Financial wealth may not equate to a wealthy life

The first thing for many people when asked what wealth means to them is to turn immediately to money, material items and a lot of assets. Our society has pre-packaged wealth into monetary terms only and this perception has caused the greed that we all see evident in society today. Many of our occupations are geared to produce wealth for the wealthy, increase numbers on a computer screen and do whatever it takes to gain an extra dollar, pound etc. When we choose our careers, and let’s not kid ourselves, the majority of us want to know how much we will earn, bonuses, share schemes rather than giving a s**t about what it is we are actually doing. Forget producing goods, undertaking research and manufacturing….much of our industry is financial services which in fact produces nothing and adds no real value.



It is no surprise that the whole self help and actualization movement (SHAM) has evolved exponentially over the last 20 years – this is the time where our society truly began to focus on financial wealth rather than wealth through creating. SHAM is still in part a scam but the point remains that it wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t at least partly accepted. Society, even if it had money, has become depressed and unmotivated because financial wealth cannot be touched and instead after a period of time the human subconscious starts to evaluate what it is we’re actually doing with our lives. At a basic level self-development is crucial and simply earning money doesn’t provide any development. I don’t have $10million but if I did with no family, a worthless job and no real life would I be happy? Can I die happy with $10million in the bank?



Society has to stop evaluating wealth from only a financial aspect and start considering what wealth means to them individually. I’m not saying money isn’t important, you need it to live and your personal finances must be managed, but too much emphasis is placed on financial, rather than relationship, career, spiritual, emotional wealth etc. If you value ‘emotional wealth’ at the subconscious level, which I will define as living an emotionally fulfilling life, your focus on financial wealth because society tells you it is important will cause stress and frustration. Same will occur if you focus on financial wealth rather than prioritising satisfaction from a career or relationship independent of financial gain. Unless you define, recognise and accept your own definition of what constitutes wealth you will find your focus is distracted from the life path you should be taking and instead pointed in the direction of focusing on financial because you continually read about how important it is. Your life has to be defined wealthy based on your terms, not on what you read or hear in the media.

What is the inherent cost in taking a chance?

One line of conversation I have with my clients on a regular basis surrounds the cost involved, both financially and emotionally, of trying new ventures, taking new steps etc. It appears that whilst everyone can dream of achieving a new goal when it comes to physically performing all kinds of doubts and concerns surface - 'what sacrifice will I have to make', 'what will I have to give up', 'what will it cost me financially and I cannot afford that' are common themes that I hear.

However hang on for a minute! What are we trying to tell ourselves here, that change comes with no sacrifice, no expense and no effort? That if you do not see the reward instantaneously then it is okay to fall back into that favourite of human activities 'your old habits'?

All the good sayings....'Rome wasn't built in a day', 'cannot make an omelette without breaking some eggs' etc. are cheesy but make sense and are relevant. There will always be a cost involved in whatever it is you do - you have to accept that but plan to minimize that cost through good planning, careful consideration and forceful and focused action. It also helps to consider the cost of not making that change and the future consequences (think of it like negative compounding interest).