Could there be a yardstick for Greed? Who does not want to make money? Everyone knows risk and rate of returns are directly proportional! Having said that why to legislate some risky investments as illegal, if the individual is willing to risk!

Take for example, Ponzi schemes. Heard of Sharda Ponzi scheme that made Mamta’s TMC to hit the limelight for wrong reasons!

A typical Ponzi scheme, involves paying off early investors with proceeds from later investors. Many outside the financial circles may not know, it is named after Charles Ponzi, who was born in Lugo, Italy, on March 3, 1882. In 1920, Ponzi organized a company called Securities Exchange Co. in which he sold stock (promissory notes) advertising 50% interest after 90 days. Ponzi used funds obtained from new investors to pay off old investors. His scheme ran for over a year before it collapsed, costing his “investors” $20 million. Ponzi spent the last years of his life in poverty and passed away in 1941.

While this type of fraudulent investment scheme was not invented by Ponzi, it became so identified with him that it now is referred to as a “Ponzi scheme“.

But it is Bernie Madoff, who is famous for operating probably the largest Ponzi scheme in history. Madoff’s Ponzi scheme was operated through the wealth management portion of his business. It was a classic – and, in fact, frighteningly simple – Ponzi scheme. Madoff attracted investors by promising them extraordinarily high returns on their investments. However, when investors handed over the money, Madoff just deposited it into his personal bank account at Chase Manhattan Bank. He paid “returns” to earlier investors using the money obtained from later investors. Clients’ trading statements, showing their alleged profits, were complete fabrications.

It’s estimated that Madoff’s fraud extended for more than 20 years and ran to over $50 billion. Madoff was arrested in 2008 and eventually sentenced to 150 years in prison. So people haven’t learnt from their experience and law makers couldn’t detect a scam ‘timely’!

Now a days you hear of scandalous Ponzi schemes running in thousands of crores every year without a break!

There is another form of financial fraud called pyramid scheme. Ponzi schemes simply require a cash investment to earn returns, while Pyramid schemes, on the other hand, need you to pay a fee and/or purchase products and services in order to participate and earn income.

Burn Lounge scam for example, is an online music store that lured persons who paid for the right to sell music, while earning awards for recruiting other individuals into the business. The bonuses were not in any way tied to sales of merchandise. Between 2005 and 2007, the company is said to have conned 50000 people. $17 million was fined.

In 2008, Nine women have been found guilty of running a £21m get-rich-quick scheme, fleecing at least 10,000 victims after luring them in with “champagne celebration nights” and encouraging them to “beg, borrow or steal” the £3,000 needed to invest in the scam. Give and Take is an English scheme in which a group of operators requested £3,000 as an entry fee and promised a £20,000 bonus for recruiting a certain amount of new members. The individuals were convicted and served jail terms.

While such pyramid schemes are illegal, multilevel marketing (MLM), that works on almost similar principles, is legal!

If you join an MLM program, the company may refer to you as an independent “distributor,” “participant,” or “contractor.” Most MLMs say you can make money two ways: by selling the MLM’s products yourself to “retail” customers who are not involved in the MLM; by recruiting new distributors and earning commissions based on what they buy and their sales to retail customers. Your recruits, the people they recruit, and so on, become your sales network, or “downline.” MLM is not a pyramid scheme, it will pay you based on your sales to retail customers, even if you don’t recruit new distributors. Do you recall the popular ‘Tupperware’?

Are you clear now? Where lies the line of demarcation between pyramid scam and genuine MLM network?

Finance is such a complex science, that only crooks can make quick money, legally, till a new law is passed to declare such schemes as ‘illegal’! By the way wizards vouch ‘Bit coins’ neither fall under ‘Ponzi’ nor ‘Pyramid’ and hence are not illegal (so far). But who knows, what the future holds?

So, if you want to take risks legally, you are not categorised under ‘Geedy’ – from investing in fixed deposits to share market ‘stocks’; But if you start a ponzi or pyramid, sooner or later you would be ‘booked’ depending upon how ‘connected’ you are!

Here comes the story of my personal greed- Sometime back, when I was fiddling with my daughter’s mobile in Singapore, where I went for holidaying, a message popped up ‘simple questions – if you answer correctly you would get a free IPhone – conditions apply’! I was lured; I didn’t notice each SMS reply cost 1$. I started around 6 in the morning when everyone was busy organising to go to work. Each correct answer came with a response, ‘congrats – few more questions – the phone is yours’; around 830, I was fed up and closed the session! My daughter got a bill for an unexplained entry of 210$ (it was post paid) that month! Puzzled, she asked me, what did I do with her mobile? I couldn’t recall anything immediately. But later I mumbled her the episode with guilty. Obviously this being a case of cheating, she took up with authorities. They refused to accept our claim for the fraudulent phishing or scam as ‘the terms and conditions’ were accepted before entering the ‘quiz’! I never thought I could be taken for a ride so easily in Singapore! I felt guilty and my daughter paid the price for my greed!

That is Fraud in the new internet age! I paid for my greed to own an iPhone at no cost!

சொர்க்கம் சொர்க்கம் என்று சொல்கிறார்களே அங்கு வாழ்க்கை அப்படி என்ன போரடிக்காமல் சுகமாக இருக்குமா? அங்கு ஒரு கஷ்டம் கூட இருக்காது என்று பெரியோர்கள் சொல்ல கேள்வி. எனக்கு என்னவோ அப்படி இருக்க வாய்ப்பில்லை என்று தோன்றுகின்றது. நிழலின் சுகம் கூட வெய்யிலில் இருந்தபின்தானே தெரிகிறது. பஞ்சு மெத்தை கூட சிறிது நேரத்துக்கு பின், புரண்டு படுத்தால்தான் சுகிக்கமுடிகிறது. நன்கு உழைத்தவருக்கு தானே படுத்தவுடன் உறக்கம் வருகிறது. ஓய்வின் சுகம் உழைப்பவருக்குத்தான் அதிகம் தெரியும். கசப்பு என்று ஒரு சுவை இருப்பதால்தான் சர்க்கரை அதிகம் இனிக்கிறது. பார்வை உள்ளவன் குருடானால்தான் அவனுக்கு பார்வையின் அருமையே தெரியும். நிச்சயமாக சொர்க்க வாழ்வு கொஞ்ச நாளில் ‘போரடிக்கும்’.

துன்பம் என ஒன்றை அறியாத வாழ்க்கையை விட, சிறிது கரடு முரடாக இருக்கும் சாதாரண வாழ்க்கை ஒரு சுவையே. சொர்க்க வாழ்க்கை ‘போரடிப்பதால்தான்’ பலர், மது, மாது, போதை மருந்து போன்ற மாய இன்பங்களுக்கு அடிமையாகிறார்கள். பல மிகப்பெரும் செல்வந்தர்களின் வாரிசுகள் கூட சீரழிவதும் அதனால்தானோ.

துன்பங்களை யார்தான் விரும்பி ஏற்பர்? துன்பத்தை தவிர்க்க பலர், குடும்பம் என்ற பந்தத்தையே ஒதுக்குகிறார்கள். அவர்கள் பல துன்பங்களுக்கும் அந்த பந்தம்தான் மூலகாரணம் என்கிறார்கள். அது இல்லாவிடில் எல்லா சுகங்களையும் ஒரு நிர்பந்தமும் கட்டுப்பாடு ஏதுமின்றி அனுபவிக்கலாமன்றோ? இந்த கால சிறுசுகள் கல்யாணத்தையும், குழந்தை பெறுவதையும் தள்ளிப்போடுவது இதனால்தான். குழந்தை குட்டிகளில்லை என்றால், அவர்களை வளர்க்க கஷ்டப்பட வேண்டாம், பள்ளியில் சேர்க்க அல்லோலகல்லோல படவேண்டாம். அவர்களின் எதிர்காலத்தை எண்ணி எண்ணி உருகவேண்டாம். அவர்களின் திருமணத்தை முடிக்க கவலைப்பட வேண்டாம். பேரக்குழந்தைகளைப்பற்றிய கவலையே வேண்டாமே? தனிமனிதனாக வாழும் வாழ்க்கை சுகம்தானோ? அதுதான் இல்லை.

அவனுக்கு துன்பம் என்று ஒன்று வந்தால் எண்ணங்களை பகிரவேண்டிய கட்டாயம் வருகிறது. பகிராவிடில் மன அழுத்தம் வருவதாக உளவியல் வல்லுனர்களின் கூற்று. மன அழுத்தம் குறைய அதனால் நண்பர்கள் அவசியம். அதே காரணங்களால் உடலியலாகவும் உறவு தேவையாகிறது. எனவே திருமண உறவும் அவசியமாகிறது. இதனால்தான் உற்றார் உறவினர் என்று பலர் கூடும் குடும்பவாழ்வு சமுதாயத்தில் உருவாக்கப்பட்டது. இத்தகைய வாழ்க்கையில் கரடுமுரடு ஓட்டம் தவிர்க்க இயலாதது. ஆனால் அப்படி இருப்பதால்தான் இந்த அனுபவம் சுவைக்கிறது. அது மிகப்பெரிய கஷ்டங்களாக உருவெடுக்காமல் செய்வதில்தான் நமது திறமையே அடங்கி உள்ளது.

குடும்பம் நடத்தும் கிருகஸ்தர்களே, நகர வாழ்க்கையை கடிந்து கொள்ளும் நண்பர்களே, “சொர்க்கமே என்றாலும் நம்ம ஊரப்போலாகுமா” – இதை உணர்த்ததான் பாடப்பட்டதோ?

உப்புசப்பில்லாத வாழ்க்கையும் ஒரு வாழ்க்கையா? அவ்வப்போது வரும் துன்பங்களை, அடுத்துவரும் இன்பங்களை அதிகம் சுவைக்க வரும் முன்னோட்டமாக எண்ணி, வாழ்க்கையை அனுபவிப்போம், வாருங்கள்!

In July 2011, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution Happiness: Towards a Holistic Definition of Development inviting member countries to measure the happiness of their people and to use the data to help guide public policy. The 2018 report features the happiness score averaged over the years 2015-2017. As per the report, Finland  is the happiest country in the world. Norway, Denmark, Iceland and Switzerland hold the next top positions.  Among the 157 countries listed, india occupies a dismal 133rd position much behind our militant neighbour Pakistan which is at 75! But most appalling is, we are even behind the poverty ridden Ethiopia which is at 127!

This perplexes a sane mind as to ponder what is happiness? Whether the indicators followed by the world body is contestable?

An excellent study published by Joshua Shenk, based on a 73 year study tracking the lives of 268 men, the longest ‘quality of life’ project, reveals the following six basic tenets that contribute to the human happiness: Education, stable relationships, alcohol abuse, warm cohorts (siblings, friends, etc.,), exercise and healthy adaptation to changes. Wealth does not figure in the list!

The wealthy, since they easily get everything that money can get without lifting a finger, pursue the thrills of high speed driving, dopes, poaching blackbucks and sex orgies, while in pursuit of happiness. Shouldn’t you be happy for not being wealthy?

Don’t you agree that in life even small tasks and hopes of accomplishments bring in cheers… I recall the elation during my youth during planning for upcoming festivals like Diwali or long tours or marriages of close kith and kins or for that matter even your own marriage… (?) 

Have you ever experienced happiness when you get back an item that you might have misplaced which you have thought as lost; But have you realised the happiness would be more than if it had not been lost at all!! Doesn’t it seem very funny? The status remaining the same how the mind could feel happier with a passing event? Is happiness not a state-function in the jargons of physics? Does it depend on the path the mind traverses? 

There was a story of a rich man who had lost all interest in worldly life, and went searching for peace and tranquillity. So, he decided to take the guidance of a spiritual master. “Let me offer everything to the master and forget about it. What I really crave is true happiness.” So he put all the gold coins he had in a bag and carried it along with him.

After an entire day’s arduous journey, he met the master, placed the money bag and bowed down to him. But when he raised his head, the man was astounded to see the master running away with the money bag. Totally confused and startled by the guru’s strange behaviour, the rich man chased him as fast as his legs could carry him. The master ran faster as he was so familiar with the village’s narrow, winding system of paths and lanes that the rich man had great difficulty in keeping up with him. Finally, giving up all hope, he returned to the same spot where he had first met the master. And there lay his money bag – and hiding behind the tree was the master. As the rich man greedily grabbed his precious bag of money, the master peeped from behind a tree and asked, “Tell me how you feel now.” “I am happy, very happy—it’s the happiest moment in my life.” “So,” said the guru, “To experience real happiness, you have to go through the other extreme also.”

So, next time if you miss your wallet when you return home, don’t lose your tempers; it is an opportunity to be happy when you get it back!!

So we, Indians, may not be all that unhappy! Happiness is not in just numbers!

Credits

1.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Happiness_Report

2. What Makes us Happy? Joshua Wolf Shenk on Happiness: https://psychcentral.com/blog/what-makes-us-happy-my-interview-with-joshua-wolf-shenk/

Most of the very successful entrepreneurs have gruelling goals set for them and those working with them would find it ‘nauseating’ literally. Tesla chief Elan Musk is trying to locate a number two for his company! His gruelling work rigours is taking a personal toll which he had revealed in a recent interview! Wealth is not driving them to perform!

For two decades, Mr. Musk has been one of Silicon Valley’s most brash and ambitious entrepreneurs, helping to found several influential technology companies. He has often carried himself with bravado, dismissing critics and relishing the spotlight that has come with his success and fortune. But in the interview, he demonstrated an extraordinary level of self-reflection and vulnerability, acknowledging that his myriad executive responsibilities are taking a steep personal toll.