I met a mate on the plane this morning. He was seated at a window a couple of rows ahead of me. I almost went up to the chap next to him to ask him to switch seats with me. Good thing I didn’t as it was his dad! I later met his dad at the airport when we landed in PE and we got chatting. I mentioned that I had resigned and I started to talk about my plans for next year, i.e. write a book. He was interested in the content and so I explained my story about the choice between career and family. His first comment was that he can write a couple of chapters on that! He proceeded to point out some interesting benefits to the career option. Now this is where it really gets interesting – this is once again stuff that I have not thought about at all. His choice was to choose career (I imagine). The big benefit of the career choice is that you can generate real wealth – this in turn allows you to spend this wealth and your time later in life on your older family. I had not given this any thought. Here is a man who has the experience of this model working out for him. He did admit (and he really did not have to) that he was alive as is his family so that he is able to use this wealth to their advantage. I am not sure that all of us will be so lucky. I suppose in my mind the key shortcoming of this approach is that there is no way to guarantee a number of things :

- that you will generate wealth (not lose or spend it or die trying),
- that you will be alive and healthy,
- that your family will still be yours (i.e. not divorced or dead).

I do however, have a new appreciation for the fact that some choose to generate wealth as their way of being a good father. The question I come back to, is how much is enough, i.e. when does one stop working on the wealth base and turn back to one’s family? Is this what your family wants – financial security above all else? How much of the choice is driven by your need for power, influence and having fun rather than working as it were for the family’s best interests? More things to think about….