what is "wealth"?

Seems we’re not the only ones pondering this today:

Wealth is accumulated social power.

For me, simply put, wealth is being able to do what I feel I need/want to do with a minimum of fuss. So, in that definition, limiting and eliminating needs/wants increases wealth as much as increasing earnings and position does.

Having a saturated amount of an object or feeling that leads you to feel satisfied and accomplished. This will very from person to person. For some money, for others love. But so long as that person has a sense that their comforted desires are overflowing than they are indeed a wealthy person.

I’ve always considered wealth to be a generic term for excess…ie, having more of any given thing than what is needed to comfortably subsist in your culture/society.

Wealth and asset can be used interchangeably, atmo.

Wealthy is a highly subjective term. For me, its $300MM in assets and $30MM annual income. Someone in China, for example, may think otherwise.

Not that subjective.

Your income in a global context? Try this: http://globalrichlist.com

Wealth = 3 F’s

Family
Freedom
Fitness

I guess money could only come into the freedom part, the freedom to do as you please when you please.

It’s absolutely subjective…especially in context to the link you provide. The “global rich list” is motivated solely to try and make me feel guilty for being where I am at in the world and “donating” my “excess” money to causes that they feel are worthy of my “donations”.

I see nothing objective about that link at all aside from placing a ranking on where I MAY stand in relation to the rest of the population when it comes to my annual salary.

Totally agree.

I can even make the case that Bill Gates is NOT wealthy. I’ll wager any amount that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation does not have enough wealth to fulfill everything they would want to do with the foundation. And since it is Bill’s goal to give all of his wealth to the foundation and it’s still not enough, he would not be wealthy.

I’ll wager any amount that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation does not have enough wealth to fulfill everything they would want to do with the foundation.

[u]Wealth[/u], Andrew Carnegie, North American Review, 1889.

Wealth is having good health,peace of mind,having control on mind.

Wealth = absence of need or want

For the individual, ‘personal’ value system plays a role

Good question. I’m an industrial designer with about 13 years of experience now. 35 years old. Pretty darn close to midlife crisis. I’ve already suffered through 4 years of being an entrepreneur. I’ve already done freelance full-time. And I’ve worked for design houses and manufacturers. For the most part, I’ve been there.

Now, that said, wealth…as my wife says, ‘health is wealth.’ The more I think about it, the more I find it to be true. Since starting Cerevellum (the company I formed to take my idea of a digital bicycle mirror to production,) I’ve suffered all kinds of health issues, from mental to physical. When I first formed Cerevellum (back in early 2009), I was just retiring from a pretty successful bicycle-racing career. I was an amateur but had to race against the pro’s. I had achieved all that I was really able to achieve in the sport without looking towards other means, or quitting my day-job. I hung up my racing wheels and put everything into this new business venture. Once I returned from the 2010 Taipei Bike Show, I found myself with multiple pulmonary embolisms. This landed me in the ER for a while as it’s very serious. Come to find out I have a rare blood condition that causes clots and now have to get my blood checked nearly every week. Yeah, it sucks.

To be honest, I completely let my body go once I quit racing and started Cerevellum. I was sitting at about 139 lbs (5’10") when I ‘retired’ and got up to 205 lbs at one point. I hated myself.

Now, fast-forward to the present. While I’m still rather heavy, I’m riding again but only because I want to. I actually enjoy the challenge. Not only do I exercise now for the general benefits, but I kind of have to in order to keep my blood from clotting, among other things. It releases endorphines and that helps with my mental well-being as well.

So, with all that said, health really is wealth. Don’t go down the direction I did and focus entirely on your career. Just don’t. When you can, do some side projects here and there. Maybe enter a couple competitions. But trust me on this, value friendships, your family and your health. I’ve lost nearly everything (both parents, friends, health) in the last 4 years. In the end, those are the things that matter the most.

Wealth = absence of needs, I agree.

Wants may pop up all the time though through that little voice :slight_smile: but you don’t really need what you want most of the time.

It seems to me that in human beings needs to evolve through Maslow’s hierarchy, as people keep searching on and on for the big ‘what’s out there’. At some point you go more towards what’s ‘in here’ though, and when I went there some years ago I found a new definition of wealth: the more you can identify with existence, the more wealthy you are. In the beginning, you have no idea what you are, you have no idea what’s going on and what this body is that you don’t yet master. Then you master the body and at some point look into the mirror and proudly state ‘it’s me!’ And others will probably support this recognition. Congratulations, a huge revelation, and you now become a little person. Then you act as a little individual, a little brat trying to get his tummy filled. So you have identified with the body and later with a mental personality. You might get a nickname. Then you learn the value of cooperation and learn that you are not isolated but inextricably interwoven with a group of people. They can work together to make things happen and you come to see the whole of this social organism. You forget about the individual and now identify with the group. You learn about the intellect, and practical ways to get things done, skills. Then you learn that there are other groups and really it’s one big family. You learn about the emotional realm, and see the ‘soul’ in people. We are one brother and sisterhood, and you come to identify with the whole of humanity. And later you can come to identify with the whole of nature and yes even the whole of existence, where there are no more boundaries left.

That’s enough for a forum post I think, I got a lot from Ken Wilber on these things too.

I go with Cameron… Wealth is not defined in terms of monetary… philosophical approach is the best…

… or as Chris Rock defines it

I think wealth, like beauty, is in the eye (or mind) of the beholder.

Growing up with food on the table and a shirt on my back, being able to flunk out of high school and faff away 5 or so years in crappy jobs, then get into university having never finished school by sitting an IQ test, study industrial design and make a career out of it makes me feel very wealthy.

I think wealth is built into the society you grow up in, the experiences you earn along the way and the appreciation for what you’ve got. I know that drawing pictures and getting paid anything to do it is a dream job because I’ve worked shovelling shit, and I mean that literally, on a crunching trailer for sheep shearers in 40 degree heat in central Australia.

I’ve worked shovelling shit, and I mean that literally, on a crunching trailer for sheep shearers in 40 degree heat in central Australia.

Had to think about that for second. Celsius.

Modern Man is intrigued by this comment (though he is not the sort to rhetorically question whether Azrehan is Modern Man’s soul brother form another mother on the other side of the world) because as a Modern Boy he worked shoveling horse manure, and he means that literally, for a garden nursery in humid 85°F heat in middle America to afford his art materials to make his drawing of cars, yachts and ships.