So during a break, me and my colleague were casually talking about costs of gas price and car maintenance as my car broke down several days prior. I told my colleague that I wish that I had the money to just buy a new reliable car and be done with the hassle of my car breaking down literally every month. My colleague then says he wishes that he hits the jackpot so that he'll finally have money to spend on stuff other than bills and necessity.
Out of nowhere, our boss just walks into the break room and seemed to have heard our conversation. He simply told us “Money isn't everything, there's more to life than money.”, we were shocked not only that he rarely shows up to work but also what he said. This is the person that literally makes hundred times more than we do, not only does he get overpaid salary, but also gets commission and bonus from projects that WE do. We barely get bonuses even if they are wildly successful financially, even if we get them, it's not even close to a fraction of his bonus. On top of that, apparently he is also partly shareholder so he gets dividend from the company.
I simply replied “Well at least your car don't break down every time you come to work.”, and you know what his answer was? He blows out of his nose (Like he's laughing) and says “Just save up and get a loan.”, and walks out of the room with his tea, I didn't say anything else as I don't want the risk of getting fired. I'm just stunned at how disconnected with reality some wealthy people can get, this is a person that has at least 3 Ferraris, a Lamborghini SUV and some other luxury cars. He also takes months long vacation to countries like Korea and Japan, leaving the project to his project managers, while still collecting commissions and bonuses.
I am essentially living from paycheck to paycheck, trying to save up whatever I can after all my bills, groceries and food, only barely surviving because I still have student loans to pay. I've also had to take loans from my parents just to be able to afford emergency root canals on my teeth because I didn't take care of my tooth back then. Then we have our boss just living his lavish lifestyle, so out of touch with reality, “money isn't everything”, then why hoard so much of it? What pays for those luxuries huh? Not to generalise but why is it so common that I see many wealthy people tries to become philosophical by saying “oh money isn't everything, oh money doesn't matter to me!”, it's frustrating, it's easy for them to say when they don't experience financial difficulty anymore in their lifes.
We know he bought houses in Switzerland, Korea and Japan for vacations because he bragged about it during a project celebration and that he only takes first class seats on planes because he's too “Tall” for economy seats. During his vacation, we can see from his instagram story that he and his fiancé literally does not care about their spending, eating whatever they can without having to worry about money, buying whatever they want without having to worry about money.
I know money isn't everything when you have tons of it, but it kind of is when you are literally one missed paycheck / medical bill away from poverty line. I only want money simply to survive, to increase my quality of life, and to not have the anxiety of worrying about being let go from my work, which is unpredictable. I'm not into consumerism of buying stuff to stay happy, I am into maintaining a stable life without having to worry about financial stability, and to not get paid scraps while literally me and my project's team are doing all the work while these executives collects all the benefits doing literally nothing.