If you consume financial porn you believe that the real rich do not work. They are constantly flying to Bahamas, drinking champagne, party hopping and binging. Well, let me share the life style of one real -seriously rich man I know.

He is up at about 5am and hits the home gym. His instructor comes in at 5.15 and leaves at about 6am, then this man does his treadmill, and by the time it is 7am he is ready for break fast. By 7.45 he is in office checking out his emails etc. – he has a rule that he does not do any business at home – not even checking his emails. Almost all his mails get marked to his secy and the secy checks them – and an occassional emergency call is attended to. He tells me he attends to one such call in a week – and he is trying to make it once a fortnight.

He works pretty long hours but tries to be back home by 7pm for his dinner. Not a party animal at all, he tries to get one/ two days holiday when he goes on his plant visits. 2 of his plants are near very beautiful spots, so he goes on long walks/treks – sometimes with family. He is a sports enthusiast and tries catching some important games – Wimbeldon, a one-day in Australia,..etc. which is invariably along with a business trip.

There are some real advantages of being rich. At least in India the real rich need not stand in a queue to buy groceries or get their car serviced – these can be handled by servants. Now even if you are reasonably rich – say Rs. 10/20 crores you get some of these advantages. For example you could go to D-Mart at 11am on a Monday – and be out of the shop in exactly 18 minutes with all the things that you need. Your weekends need not be spent in Reliance Mart check out counters!! No jostling. You get to choose the time of your meetings – largely if it is a BKC meeting, the fact that you can meet at 12 noon instead of 10am allows you to beat the train crowd and the traffic crowd.

Mostly even in the Rs. 10-20 crore NW you do not really trade your time for ‘earning’ money. Your money can do that for you. You get to choose with whom to work, what work to do, how long to work, and that is really huge. You get to choose to work with people you like and do the work you love to do. Only as you get older can you appreciate this really.

You avoid a lot of social pressure – there is no pesky colleague telling your wife how they enjoyed their trip to Egypt. Amusing because your wife has still not seen the Taj in Agra, but now wants to go to E to see the pyramids!! When you are on your own and you could be off social pressure – which car you drive, where you eat out, what dress…..imagine how stress free life can be. You can go to the gym at 10am when the trainer is free and has nothing to do except attend to you. No pressure of attending to 3 people at a time because you have gone at 6am! You can really take care of your health – home meals and that too on time. Huge impact on your body – with infinite RoI.

You can read – again an activity with infinite RoI. Being able to concentrate on higher RoI activities is a real huge advantage for most of us, is it not?

Being wealthy means you can spend on whatever you want. However it does not mean you will spend on things that you do not need. It is like being in a 5 star breakfast menu – you have tons of sugar, maida, deep fried items – your money gives you the choice. You end up eating some fruits and idli!!

Money gives you the choice. Hopefull you will have the wisdom to make the right choice.