Acun Ilıcalı on 'happiness': I had fewer worries when I had no money

The Halkbank Gençİz Youth Summit 2024 has begun at the Volkswagen Arena with the aim of inspiring young people and supporting their steps to leave a mark on the future.

Businessperson Acun Ilıcalı, one of the summit's guests, who said he hit rock bottom at just 20 years old, stated: "Everything that could happen to me, happened. By the time I was 21, I had been married, become a father, lost my parents in a traffic accident, my daughter had survived with injuries, and subsequently, I went bankrupt, got divorced, and lost all my savings. If I were 21, I imagine I would be torn between whether I could survive or not. Because nothing else could possibly happen to a person. I had zero liras; there were no payments to make, I had no money anyway."

According to the report in Patronlar Dünyası, Ilıcalı mentioned that he stayed with his friend Esat for a period, saying, "My friend was paying for the meals. You have no worries. No payments, no one chasing you. You can't go shopping. I think now, I had fewer worries back then."

'"It can't just be luck that sets you apart. What made you Acun?" In response to this question, Acun Ilıcalı replied as follows:

“I couldn't understand the lessons in school. I finished high school, but I was unsuccessful. During that period, I started inventing games at school out of desperation. Situations force you to develop certain traits. I have to survive, I have to create projects. I have to cheat. I told the girl, 'You'll finish in 30 minutes anyway. You lift the paper. I'll put the binoculars behind it.' The paper is like glass. Our friend's father had binoculars. You see everything so clearly with binoculars. Now, do I recommend this?

No, never do such a thing. Don't ruin your life. Ultimately, if God hadn't helped me so much back then, the fact that my playful mind opened doors for me and I reached this point cannot be given as advice to these brilliant people and children here.”

'MONEY HAD NO EFFECT ON MY HAPPINESS'

Stating that money had no effect on his happiness, Acun Ilıcalı said, “Let me put it this way: there is no one else in the world who bought the channel where they once worked as a reporter. I cannot say to you children, 'If you play, you will own something.' But I can say this, which is very important to me. I was happy when I had zero liras. God gave me good money, and I was happy then too. Money had no effect on my happiness at all.

I would also like to say this to my brothers and sisters: Do not prioritize money when making choices in your life. Instead of saying, 'If I go and work here, it will be very difficult, but I will earn this much money,' if you make choices where you will work happily and where you will be happy yourself, I think it is 10 times, 100 times better,” he said.