Saturday 18 February 2017

Why the “Technologically Backward” Will Be Rich

Big leaps in technology have resulted in many of us feeling inadequate if we aren’t an active user of it. But the technologically backward have an inherent edge over the technologically advanced: they will become rich.

How? Just by not chasing the latest fad, you can save tons of money. You can then invest this money and become rich. The technologically up-to-date must keep spending to satisfy their false sense of being savvy, thus killing their financial prospects in turn.

This doesn’t mean that you have to turn yourself away from technology. Technology has made our lives easier and by all means you should embrace it. But you shouldn’t chase it. Every day something gets developed. Just because something is out there doesn’t mean you have to use it. Neither do you need to be among the first users of a technology. Wait for a technology to become popular and see if it fulfills your need. If it doesn’t, you are most welcome to shun it.

I know a person who wanted to buy a new phone. She wants her phone to have “everything,” to be the “latest.” When you want “everything,” you have to pay for everything, which pushes up the cost. And you are never going to use many features for which you have paid. What sense does it make to pay for something you are never going to use?

With technology, my personal policy is that it should be “progressively need-based.” This means buy what you need currently, with some enhancements. For instance, if your current requirement is 8 gigabytes of storage, you may go for 16 gigabytes. But not 32 or 64 or 128 gigabytes. The more storage capacity you want, the more you must pay. And you may never use that much storage ever.

While the technologically savvy may appear cool at first sight, it’s the technologically backward who will have the last laugh.