What is Wealth?

The word wealth brings all sorts of images to mind. For me, my definition of wealth has evolved with time and continues to evolve. When I first started this journey, I defined wealth narrowly. Wealth was black and white to me. I initially thought to be wealthy meant you had a lot of money. My definition wasn’t necessarily wrong but rather incomplete and narrow.

I think we all see wealth mostly as a black-and-white issue. That’s why we all end up being unhappy for the most part. We all assume money will resolve most of our problems, so we spend our energy trying to acquire as much of it as possible. It’s a logical and illogical assumption. It’s logical because money is required to acquire things in a free market system. So, it’s logical to want to make more money to increase your chances of reaching your dreams or acquiring stuff you want. But it’s also illogical because you assume money is the source of your unhappiness or happiness.

Our individual unhappiness and blaming money for it is similar to us blaming social media for our discourse today. Social media, similar to money, is a mirror of our intentions and desire. It’s not to blame entirely for how we act in a particular way but rather exposes our fears and struggles, which we are then amplified with social media.

We want to be wealthy for all sorts of reasons. Some of us believe it to be a noble course, while others see it as being anything but that. Some of us believe it to be selfish, while others see it as unselfish. I don’t know where you stand on wealth, but I think that most of us have a narrow definition of wealth and the meaning of being wealthy.

I’m not going to define wealth for you but simply share what I have learned for myself.

First, wealth isn’t the process or the goal of accumulating tangible assets. It’s not about that million-dollar paycheque, having that sweet ride, going on vacation every month, or other similar things. That’s more about being rich and not necessarily about being wealthy.

Real wealth goes beyond the dollars and drives at a much higher purpose of simply having more assets than liabilities. The definition found on Google is a theoretical definition of wealth, and when practically applied in our economic system often results in lower quality of life-less happiness.

Secondly, true wealth is holistic. Wealth is like a puzzle; you can’t strictly focus on one area or one piece because if that’s all you do, you will never see the whole picture and ultimately never complete the puzzle. You have to expand your definition and cast a bigger net for yourself to be successful at reaching what wealth might mean to you.

I have pockets of wealth in every area of my life. That can be in my work, family, relationships, or marriage.

Wealth, for me, is about working towards financial freedom through emotional detachment from money, which is not the same thing as saying I don’t like making money. I very much like making money-I just don’t like it controlling my emotions.

How do I do that? I follow three basic rules or steps really when thinking about wealth.

  1. I do not accept that there’s a universal definition of wealth, but instead, I need to develop and define for myself what I consider wealth, which will mostly be based on my personal life experiences and exposure to money.
  2. Since to develop a  holistic definition of wealth that will work for me, I need to take on personal experiences along with educating myself further about money to ensure I have more diverse money experiences to pull on to create a customized wealth definition for myself. And on this point, you shouldn’t accept other people’s definition of wealth placed on you unless you feel it fits what you also consider wealth.
  3. I look at every area of my life, such as family, marriage, work, and friends and ask myself what genuine wealth is in these areas of my life. I’ve moved away from a strict asset definition of wealth and look to create wealth in every area of my life. Remember, it’s a puzzle, and you can’t get tunnel vision by only focusing on one area.

And finally, wealth isn’t simple, and it’s essential to understand to be successful in this journey, you can’t accept the definitions you’ve been brought up in. You need to seek more information and challenge your values to create a customized and unique definition for you only ultimately.

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