Saving for the Future: The End of the Road of Wealth, by Paul

In these times of economic uncertainty, many people are concerned for the future. Corporate executives sigh on the way to the Capitol as they read dismal earnings reports and prepare to beg the represented public for infusions of cash to save their failing industries. Home buyers trapped by skyrocketing ARMs have found themselves turned out of their homes despite years of timely payments, having lost their ability to meet their obligations only recently. As the unemployment figures grow and our government attempts a response to the crisis, many would do well to remember the fundamental philosophy of sacrifice and frugality behind Benjamin Franklin's "The Way to Wealth."

There have been many iterations of the idea that the love of money is the root of all evil. There is ample evidence in these times of gross ostentation that an abundance of money can blacken names and reputations. As Americans trustingly gave over their retirement investments to speculators and financial managers, those same managers lost sight of the principles that motivated people to save their money. With the vast fortune at their command, these "Masters of the Universe" invested without regard for the risk, except insofar as higher risk investments yielded greater potential rewards. The great frugality and industry of working Americans amassed this fortune, the abandonment of those principles has led to its ruin.

It is vital for individuals interested in attaining wealth to become concerned with the management of their money. This was true before the credit markets froze and is even more true now that the false promises of easy money have borne out their truths. Advertising services press consumers hard with the idea that purchasing their products will improve the quality of living, however, "tis easier to suppress the first desire, than to satisfy all that follow it" (455). Automobiles are fine things for traveling great distances but often people will use them for trifling distances of a mile or five, distances they could have easily walked to their health's greater benefit while simultaneously saving the money they would have otherwise (by extension) burned up in the gas tank.

Many Americans still believe in these notions of frugality and industry although many are now learning of these virtues through harder means than was strictly necessary. Easy credit lured many into abandoning frugality for luxury, doing so at the expense of liberty (455-456). Luxury homes and cars, designer clothes and jewels, private jets and gold plated toilets: "of what use is this pride of appearance, for which so much is risked and so much is suffered? It cannot promote health, or ease pain; it makes no increase of merit in the person, it creates envy, it hastens misfortune." Although a Lexus is a nice looking car, it is hardly a filling entree when the larder is empty.

The underlying theme of Franklin's advice is simple, but easy to miss in the glare of wealth. Live simply, sacrifice, and above all, remember that "Gain may be temporary and uncertain, but ever while you live, expense is constant and certain" (456). The natural consequence of living is death; we know our bodies are doomed to certain decay and that our ability to be industrious is only temporary. The pursuit of wealth therefore is in light of this information, a wise storing up against the harder days that lie in the twilight of our years when we are unable to work any longer. The need to be useful rather than a burden on our families and communities is what drives the honest pursuit of wealth.

Works Cited
Franklin, Benjamin. "The Way to Wealth." The Norton Anthology of American Literature Vol. A. 7th ed. New York: Norton and Company, 2007. 451-457.