Amid the festive mood as families, friends, colleagues, and groups gather to celebrate Christmas with food, gifts, and laughter, Captain (Rtd) Prince Kofi Amoabeng is championing that the season be used to ask deeper and more uncomfortable questions that pertain to one’s true wealth.
Who are you when everything you own is gone? This is a question the former founder of the defunct UT Bank is imploring all Ghanaians to think about.
As part of his Christmas reflections, the renowned businessman and philanthropist is challenging society’s obsession with material success, warning that wealth built only on possessions is fragile and dangerous.
He recounts a haunting moment from his life experiences that reshaped his understanding of success.
He narrated how a man once pleaded with him, saying losing his house would mean death. Amoabeng’s response was blunt and unforgettable. When the house was taken, the man indeed died not because of poverty, but because his entire identity had been tied to something that could be lost.
That moment, he says, taught him a lesson no book ever could that attachment to material things can destroy a person from within.
He understood that one’s true wealth is not in materiality, but the remains after the applause fades.
Christmas, in his view, is not just about celebration but reflection. It is a reminder that money can disappear, titles can be taken away, and positions can vanish overnight. What truly lasts are the invisible assets people carry within themselves: mindset, discipline, values, character, and the ability to start again.
“One of the most painful lessons I learned in life did not come from lack. It came from attachment. A man once stood before me and said, if you take my house, I will D!E. I replied, Then prepare yourself,” he recounted.
He added, “And indeed, he D!ed. Not because a house was taken, but because his entire identity had been built on something that could be taken away. That day taught me a lesson no book ever could. Christmas reminds us of a truth we often avoid: Material things are temporary visitors.” Further recounting from his personal experience, the retired military officer speaks honestly about living in extreme comfort and abundance, a life many dream of. Yet even there, clarity came with pain.
He realized that some of the people he tried hardest to impress were not driven by love or respect, but by attraction to what he had or fear of it. Letting go of that need to impress others, he says, was not failure. It was freedom.
“Money can disappear. Titles can be stripped away. Positions can vanish overnight. But there is a kind of wealth no one can confiscate. Your mindset. Your discipline. Your values. Your character. Your ability to rebuild. Years later, I lived in a world where many people chase comfort without limits, luxury beyond necessity, and abundance everywhere you looked,” he noted.
To him, true wealth is not measured by applause, luxury, or display. It is found in what remains when attention fades and in what one leaves behind in the lives of others.
This belief underpins the work of the P. K. Amoabeng Leadership Foundation, which focuses on building values, inner strength, and leadership in young people, qualities that no crisis or circumstance can destroy.
During this Christmas period, P. K. Amoabeng is urging Ghanaians to resolve to build something inside themselves that cannot be taken away.
“This Christmas, as we celebrate, let us ask ourselves: If everything you owned disappeared tomorrow, who would you still be? Because when you build something inside that is strong enough, you can never truly be broken,” he emphasized.
P. K. Amoabeng urges everyone to look beyond gifts and glitter and ask a defining question. If everything you owned disappeared tomorrow, who would you still be?
