Business and wealth building

How much of your business and your career is about building wealth?

We had some discussion about this recently in our regular Wednesday morning small group focused on applying one's Christian faith in the workplace. Part of that meeting's agenda is reading the Proverbs Chapter of the Day aloud (there are 31 chapters, one for every day of the month) and this book of wisdom addresses the topic of wealth repeatedly.

Participating in the discussion, I chimed in with this: "Wealth isn't about how much you have; it's about how little you need." I'm not sure where it came from, so if you can find it somewhere, please advise so I may give its source proper credit. If it's original, so be it; I'd like to verify that if possible.

At any rate, this morning I was reading my daily Writer's Almanac from Garrison Keillor who mentioned that August 30 is Warren Buffett's birthday. Days earlier my friend and business partner Dr. Marvin Arnsdorff told of his experience in Lincoln, Nebraska, attending a event in which Mr. Buffett commented, as part of a panel of experts, on the new documentary "I.O.U.S.A." (I need to see this one.) It is estimated and widely believed that Buffett is second only to Bill and Melinda Gates among the world's highest net worth individuals/couples.

At any rate, when something as eclectic as the name Warren Buffett hits my radar screen twice, close to home and in short order, I look at that as something beyond mere coincidence, in which I don't believe, and observe and reflect on the possible significance.

So here's an excerpt of Keillor's take on the life of Buffett:

"Despite his massive wealth, (Buffett) lives relatively frugally, still residing in the home he bought in 1958 for $31,500, driving his own car, and allotting himself an annual salary from his investment company of about $100,000. In 1988, he said: 'I don't have a problem with guilt about money. The way I see it is that my money represents an enormous number of claim checks on society. It's like I have these little pieces of paper that I can turn into consumption. If I wanted to, I could hire 10,000 people to do nothing but paint my picture every day for the rest of my life. And the GNP would go up. But the utility of the product would be zilch, and I would be keeping those 10,000 people from doing AIDS research, or teaching, or nursing. I don't do that though. I don't use very many of those claim checks. There's nothing material I want very much. And I'm going to give virtually all of those claim checks to charity when my wife and I die.'"

Buffett may never make it in an episode of "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" because his idea of wealth isn't to flaunt as one of the haves and separate himself from the have nots. He simply doesn't fit mainstream media's stereotyped look of the wealthy. His is, however, closer to what you'll find in reading the biography of Sam Walton and others for whom wealth is simply an outgrowth of what they enjoyed doing and did very well. Sam Walton drove that same old red pickup, it is said, until his passing. Nothing flashy, nothing jet set about it.

So how will your wealth be apparent when your ship comes in? Will you continue to live as you do now or will having more than you'll ever need change your lifestyle permanently? For all the silliness of "The Beverly Hillbillies" television series, the Clampett family illustrated very clearly that taking the folks out of the hills doesn't take the hills out of the folks. Buddy Ebsen's memorable character usually looked curiously at the trappings of the ultra well-to-do. Jedd Clampett always seemed to rise above and remain connected to his former way of life.

Moreover, what's stopping you right now from claming the wealth that is yours with the lifestyle that so many enjoy along with the freedoms of the United States of America? Remember, it's not how much you have (Good luck scoring near the top on that constantly moving target of conspicuous consumption!) it's how little you need to have joy, purpose and peace in your life.

Keep the faith,
John Earl Carroll