Love versus money

A few years ago while doing Form Six, we were supposed to present an impromptu speech in class and the given title was the ever-boring "My ambition". When it was my classmate’s turn, she said, “My ambition is to marry a rich man!” and beamed with pride. I personally think it was a stupid idea and it was obviously humiliating for a six former to have such a lousy target…but her answer was understandable, as it has long been debated that money has a great linkage with love. These days, many women are said to marry for money or even date an ATM machine, if you know what I mean here.

There’s this girl staying at my hostel block who is obviously a good example. There have been hot rumors about how she got this rich man’s son to be her boyfriend, let’s call him Fatty for easy reference. I don’t know whether the story about her is true or not, but I’ll just tell what I heard. After all, her story is just a prelude to what I’m going to say.

Fatty spent lots of money and time to finally win her heart. She didn’t say yes because of Fatty’s efforts. She finally agreed to be his girlfriend after traveling all the way to Malacca (Fatty’s hometown) to check on his family’s background…erm, financial status. Fatty happens to be a super rich man’s son. From that time on, there’s no turning back. She has been with him for a few semesters now. She enjoys free rides back to Penang (her hometown) coz Fatty is currently her official chauffer. The rest of her story is pretty obvious.

That time, I really couldn’t understand why she agreed to date Fatty. Frankly speaking, who doesn’t like money? Everyone loves money especially express cash and that includes me! I know it’s beneficial to date a rich man’s son but why not date a rich man instead? It was really logical to think that way back then…but when I had my fair share of experience, I realized that I would love lots of money only if I earned them by myself.

To cut a long story short, I dated a guy some time ago without knowing his financial background. His casual dressing, messy hair and humble character belied the number of digits in his bank accounts. After two weeks, I was shocked when I found out that he’s actually a self-made millionaire. All the while, I thought it would be cool to date a super rich guy who also has some of the qualities I look for in a man...until I met this guy, my thoughts changed.

Initially, it was quite fun dating him but after some time, I realized it wasn’t comfortable at all to date someone who was constantly on phone calls dealing with businesses that worth millions of Ringgit! *Gasps* You read it right. Millions of Ringgit and the latest business could fetch up to 5 Billion Ringgit! He was so rich that he could buy any car or condo with cash! It wasn’t about feeling inferior to his success, wealth or big businesses. In fact, I’m glad he taught me lots of things regarding business and the complicated people around him, something I might probably not have the opportunity to even take a peek at in my whole lifetime.

I guess psychology plays a role too. When a person is super rich and has all the power in his businesses, he tends to be manipulative. With that, I summed it up that, dating a rich man isn’t that nice actually. Most of them have this kind of mindset – he pays for everything and buys anything you want, but you will have to listen to him. It isn’t convincing at all as yours truly only has interests in win-win situations. Apart from that, I dislike being dependent on others and hate being told of what to do. I’m an advocate of gender equality. So I’m proud to say that I still prefer to earn my targeted net worth by myself, even if I had to tread bumpy roads just to reach the final destination.

I don’t understand why certain girls could lower down their integrity and place dignity aside just for the sake of instant wealth. This is such a disgrace to the female population. We have the ability to get the things we want by ourselves, so why should we depend on other people? I was thinking, if I could walk down the road to financial freedom by myself, why should I date/marry an ATM machine? …but I guess financial stability will still remain as one of the requirements for eligible bachelors! Hehehe…