We are all familiar with the story of the Midas touch. King Midas had such a lust for wealth that he asked Dionysus to grant him his wish to turn everything he touched into gold. Midas got his wish, but when he touched food and his daughter, they turned to gold like everything else. He realized his desire was nonsensical, and that wealth accumulation cannot be the only, or primary, goal in life.
One of the most important wealth management issues that clients and advisors must consider is what role wealth accumulation should play in the client’s overall life.
Philosophers distinguish between the goods of life that are instrumental in achieving other goods, and the goods that are worthwhile in themselves, such as happiness or living well. The story of Midas clearly shows that one of the biggest mistakes that human beings make is treating wealth as if it were intrinsically worthwhile, because a fixation on wealth often leads to unhappiness.
We find this lesson not only in the legend of Midas, but in contemporary stories as well. In the first installment of the Harry Potter series, we see the characterization of a person obsessed with accumulation in Harry’s cousin Dudley. Dudley is the exemplar of the accumulator who is never happy. He gets 35 presents for his birthday. That, however, is one less than he got the year before. Nevertheless, even if he received 37 presents he wouldn’t feel happy, because when you are merely an accumulator, there is never enough.
The plight of the person accumulating power or greed for its own sake is like that of the person pursuing a career path not because the job brings him satisfaction, but because it is the right “career move.” People on that treadmill, who have made all the right career moves, often end up at the top of their professions, not knowing what to do next.
What does this have to do with wealth management? As an advisor, it is important to be aware of the role wealth accumulation plays in a client’s life. To begin, it needs to be emphasized that there is nothing wrong with the desire for wealth and the accumulation of it. That is not what the stories of Midas and Dudley are about.
According to Aristotle, wealth is important, and to be wealthy enough to live comfortably is a necessity for a full and happy life. He points out, however, that if we reach a point in life where we are accumulating wealth simply for the sake of accumulation, we are disordered; more colloquially, we have our priorities mixed up.
The disorder exists because the purpose of life is living well and the single-minded quest for wealth is not. The quest for wealth for its own sake corrupts the human being. According to Aristotle, those who accumulate wealth for wealth’s own sake, like Midas, “get intent upon living only, and not upon living well.”
This accumulation for its own sake can become a characteristic behavior pattern in an acquisitive society, and the pursuit of acquiring wealth can, in some instances, become an obsession with your client.
When giving advice about wealth management in today’s material world, how much are we responsible for reminding our clients:
What about you? What makes the financial advisor’s profession noble is not the amount of money it allows one to make, but the fact that it is an avenue to helping other people achieve a security that liberates them from unnecessary anxiety.
But, if the advisor becomes concerned solely with accumulating wealth, he begins to sacrifice the good of the client to accumulate higher earnings. To do this is to live a disordered life.
What fulfills financial service professionals as human beings is not the accumulation of wealth, but service to the clients. Give service to the clients and the wealth will come. Not vice versa. Clearly, then, “wealth management” and “wealth accumulation” are different things.
While you mull these issues and questions, I end with one last thought. It’s something that we all need to keep in mind, for it has a ring of truth: “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
*Originally printed in Wealth and Retirement Planner magazine.