由穷到富易，从富到贫难 - it is easy to progress from poverty to wealth, but extremely difficult to go from being wealthy to poor. Simply put, once you experienced the trappings of wealth, it is painful to lose it. To downgrade your lifestyle multiple notches at once is not just hard, but tremendously challenging and taxing for your mental state.
That is why I always offer this piece of advice to people I met in my industry - be cautious of your lifestyle upgrades. The finance industry, particularly the investment banking side, provides very good income for those working in it. It is tempting to extrapolate your current earning power throughout your career and make current purchases based on that assumption that you will always have a job here. However, over the last few years, there have been so many headcount consolidation and many of my peers had left the industry, most of the time not on their own will. It is easy to live a high-flyer lifestyle in this industry, but hard to sustain it if the job is gone. Switching to another industry will most likely not give you as good a remuneration.
As one progresses in their career life from a poor graduating student to getting their first paycheck, annual pay increments, job promotions etc, it is understandable and natural to upgrade one's lifestyle. The trick is to suppress this desire as far as possible. It is impossible to continue living like a pauper once you start getting richer, but you need not spend too much just because you can. No matter how much you earn, it is always possible to outspend your income. Just look at those celebrities or sports stars managing to bankrupt themselves despite earning millions. According to a 2009 Sports Illustrated article, 78% of NFL players are either bankrupt or are under financial stress within two years of retirement and an estimated 60% of NBA players go bankrupt within five years after leaving their sport. Overspending on a lavish lifestyle is no doubt a major cause.
And it is because of this fear of being forced to downgrade my current lifestyle, not just myself but my family too, I can probably never be able to be an entrepreneur. Because I have too much to lose. I have accumulated enough to retire comfortably based on my current lifestyle needs and the thought of losing a significant chunk of this retirement nest and to return to the work force and accept any job that comes along is my worst nightmare ever. But this is fine by me too, as I do not possess a fierce desire to become a successful entrepreneur anyway. I guess it's appropriate to end off this post with the lyrics from a childhood song, 小人物的心声, the theme song of a local SBC drama, 芝麻绿豆.
小人物的心声
但我尽力贡献一份微薄的力量
也许我自己不能发出万丈光和亮
但我能为斗室带来足够的光芒
我从来就不在乎 自己不是一个大人物
因为平凡也是一种幸福
看到名人总是忙忙碌碌
我的时间由我控制
平凡日子一样会充实
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