Psalm 49's title says it is For the Chief Musician, A Psalm by the sons of Korah. It is a wisdom psalm addressed to all people: Hear this, all you peoples. Listen, all you inhabitants of the world, both low and high, rich and poor together. The writer says he will solve his riddle on the harp. The riddle is this: Why should I fear in the days of evil, when iniquity at my heels surrounds me?
His answer is that riches have limits. None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give God a ransom for him. For the redemption of their life is costly, no payment is ever enough, that he should live on forever. Wise men die; likewise the fool and the senseless perish, and leave their wealth to others. People think their houses will endure forever and name their lands after themselves. But man, despite his riches, doesn't endure. He is like the animals that perish. In the New Testament, Jesus tells of a rich fool who stored up goods and died that night, and he warns that life does not consist of possessions (Luke 12:15-21).
Then the psalm turns from the rich to the writer's own hope. But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. What money can never buy, God gives. In the New Testament, Jesus says the Son of Man came to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). So the writer concludes, Don't be afraid when a man is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased; for when he dies he will carry nothing away. A man who has riches without understanding is like the animals that perish.