A wise man once captured the essence of this idea when he said, “The money we leave behind is no different from stagnant water that no one drinks. Money sits in banks as cold numbers, while the life we spend accumulating it evaporates like water in a pot of boiling corn.”

This wisdom came to mind when I read about a Chinese businessman who died leaving $1.9 billion. A few days later, his widow married his driver. The driver then said a sentence that sums up the philosophy of economics - “I thought I worked for my boss, but after his death, I discovered that it was my boss who used to work for me.”

This is not a joke, but it is a wake-up call. The issue is not who owns the money, but who benefits from it. It is not who accumulates wealth, but who truly lives. Money that does not touch its owner ultimately belongs to someone else, even if it carries their name in bank accounts and property records.

In his book “Late Wisdom,” German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer wrote, “True wealth is not about having a lot, but about being able to do without what is superfluous.” Today, we live in a world obsessed with the superfluous and unnecessary. It is the age of the “70 percent unused surplus”, things we neither use nor fully understand why we accumulated them.

Seventy percent of your smartphone’s features, from powerful cameras to large storage, often go unused. These advantages are digital luxuries that do little to enrich real life. You don’t need 70 percent of the speed of a luxury car. What matters is reaching your destination, not watching your speedometer explode with pride while you are stuck in traffic. Seventy percent of your clothes hang in your closet, waiting for an occasion that never comes. Life wasn’t meant to be a stage every day.

We live in houses and palaces, yet the sun only touches one room, and we choose to sit in just one corner. We leave most of the furniture unused, fixating on a single spot on the sofa. Our empty rooms mirror our lives. They are filled with everything except what we truly need. The money we spend a lifetime accumulating will ultimately go to someone else. Perhaps a son will inherit it, unaware of the sacrifices we made to amass such wealth or the countless sleepless nights spent paying the bills for his room’s cooling in summer and heating in winter. Perhaps a wife will inherit the money and spend it with someone whose face we have never seen. Or the state might claim it for taxes, while we lie in a grave too small even for our old phone. That is why we must protect the remaining 30 percent, for it is true life. This 30 percent is the life we haven’t lived, the health we have neglected, and the body that has deteriorated while we were busy accumulating money in our bank accounts.

Take care of your health, even if you feel fine. Illness does not ask permission, and strength can fade as quickly as daylight at sunset. Drink water, even if you don’t feel thirsty. Silent thirst can harm more than we realize. Rise above disagreements, even if you are right. A heart weighed down by conflict is barren land. Compromise when you can, as rigidity makes us easier to break. Stay humble, even if you are powerful, wealthy, or famous. Arrogance drains a person, no matter how much money they have.

Train your mind to stay sharp and your body to remain flexible. Laziness is the beginning of aging, even if you are in your twenties. Spend more time with your loved ones, no matter how busy you are. Those we love are the part of us that no one else can inherit after we are gone. Allocate a portion of your wealth for your afterlife. The money you spend while alive is the money you truly benefit from, which is your true savings, in a sense. Hoarding extra money is like inflating a balloon. It rises for a while, but eventually bursts. Wisdom is not about living longer, but about living well.

What matters most is recognizing the value of what we have, rather than worrying about the money we leave behind. When a person dies, they lose everything, even their name. They are remembered only as the deceased, and their name is rarely mentioned again.