Anonymous, many versions of this story.
An American investment banker was having his holidays and decided to make a stopover at Singapore for a few days. He came upon a small jetty at Punggol Point, Singapore when he saw one fisherman lazily fishing with his 2 fishing rods. Besides him were fishes he has caught. (photo above)
The American complimented the fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked, "How long does it take to catch them?" The fisherman replied: "Only a little while."
The American then asked why didn't he stay out longer and catch more fish? The fisherman said he had enough to support his family's immediate needs. The American then asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?"
The fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my pets, look after my marine tank, help my wife with some chores, then I drink abit of kopi-O and spent the rest of time chatting at cbox with my superfriends, surfing the net and blogging articles, I have a full and busy life."
The American scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats.
Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution.
You would need to leave this ulu Punggol and move to a CityLight Condo at the City, and eventually a big landed property at Bukit Timah near your own office where you will run your expanding enterprise."
The fisherman asked, "But, how long will this all take?" To which the American replied, "15-25 years."
"But what then?" The American laughed and said that's the best part. "When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions."
"Millions ... Then what?" The American said, "Then you would retire. Then you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your pets, help your wife with some chores, stroll to the cyber cafe in the evenings where you could drink some Kopi-O and chatting with your friends."
The fisherman said, "Isn't that what I am doing right now?"
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"Then he said to them: 'Keep your eyes open and guard against every sort of covetousness, because even when a person has an abundance, his life does not result from the things he possesses'" - Jesus, the Christ, Luke 12:15
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So how much is enough? However, the question becomes, once you’ve made so much money? Now what? or like what The fisherman said, "Isn't that what I am doing right now?"
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