RULE 95

Know when to stop

What? I can hear a gasp of surprise. Know when to stop?! Didn’t you say earlier that you shouldn’t rest on your laurels or they will wilt? Yes I did, but that was when you were starting to get results, not when you’d done really well and were wealthier than you thought you ever would be. Look, there has to come a time when enough is enough. There has to come a time when you want to:

• spend more time with your family
• enjoy your life
• have fun
• go travelling
• get the work/life balance tipped a bit in favour of the life
• use your time to pass on what you have learned to others.

Of course you might be able to do all of these without giving up the gaining wealth ideal. But it is the focus that stops perhaps. Being driven to gain prosperity is a good thing. But once gained, you should return to the fold so to speak. I am always impressed by people like Bill Gates, who decided to retire from his work to run his charitable foundation. In his case he probably didn’t need and couldn’t spend or count any more money than he already had/has and it’s probably accumulating faster each day than he can count. He’s probably living on the interest on the interest on the interest on the interest …

And I see Warren Buffet is doing the same – and actually contributing to Bill’s foundation.* I know these boys are playing around with sums well into the billions but their hearts are in the right place. These sorts of people are where this rule comes from. Others doing the same include Thomas Monaghan, the Domino Pizza founder, who is reputed to have given away over a billion dollars and founded Ave Maria University.

You’re thinking that you aren’t anywhere in the same league. No, but you can still have an end game strategy whereby you build an ‘enough is enough’ clause into your plan. Otherwise where do you stop? How much is enough? Where do you draw the line? There is an Arab saying: ‘If you have much, give of your wealth; if you have little, give of your heart.’ So when you get a lot, give some of it away – we’ll speak more of this in a moment.

I’m not going to browbeat you about giving to charity but I am suggesting that knowing when you’ve got enough money is important. I know there is an expression that you can’t have too much of a good thing but focusing on prosperity is only one part of a rich and varied life and you can be too dedicated.