I don’t usually participate in blogs with anonymous people of unascertainable credibility, but Y.B. seems to represent a significant body of opinion. Unfortunately it is very misguided.

I am a septuagenarian retired banker, investing at present for my financial survival.

From the day we are born there are goals we must reach. Before I was born, my father in 1929 had a modest job earning $2.00 per week (Australian) and he was in love.

He felt it would be wrong to ask a girl to marry him if he couldn’t provide a roof over her head, or if he was pretending to the world to have substance he didn’t really have (i.e. if he had debt over his head). He supplemented his income by running a couple of cows on the town common (Queensland country town) and selling the calves. He lived at home and saved hard and with some weekend jobs had the price of the house (400 pounds) within five years. Remember, no sex in that time, no contraceptives, but good self discipline and morals.

I was fortunate to be born into this environment, and in a small country town. (No anonymity for anyone – everyone knew everyone else’s strengths and weaknesses and the miscreant had few friends).

So today, without embracing the more extreme philosophies of people like Ayn Rand, we should nonetheless live with respect for ourselves, for society at large, and for our own material wellbeing. We should not believe we have some right to borrow other people’s money. Debt is fine if we acquire appreciating assets, and also shelter for our families if we can be sure that we have the ability to service that debt, but never for depreciating liabilities. (Yes, a car loan is OK if it is necessary to get to work).

We have no right at all to have sex outside marriage, ever, (marriage is an undertaking for the benefit of society at large – randy males or females rutting at will are a repugnant threat to social stability, and most of the world’s problems are caused by unrestrained copulation – think AIDS in Africa and water shortages everywhere). When we marry we must first have either the means in hand to meet all the obligations of family (shelter, clothing, children’s education and health including major trauma at any time of life), or the physical and educational assets (and insurance) to ensure we will not falter and become burdens to family, friends and society.

We must have at the end of our lives, in practical terms, a home, vehicle and a minimum of $600,000.00. Until we have that goal in sight, we should waste nothing on indulgences. Along the way we should if possible assist our progeny to get on the way to achieving the same critical mass.

When all this is under control, then life can be lived a little, but hopefully without burning up the environment we are going to leave to our progeny (by travel and conspicuous consumption). If anyone thinks this will bring a mean and miserable life, then they have no idea of the satisfaction that achievement brings, and have little concept of how earnest life really has to be. One result of a life this disciplined would be an elimination of poverty entirely – the impecunious would not have children and would be hopefully rewarded by government for abstaining, and reviled by society if they did not abstain.

Finally, until the necessary critical mass is achieved, personal investment can only be for maximising material benefit. We just have to let the “market” take care of ethical perspectives, as it will. There are technologies almost market-ready to streamline solar power production, to store power generated by wind, to give us hot-rock energy, to sequester CO2 from coal consumption, and return flow to our rivers etc. etc.. And governments, under electoral pressure, can provide incentives.

Check out John De Martini's book "How to make one hell of a profit and still get to heaven."

Also, since you have an interest in philanthropy you may be interested in the quote used by many wealth creation speakers: "The best way to help the poor is to not be one of them." The wealthier you become the more you can give.

Cheers,
Matt
The Financial Futurist

I think you can find the answers you are looking for, in the second-to-none book "The Virtue of selfishnes" by Ayn Rand.

In this book, all the misleading ethics of socialism and its moral fraud is clearly exposed.

Capitalism is presented as a consecuence of morality, not greed.

I hope you will enjoy it.

Yours truly,

Jose Luis Navarro.
(Madrid/SPAIN)

All my life I have been listening to the phrase money doesn't buy happiness. What utter nonsense. Of course money per se doesn't bring euphoria, although you could be forgiven thinking so when you see the reaction of most people when they win the lottery. Let's face it, I have never seen anyone or heard of anyone who hasn't been extremely happy when the recipient of some windfall. However, it does have to be used wisely and can bring unhappiness if it is not. We have all heard of instances where greed or indulgence has resulted in less than a satisfactory lifestyle. Consumerism for its own sake or the benefit of the neighbours, is a pathway to unhappiness and insecurity. Also the degree of happiness provided by money is always in direct proportion to the amount already held. An extra million dollars would make little difference to someone like Warren Buffet or Bill Gates, but make, dare I say you, or me, extremely happy.
I can honestly say that all my life the more money that I have had, the happier I have been. However there is also a rider to that statement because to really appreciate anything, one must have gone without it. To appreciate peace, an experience of war is necessary. To appreciate food, hunger should be felt and so it is with money.
The main thing that money buys is independence. It allows you to do exactly what you like within the realms of social conscience. You are not constrained by employment, so you can live and travel where ever you wish. You can lead a comfortable life and pay others to look after you. You can afford the best of everything from food to transport. You can live a healthier life style by having the time to live less stressfully and without the undue worry that we lesser mortals have with day to day concerns about paying bills. Money even buys health for God's sake. There's a whole industry out there that costs a fortune to keep you healthy. Have you been to the dentist recently or paid some physio or been to hospital ? Money also gives you the time and where-with-all that enables you to endow good causes and give to charities. So it empowers you to spread happiness even further. It allows you the time and expense, to entertain friends. It allows you to pursue the interests that you have in life without the burden of considering cost. It buys education and the whole world of enquiry that follows. Yes it has certainly bought me happiness. As the man said, "I have been rich and I have been poor and rich is better"
From a purely personal point of view, money has allowed me to retire in limited comfort, to go sailing, learn to fly, swim all the year round in my heated pool and keep fit, pay for radiotherapy, have time to read and learn, and time to undertake voluntary work. However, a life time is so restricted that I shall die frustrated by the lack of money to enable me to do so many of the things that I should just love to experience. I still get extreme pleasure every time I swim in my pool or drive my modern (but second hand) car. In the last 5 years I have purchased a mobile phone, a TV, a VCR and a computer. I am still in awe of the technology and the happiness these items give me is not diminished every time I switch them on.
Lastly, if money did not bring happiness, why is it that there are so many people in relentless pursuit of it ? That of course includes all who have dedicated their working lives to refine and advise their clients in methods to acquire it