A few years ago, I was an Uber driver in Nashville, Tennessee. As a side hustle, I quite liked the job. I got to learn the city, there were no essays to grade and when I was done, I didn’t have to think about the job, unlike teaching where you’re never really done.
Another thing I liked was meeting different people and learning a bit about them. Sometimes, though, people got in my car that worried me. They would look a little haunted, gaunt and soulless. No, they weren’t ghosts. They were alive, but they were suffering.
They were suffering because they had high-paying but soul-destroying jobs. I would pick them up from very fancy houses and during the course of our journey, they would tell me about the moral sacrifices they had to make every day at work.
One was a public relations expert helping politicians with votes. Another was a lawyer who often used shady and unethical means to help clients. The list could go on, but that was the general pattern.
Jobs might pay great, but often that money comes at the expense of your conscience. And our sense of morality doesn’t just go away, it’s always there, niggling and poking at you.
I think they stayed in such jobs because they could never determine what “enough” was. Even if they made Dh1 million ($272,000) a year, they always had increasing expenses, which made them feel trapped in these jobs.
Two years ago, I was on Dubai Eye talking about personal finances. The channel had the results of an audience survey, which polled users on what they would do if they didn’t need to work for a pay cheque. The results shocked me.
When I feel abundant, when I know I’m hitting my financial targets, that I don’t need the next pay cheque or even the next 12, I feel more generous
Zach Holz
I expected a lot of people to say they would lie on the beach and laze around. To be fair, there were a couple of people who said that.
But what was shocking was that the vast majority, about 90 per cent, said they would work a job to give back to others, help the planet and do good in the world. They were aching for a job that gave them a positive purpose.
This sounded very promising to me. But it was also sad because people felt their need for survival prevented them from giving back. Again, these people didn’t feel like they had “enough” to be kind and philanthropic in their daily lives.
This issue of having “enough” ran through both these incidents. For far too many people, what prevents them from living a life in accordance with their values is the daily compromises their work imposes on them. They do this because they feel a shortage of financial resources.
I understand, I really do. When I feel abundant, when I know I’m hitting my financial targets, that I don’t need the next pay cheque or even the next 12, I feel more generous. I give more to charity and to others in my circle who need it. I don’t have to take moral shortcuts to get ahead because I’m already ahead.
I can do it because I have thought deeply about what I need to be happy and realised that it’s not expensive stuff.
I can do it because I know how much money I need per month, because I track my spending and saving and that data gives me confidence.
I can do it because I’ve been disciplined with my investing over the past five years and have enough to live on for a while, even if my job ends or starts asking me to do things that go against my set of morals.
I can do it because I know what is enough for me, and I know I have it.
That is what I want for everyone. I want you to know what “enough” is for you and how to get there in an ethical manner.
I want you to have enough so you can give to the people and causes you care about, to have that purpose in your life beyond the next pay cheque.
I don’t want you to have the haunted eyes of my rich Uber passengers. I want you to thrive and help the world do so as well.
Schoolteacher Zach Holz (@HappiestTeach) documents his journey towards financial independence on his personal finance blog The Happiest Teacher
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Company profile
Company: Eighty6
Date started: October 2021
Founders: Abdul Kader Saadi and Anwar Nusseibeh
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Hospitality
Size: 25 employees
Funding stage: Pre-series A
Investment: $1 million
Investors: Seed funding, angel investors
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
Company Profile
Name: JustClean
Based: Kuwait with offices in other GCC countries
Launch year: 2016
Number of employees: 130
Sector: online laundry service
Funding: $12.9m from Kuwait-based Faith Capital Holding
Wicked: For Good
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater
Rating: 4/5
The Bloomberg Billionaire Index in full
1 Jeff Bezos $140 billion
2 Bill Gates $98.3 billion
3 Bernard Arnault $83.1 billion
4 Warren Buffett $83 billion
5 Amancio Ortega $67.9 billion
6 Mark Zuckerberg $67.3 billion
7 Larry Page $56.8 billion
8 Larry Ellison $56.1 billion
9 Sergey Brin $55.2 billion
10 Carlos Slim $55.2 billion
White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
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$1,000 award for 1,000 days on madrasa portal
Daily cash awards of $1,000 dollars will sweeten the Madrasa e-learning project by tempting more pupils to an education portal to deepen their understanding of math and sciences.
School children are required to watch an educational video each day and answer a question related to it. They then enter into a raffle draw for the $1,000 prize.
“We are targeting everyone who wants to learn. This will be $1,000 for 1,000 days so there will be a winner every day for 1,000 days,” said Sara Al Nuaimi, project manager of the Madrasa e-learning platform that was launched on Tuesday by the Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, to reach Arab pupils from kindergarten to grade 12 with educational videos.
“The objective of the Madrasa is to become the number one reference for all Arab students in the world. The 5,000 videos we have online is just the beginning, we have big ambitions. Today in the Arab world there are 50 million students. We want to reach everyone who is willing to learn.”
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COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Letstango.com
Started: June 2013
Founder: Alex Tchablakian
Based: Dubai
Industry: e-commerce
Initial investment: Dh10 million
Investors: Self-funded
Total customers: 300,000 unique customers every month
The specs: Fenyr SuperSport
Price, base: Dh5.1 million
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo flat-six
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 800hp @ 7,100pm
Torque: 980Nm @ 4,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 13.5L / 100km
Quick pearls of wisdom
Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”
Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.”
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
