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Wealth is a concept that can take on many different forms and its principles reach beyond the realm of finance. In “VALUE IS CREATED THROUGH AN EXCHANGE OF RESOURCES” I list the six fundamental resources an individual may become wealthy. Although an individual’s wealth may take on many different forms (in terms of a personal portfolio), what is wealth? Wealth can be summed up by one word, value; this is important to understand because so many people mistakenly conflate an individual with a lot of money (currency) as someone who is also wealthy. This is not true because currency can lose its value over a period of time.
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So what does it mean to be wealthy? Well, that is quite a loaded question to ponder without having any context, but when one considers wealth to be a concept based on value, one can begin to see the forest amongst the trees if they were to start considering why wealth is important. In “THE ANCIENT BABYLONIAN RULES OF MONEY VIA 21ST CENTURY LANGUAGE” I share what I think is the most transparent quote about wealth building that has ever been said and believe it bears repeating ad infinitum; taken from George Clason’s book “The Richest Man in Babylon”:
· Men and women who keep both gold and silver that they have no need to spend, are good to their family and loyal to their community.
· Men and women who keep only a few coppers are indifferent to their family, and indifferent to their community.
· Men and Women who have nothing for their keep are unkind to their family and disloyal to their community, for their hearts are bitter.
· Men and women who keep both gold and silver that they have no need to spend, are good to their family and loyal to their community.
· Men and women who keep only a few coppers are indifferent to their family, and indifferent to their community.
· Men and Women who have nothing for their keep are unkind to their family and disloyal to their community, for their hearts are bitter.
On Virtue and Vice
The Miser vs The Spendthrift
Sticking to the preconception that wealth is the sum of a value let’s delve into the two extreme characteristics that revolve around how individuals perceive value in order to speculate upon the positive and negative aspects of those traits.
The spendthrift is a character trait of an individual who believes that tomorrow is not promised today and likes to live as though every day may be their last. What a romantic premise, fit for an epic novel or perhaps a blockbuster film that has a definitive ending, but isn’t always a pretty sight to see when translated into the scope of reality and its longevity! The spendthrift is not without virtue however, they can be quite generous when it comes to their wealth. They are more likely to be willing to share their resources without prejudice. I argue that this charitable attribute makes the spendthrift their own worst enemy in maintaining their own sense of self-worth, because the spendthrift is a character trait that mostly derives its validation externally, and human nature is not inclined towards reciprocity when it comes to the kindness of strangers or receiving something freely. The spendthrift will value wealth for the thrills or the feelings derived from it. In virtue, spendthrifts support various markets and make for a vibrant and complex economy, but in vice they can suck the value out of their surrounding economy through insatiable desires and squandered wealth due to inflation (borrowing tomorrow for the enjoyment of today) based on a lack in delayed gratification. In “GOT YOUR MIND ON YOUR MONEY OR YOUR MONEY ON YOUR MIND?” I make an example of the spendthrift’s vice when I describe the extravagant behavior associated with “slave spenders”. If wealth is the sum of a value then a slave spender is someone whose bottom line in life is always running negatively into the red. They are individuals who remain in a perpetual state of “owing it” to this, that, or the other for the things they value in life, if not outright relying upon the kindness of strangers (hence the desire for external validation).
The miser is a character trait that isn’t without vice of its own. As I go on to explain in the aforementioned article, “masochist money savers” are misers who are willing to endure any hardship in exchange for the accumulation of wealth itself without attachment to any particular external goal or mission. This behavior doesn’t make for a very fun type of individual to be around, which is why the miserly who succumb to such vice tend to be loners or isolationists (see ivory tower syndrome). In vice the misers can leave markets deflated and an economy stagnate, but in virtue the miser does not dilute any particular value with disingenuous appraisal and will appreciate authenticity based on the value of their wealth. The miser is a character trait that derives validation internally, making their sense of self-worth a principle value when summing up their wealth. Anything that revolves around the miser’s wealth is valuable to them, their time, their money, their effort, their respect, etc.; this is because when it comes to wealth, most misers are self-made through discipline, commitment, patience and prudence. Even when the miser is at their worst in terms of hoarding resources, the resulting deflation within markets causes corrections that make the economy more affordable as the time/money/effort of other individuals becomes more valuable. The mantra of the miser is to save today for a better tomorrow, however without a goal/mission based on any particular value that may be appreciated externally they will become individuals whose discipline will only serve as punishment throughout their life (an oxymoron in terms of their sense of self-worth).
Wealth
the Sum of Value
Why is wealth important? At first glance, it’s quite the rhetorical question that any individual, organized group, or legal entity could ponder. Two individuals could possess the exact same “wealth” of knowledge, but how each individual chooses to use that “wealth” will determine the value of the knowledge itself, which begs the question (based upon the previous section)… what kind of character traits do the individuals possess? Take two different individuals who are engaged in an unequal amount of relationships, and without understanding the value of supposed relationships, can we really assume that either individual is more or less worthy of our time and attention simply based on the amount of people they relate with? This idea usually leads to one of the most common misconceptions people can make about wealth. An individual can be notorious just as well as an individual can be famous, and another individual may simply choose to occult themselves by living privately just as well as someone else can be presumed esoteric or ostracized by their peers, but the value is all based on perception. One man’s trash could indeed be valued as another man’s treasure, so if an individual were to accumulate a bunch of “stuff” in abundance and excess, does that make the individual “wealthy” or does it mean he just possesses a lot of stuff that some other people also desire?
I’ll ask you again, why is wealth important? Wealth is important because without wealth what would be our incentive to exist? As we grow wealthy (in whatever resource it may be) we empower that which we value in/about life, and based on perception we either have a positive influence or negative impact on our environment (which would account for the sum of our value and act as real measure of wealth). One individual’s dream may be another’s nightmare. One organization’s idea of utopia could be another’s apocalypse. One entity’s heaven may be another’s hell. So long as there is life on earth conflict will be eternal and all there is in life is the sum of values. The only contrary to this is to believe life has no value, and any individual who tells you that's what they believe is actually living their life as dead (death is the value), but they just haven't fully realized it yet (the living dead, walking dead, or undead). To understand this genesis is to understand why wealth is important, and this revelation is the key to rediscovering what it means to live rich. “Value Begins Within”
The Miser vs The Spendthrift
Sticking to the preconception that wealth is the sum of a value let’s delve into the two extreme characteristics that revolve around how individuals perceive value in order to speculate upon the positive and negative aspects of those traits.
The spendthrift is a character trait of an individual who believes that tomorrow is not promised today and likes to live as though every day may be their last. What a romantic premise, fit for an epic novel or perhaps a blockbuster film that has a definitive ending, but isn’t always a pretty sight to see when translated into the scope of reality and its longevity! The spendthrift is not without virtue however, they can be quite generous when it comes to their wealth. They are more likely to be willing to share their resources without prejudice. I argue that this charitable attribute makes the spendthrift their own worst enemy in maintaining their own sense of self-worth, because the spendthrift is a character trait that mostly derives its validation externally, and human nature is not inclined towards reciprocity when it comes to the kindness of strangers or receiving something freely. The spendthrift will value wealth for the thrills or the feelings derived from it. In virtue, spendthrifts support various markets and make for a vibrant and complex economy, but in vice they can suck the value out of their surrounding economy through insatiable desires and squandered wealth due to inflation (borrowing tomorrow for the enjoyment of today) based on a lack in delayed gratification. In “GOT YOUR MIND ON YOUR MONEY OR YOUR MONEY ON YOUR MIND?” I make an example of the spendthrift’s vice when I describe the extravagant behavior associated with “slave spenders”. If wealth is the sum of a value then a slave spender is someone whose bottom line in life is always running negatively into the red. They are individuals who remain in a perpetual state of “owing it” to this, that, or the other for the things they value in life, if not outright relying upon the kindness of strangers (hence the desire for external validation).
The miser is a character trait that isn’t without vice of its own. As I go on to explain in the aforementioned article, “masochist money savers” are misers who are willing to endure any hardship in exchange for the accumulation of wealth itself without attachment to any particular external goal or mission. This behavior doesn’t make for a very fun type of individual to be around, which is why the miserly who succumb to such vice tend to be loners or isolationists (see ivory tower syndrome). In vice the misers can leave markets deflated and an economy stagnate, but in virtue the miser does not dilute any particular value with disingenuous appraisal and will appreciate authenticity based on the value of their wealth. The miser is a character trait that derives validation internally, making their sense of self-worth a principle value when summing up their wealth. Anything that revolves around the miser’s wealth is valuable to them, their time, their money, their effort, their respect, etc.; this is because when it comes to wealth, most misers are self-made through discipline, commitment, patience and prudence. Even when the miser is at their worst in terms of hoarding resources, the resulting deflation within markets causes corrections that make the economy more affordable as the time/money/effort of other individuals becomes more valuable. The mantra of the miser is to save today for a better tomorrow, however without a goal/mission based on any particular value that may be appreciated externally they will become individuals whose discipline will only serve as punishment throughout their life (an oxymoron in terms of their sense of self-worth).
Wealth
the Sum of Value
Why is wealth important? At first glance, it’s quite the rhetorical question that any individual, organized group, or legal entity could ponder. Two individuals could possess the exact same “wealth” of knowledge, but how each individual chooses to use that “wealth” will determine the value of the knowledge itself, which begs the question (based upon the previous section)… what kind of character traits do the individuals possess? Take two different individuals who are engaged in an unequal amount of relationships, and without understanding the value of supposed relationships, can we really assume that either individual is more or less worthy of our time and attention simply based on the amount of people they relate with? This idea usually leads to one of the most common misconceptions people can make about wealth. An individual can be notorious just as well as an individual can be famous, and another individual may simply choose to occult themselves by living privately just as well as someone else can be presumed esoteric or ostracized by their peers, but the value is all based on perception. One man’s trash could indeed be valued as another man’s treasure, so if an individual were to accumulate a bunch of “stuff” in abundance and excess, does that make the individual “wealthy” or does it mean he just possesses a lot of stuff that some other people also desire?
I’ll ask you again, why is wealth important? Wealth is important because without wealth what would be our incentive to exist? As we grow wealthy (in whatever resource it may be) we empower that which we value in/about life, and based on perception we either have a positive influence or negative impact on our environment (which would account for the sum of our value and act as real measure of wealth). One individual’s dream may be another’s nightmare. One organization’s idea of utopia could be another’s apocalypse. One entity’s heaven may be another’s hell. So long as there is life on earth conflict will be eternal and all there is in life is the sum of values. The only contrary to this is to believe life has no value, and any individual who tells you that's what they believe is actually living their life as dead (death is the value), but they just haven't fully realized it yet (the living dead, walking dead, or undead). To understand this genesis is to understand why wealth is important, and this revelation is the key to rediscovering what it means to live rich. “Value Begins Within”
