.A. and can help you. You should spend more time fishing, and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. In no time, you could buy several boats with the increased haul. Eventually, you would have a fleet of fishing boats.”
He continued, “Instead of selling your catch to a middleman, you would sell directly to the consumers, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing, and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village, of course, and move to Mexico City, then to Los Angeles, and eventually to New York City, where you could run your expanded enterprise with proper management.
The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, senor, how long will all this take?”
To which the American replied, “15-20 years, 25 tops.”
“But what then, senor?”
The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time is right, you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become every rich. You would make millions.”
“Millions senor? When what?
“Then you would retire and move to a small coastal fishing village, where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, and stroll in to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos…”
Then What…?
Instead of me rambling on and on about what I thought of the story, why don’t we all just take a nice stroll in the park? 
11 Responses to “Say… You Manage to Make Millions of Dollars — Then What?”
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haha nice post. =)
hey, thanks for dropping by!
Never heard of the 4 hour workweek, might check the book out now.
Thanks for the great post!
Well… It’s truth on the one hand, and on the other hand it isn’t a bad idea. You can spend years building an empire (a successful company for instance) and after all you can look back at what you’ve created. It isn’t so bad. I take my life as a challenge… I work and work and as time goes by I see real results of my my effort. Business is growing, it is reaching new levels, I am hiring more people and everything works fine.
I could do nothing because I have enough money, but it isn’t way I want it to be. There are goals and there are ways how I can achieve these goals. Owning millions of dollars isn’t my goal; instead, my goal is owning something big, something with history and something what can be called a trademark.
So it’s all depending on your point of view. Family is a good thing of course, love is too. And business too.
That’s quite an interesting perspective.
I saw this post linked from Andrew’s blog.
The story makes me unnecessarily violent. I have a strong desire to hit aforementioned American investor person- damn his imposing capitalist views on the Mexican fisherman!
Haha great point, Mary! At the end of the day, we must realize what the real meaning of life is. Money? Happiness?
Oh my gosh I love this! They couldn’t have summed up the Typical Wall Street Money Monger in a better way.
Thanks for the book recommendation… and LOL @ Mary’s comment =D
Hey, glad you liked it. This book goes hand-in-hand with Thomas L. Friedman’s “The World is Flat”. Check either one out when you get a sec.
Why must wealth always be equated with greed and overall dissatisfaction with and in life?
I know several people who I would consider to be wealthy who have perfectly functional, comfortable, yes - even happy lives. They have a loving spouse and children they wouldn’t trade for the world and spend quality time with them whenever possible. They thrive in a competitive environment and would not be satisfied if they were to ‘take it easy’ and ‘enjoy their lives’. For these people, competition is an enjoyable thing, and who are we to criticize that?
I think the best philosophy is here “whatever floats your boat.” In the above anecdote, the American “Wall Street Money Monger” (to use the openly biased term used by the previous commenter) was obviously in the wrong for wanting to push his philosophy to one who was obviously uninterested, but I think the businessman’s sin of ignorance and lack of perspective is nothing compared to the sin of generalizing every successful and wealthy professional and businessman as unhappy, dysfunctional workaholics who don’t know what they’re missing out on in life by working so hard and netting so much income.
Say you manage to make millions of dollars, then what?
What about saving for the future? Saving for a rainy day? Make even more money for the sake of making more money and staying active? Have a siesta with your wife?
To each his own, and whatever floats their boat.
Great point, Clint. It’s interesting seeing all the different arguments and perspectives that are coming up.