FRUGALITY
Leads to Riches
Four cornerstones to become wealthy
are -Greed, Frugality, Investments and Risk taking
ability.
As per ‘Edmund Burke’, Frugality is based on
the principle that all riches have limits!
Money can only be
amassed by being frugal. However, frugality should not be equated with being
miser or cheap; as it is a prudent and graceful behavior by all means! It means being economical, knowing how to get the best things at the least cost, priorities
spending, stick to the budget and lead a well organized life. Frugal people are not
emotional or impulsive in spending money and enjoy life within their means.
To save on the
electricity bill, a frugal would set the timer of air-conditioner in his room in
such a way that the AC automatically turns off within few hours of cooling.
They switch off the lights and fans no soon they would leave the room. Frugal
people would match the size of the vessel with the quantity of eatable before
heating it, in order to conserve cooking gas and save money. At the same time
they would appreciate good service rendered by paying tip to a waiter.
Frugal people are generally great
negotiators. If they decide to
buy a high-end car or house, they would do proper home-work about the product
specifications and value it would offer in terms of utility, quality and
reliability. They would meet various suppliers of the said product in order to
extract best possible deal.
On the other hand, a miser person practices extreme form of
frugality, which is often undesirable. They have only one philosophy in life,
‘Save money at any cost’. Leave aside comfort and luxuries which are not even a
distant dream for the misers; they would even compromise in meeting the basic
necessities of life such as food, clothing and shelter for themselves and their
family members. They would act selfish and look at living by the means of
others like a parasite, default on loan repayments with an intent to defraud
and perhaps buy cheapest products ignoring quality. However, as said by ‘Benjamin
Franklin’, misers must understand that, ‘the bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low
price is forgotten’.
Warren Buffet is considered as a
frugal person who still lives in the same home he bought for $31,500 in 1958;
his net worth is $61.1 billion. Mark Zuckerberg,
whose net worth is $51.1 billion, drives Black Acura TSX, a car valued just around
$30,000.
Whereas, Ms.
Hetty Green, nick-named ‘The Witch of Wall Street’ is considered miser.
Hetty
Green was a shrewd business woman with a nose for investments and a cool head
for shares. In 1864 she inherited $7.5m (about £107m in 2010), but barely
touched it, relying on her own banking prowess instead. Extreme stinginess had
earned her a place in the Guinness Book of World Records as ‘World’s Greatest
Miser’!
Allegedly,
she never turned on the heating or hot water, constantly wore one old black
dress which was only ever washed at the hems to save on soap. The most outrageous
tale of her thriftiness, though, is that of her son and his broken leg. She
initially refused to pay for medical treatment, resulting in a condition that
later required amputation!
A
frugal person doesn’t count small expenses on taking care of others as an extra
expense, rather they consider it as their responsibility as a human being. On
the other hand, a miser would consider every expense as burden, if they see no
gain in return.
Every
frugal person, no matter what they do, would always take only what they deserve
and would never be unethical towards anyone; whereas, a miser would exploit
others. We would have heard of people who put their own hair intentionally in
the dish served, just to have free food in a restaurant, these are class a part
misers and such act would certainly be considered cheap.
Frugal
people spend more time on creating value out of their money and are generous in
helping others if they can afford it.
So,
let every desire not be a need.
Be Frugal To Be Rich
AJIT SINGH
