It is interesting how the papers stack up the news in the Business Section today. It is the tale of two ultra rich families, but while one is buying up properties, the other is struggling to own one.
If you look to your far right corner, that news read “CDL chairman’s family, nephew buy two units at luxury condo.”
Mind you, it is not cheap. Billionaire property developer Kwek Leng Beng bought an apartment in Boulevard 88, his own company’s project, and it costs a whopping $9.8 million. His nephew, CDL’s chief strategy officer Kwek Eik Sheng, is buying his own at a more modest $4.3 million.
Then, if you turn to the bigger column on your left, you read, “HK tycoon’s children won’t inherit fortune.”
In that news, “the heir to the biggest real estate agency in property mad Hong Kong does not own a house.”
Alex Shih is 30 and he is the vice chairman of Centaline Group run by his father. His father (Shih Wong Ching, 70) will pass him the business but his father’s share in Centaline Group, valued currently at US$400 million (S$543 million), will not go to the Alex because “it was donated to charity more than a decade ago.”
In fact, none of his three children will inherit the family fortune.
Why?
Well, Alex said: “He told us when we were very young and we didn’t have a choice. He would say that it’s better not to lead a life that’s too comfortable in one go. You’ll treasure it more if you gain things step by step.”
It reports that “while the firm handles millions of dollars of transactions a day, the soft-spoken Mr Shih said he earns only a regular salary.”
The aim of the Centaline group is to “alleviate poverty in rural China, from building infrastructure to supporting under-privileged children’s education.”
Alex said: “My friends who are working finance are making more money than I do.”
And the papers shed some light on his humble background: -
“A graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science, Mr Shih said he considers himself an average Hong Konger. His office is small and sparsely decorated, and he enjoys hiking and playing badminton - hardly the pursuits of the billionaire set.”
“His modest upbringing has also helped keep him humble. His father eschewed the elite international schools favoured by Hong Kong's wealthy and enrolled his children in local government-subsidised schools; from an early age, he instilled in them the philosophy that money should be used to help the less fortunate.”
Lesson? One.
Unavoidably, I return to how the super-rich spend their money.
I always believe that it is their right to spend their money whichever way they want to. They only live once with their loved ones, and as long as they make good use of what they reap financially, harvesting enduring values over the long run that deepen humanity as a whole and their own lives and families collectively, whatever they spend on is really none of my business.
Having said that, there is however always the issue of overindulgence, princelings’ reckless conduct, and conspicuous/extravagant consumption amidst glaring poverty and runaway inequality.
But, those issues have been addressed in a thousand ways since the inception of our agrarian economy and the birth of private ownership more than ten thousand years ago, and I can’t possibly squeeze all that communistic and social activism’s angst into this short post. I have in fact said my peace about it in many other posts of mine.
Today, to keep it simple, I just want to highlight young Alex’s trajectory and philosophy of life. Here is a sneak peek of it.
“(Alex) aims to buy a two-bedroom flat in a middle-class neighbourhood in West Kowloon, or the slightly more upmarket Ho Man Tin if his parents chip in, citing both areas' good public transport links and potential for price growth - a far cry from the multimillion-dollar mansions his agency sells.”
He ended the article with these words: “The first home may not be the one you want the most. But at least you get on the property ladder and then you slowly climb up."
Here’s my thot.
I believe that some values or philosophy are timeless. One of them is in the words of Shih’s senior - “He would say that it’s better not to lead a life that’s too comfortable in one go. You’ll treasure it more if you gain things step by step.”
And I believe Alex inherited the best of his father’s “wealth” when he said - “The first home may not be the one you want the most. But at least you get on the property ladder and then you slowly climb up."
Sometimes, an inheritance (or indulgence) that is quick and swift can lead to a fall that is just as quick and swift. That is why it is said that if you give a beggar a horse, he is likely to ride his way to hell.
Alex and his father taught me an important aspect of parenting, especially fatherhood.
While money doesn’t grow on trees, most come with hard work, but the locust of a corrupt or spoilt character in the younger generation who come to untold fortune without industry and humility can result in the destruction of the entire family tree of wealth in just one or two generations.
I caveat that it is none of my business how the rich manage or spend their fortune. But the way the Shih family do theirs is highly unconventional, radical even in this world defined more by what is seen than what is not.
Some may frown at it, calling it many names; most of all, complaining that one should not let one’s son or daughter suffer and struggle when one is able to (almost effortlessly) provide the whole nine-yards of material comfort and financial buffer.
But, the way I see it from Shih’s perspective is this invaluable lesson that maybe, the greatest misfortune in one’s life is possessing great fortune but missing out on nurturing one’s character to handle it; or worst, to allow it to handle us, to change us for the worse.
And the reverse corollary of that is this, the greatest wealth a father can give to his children is a life lived by example, a life defined by character, and a life premised not on the material but the eternal, timeless and enduring.
That kind of inheritance, that kind of fortune will never be stolen. Neither is it corruptible - because it is about a life that will prevail and overcome in all circumstances, whether rich or poor.
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