The Paradox of Wealth

I like to be humble, but I also like to be honest. I can’t deny that I ran a successful business for twenty-five years, that I own two homes, or that I had the resources to retire at fifty-seven. In short, I’ve been fortunate. It would be farcical of me to pretend money isn’t an important enabler in life, but it’s worth remembering that it isn’t the most important thing.

I’ve spent most of the last month at my vacation home, with my eldest grandson as a near-permanent guest during his summer break. I’ve watched him paddleboard at the harbour with his friends, played rounds of golf with him on the local links course, and, from a careful distance, chaperoned his first ever double date: a funfair, then dinner at a pizza joint with two girls from the neighbourhood.

My four-year-old granddaughter spent a week with us. Our time together was wonderful. One evening I walked her, still in her pajamas, to the outdoor tables of the hotel beside our vacation home, where she laughed and hopped with delight at her first sundowner, watching the sun sink, glowing red, into the Atlantic.

My friend from London, a lifelong bachelor, lost one of his few remaining close friends to liver failure. He was devastated, and it knocked him down mentally. I invited him out to the coast, and for five days we walked the beaches, climbed the headlands, talked, laughed, and drank a few shots while burning food on the barbecue. I dropped him at the airport with his mind in a better place.

Yes, money matters. But I’m telling you about my month because the only thing that really mattered in it was time, time with my grandchildren, time with my grieving friend.

That’s the paradox of wealth. Over thirty years of work bought me two homes and a comfortable retirement. But almost always, the best time I’ve had in either of them cost almost nothing, a paddleboard, a few rounds of golf, a bottle passed between old friends, a sundowner watched from a hotel terrace in pajamas. Money is a tool, not the destination. It bought the terrace; it had nothing to do with the sundowner.