Can you put a number on wealth?
Can you put a number on wealth?
I certainly thought you could.
Years ago, I was on vacation in Amalfi with my family, admiring the view along the stunning coast only to catch sight of an enormous yacht. As an avid fan of Below Deck, I needed to know who it belonged to and was suitably impressed and jealous to find that it was Jeff Bezos. I remember thinking, that’s real wealth.
I wondered what it would feel like to live like that.
As of late, the irony has well and truly hit me. I had the time, money and health to be in one of the most beautiful places on earth, with the people I love most, and didn’t believe myself wealthy simply because there was someone nearby who had more?
I don’t think I’m unique in constantly thinking that what I have is not enough. But it’s time to change that.
If we’re chasing wealth without knowing what it means, maybe the better question isn’t how much money we need - but why we want it in the first place.
That answer is far easier. It almost certainly comes from Instagram, TikTok & reality tv. It has become scarily easy it is to compare ourselves to Jeff Bezos (why can’t I also have a $50 million-dollar venetian wedding?) or anyone else with a following.
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Last week I caught myself feeling badly that I can’t afford the designer bags dripping from the latest season of Selling Sunset. 40 years ago, I would have had no idea who lived in Los Angeles, let alone what kind of bag they carry.
No one says it better than my personal hero, Morgan Housel: we’ve entered the ‘Arms race of wealth’. A race becoming increasingly defined by the lives of those we don’t actually know and whose lives we probably wouldn’t want if we did.
So how do we de-escalate this arms race? The first big step is to understand the difference being rich and being wealthy. You can see riches. But wealth, that you must feel.
To paraphrase Housel in his book “The Psychology of Money”, being rich is your ability to purchase high value items while wealth is the flexibility to buy yourself independence, security and freedom. The difference between buying a Ferrari because you got a massive bonus and having enough saved money to choose if you ever want to work again.
Therefore wealth requires knowing what you need to live a great life, whatever that means to you.
It’s absolutely your right to decide your needs include a new car every two years, first-class flights, and the largest home you can afford.
However, it’s far more likely that after some introspection you’ll find your needs are much simpler than that. Maybe just health, time with your family and community and the ability to meet your needs in the form of a home, food, clothes and some guilt free fun spending.
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But that’s for you to decide. Money is one of your most precious resources, you get to decide which values it serves.
I’ve decided that for me, wealth is not yachts or handbags, it’s not even chasing the highest paid job I can land or taking the coolest vacations.
It’s waking up without financial panic. It’s knowing I can prioritize my mental and physical health, take my friends for dinner and spend lots of quality time with my family – without sacrificing my future.
And I will work very hard to remind myself of this even when my instincts are telling me otherwise.
The richer we try to look, the poorer we often feel.
Real wealth is invisible because it’s built on freedom, not things. We have to fight to remember that in this world, more isn’t always better.
Sometimes, enough is everything.
