Living A Simple
Life:
Live Modestly Giving Your
Extras In Charity!
There Are Billionaires Who
Live A Modest/Simple Life!
If You Live For
Money & Material,
You Are Wasting
Your Life As
You’ll Never
Have Enough!
(M. Javed Naseem)
“Be modest in your
bearing and subdue
your voice. Lo, the
harshest of all voices
is the voice of the
donkey.”
(al-Quran 31:19)
(al-Quran 31:19)
We are living in the 21st century – the century of fake! Everything
is fake, especially the life. We offer fake smiles; fake formal manners; fake
make-over personalities; and fake character – lecturing others on morality and
motivation but living like hypocrites – all lectures and advice for others to
show off. Everything has become a commodity and material as we are gradually
programmed into consumerism. We watch TV while forgetting that the media is being
used to fool us; to program us to submit to the ads of the industrial giants. And
we act like robots – work hard for the commercial giants and industrial Devils to
make money; then give that money back to those Devils by buying their goods
that they suggest are important and necessary for a ‘good’ life. Success is
measured by money – by millions and billions. We see those millionaires and the
super rich in the society and see how pathetic and fake they are, still we like
to copy them; emulate them to impress our friends and family.
We lack education – real education. We don’t know that there is beauty in simplicity. Showing off material possessions, wealth or bourgeoisie and extravagant lifestyle only proves that we have learned nothing in life; or we don’t know the purpose of life. The Almighty God Who created this universe of ours, also sent us the guides (Prophets & Messengers) to teach us how to live and for what (purpose) to life!
All knowledge and education, all the money and amenities and
all children and possessions should make us humble, humane and God-fearing. And
if it doesn’t, we are living a fake life.
Modesty is a virtue and all intelligent and educated
millionaires & billionaires realize that. But only some of them choose to
live modestly. Simple can be beautiful too if we only knew. It’s all in our
heads. Money is important for living but living for money is shear stupidity. It
does not guarantee happiness. The real happiness is in sharing; in putting
smiles on the faces of misery and poverty. We are only humans when we care
about other humans and feel their pains. It is our obligation to share the
bounties of life with the down-trodden, the needy and the helpless. Our wealth
is a test and God above is watching us to see what we do with it. He already
told us what to do with it before He blessed us with wealth and bounties of
life.
Let’s see how the super-rich behave and how they show off
(if they show off) their wealth and worldly possessions! They might have lots
of faults too as they are normal human beings like you and me. But they are
loved by many (of course they are hated by some too) … lol. Instead of looking
for faults, we should look for good qualities in other people. It will make us
peaceful and happier.
Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, drives a
manual-transmission Volkswagen hatchback.
Net worth: $43 billion.
Despite his status as one of the richest tech moguls on
earth, Mark Zuckerberg leads a low-key lifestyle with his wife, Priscilla Chan,
and their newborn daughter. The founder of Facebook has been unabashed about
his simple T-shirt, hoodie, and jeans uniform.
"I really want to clear my life to make it so that I
have to make as few decisions as possible about anything except how to best
serve this community," Zuckerberg said.
The trappings of wealth have never impressed the
31-year-old. He chowed down on McDonald’s shortly after marrying Chan in 2012 in the backyard of
their Palo Alto
home. In 2014, he traded in his $30,000 Acura (car) for a manual-transmission
Volkswagen hatchback.
Warren Buffett, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire
Hathaway, still lives in the same home he bought for $31,500 in 1958.
Net worth: $61 billion.
The "Oracle of Omaha" is one of the wisest and
most frugal billionaires around. Despite his status as ‘the third richest
person on earth’, he still lives in the same modest home he bought for $31,500
in 1958, doesn't carry a cell-phone or have a computer at his desk, and once
had a vanity license plate that read "THRIFTY," according
to his 2009 biography.
At his annual shareholder's meeting in 2014, Buffett
explained that his quality of life isn't affected by the amount of money he
has:
“My life couldn't be happier. In fact, it'd be worse if I
had six or eight houses. So, I have everything I need to have, and I don't need
any more because it doesn't make a difference after a point.”
Amancio Ortega, founder of Inditex, eats lunch with
his employees in the Zara headquarters cafeteria.
Net worth: $67 billion.
The founder of Zara was recently named ‘the second richest
person on earth’, but that probably won't change his personal-spending habits.
Ortega has led an extremely private life for years, often retreating to his
quiet apartment in La Coruña, Spain, with his wife, frequenting
the same coffee shop, and eating lunch with his employees in the Zara
headquarters cafeteria.
Like fellow billionaire Mark Zuckerberg, the Spanish fashion
magnate maintains a simple uniform of a blue blazer, white shirt, and gray
pants every day.
Azim Premji, Chairman of Wipro Ltd., drives secondhand
cars and always reminds employees to turn off the lights at the office.
Net worth: $17 billion.
India’s
wealthiest tech tycoon, Azim Premji, has also been called "the bare bones
billionaire" and someone who "makes Uncle Scrooge look like Santa
Claus."
The 70-year-old is worth $16.5 billion, but
that hasn't stopped him from jumping on one of India's three-wheel auto
rickshaws to get home from the airport or keeping tabs on the toilet paper
usage at Wipro offices. Premji also flies economy, drives secondhand cars, and
always reminds employees to turn off the lights at the office.
N. R. Narayana Murthy
The co-founder of Infosys travels by a company bus on
Saturdays.
Simplicity, humility and maintaining a low profile are the
hallmarks of this super-rich Bangalorean. The man still doesn’t know how to
drive a car. On Saturdays - his driver’s weekly day-off - he is driven to the
bus stop by his wife, from where he boards a company bus to work.
Chuck Feeney
The co-founder of Duty-Free Shoppers Group donated
almost all his fortune.
Having given away most of his wealth, he is only worth about
$2 million. He prefers modest restaurants, dresses and lives like an average
American, and reportedly does not put on airs. Feeney has said, “I had one idea
that never changed in my mind—that you should use your wealth to help people. I
try to live a normal life, the way I grew up.”
The Stanford professor drives a simple 2002 Honda
Odyssey.
With a wealth of $3.6 billion, this Stanford professor
favors comfort over luxury and has refused to let his wealth change his
attitude. He prefers driving around in his 2012 Honda Odyssey and lives in a
relatively modest house. He told the Edmonton Journal in a 2006 interview.
“These people who build houses with 13 bathrooms and so on, there’s something
wrong with them.”
Carlos Slim Helú
The chairman and CEO of Telmex drives himself to work
everyday.
With the net worth of $72.9 billion, he’s competing for the
title of richest man in the world but Slim is by no means an excessive spender.
He lives in a 30 years old six-bedroom house and still drives himself to work.
Tim Cook
The CEO of Apple still wakes up at 4 AM to go to work
everyday.
It’s unclear what Mr. Cook’s net worth is, but he made $378
million in 2011 alone, and lives rather humbly. He wakes up every morning
before 4 a.m.,
spends an hour on email, then goes to the gym, then heads to work. In the
book 'Inside Apple', he was quoted as saying, “I like to be reminded of where I
came from, and putting myself in modest surroundings helps me do that. Money is
not a motivator for me.”
 |
| (Tim Cook and Steve Jobs at Apple) |
Steve Jobs
The ‘Father’ of Apple
For a person whose net worth was $ 10.2 billion, Steve Jobs
led a very simple life. Here is what Steve had to say about money: "I did
not want to live that lavish lifestyle that so many people do when they get
rich. I saw a lot of other people at Apple, especially after we went public,
how it changed them. And a lot of people thought that they had to start being
rich. I mean, a few people went out and bought Rolls Royces, and they bought
homes, and their wives got plastic surgery. I saw these people who were really
nice simple people turn into these bizarro people. And I made a promise to
myself, I said I'm not gonna let this money ruin my life."
Steve's frugality showed in his simple dressing style. A
pair of jeans and a black turtleneck is what he sported. Walter Isaacson says
in Jobs' biography, "He also came to like the idea of having a uniform for
himself, both because of its daily convenience (the rationale he claimed) and
its ability to convey a signature style."
Former Compaq chairman Ben Rosen once mentioned in his blog
about a meeting that he had with Jobs on a bitterly cold day in Manhattan. Jobs was in
his trademark attire. The two then went to a clothing store to purchase a coat
for Jobs. He found a coat he liked but balked at the price. "That much for
an overcoat? Too much. Besides, I'll never use it in California," he said. They left the
store, with Jobs tolerating the freezing cold rather than spending money on a
coat that he wouldn't wear again.
As the CEO of the world's most valued company, Jobs pulled
in a comically low annual salary of just $1. He once joked, "I get 50
cents a year for showing up, and the other 50 cents is based on my
performance."
Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad
Billionaire IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad, the Swedish
business magnate, who ranked ninth in the Bloomberg Billionaire's List last
year with an estimated fortune $41 billion, is one of the most frugal people.
He said during an interview to celebrate his 90th birthday, 'If you look at me
now, I don't think I'm wearing anything that wasn't bought at a flea market, it
is in the nature of Smaland to be thrifty.' He also shops in the local market
every evening before going home.
In a 2008 interview with a Swedish newspaper he said,
"Normally, I try to get my haircut when I'm in a developing country. Last
time it was in Vietnam."
In the same interview, he told the newspaper that a $33 bill
in the Netherlands
had broken his hair cut budget.
Arriving at a gala to receive a ‘Businessman Of The Year’
Award, he was at first refused entry because he had come on a bus.
Instead of dining at fine restaurants when he's traveling,
Kamprad will drop into a nearby Ikea and enjoy a $4 plate of Swedish meatballs,
lingonberry jam, and mashed potatoes. He also takes home the salt and pepper
packets.
Ikea "co-workers" are also told off if they don't
use both sides of a sheet of paper or leave the lights on when leaving the
room. Much like fellow billionaire Larry Ellison, Kamprad is rich enough to own
an airline but he flies economy on budget airlines.
He drove a 15-year-old Volvo. "She is nearly new, just
15 years old, or something like that," he once said, until he was
convinced that it was probably dangerous to continue doing so.
J.K Rowling
J.K Rowling hails from a very poor family and due to lack of
paper for writing her Harry Potter story she wrote on toilet paper. She was
rejected several times before her first book came out in 1997.
In 2004, welfare-mom-turned-bestselling-novelist J.K.
Rowling became the first author to make the Forbes billionaires list, thanks to
the film and marketing empire based on her seven-book Harry Potter series, the
first volume of which launched in the UK in 1997. She remained on the
list for seven years, all the while building a reputation for her philanthropic
endeavors, including contributions to the Multiple Sclerosis Society, the
Children's High-Level Group (now known as Lumos), the building of a
regenerative neurology clinic in Scotland, and various other
charitable causes through her philanthropic trust, Volant.
In 2012, Forbes announced that Rowling had dropped off its
billionaire's list, citing two reasons: the estimated $160 million (16% of her
fortune) she had given to charity, and Britain's high tax rates. Contrary
to the Internet version of events, Rowling was not the first billionaire
removed from the list thanks to her charitable generosity.
Regarding her commitment to charity, J.K. Rowling was quoted
in the Telegraph as saying, "I think you have a moral responsibility when
you've been given far more than you need, to do wise things with it and give
intelligently."
Mick Foley
Mick Foley was known in the WWF to drive around in his
minivan. He wouldn't buy any lavish things or wear more than his plaid vest, a
t-shirt, sweatpants, and gym socks. His net worth is at $15 million, yet he
lives in an ordinary house with his family.
He's always been a polite, positive, and outgoing person who
isn't afraid to cuss or get a little angry/show his passion for wrestling when
he's on the mic in front of a crowd.
Benny Hill
Despite being a millionaire many times over, Benny Hill
never owned his own home or car and instead preferred to rent a place rather
than buy one.
He continued with the frugal habits that he picked up from
his parents, notably his father, such as buying cheap food at supermarkets,
walking for miles rather than paying for a taxi (unless someone picked up the
tab for a limousine) and constantly patching and mending the same clothes.
In one of his obituaries, a story was told of how he
reportedly refused to mend his mother's leaky roof because it was 'too
expensive' and instead employed buckets to catch the drips from the leaking
roof.
The only luxury that he permitted himself was foreign
traveling and even then, he would stay in modest accommodations rather than
five-star hotels.
Occasionally he would go shopping, carrying plastic bags
stuffed with notes - although all he really wanted, he claimed, was, "A
roof, three meals a day, a passport, an aircraft ticket and a spare
shirt."
John Hawkes
Actor John Hawkes is known for being, essentially, the
anti-celebrity, which is why despite him being an Oscar nominee (for his
staggering performance alongside Jennifer Lawrence in Winter's Bone) and a
prolific character actor, many people don't even know who he is other than
finding his face vaguely familiar.
And he doesn't WANT you to recognize him, partly because he
describes himself as quite shy, partly because he feels it makes it harder for
him to convincingly do his job.
He said, "When I come onscreen, in a yellow car, I want
people to go, 'There's a cab driver,' instead of, 'That guy's got three
chihuahuas and fights against hunger in Tahiti'
or something."
He doesn't own a home (although he bought one for his
mother) but instead shares a rental. He has never owned a new car, and still
uses his old flip phone - he doesn't need a smartphone, because he doesn't have
Facebook, Twitter, or even email.
He has no assistant or staff, only an agent.
Sam Walton
Walmart Founder Sam Walton was living way below his means -
at least based on what his autobiography "Made in America"
says. Although being the richest man in America
(in 1985), he used to drive an old pickup truck and lives in Bentonville, Arkansas.
According to his own words, his attitude toward the money
stems from growing up during the Great Depression, so he just didn't believe
that a big, showy lifestyle was appropriate for anywhere.
When they asked him why he drove a pickup he said,
"What am I supposed to haul my dogs around in, a Rolls-Royce?"
(Courtesy: https://www.clipd.com/pop-culture/1729161/these-rich-and-famous-folks-are-noted-for-living-modestly/)
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