A Perspective on Money & Wealth During These Troubled Times

The summer I turned twelve, my parents dragged me and my big sister to our great uncle’s homestead in Midland, TX for a family reunion. After graduating with a degree in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M in 1938, Rufe Bynum served in WWII from 1941 to 1945. In 1946, he joined an organization named Core Laboratories where he would serve as a tremendous leader for many years. Resulting from his business acumen and myriad investments, Rufe and his wife were millionaires many times over. As a young, impressionable boy, his lifestyle dazzled me. His garage was full of Cadillacs and Mercedes cars, his property was a huge expanse of landscaped green, and he had an elevator in his home because his knees had failed him in the war. 

The family reunion was a roaring success. Dozens of relatives congregated together for the first time in many years, and I was finally able to put faces to the names that had been spoken in our home for so many years. As the evening quieted, people settled into meaningful conversations in every nook and cranny of Rufe’s backyard, and I found myself alone with him by the barbeque grill where he stood tall in his overalls, shiny tongs engulfed in his large hand. He leaned in, placed his free hand on my shoulder and squeezed gently as his twinkly eyes and white hair radiated with the crackling flames in the background. “Talk to me, son. Tell me something: what will you do with your life?” 

I stammered, “My life? Um, I don’t know. You know I’m only twelve, right?”

“Yes, Blake. I know you’re a young man, but it’s never too early to start thinking about these things. After all, you never know when you might be called up.” 

“Well, Sir. To be honest, I’ve never really thought about it.”

And then it happened; he eased slowly down, forcing his bum knees to work with him, and when he was finally just slightly shorter than me, he stared deep into my eyes and said the words that ring as clear today–a quarter of a century later–as they did on that warm summer night by the grill. “Blake, my boy. Listen to me now. Life’s short. Real short. You can’t appreciate that in your position, because you’re on the front end of it. But I’m telling you, as you get further into it, the roads rush up to meet you, and before you know it, you’re looking in the rearview mirror at life. And all the things you love, the people you love, they’ll all fade away. You’ll say goodbye to friends, girlfriends, even your parents. Why, I hope you’ll be kind enough to attend my funeral to pay your respects. But here’s the deal: life’s too short to live off-purpose, and no amount of money is worthwhile if you hate what you do. Like my daddy told me, ‘If you love what you do, you’ll never work another day in your life.’ You think about what I’m telling you, and find something you love to do, because you’ll be doing it for a lifetime. Do that, rather than chasing money, and you’ll be rich in every way that really matters.”

Surprisingly, while I was only twelve at the time, what Uncle Rufe said made complete sense. In my lifetime, albeit short compared to Rufe’s eighty years of wisdom-building, I have observed in others, and experienced in myself, the importance of doing what fulfills, rather than simply chasing dollars. I have coached and counseled hundreds of financially successful leaders, many of whom are emotionally, spiritually, physically, intellectually, or socially bankrupt. Likewise, I have met what is described in Zen Buddhism as stomachless ghosts–those individuals whose appetite for material goods can never be satiated. The more they get, the more they want. I’ll always remember a man named Mark Scharenbroich, who spoke to my high school graduating class and warned us against, “Promising yourself happiness when you achieve the next milestone. You’ll always be reaching for the house, the car, the degree, the person, the money… and never be satisfied with YOU. Contentment is not getting what you want, it’s wanting what you have.” And finally, I remember the wisdom of Joe Coey, a dear family friend who describes “wealth is freedom and choices. Those who have no freedom and have no choices are impoverished. When you must work to live, rather than live to work, you’re broke.”  

All this wisdom–handed down from Uncle Rufe, Mark Scharenbroich, Joe Coey–has greatly affected my own choices in life, yet it pales in comparison to the words of Jesus Christ, who spoke of money in sixteen out of forty parables. In fact, Jesus spoke of money far more than any other topic. Does this surprise you? It surprised me initially, just as my uncle’s words surprised me, but as we age, I believe we all come to terms with the utility of money, and we see that it is a common denominator in so many facets of life. Like it or not, Jesus knew that money was potentially as influential in our lives as health, love, faith, hope, integrity, etc. The extent to which we can tame our own desires and master them greatly affects the scope of our entire lives.

The word vocation (one’s occupation or profession) derives from the Latin vocare which means, to be called. We are each called to be someone specific–to be someone on-purpose. Our two most finite resources, Time and Money, are great indicators of what someone values. If you ever wish to know what matters to a person, see where they spend their time and money. Go through their calendar and their checkbook. Know this, and you’ll know where their heart is. May we all have someone who will teach us how to be a person of substance, depth, contribution, and–in the end–how to build wealth in the truest sense of the word... the origin of the word wealth actually derives from the word health, and refers to three particular attributes: happiness, prosperity, and well-being. Money alone won’t bring you any of these things, but true wealth (it its broadest sense) facilitates giving, investments in others, contributions to those in need–and such philanthropy goes a long way toward bringing a sense of personal purpose. 

Remember, life’s short. Be selective about what truly matters to you. Build a life of wealth that affords you freedoms, choices, and purpose–and that allows you to help others and sponsor their dreams. Accept in your bones that money, although the currency of our day, is not the end-all.