Money Matters? How much?

Haven’t all of us heard this jingle since our childhood? As we stepped into adolescence from our childhood we were given pocket money to understand the value of money. Further down the lane, when we passed out of school and walked into college and left our parents to stay in hostels, papa gave the monthly stipend and asked us to maintain accurate daily records of expenditure. Why? To understand the value of money, of course! Still further down the lane as we became financially independent, we got caught on with the habit of trying to balance our balance sheet and desperately stick to our expense budgets. But, why? Well, money matters, so each penny has to be very carefully spent, each expense needs minutest monitoring. Otherwise, how would we make our ends meet?

So, there is no need to emphasize the fact that money matters. It is the oil that lubricates the cogs and wheels of what we call life. Money opens doors for us. Money gives us social prestige, and, financial muscles are the muscles which really matter. It is money which runs the world. So, it is but natural that we all consider money to be extremely valuable, and rightly so.

But have you ever cared to stop for a second in the mad rash for professional success and pondered as to how much money would be enough for you? Well, that was a silly question was it not? Obviously, there is no limit to how much money a person requires. We all have learnt somewhere along our way to the MBA degree about Abraham Maslow’s “Need Hierarchy Theory”, have we not?

Yes, yes, that one which details the five different needs of an individual which need to be satisfied. Just to jog your memory a bit; they are, Physiological Needs, Security or Safety Needs, Social or Affiliation or Acceptance Needs, Esteem or Ego Needs, and, finally, Self-Actualization or Self-Fulfillment Needs, in that order in the need hierarchy.

I am sure you are now able to fully recall the details of that famous theory. Do you remember Maslow’s observation that needs are arranged in a hierarchy of importance. That is, they follow a definite sequence. And that very important observation that each person’s need depends on what he already has, and, people tend to satisfy their needs by giving more importance to lower levels needs first and then proceeding to higher order needs in a sequential, step by step manner.

For example, a hungry man thinks of food and not of security of income. The second need does not dominate unless the first need is satisfied.

Maslow went further to observe that lower level needs are finite, that is, you can eat only that much. But the higher level needs are infinite. That is, there is no limit of self-actualization that will seem to be enough for a person. Or, for that matter, is there any limit to the need for self image; self respect; recognition; respect from others; self-confidence; status; prestige and attention? No, there is absolutely no limit. The more one achieves, the more one yearns.

By now, you must surely be wondering where money comes in all these dry management theories.

Well, as usual, the answer is quite simple. Have you ever seen a CEO coming to office in a local train and huffing and puffing up the stairs just like the young management trainee who is yet to complete his first month in service? Can you visualize a CEO who is just as simple as his lowly placed employee?

Would we have accepted the simplicity of Warren Buffet as unbelievable modesty if we were not aware that his company Berkshire Hathaway owns 63 companies? The fact that he does not have a driver and drives his own car wherever he goes, or, he never travels by private jet although he owns the world’s largest private jet company grabs the headlines world over only and only because he is the second richest man in the world.

The irony is never starker. You need to be incredibly rich even to be modest!

Even the question “money matters, but how much?” smacks of a contradiction in terms. You are challenging the preeminence of the scale of measurement of worldly success by how asking much is its importance! Well, have you ever wondered how would you measure the importance of money? What would be scale of measurement? No matter how deeply you think, you will never be able to come out with any concrete answer.

The usual answer to this pointed question will probably be similar to the punch line of the famous MasterCard advertisement. A child’s smile is priceless, for every thing else there is MasterCard!

We try to deliberately reduce the importance of accumulating money (although we never really believe what we say) by confusing the issue with emotion, sentiment and some fuzzy ideas about ill-defined morals. We make the mistake of equating wealth with something unethical or even criminal. As if the wealth one has accumulated is done by cheating others of their due. The leftovers of the fossilized and convoluted notions of utopia tend to blur our view and prevent us from accepting the simple fact that money is the only thing that matters. All others follow it, and, without it all the other things are useless.

You are definitely aware of the fact that Bill Gates, the richest man in the world, has started the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with an initial donation of US$50 million. Warren Buffet has donated US$31 million to charities all over the world.

So, money matters, does it not? How much? Just go and ask those starving children in Mozambique and Congo who are surviving because of theses chartable donations!

It is very fashionable for the so called progressive writers and thinkers to paint the world in a simplistic black and white. All those who have a lot of money are portrayed as descendents of King Midas devoid of any human emotions.

The reality can never be further! All those iconic leaders in the field of commerce and business have correctly gauged the importance and value of money and acknowledge its power. They use the power of money to further their interests, both in business and charity, but never let money take over their lives.


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