Money is the key to power. That’s why the wealthy have access to luxuries the rest of us can only dream of one day having.
While many of us are struggling just to make ends meet, we see the wealthy living their carefree luxurious lives and we can’t help but feel envious. Some of us aspire to become rich like them, thinking that money will be the solution to all our problems, bringing us a lifetime of happiness. Sam Polk was one of those people.
Growing up, Polk recalls how miserable his family was because of their financial struggles. His father — who was an aspiring screenwriter when Polk was a kid — would always talk about how hitting the jackpot would fix everything. Listening to the way his father talked about the good life, Polk knew that his ultimate lifelong dream was to become rich.
While money does solve most problems — such as living costs and debts— it does not solve everything, and it certainly doesn’t buy happiness.
In his memoir, For the Love of Money, Polk tells readers how he made his way to Wall Street and became a millionaire, and how achieving his lifelong dream did not satisfy him in the way that he thought it would.
All his life Polk wanted to fit in, and that was also one of the many reasons he wanted to be rich. If he had money, he could fit in with the men on Wall Street he had admired and looked up to. His success would also bring his family closer together and gain his father’s respect — or so he thought.
Once on Wall Street, Polk began to realize that most of the men he looked up to had nothing else really going for them, but their wealth. All they did was work, go to dinners, and party. Although all of that was fun at first, Polk soon became unhappy with the lifestyle and realized that his life lacked purpose. Sure he had the power to do whatever he wanted, but his relationship with his father was still strained and his job served no real purpose.
Polk went into Wall Street thinking that he had accomplished something great. Initially he thought he was being paid to understand the world, but later, he came to see it as merely being paid to judge the world and make his bets. He loved the money, but not the lifestyle it had brought him, or how he earned it.
When Polk left Wall Street he was told by numerous colleagues and friends that he was making a mistake and that if he stayed he could be earning way more in just a few years; but Polk had had enough. If all he was doing was working toward a bigger check, then what kind of person was he? He already had enough money to do whatever he wanted to do. Now what he really needed was to give his life purpose.
A few years after leaving Wall Street Polk founded Groceryships, a nonprofit based in Los Angeles whose objective is to improve long-term health and wellness in low-income communities by creating a network of educational support groups and enhancing access to healthy, unprocessed foods.
What Polk’s story teaches us is that though money is important, money alone doesn’t make you a successful person. It’s what you do to earn that money and how you contribute to this world that makes you truly successful. For a copy of the book visit: https://www.amazon.com/Love-Money-Memoir-Sam-Polk-ebook/dp/B0176M3XK8
For more information on Sam Polk visit: http://sampolk.me
