“Material things will eventually become just an item that you own.

A mansion will eventually become a house.

A Rolex will eventually become a watch.

A Ferrari will eventually become a car.”

I feel conflicted about this particular note that I wrote down a few months ago.

Do I want a mansion? Not really, a cosy, well-built house will do it for me.

Do I want a Rolex? Yes.

Do I want a 6.5-litre naturally aspirated V12 powering a Ferrari 812 that sings like an angel? Hell yeah!

So why do I still want all of it, knowing it eventually ends up as a house, a watch and a car, when the wisest and most successful people alive keep repeating that money and things can’t buy you happiness?

For me it isn’t really the house or the watch or the car. It’s what they represent. It’s about getting to the position where I am free from money. If I get there and never buy any of it, that’s fine, because at that point I know I’ve made it.

The thing is, everyone who says money won’t make you happy is saying it from the side of having it. They earned it, they bought things with it, and then they came to that conclusion. The advice was probably never wrong. It’s just weightless, because it comes from a place I have never been.

I believe what they say. I still just want to go through it and see for myself.