Money and more generally wealth is not perceived the same way depending on the country you live.
If you consider a country like Vietnam or India you have a country with a majority of poor people but you also have more and more wealthy individuals or even what we can call ultra-rich people. While in European countries like France having money is not always well perceived, in Vietnam or in India (one could argue that the United States of America would belong to this group of countries as well), this is quite the opposite. Having money in Vietnam is seen as being successful. It is strongly associated to the notion of hard work (it is interesting to note that some rich Vietnamese are rich just because of inheritance but it is also true that the proportion of self-made millionaires is much higher in Vietnam than in most European countries) . While in France, having a lot of money is often seen as being suspicious or people might consider that you have just been lucky. Being rich in France is often associated to inheritance instead of merit and hard work like in Vietnam. Two different sets of mind that has material consequences on how wealthy people spend their money in these countries. In France, rich people will mainly spend their money on a nice house. If you visit France, you will notice that there are few luxury cars in the streets. In Vietnam, rich people will buy expensive cars and rich men will wear luxury watches while rich women will often have many diamond rings and diamond necklaces. Having an expensive car is almost a requirement in Vietnam if your goal is to show off your success as a businessperson.
Comments