Be Rich, Not Famous: Living Low-profile Skip to main content

Be Rich, Not Famous: Living Low-profile

You are not under the watchful eyes of the public.  
Famous people are being followed by paparazzi, get interviewed on TV, have their entire lives scrutinized and even made into reality shows.  Imagine you walk into a hawker center in your slippers and PJs, and people start pointing commenting and maybe some even take photos of you.  Unless the work you do is truly meaningful - i.e. Jane Goodall, and you're not a public servant (work in the government), pictures of you with fans are meaningless and fleeting.

When you're dead, people will only remember the day you died, or not at all.
Assuming someone famous passed away.  My typical reaction for 30sec would be "oh my, oh no, lets google it to find out more." And then I'd forget it and move on with life.  Is it worth it to live a life in constant public scrutiny, just for these 30 sec when you die?  Unless you're someone really famous like Ghandi, or Donald Trump, nobody will really care because you won't have made such a great impact to the world.  Save your efforts, and live a private life.

Only the closest people matter to you, because they make life meaningful.

 You can live your life in peace, doing what you want to do.
When you're rich and famous, most people will want something from you.  Either your time or your money, or both.  You'd have to spend precious time entertaining these clowns, or risk having your reputation tarnished for being an uppity ass.   If you were just rich, and people don't know that you are, they won't come knocking, and you'd have all the time to yourself!  Then you can really spend time with people you love, with you doing the things you enjoy.  Life should be filled with happiness, with laughter every day.

There are no expectations of you
You don't have to be prim and proper all the time.  You don't have to live up to anyone's name or expectations.  Assuming your father ran a listed multi-million dollar corporation, and now he's handed everything to you. You can't fail, or you will remember as the one who sank the empire!  Wouldn't it be better to be able to surpass expectations instead of constantly trying to meet them?  Being a nobody sets the bar way lower, and you'd get better payoffs for exceeding it.

Your children can be themselves
The children of celebrities are not spared from public scrutiny.  It's quite sad for them, as they weren't given a choice.  Shield them from the evil public, until they're old enough to tell and create their own story.
We attend a weekend playgroup with our 1yo daughter and Mrs EOR once whispered to me "Hey there's a local celebrity in the same class".  My first reaction was "I don't care as I don't know any local celebrities" and second was "that sucks for her because everyone will be watching her and her kid".  Then people may make comments and comparisons with her kid, and it goes downhill from there. The Singapore parenting kiasuness will come out.  Please spare the innocent 1-2yo children, as they're just there to play!
December is the happiest month of the year, as it's Xmas and New Years.  Happy December everyone!
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