This is what all the rich people say who have plenty of money. After inheriting or earning their millions or billions there is a certain percentage of the uber-wealthy who decide they want to be famous. They write their memoir, run for political office, or run a PR campaign to position themselves as an “inspiration” for the common man.
Sure. I’ll buy this argument – once you’ve made enough money.
Working class people might come to this realization someday. If we’ve managed to attain a modicum of financial security and stability, at some point we realize we have more life behind us than ahead of us. If we’ve suffered some losses of loved ones, dreams and ambitions while achieving some successes, we start to cherish our time more than additional money.
Poor people don’t get to say this. When you’re poor, you’re too worried about having enough money at the end of the week to buy groceries. You live on the edge of financial disaster that could come with an unexpected car repair, an illness or a job loss. You don’t have the luxury to ponder lofty ideas like “time is more valuable than money”.
The people whom I admire who have said this are those who walked away early. Some left lucrative careers while they were still young vs. sticking around to earn significantly more money. Some dropped out of the rat race to pursue a lower consumption lifestyle. Some realized that making money and buying luxury items left them feeling unfulfilled and dissatisfied.
Some were poor all along, but somehow realized they could live a “rich” life that they designed outside of the prevailing consumeristic life that is marketed to us all.
As for the billionaire and 100 millionaires who flood the podcasts and dominate the bookshelves with their “how I got rich and now pursue a philanthropic life of meaning”, my reply is, “Yawn.” There’s little new to learn from them.