Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

As a poor person, I am always intrigued by stories of people who have made money or gone from rags to riches. Possibly the reason for this intrigue is the hope that I will eventually discover some secret that will help me become rich. So far the secret hasn't really made itself known to me, but I have reached some interesting conclusions.

When I think of rich, I am talking fabulously rich. History is full of examples:

1. The oldest example I can come up with right off the top of my head is King Solomon in the Bible. He amassed a vast empire of wealth and opulence in his lifetime. The Bible talks of his unusual wisdom, which I am sure contributed to his ability to amass wealth. However, it also says he had 700 wives and 300 mistresses, which would bring his claim to wisdom into doubt! However this also contributed to his wealth in that many of his wives were given to him through alliances made with neighboring kings. Pretty sure that King Solomon made each of these business deals, wife included, with the bottom line in mind. I guess I don't see much in this story that would help me in my quest for wealth...and I'm not sure it was really worth his while either in accumulating this many women, although marriage and times were different in 900 BC.

2. While there were many that made a fortune throughout the ages, I haven't really studied history well enough to be able to name them or tell their story. However, there are a bunch of guys who made big bucks through the 1800's during the Industrial Revolution. We have John D. Rockefeller who made his fortune in railroads and oil. There is Andrew Carnegie who got in on the ground floor with the

steel industry, and whose wealth is still paying dividends to mankind in the form of libraries funded through his estate. John Jacob Astor I worked the fur trading industry in early America. Cornelius Vanderbilt made his millions by working in the shipping industry. Having toured one of the Vanderbilt mansions (a tribute to ostentatiousness) on our New England trip last fall, I got curious and read up a bit on the Vanderbilt family, and here's what I found out about wealth in this age...it could be a life-ruiner! 

Cornelius Vanderbilt was able to start with nothing and turned his nothing into a multi-million dollar business in his lifetime, which would amount to multiple billions in today's economy. He lived a reasonable lifestyle for someone of his day and financial position, and made sure that his fortune kept it's value. However, each succeeding generation had less appreciation for the hard work that went into amassing the fortune and a less conservative method of hanging onto the fortune. It's a long tale of excesses and family feuds, but today the original fortune is long gone, any family member who has money made it themselves. So I guess even though there are some good lessons to be learned in making a fortune, it doesn't provide a lot of incentive to ruin the lives and values of succeeding generations. Some of the other families did better at maintaining their fortunes and have done great good with their money, but with great fortune needs to come great wisdom, something I am not blessed with.

3.  We have our modern day wealth that we can look to in the likes of President Donald Trump, Bill Gates and Ted Turner and many

more. Many have made their fortunes in sports and entertainment, requiring certain talents. Trump, Gates and Turner, plus many, many more, have made their billions by becoming  entrepreneurs. President Trump made his fortune in real estate development, Gates through the development of Microsoft, and Ted Turner in communications. Each of these guys, as with all entrepreneurs, have the ability to think outside the box, the intuition to see what works, and the lack of fear required to step out into uncharted territory. So there we go, I don't have those attributes either!  

So here's the bottom line...I will forever be poor. And although I may be poor in money, I am filthy rich in blessings! I am blessed to know Jesus as my savior, I am married to the most awesome of husbands, I have kids and grandkids that I am crazy about and make my life richer just by their existence, not to mention the wonderful people they are. I live in a safe and quiet little town in rural Nebraska which affords me an easy lifestyle. I sleep in safety (when I sleep...insomnia might be my next blog topic!), and walk around this quiet little town greeting the people I see as friends and neighbors. And, even though my balance sheet shows very little wealth, I am living in a comfortable home, finding clothes to wear each day and eating way too much food. 

By way of comparison, I checked on a global wealth website. If you have a household income of $50,000 (which isn't an outrageous income these days) and there are two people living in  your household, you are in the richest 4% of the world's population. And all it would take to be in the top 1% globally is an annual household income of $100,000 with two people in the household, which still isn't that unreachable in the United States. This is a lot of facts and figures, and many things can vary, but the fact remains that even though we might not be "keeping up with the Joneses", as citizens of the US we are living a life of wealth and comfort compared to most of the world population. 

So anyway, this is where my mind was taking me today. I am feeling so much better about my lack of wealth, and it's a better day for it!