Money Is a Bad Master

(Published in Banking Services Chronicle August 2007)

“There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else there’s MasterCard.” This credit card ad has a great philosophy hidden in it if you can think of putting emphasis on some in the first sentence. True, it is difficult to put that emphasis in a world of hefty pay-packets. But don’t forget success has always embraced those who have dared to venture into the arena of the difficult.

Most of us think money can buy us power. But the truth is that it may be a necessary condition but not a sufficient one. Can the Ambanis command the influence that Sonia Gandhi does? Forget political power, even the other power—electricity, that is—is not available simply by spending money. Money can help you establish a power plant but there are environmental costs involved.

Similarly, free market, which believes in money being the chief regulator, has its own limits. When it comes to oil prices, they have to be administered through a mechanism. We just can’t afford to raise petrol and diesel prices every time crude oil prices go up at the international level. Otherwise inflationary pressures might bring the economy to a virtual standstill.

I have been an advocate of capitalism for long. I believe that incentives are necessary for every human being to motivate them to produce. And yet I also believe that money is not the be-all and end-all of life. And I write all this because I have seen many who do not realise this even till the end of their lives.

Wisdom by its very nature can’t come early in life as its needs experience. But it shouldn’t come too late either because a good life is one that has been lived wisely. There are people who run after money so much that they can’t find time for their children. Can parental affection ever be compensated with money?

What is the wisdom about money then? I’m afraid it’s nothing new I’m going to reveal. It’s the age-old truth. “Money is a good servant but a bad master.” Earn as much as you can but don’t ever forget the motive for which you are earning.