“He who dies with the most toys wins.” Don’t worry; we don’t subscribe to this saying, though you’ve likely heard it. And looking around us, that certainly does seem to be the reality we live in today. This is driven largely by our innate need to fit in and keep up with the Joneses, so to speak. Unfortunately, we can never keep up! There is always a new trend, a new model, a better this or that. The subject of materialism is, in fact, such a deeply rooted problem in our secular world that we cannot even begin to unravel it in a short blog post, nor is that our goal. The point is that if we follow such materialistic values, we will always be stuck in a perpetual cycle of wishing and wanting for more. This is nothing new; Proverbs 27:20 says, “Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.”
So, the question then becomes how much is actually enough? I believe this is a discussion that quite simply boils down to needs vs wants. A need can be described as something we literally can’t live without: things like food, shelter, clothing…it’s a fairly basic list. A want is categorized as something we desire, but that which is not really necessary in order for us to survive day to day. This is where the lines can sometimes blur because oftentimes we can justify that a want is actually a need. The problem with this line of thinking is that if we find ourselves on the path beyond fulfilling our basic needs and foraying into the world of wants or excesses, we will find that we are always in a position of not having enough – such is the nature of aiming at a moving target.
I believe that a big part of the solution lay simply in being honest with ourselves. But since none of us are infallible, it’s equally important to have someone nearby who can keep us accountable – someone who can ask us the difficult questions as to whether something is in fact a need or a want. Now, I am not saying that we do not deserve to spoil ourselves. We are not bad people if we take family vacations or drive a nice car. It is okay to want certain things in life and it is also okay to indulge; in fact, our economy relies on us indulging from time to time! We just need to be mindful of crossing the line where we end up spending more of our time and energy lusting over our long list of wants. Because if we focus too much on fulfilling our wants of today, then we simply won’t be able to meet our needs of tomorrow. When we have enough to meet our basic needs and some of our wants, without the scale tipping too much to the latter, that is enough.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal” – Matthew 6:19
Janet Kim Sing, Portfolio Manager
Capstone Private Wealth