Henry Ford is a truly large-scale and controversial personality. We know him as a great inventor and even a thinker who led a very ascetic lifestyle. There is no doubt that Ford made his fortune because he was excellent at his job, informs Ukr.Media.
In his memoirs, Henry Ford described how to treat money, what importance to attach to it, so that there is always plenty of it:
Money, quite naturally, is obtained as a result of useful activity. Having money is absolutely necessary. But we must not forget that the purpose of money is not idleness, but the multiplication of means for useful service.
For me personally, there is nothing more disgusting than a life of idleness. None of us has a right to it. There is no place in civilization for freeloaders.
Any attempt to get rid of money as such only complicates the situation, because society cannot function without a means of exchanging goods and services. Although I have doubts about the effectiveness of our modern monetary system as a reliable basis for economic transactions. The main thing that worries me about the current financial system is that people often perceive money not as a tool, but as the ultimate goal of their activities.
My goal is simplicity. In general, people have so little, and the basic necessities of life are so expensive, that almost everything we produce is much more complicated than it needs to be.
Journalists called Ford “a rich man with the tastes and preferences of a poor man.” He despised all kinds of luxury, lived ascetically, and was a vegetarian. Until the end of his life, his wife darned his old socks. There is a legend about Henry Ford's coat.
Once, Ford flew to London on business, already a billionaire. At the airport information desk, he asked for the cheapest hotel.
The officer was surprised:
– Mr. Henry Ford, I follow the news and I know that your son always stays in the best hotels and is beautifully dressed. And you look for the cheapest hotel and wear a coat that seems older than you. Do you, a billionaire, really save money on the most necessary things?
Henry Ford replied:
– I don't need to stay in an expensive hotel because I don't see the point in overpaying for unnecessary extras. After all, you can have a good time in the cheapest hotel as well as in the most expensive one. And this coat – yes, my father used to wear it, but it doesn't matter, because in this coat I'm still Henry Ford. My son is still young and inexperienced, so he's afraid of what people will think of him if he stays in a cheap hotel. I don't worry about what people around me will think of me because I know my true worth. And I became a billionaire because I know how to count money and distinguish real values from fake ones.
