According to Forbes Magazine online, Hind Hariri is the youngest woman billionaire in the world with a net worth of roughly 1.1 Billion Dollars. She is the daughter of the slain Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. She then inherited her family's giant construction, media and banking holdings. She is only 24 making her the youngest woman billionaire in the world and the second youngest billionaire by record.
Unfortunately, I'm also 24 and probably the oldest independent professional, who still secretly balances her steady source of income with vigilance in the hopes that she would get to pay bills on time, buy daily food and occasionally reward herself with minimal sources of recreation. Until then she holds her breath until next pay day comes. It's a miracle if she's been able to save a total of 10% of her monthly pay. Clearly, I am not a Forbes example.
I sincerely thought it was that easy. I graduate. I get a job and would vow to save every penny of my earnings until I could buy a suitable condo unit at 22, get a car at 23 and start up my business to earn my millions before 27. Hopefully by 40's I'd get to retire and be an active philanthropist. Assessing now, there's a grim possibility of depending on charity.
I do set specific deadlines in achieving my goal. But I passed all my target dates without accomplishing one. No condo unit yet at 22, no SUV at 23. Crossing my fingers, I hope something happens when I reach 27. Maybe I'm just being hard on myself. Blame it on the quarter-life crisis and the way my generation is programmed nowadays. Blame it on the availability of jobs and availability of temptations to spend resources on fashion, travel and certain hobbies. But still there is no excuse. We just have to try harder because I must admit that my generation or my contemporaries have easy access on generating money. Everything's revolutionary and people are equally innovative and competitive, but avenues on where to spend it on is also at every corner, rising, more tempting than ever . We're young, we're able, we're equipped, we buy.
But sometimes it's just not enough. I thought that I could be financially stable by the age of 25 at least, but I think I have to push my deadline to 30's. That's why reading about the young billionaires like Hind Hariri makes me cringe with envy. But it's false to blame her for being more...nay...greatly advantaged than her other brilliant contemporaries. It's also not nice to cringe with the thought that she wouldn't have to work a single day in her financially powerful life. And it's kind of stupid to blame her for still being able to create billions despite her already inherited income because by the age of 24 she is her company's director. Some are just born so damn lucky. If I were to borrow Sharon Stone's principality, maybe it's good karma.
The point is I can't help but feel a little bit wishful and dream that I was in her shoes. That I would get to spend for whatever I'd want without miserably budgeting to wait for the next payday. Who wouldn't want to be able to spend good money on vacations, hobbies and securities at your whim, while working for a kickass company in which you are trying to be an effective big boss? Whoever says no to that is a hypocrite. And I'm not saying that money is the end of all problems. I just think that it's much easier to be able to live and do more stuff without being limited by budget constraints. These young billionaires still find reason and time to work because they'd always want to do something fulfilling and with sense; only that they do not worry about their paydays. They are more focused on their goals and sense of fulfillment that they hold large creative and risky reigns that, us, normal peeps cannot afford to have. That is a totally big difference.
While some fortunate self-made billionaires achieve their respective personal goals and primarily achieve self-fulfillment while multiplying their billions on the side, others like me still have to work a little bit harder with the hopes of achieving even slightest fraction of financial power and luckily find self fulfillment on the side. Priorities are very opposite.
Some may have been self made, others may have been lucky enough to follow the footsteps of Warren Buffet in their early 20's, and others maybe just like me, thankful that at least we still get a chance to dream and still live another day to try harder. There maybe tons of things and activities that may be limited within our financial grasps, that we have to accept, but dreaming and trying to make it into a reality would never cost a single penny.
No comments:
Post a Comment