When the Rich Tell the Poor How to be Rich

I was watching a video on wise spending and saving money in times of crisis. They made it all sound so easy. I'd probably bite into their ideas if I didn't know how rich they've always been in life. I mean, these guys probably never commuted or did blue collar jobs or lived in tattered houses. They're known to make big money with their TV commercials and businesses. [Image above from Adeolu Eletu, Unsplash].

Trying to Be Poor Once

The lady started with saying, "When I was still starting and receiving a modest income," or words to that effect. I wondered what "modest" was to her when fact is she comes from a wealthy family. The same with her husband who was a well-paid basketball star. And now together with their kids they make a lot of commercials aside from making big money with their vlog. Mind you, before the talk show started, the video showed how palatial their mansion is. It's like a mall.

Their guest, another rich guy, shared about how simple folks like us can save money today. How about cutting on your weekly food trips or fine dining, he suggested. Fine dining? I'm dreaming we have that once a month. Weekly? No way. We even struggle to spend P500 for lunch for the 4 of us. I mean, that's already too expensive, and we rarely do that. When my wife and I have our "special lunch out" we peg it to P300. And this guy was talking about a 1,000-peso meal.

Can you imagine that? A thousand pesos for just one meal? Clearly, this guy was talking to his ilk who are so rich that saving money for them is peanuts. No sweat. They probably don't need to save money in the bank because of their multiple investments. Not for the majority of us. What small money we make today gets spent today, and we just spend for the basics. Fine dining is definitely out of the question.

This time around I was willing to be numbered with the joiners--the majority poverty-line earners who are often lectured by the rich on how to spend less--like we're not already doing that every day of our lives. That's the problem with the rich--they always see things from where they're coming from. Never from our context. Even those who were once poor but have become rich. They quickly absorb the perspective of those who were born rich.

Genuine Rags to Riches

I'd like so much to hear from those who really started out poor and made it big. Manny Pacquiao is probably one, but I don't really like to get into boxing as a livelihood. And not all of us get that chance of getting million dollar deals. Isko Moreno is another worthy example, but not many of us have his good looks. Imagine getting million peso deals with just one modeling contract. This is why I like listening to simple folks who make it big selling online. Or that couple in Laguna who started selling siomai with one cart and later ended up a millionaire with 20 carts or so.

But I learned in life that success in anything is not really because of what we do. Or our sacrifices. Or our smart strategies. It's all God. Yeah we have to do out part seriously, but once we get successful or rich we should never think it's because of anything we did. If we do, our tendency is to compare ourselves with those who seem to have failed, lecture down on them like haughty experts, and put ourselves on a pedestal. I've seen a lot of successful people end up like that, pay lip service to acknowledging God and put themselves in the starring cast instead. Some even completely trash out God.

On the other hand, I know a lot of hard working people who didn't end up rich. But I see them more successful than most rich folks are. I also know people who weren't able to save much, hard as they tried, but they stored a lot more in heaven than most people. Perhaps we need more poor folks like them to lecture to the rich and successful. But without money value, wisdom like that is likely to get trashed out by the rich and successful in this world.

One Rich Guy Did It

But one rich guy did it--by remaining looking poor. Though he was rich, Jesus made himself poor (or look poor) so the poor may become rich. And the principle must go on. Once the poor are made rich, they must remain looking poor. This demolishes the gap and keeps the line of communication clear and open between the rich and poor.

Jesus owns everything. Yet, he opted to live with the poor for a while to show them how true riches work. He talked of preparing mansions in heaven, while the rich in this world always build mansions here. See the difference? He could've built a physical mansion here on earth and do conferences and seminars to convince people how to become rich, showing off his mansion as "proof" of his success. He didn't. In fact, he despised earthly mansions.

Jesus kept to a very humble life while sharing his riches to the poor. This way, he could relate more to them. This way, he's not bound to advice cutting down on people's weekly fine dining treats for themselves, or saving money when the fact is there's barely any money left each day. Those who give such advice have completely lost touch with reality. To me they sound like clanging cymbals. But by his life, Jesus showed the poor what true riches are. Yup, because of Jesus, you can be very rich without the surefire formula bragged about by the rich in this world.