We are all familiar with the saying that money can’t buy love or even happiness; I know a number of filthy rich people who are miserable and lonely. So it got me thinking, what are some of the things that money absolutely cannot buy for you?

 

•           Family and friends: I used to think being rich meant you could pick the best friends and that family will love you to death, but I was mistaken. Don’t get me wrong, money will bring a lot of ‘friends’ your way but you gotta be able to determine who is there because they care about you and who just wants to live off the crumbs from your table. Making paper won’t bring you any closer to family if you are too busy chasing it.

 

•           Happiness: Clichéd, I know but it continues to ring true. No matter how rich you are, you could be lounging in a suite at the Ritz or own mansions scattered all over the world but there always seems to be something missing doesn’t it? Well if you can’t lay a finger on it then maybe everything you’ve got is purely narcotic. 

 

•           Personality:  It is a sneaky creature, goes by other strange names like virtue and righteousness and at one time, a certain generation used to call it “true wealth”. We don’t really know whether it still exists but if you are looking to have it, it has to come from inside of you.

 

•           Peace: As the saying goes: “Peace of mind over everything” or just generally world peace. It often proves elusive but I never came by a stall that had a jar of peace on a counter for purchase.

  

•           Immortality: Here’s the big one! Over generations, man has often sought a way to defeat death but even the wealthiest men haven’t found a way to outrun this sneaky bastard. Steve Jobs (RIP), one of the most influential and arguably richest men in the world passed away last year. What? You think if he could buy a cure for cancer he’d be six feet under? Think again. I’ve often wondered how children of beggars and street urchins manage to outlive even though they are malnourished.

 

•           Respect: Nigerians are generally good at kissing ass so you would probably get respected a lot if you had dough to throw aound. You can smirk at the poor sods on the lower echelons of life, but they will pull faces behind your back if you are the sort who is perpetually asking for it. Dignity is the most fragile of public possessions.

 

•           Talent: Another clichéd, misused, misunderstood word, like creativity, and maybe no one knows what it is anymore, but you are either born with it or not. Possibly the best example is Lenoardo da Vinci and the Mona Lisa portrait. He took 16 years to paint it, did not bother to name it and refused to sell it to kings and Counts as he travelled through Europe. It was eventually sold by his assistant after he died.

 

•           Health: Sure healthcare costs money but, viewed sanely, a good efficient treatment is not that much of a substitute for a good healthy life. Isn’t it better not to need healthcare in the first place? 

 

•           Love: It matters, that little empty feeling when you are sitting with a glass of Chardonnay on your balcony on a Saturday evening, tweeting morosely with twenty sober thoughts chasing each other in your head, and no one to tell them to. That feeling of intense loneliness can neither be bought off, papered over nor told to keep quiet and leave the room. Someone says, “Money can’t buy love, but with all the other things it can, I’ll give love a miss.” Your call. You still have the Chardonnay.

 

So there you go guys, please use the comment box and tell me what you think of my list. Do you agree? What other things do you think money can’t buy? Oh and check out The Beatle’s ‘Money Can’t Buy Me Love’, amazing song.