FRUGALITY leads to Riches

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 on 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