Means to an End

How It Is Used vs. How It Is Attained

What percentage of people truly love their work? It's naive to say it's a majority. While people can learn to love their jobs, most people's day jobs are not what they dreamed they would be doing or what makes them happiest. A dream job might be something you would even consider paying someone to allow you to do, but in reality, someone actually pays you. For nearly everyone, most people's jobs are a means to an end: a way to pay bills, put food on the table, support family, and acquire the means to do things they truly enjoy. It is fascinating to interpret the intersection of how someone acquires money and how they spend it. Imagine meeting three people in one day: an investment banker, a social worker, and an Uber driver. The investment banker makes a few hundred thousand dollars and proclaims investment banking is their dream job. Does their comfortable living influence the extent to which they think they were made for this job? The social worker makes $40,000 a year who, despite barely making ends meet, exclaims they could not see themselves doing any other job. Lastly, you have a lengthy discourse with a could-be-retired Uber driver who insists they only drive because they are bored. It's intriguing to consider the truthfulness of these claims and the motivations behind their professions. I studied finance in business school not because I dreamed of term sheets and financial statements, but because I wanted to give myself the best chance of providing for my future self and eventual family. While I enjoyed math and business and thought it would be a good fit, I also took interest in engineering and art. The last of which would have likely proven difficult to make future ends meet. Sometimes people only know how to do one thing with money: make more of it. While consistently making 10-20% over multiple decades is admirable, if this person dies having not personally invested in allocating capital to causes they care about, I would consider them a poor steward of capital despite multiplying their money year after year. A good steward determines with great care how to allocate capital to important causes. This could mean bettering your family's lives, supporting local causes, donating to charities, or investing in a unique passion you share with the world. This is not about casting judgment, but rather an invitation to revisit where and how you spend your money, as once we've attained it, it can all be saved, invested, and spent the way we choose.