I read an article in a recent AARP publication recently that discussed calculating your true wealth. That got me to thinking about “wealth.” If you look up wealth in the dictionary, the definitions become fairly complex, but the bottom line is that wealth is defined as possession of material things, or a measure of how much you have.
There have been a number of studies done on wealthy people and not so wealthy people. The results are interesting, but like any study, can’t be used to categorize all “wealthy” people. One of the studies conclude that wealthy people are more likely to cut off other drivers, be disinterested in the welfare of others, cheat on a test to get ahead, and give more to charities.
Of course the study was based on the classic definition of wealth in materialistic terms. In reality, there are many definitions of wealth — it comes in many forms — emotional, spiritual, social, monetary, etc. So naturally you’re wondering what my opinion and definition of wealth is… I think if someone can conquer three areas in life, they would have to be considered wealthy: family, health and appreciation of nature.
When people are young, they spend their entire lives making money or enhancing their careers. They never have time for their families or to actually watch their kids grow up. We’ve probably all heard, or worse yet, said, “I can’t believe how fast you’re growing up.” That’s because we’re too busy to see it happening. Stop and think about the memories you have — they’re not about that new iPad, or that sexy car you drove when you were younger, they’re of your kids first steps, or really nice times you’ve had with your family or friends — emotional memories, not materialistic memories. Memories are wealth you still have, but some of those opportunities for other memories is just wealth that you wasted.
A lot of people spend their youth and most of their life running — not running for exercise and to keep fit, but just running — running after money, trying to become wealthy, not even knowing why they are running sometimes — just running, stress everywhere. Then when they get to the place where they can enjoy life, they’re in no position to do so because they forgot to look after the most important asset they have — their body. So if you’re healthy enough to do pretty much all the things you’d like, you’re wealthy. If you wind up frail and unable to fully enjoy activities because you squandered the chances to take care of yourself, that’s more wealth that you wasted.
You don’t have to have any money to appreciate nature and the universe all around us. The most beautiful things on earth are not man-made, but exist in the universe and are ours for free. When we went to Alaska and saw the glaciers, they were beyond anything I could imagine. That ice is millions of years old, and the sound of a piece breaking off and the reflection of the lights on the ice… certainly a wow factor. And things like this are all around us — and free.
I do realize that money and material things are necessary for our basic existence. We are oriented in such a way genetically that material pleasure gives us a feeling of wealth. Maybe we’re quibbling over terminology here — maybe we should distinguish between being rich and being wealthy.
Anyhow, those are my three areas — pick your own. The fact is, we are all wealthier than we can ever imagine. And sometimes you have to redefine “wealthy” before you will realize it.
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