Have you?

I was reading a piece of online news on this NUS girl who said that she had preferred her priviledged suitor than her more working class boyfriend. Of course, there will be lots of brickbats on the girl for choosing materialism over good old work ethics. But this time round, I will focused on the guy.

You see, I was never either of the two. I was kind of quite lucky to get a car when I was studying as my grandma had bought the car for me, but I wasn't so lucky that I had lots of spending money to spend on girls then. I had to work in cafes for $5/hr and that was the going rate then, to earn some extra cash to spend on things I like. Of course, I wasn't so lucky to have a house in my name even before I graduated.

But I watched so many movies and shows on how people clamour for the attention for rich and successful guy who had everything. Car, condominium, cash, credit cards and some class. And so after working a few years, I was determined to be that guy. To be sure, I wasn't that sort of guy who would actually was clamouring for all those outward things in school. In university, I was always denouncing those who wore nice clothes- looking fine and dandy in school- as out of touch with reality as which student can afford all these things without daddy's money. I was calling these people bourgeois for being so ostentatious in demonstrating their class and status. I was always in bermudas and t-shirts while in school. [ Actually deep down inside, I just want to indulge in everything that would put me away for "harsh" world of working life]

But after I left school, when I started work- and I put off working as late as I could- I began to realise that it was time to grow up and faced up to the world. I had to be more realistic and practical and not always denounce all demonstrations of wealth as bourgeoisie- and stop being such an intellectual snob. I began to develop an interest in finance and even took another degree in finance to further my career and interest in it. I started in operations in a big Swiss bank and I began to see that the big money was not earned in operation or the middle office, it was in the front office- the client facing side of things.

 I then began to earned my strips by starting out as a fully-commissioned financial adviser in a financial advisory firm. My target was never to be so entrepreneurial but to work in a bank as a banker. When I learned enough from the place, I moved to a large British bank and that's when my career took off. I started with simply cold-calling customers and my time in the financial advisory firm put me in good stead as my customers were simply people that had to be spoken to. I broke the sales record the first month while in the bank and my boss took good care of me- always giving me good leads. I then began to feel like a banker.

I began to feel like the guy in Wall Street like Gordon Gekko in the movie always talking in millions and spouting financial data like it was second nature. In fact, I like the adrenalin rush of moving money fast- making good money for clients by simply moving money in and out of the market. And I was pretty good at my job. Most of my clients made money and they were happy for it. I was earning good money from my job, $7,000 to $8,000 a month for a 27-28 year world in 2000s is pretty decent.

I was becoming that guy that everyone loves to hate. I had a car- okay not the best car but decent enough one enough-, I bought a million dollar condominium at 29 with my mom as I had to share the downpayment with. I was earning good money with lots of disposable income and I could afford to pay for the $150/month gym membership, $200/ month car park at the hotel and a nice meal here and there, wearing $200 shirts and $200 pants with $ 400 shoes. It was nice- everything was nice. I was barely 30 then.

But I was working extremely hard, I was working seven days a week as my branch was a seven days week branch and I even had to go back and work during my reservist as my customers needed to trade and I couldn't trust others to do it for me. My bedtime television show was Bloomberg. Hence having talk so much about my journey going from the guy which everyone likes- one which denounces material wants to one which attain all forms of conventional material wants, I would like to say that being the guy which achieve all the material wants is really not as easy as it seems. It seems like they have everything but actually, it is a difficult climb.

They make it look easy as it is really part of job. It is all part of the charm that makes everything look effortless so that they can attract people to what they do and it is not easy. It is like the gymnast who practice hours and hours just to appear graceful in front of everyone just for the few minutes. The only difference is that we have to keep doing it the whole day.

We make it look easy not because we are flaunting it but because we had do the difficult part away from the public eye. For those that think being the top of the game requires luck, think again, you need whole lot more skill, guile and effort than you can imagine.

For those that really eschew materialism, you might want to think again why you were never successful materially- perhaps it was not because you were not lucky enough, perhaps because it was that you did not put in sufficient effort. Perhaps, you were too afraid to come out of your comfort zone and lose your friends that you will comfort you when you were lousy but never contribute to your building up as a person or maybe you were busy criticizing people for being materialistic then to look at your own situation. Or even maybe, you have never taken a risk in your life in achieving your goals and that's why you have never even taken the first step.

Now is the time to curse the bankers, the people who sucked money out of people, but being on the top of the game requires a whole of intelligence and background work. It also requires of manicuring of the image to look successful and knowledgeable to sell the idea to the clients. It is really the whole package.

Take it from the guy who went from bermudas and shorts to expensive suits and shoes, it is a hell lot of more difficult to appear successful and appealing than to appear "normal" to people. I know it from experience that denouncing being rich is quite easy, but being rich is really kind of a much harder- and based on your own effort is hell of a lot harder.

Hence, let us not be fast to denounce that successful person that seems to live in another world from us as being out of touch of reality, as it is really much harder than it looks to look successful, knowledgeable and powerful all at the same time. It is really a much cultivated image that requires so much pruning from the mannerisms to what you wear, to what you talk and read about.

But now, I am working at my father's place for less than 1/3 what I used to earn and I really quite happy for it. I am happy because I am trying to build a family business rather than helping an outside business grow bigger and bigger. All my expensive shirts, pants and shoes have become useless because now I wear jeans and polo tees to work and I have graduated from looking rich and successful to trying to be actually "rich and successful."

Some of those things I learnt from my banking days is still useful such as the salesmanship and looking from a business perspective but now I realise that it is not just about myself, it is also about everyone else in the team. It is about getting my colleagues to work together and to ensure that the customers are served correctly and well.

I do not have as much disposable income but I still have my house and I still have a company car to drive but I am investing my time and effort to the long term growth of the company. I still want to be successful but just that my definition of success has changed. It is wider now, and I want everyone around me to be successful and not just myself. But there are some whom eschew success, thinking that it is linked to materialism, but I think they just scared to succeed.

Therefore don't hate the banker, think about how the banker can and will grow to another person. At least he had the guts to chase for what he wants. Have you?