“Enough is a feast”
(Buddhist proverb)
Kurt Vonnegut told his friend, Joseph Heller, at a party thrown by a hedge fund manager, that their host had made more money in a single day than Heller had earned from his novel, “Catch 22” over many years. Vonnegut’s response:
“Yes, but I have something that he will never have – enough!”
My own journey towards Enough – guitars
As a teenager in the 1980’s, I became enamoured with the electric guitar. At the time, all I could afford with the small amount of cash I had saved was at the lower end of the quality spectrum. So, I ended up with a rather poorly made instrument which was inherently more difficult to play than it should have been (quick note: quality in budget guitars, as in so many consumer items, has improved markedly since then).
Fast forward to my 30s and 40s, and I’m now earning a good salary of which a significant proportion ends up being spent on guitars. I found myself with 13 at the peak of my “guitar accumulation” phase before realising that this was excessive, bringing more responsibility than joy, and “decumulating” to the relatively justifiable 7 I own today.
My own journey towards Enough – money
As someone who worked 12-hour days for many years, including a stint in, I think, one of the more challenging work environments on the planet (in an investment bank, in Japan), I willingly gave up a great deal of time, primarily in pursuit of money. Along the way, I saw colleagues literally die of stress-related illnesses. I spent not enough time with friends and family. I missed events I should have attended.
In 2016, I had something of an epiphany: I realised that I “had enough” and that I “had had enough”. I was debt-free, with a positive net worth, low running costs partially covered by passive income (and the expectation of pension income in retirement).
It was by knowing what was “enough” for me, at the age of 47, that I was able to step away from the allure of a regular salary, and change career with low/no expectations of income, valuing the relative freedom in my new role of where and how to spend my time.
How can I help?
A critical part of my new career involves helping people to answer this question: how much is enough? It’s a question that too few of us ask ourselves and, for many, it’s a pathway to a change of role to pursue employment and/or other activities that feel more like “play” than “work”.
I recall one client, with a very positive net worth, and unhappy in his job, reflect that he always bought a great deal more food and drink for dinner parties than he knew he needed, and then felt awful for the inevitable waste. I guess the key reason to determine your own “enough” is to avoid looking back and acknowledging a needless waste not of guitars, or food, or drink, but of time.
You may well not have “enough” yet, in which case we can work out how to get there. Without a destination, it’s rather easy to get lost.
“Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.”
(Tom Rohn)
Michael Davidson is a Singapore-trained and qualified Financial Adviser with Global Financial Consultants Pte Ltd providing specialist financial advice and portfolio management services to international and local professionals in Singapore.
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*Please note that Michael Davidson is not a tax specialist or accountant and that none of the content outlined here should be taken as personal advice. You should consult your tax specialist and financial adviser to review your current financial situation and futures goals to consider whether this strategy is appropriate for you. I expressly disclaim all and any liability to any person or organisation, in respect of anything, and of the consequences of anything done or omitted to be done by any such person in reliance, whether whole or in part, upon the whole or any part of the contents of this article.
