"GATES-LIKE" MONEY. What If You Gained The Whole World?

Over the last few weeks I've really been spending a lot of time looking at other dividend investors' websites, learning from them, trying to rejoin the community after a 4 year break from blogging, and also trying to promote some awareness of my website a little. Let's be honest - it's great to be back in the community of investor/dividend bloggers, and as a result I'm trying not to just sit back in my shell and keep to myself - I'm trying to re-assimilate with some very incredible, motivated people.

Well, this morning I again found myself surfing around many people's websites, just reviewing everyone's July Income Reports (these dividend reports seem to be a standard monthly post for us bloggers, huh?) and after awhile I really started to get discouraged. Some people I saw were making $1K (or even more, in varying currencies) per month while others were just starting out with only a few dollars, or even $100 each month.  Frankly, the specific amounts don't matter because the spectrum of results is pretty wide. Even in the little dividend bloggers community.  

Well, as I was going through this exercise I also found myself starting to compare my results ($587 last month) to all of these other people's results.  Here is where the discouragement started to set in. Thankfully I noticed what was going on with my attitude while I was comparing myself to other people, and that got me thinking about the richest men in the world, and what it would be like to be at that level. Let's be honest, there are times when thoughts like that suggest it WOULD BE REALLY COOL.  These individuals make BILLIONS per month some times.

Here is the Forbes list of the Top 5 richest people in the World currently:

• #1Bill Gates$75 B
• #2Amancio Ortega$67 B
• #3Warren Buffett$60.8 B
• #4Carlos Slim Helu$50 B
• #5Jeff Bezos$45.2 B

And don't get me wrong, I aspire to be very wealthy myself.  But this morning it hit me: Matthew 16:26.  Man. I had to go back and look at it again to read it word-for-word.  It states:

"What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?"

A different translation states:

And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul.  Is anything worth more than your soul?

This was pretty convicting for me personally. Don't miss its power.  The men pictured above can easily have "the whole world." But what if they've been so busy building their own kingdoms here on earth that they lose their souls. Yikes.

Readers, please hear me, riches, dividend income, passive income, Lamborghinis (my personal favorite of the super cars), net worth, rental income, millions, financial independence, mansions, early retirement, billions, all of it is great to have, but what if we miss the point of being here on earth because of our pursuit?

I've never seen this particular Latin phrase in my life, until of course, at another website this same morning (funny how that works out as I'm about to write this post): Memento Mori. It's worth looking up its meaning. Memento Mori. 

Thanks for reading,

Passive Income Dude