In 1923, nine of the wealthiest people in the world met at Chicago's Edge Water Beach Hotel*.

*Their combined wealth, it is estimated, exceeded the wealth of the Government of the United States at that time*. These men certainly knew how to make a living and accumulate wealth. *Attending the meeting were the following men*:

1. The president of the *largest steel company,*

2. The president of the *largest utility company,*

3. The president of the *largest gas company,*

4. The president of the *New York Stock Exchange,*

5. The president of the *Bank of International Settlements,*

6. The *greatest wheat speculator*,

7. The greatest *bear on Wall Street,*

8. The head of the *World's greatest Economy*
&

9. A member of *President Harding's cabinet*.

*That's a pretty impressive line-up of people by anyone's yardstick.*

Yet, 25 years later, where were those nine industrial giants?

*Let’s examine what happened to them 25 years later*.
1. The President of the then largest steel company (Bethlehem Steel Corp), *Charles M Schwab, lived on borrowed capital for five years before he died bankrupt.*

2. The President of the then largest gas company, *Howard Hubson, went insane*.

3. One of the greatest commodity traders (Wheat Speculator), *Arthur Cutten, died insolvent.*

4. The then President of the New York Stock Exchange, *Richard Whitney, was sent to jail.*

5. The member of the US President’s Cabinet (the member of President Harding's cabinet), *Albert Fall, was pardoned from jail just to be able to go home and die in peace.*

6. The greatest “bear” on Wall Street, *Jesse Livermore committed suicide*.

7. The President of the then world’s greatest monopoly, *Ivar Krueger, committed suicide*.

8. The President of the Bank of International Settlement, *Leon Fraser, committed Suicide.*

9. The president of the largest utility company, *Samuel Insull, died penniless.*

*What they forgot was how to "make" life while they got busy making money!*

*Money in itself is not evil;* it provides food for the hungry, medicine for the sick, clothes for the needy. *Money is only a medium of exchange.*

*We need two kinds of education*:

a) One that teaches us *how to make a living,*

and

b) One that teaches us *how to live*.

*There are many of us who are so engrossed in our professional life that we neglect our family, health and social responsibilities.*

If asked why we do this, we would reply that *"We are doing it for our family"*.

Yet, *our kids are sleeping when we leave home*. They are sleeping *when we come back home*!! *Twenty years later, we’ll turn back, and they’ll all be gone, to pursue their own dreams and their own lives*.

*Without water, a ship cannot move*. *The ship needs water, but if the water gets into the ship, the ship will face existential problems*. What was once a means of living for the ship will now become a means of destruction.

Similarly we live in a time where earning is a necessity but *let not the earning enter our hearts, for what was once a means of living will surely become a means of destruction for us as well.*

*So take a moment and ask yourself, "Has the water entered my ship?"*
I hope not!